History WMG / Us2019

* If we take Red's story to be true, the Tethered were created as government experiments. But if we take the Hopi creation story as an accurate description of how the Tethered came to be could a they weren't originally designed as one-to-one copies of humans. Maybe they were originally small bugs that would follow their targets, or dogs (remember, dogs descend from wolves) who would spy on people inside their owners home. After a lot of trial and error, the government settled on the "cloning" idea, and abandoned them in that filthy lab. But what about the "great calamity"? Well, remember when I said earlier that in some stories, the Hopi emerged to the surface after a war that killed all the "bad people"? Maybe the only way to stop that war was to come up to the surface and take out all that aggression onto the humans who abandoned them...

[[WMG: There's something else underground beyond the Tethered's lab, and part of the reason why Red began planning the takeover of the surface world is because that "something else" was going to destroy them]]
* Now, I realize this is a stretch, but after rewatching the movie with my stepdad (who is partially Native American), he noted that the story that the "Shaman's Vision Quest" narrator is recounting is the creation myth of the Hopi Nation in Arizona. In that story, the Hopi's ancestors lived underground much like the Tethered did, and dug tunnels to the surface with the help of the Spider Woman (who is mentioned by the narrator) to avoid a great calamity that destroyed their underground world. In some tellings, it's a flood, but in other stories it's a curse that causes them to fight each other...or even some kind of monster.

The Tethered can't be the only things down there: there has to be something else. And once they've made it to the surface...who knows what that something else will do?

* In short, If ''Film/GetOut2017'' was a Deconstruction of positive discrimination towards Black People by White People, and the idea that being "blind to race" or InnocentlyInsensitive might not be so innocent, ''Us'' will be a Deconstruction of NoTrueScotsman directed at Black People by other Black People, and the idea that acting like EverythingIsRacist might be unhealthy in a situation where race genuinely doesn't matter. By that same [[JustForPun token,]] ''Us'' is also a Reconstruction of the TokenMinority, with the message that identifying with a group that is not predominantly of your race is a perfectly acceptable way of life.

* Clones with an extreme case of CloningBlues: The reason they're attacking the originals is to become their own person, free from the shackles of being identified as a copy.

Red's claims that [[spoiler: Tethered are soulless monsters with no emotions is something she made up so she could feel superior to them. Notice that Adelaide's half human children act almost indistinguishable from humans while Red's half human children act exactly like Tethered even though both are [[HalfHumanHybrid the same type of being]]. Furthermore, Adelaide is shown to have sympathy for Red's Tethered children even though they aren't even her kids and are trying to murder her family. Tethered probably do have some differences from normal humans (note Jason's AmbiguousDisorder and that most Tethered seem to be MadeOfIron), but they do seem to be capable of emotions and love in contrast to what Red claims.]]

* In short, If ''Film/GetOut2017'' was a Deconstruction of PositiveDiscrimination towards Black People by White People, and the idea that being "blind to race" or InnocentlyInsensitive might not be so innocent, ''Us'' will be a Deconstruction of NoTrueScotsman directed at Black People by other Black People, and the idea that acting like EverythingIsRacist might be unhealthy in a situation where race genuinely doesn't matter. By that same [[JustForPun token,]] ''Us'' is also a Reconstruction of the TokenMinority, with the message that identifying with a group that is not predominantly of your race is a perfectly acceptable way of life.

** The facility did seem well-maintained. In addition to how clean it was, the place had electricity, with all the lights and the escalator perfectly working. The rabbits were kept in small separate cages, so there must have been someone feeding and breeding them. Although the Tethered were "abandoned" in the sense that no one remembered them for any meaningful project anymore, they were probably still being kept with minimal maintenance until someone might figure out how to get rid of them. It explains little Red being unable to leave (because the staff thought Red was one of the Tethered and wouldn't let her go), scissors for everyone (provided by the staff, for whatever reason), and the squeaky-clean jumpsuits (

** The facility did seem well-maintained. In addition to how clean it was, the place had electricity, with all the lights and the escalator perfectly working. The rabbits were kept in small separate cages, so there must have been someone feeding and breeding them. Although the Tethered were "abandoned" in the sense that no one was planning any significant project with them anymore,

** One location in the trailer is a massive, seemingly endless hallway full of rabbits. Every single one of them is white, except for [[TokenMinority a single black rabbit.]] For obvious reasons, all of the rabbits coexist and do not care about the color difference. Another shot shows cages of rabbits, and again only one of them is black, but now you can see rabbits of other colors, including [[MixedAncestry white ones with black spots.]] Whatever the rabbits are going through, they are going through it together, and the color differences again mean nothing.

** A MatchCut is shown of Zora dancing ballet in both the strange hallway and on a stage. Presumably the former is of clone!Zora dancing in a cloning facility while the real Zora dances in a public place, implying that the doppelgängers inherit the hobbies and interests of the originals, showing that they're actually NotSoDifferent. For bonus symbolism points, ballet was originally developed throughout France and Russia, two countries with a more than 80% white population.

** [[spoiler:It's also possible that she doesn't have a clear or healthy understanding of what love is and the reason she married Gabe is because in terms of his personality he is astonishingly similar to Adelaide's father. They are both extremely immature, selfish and slightly dumb but good natured and because Adelaide had no understanding of romantic love until her adolscents she she might have have pursued a relationship with Gabe because she didn't understand what romantic love was and so assumed that romantic attraction was something similar to familial love.]]

** It's also possible that she doesn't have a clear or healthy understanding of what love is and the reason she married Gabe is because in terms of his personality he is astonishingly similar to Adelaide's father. They are both extremely immature, selfish and slightly dumb but good natured and because Adelaide had no understanding of romantic love until her adolscents she she might have have pursued a relationship with Gabe because she didn't understand what romantic love was and so assumed that romantic attraction was something similar to familial love.

** It's also possible that she doesn't have a clear or healthy understanding of what love is and the reason she married Gabe is because in terms of his personality he is astonishingly similar to Adelaide's father. They are both extremely immature, selfish and slightly dumb but good natured and because Adelaide had no idea understanding of romantic love until her adolscents she she might have have pursued a relationship with Gabe because she didn't understand what romantic love was and so assumed that romantic attraction was something similar to familial love.