Ōkunoshima, Japan rests two miles off the coast of TakeharaMost folks know the island as “Usagi Jima”, or “Rabbit Island”, due to hundreds of feral bunnies occupying the land. Historians still argue over how the rabbits all got on the infamous island. One prevailing theory, and the one that we’ll follow along with for the sake of Jordan Peele’s Us, is connected to a dark piece of Japanese history.  

Back during World War II, not many knew about the island of ŌkunoshimaThe Japanese government hid the existence of the island from its people, going so far as to remove it from any and all maps. The Imperial Army used the island to test chemical weapons that they intended to use against the Chinese. (And they did. Some eighty thousand people died, both military and civilian alike.) That testing was done on a couple hundred rabbits.  

American soldiers came to the island during the Occupation and were said to euthanize all of the rabbits on the island. One theory about Usagi Jima says otherwise. The American soldiers did come to the island, and they did euthanize all that they could find, but some believe they missed a small number of the animals. Free of external predators, the bunnies’ population has now exploded to around a thousand. Their high population, coupled with some uncontrollable external factors, has destroyed the ecosystem of the abandoned island and resulted in the rabbits’ lifespans to be shortened to about two years.  

Several parallels can be drawn from these abandoned rabbits and Peele’s new film that go far beyond the fact that there are a bunch of bunnies in it. Peele’s version of those Japanese bunnies, The Tethered, were created as an experiment and quickly abandoned by the government that created them. Left forgotten, the Tethered then multiplied as their human counterparts did. The fleet of doppelgängers, left unchecked by a world unaware of their very existence, threatens our ecosystem. Finally, both the Tethered and the rabbits of the Japanese government were horrific means to abominable ends that may have ultimately failed but resulted in a high casualty count for both the test subjects and other victims.  

NOTE: Spoilers for Us abound after this point. Read at your own risk!

Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them. (Jeremiah 11:11)

Those horrific means take us to the Book of Jeremiah. We see Jeremiah 11:11 referenced repeatedly throughout the film, but the whole of the Biblical book plays a big role in Us. I’ll save you the nearly nine hundred words worth of scripture, but the long and short of it is that the people of Judah were cursed for “breaking the covenant of obedience.”  

In Red’s final monologue, she outlines how the Tethered were created. The government was able to successfully clone the population, but it could not duplicate the soul. The body was two, “but the soul remains one.” The Tethered’s purpose was then to control their counterparts above, but the government struggled with the same thing that God had when he created man: the power of free will. When they could not achieve their ultimate purpose with the Tethered, the government abandoned them alone throughout countless underground facilities across America.  

Red mentions God several times in that final monologue; how He came to her to provide her with purpose, and to warn of what was to come the same way he had to Jeremiah in the Scripture:

The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, Hear ye the words of this covenant, and speak unto the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem; (Jeremiah 11:1, 11:2) 

Jordan Peele's 'Us' (Credit: Universal)

Jordan Peele’s ‘Us’ (Credit: Universal)

The words that Red believes that she heard from God were not spoken against the Tethered, but instead against those who lived above. The verses of Jeremiah 11 are of God condemning the men of Judah, but only the ones who broke His covenant of obedience. Adelaide asks Red who they are earlier on in the film, to which she responds with a simple “We’re Americans” (i.e. the inhabitants of Jerusalem). They are us, and we are them, but the Tethered are forced to obey by nature of their very creation. They are not in control of their souls, and so they remain obedient within the context of the film. Young Jason is the only one we see taking advantage of this when he uses his ties to his dopplegänger, Pluto, to force Pluto to step back into the fire and immolate himself. 

They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, which refused to hear my words; and they went after other gods to serve them: the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers. (Jeremiah 11:10) 

It’s important to note that Red’s motivation isn’t driven by hatred of the government that created the Tethered, but rather to obey the God that she believes she serves. That God isn’t the merciful and loving one they teach about in Sunday School, but the vengeful God of the Old Testament (where the book of Jeremiah resides), the version Red believes is testing her. It was the only explanation that her young mind could come to after the sheer cruelty of Adelaide and living Hell that she was condemned to.  

Jeremiah 11:11 might be the perfect verse to cite to fit the narrative of Us, both with the duplicity of 11:11, and the notion that God can’t (or won’t) save us from what we have created, but Jeremiah 11:10 also plays a big role in the film and explaining the rage of the Tethered. Isolation may have driven them mad, but Red’s guidance, and her fury over the privilege of those above, gives them their purpose.  

The privilege is best illustrated through the Tyler family. The vapid suburbanites are peak Upper Class White America, from their excessive lifestyle to Kitty’s glee over a white woman in a Native headdress in her magazine spread. But the privilege is also illustrated in the Wilson family. Jason refuses to eat what’s on his plate, while Zora complains about continuing to run track. Meanwhile, their Tethered versions have severe burns from the nose down, and revel in the idea of a good run (or chase) respectively, trapped and unable to eat but scraps ot stretch their legs under the sky. The God-given privileges of the Tylers and the Wilsons are forgotten to pray to the American gods – money and technology.  

And so, as with the people of Judah, the evil came upon them. The evil was not plagues or famine, but themselves in their own image. The Tethered rose and waged war on the above, taking back what they so rightfully should have shared. The whole thing could have been avoided if only the original Red had been allowed to join the original Adelaide. “You could have taken me with you,” the original Adelaide had insisted. If just a modicum of kindness had been shown, a war could have been avoided. But kindness is so often spurned for self-preservation and advancement  

Lupita Nyong'o in 'Us' (Credit: Universal)

Lupita Nyong’o in ‘Us’ (Credit: Universal)

Humanity is capable of kindness, but if we were a kind species, things like Hands Across America wouldn’t be necessary. Coming from the above, Red knew what she had to do to get the world’s attention. She knew it wasn’t enough to kill. The Tethered had to make a statement and, much like the chemical weapons tested on the past rabbits of Ōkunoshima that were used against the unwitting Chinese people, they did.  

Continuing their parallels, the Tethered will undoubtedly meet the same fate as the rabbits. We close out the film seeing helicopters surrounding their line stretching from sea to shining sea. They might be news crews but, knowing what we know of America, it seems unlikely that the people from below will be allowed to live for long. But it’d be hard for the army to ensure that they got them all, and humans have been known to procreate like bunnies in times of crisis. There is always a chance the Tethered, like Biblical plagues, can one day come back.

    

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