‘What if it’s Not a Ship?’: Reading the Monster Octopus in Jordan Peele’s Nope

Abstract

The article argues that the alien monster of Jordan Peele’s Nope (2022) should be read as part of the long legacy of capitalist monster octopuses, and that identification and recognition of the monster octopus in this context allows for a greater understanding of Peele’s specifically gothic critique of capitalism within the film. The article reviews the history of the monster octopus in literature, art, cinema, and political cartoon, outlines Nope’s relationship to and development of these earlier texts, and then examines how the film uses the monster octopus to highlight capitalism as a monstrous system that we can neither survive nor afford to look away from. Critical perspectives explored in the article include Gothic Studies, Financial History, and Critical Race Theory, and Nope is examined as an example of the Economic Humanities in contemporary horror cinema.