Us Opening Sequence Viewing Questions
Viewing Questions for the first 15 minutes of Us. Explore character, notice suspense creation, and practice with symbols and allusion.
When I first taught Parasite, I had two big goals:
- Teach my students the basics of film form and visual analysis
- Introduce the concepts of social class and the wealth gap
Both goals worked beautifully together — but like most public school teachers know, time is limited, and sometimes you can’t dive as deeply into either one as you’d like. That’s where Us came in.
Jordan Peele’s Us became a follow-up text for my classroom — a film that students were excited to analyze, that pushed their visual literacy skills further, and that offered an opportunity to talk critically about social class, division, and identity in a completely different visual and genre context.
✨ What’s Included
- 📄 Printable PDF with 12 guided viewing questions
- 💻 Google Docs version included for digital use or editable assignments
- 🧠 Designed to focus on the opening sequence of Us (approx. first 10–12 minutes)
🎬 What Students Will Explore
- Framing, camera movement, and point of view
- The symbolic meaning behind set design elements like the Hands Across America ad, white rabbits, and the Thriller shirt
- How sound and visual shifts create suspense
- Addie’s family dynamic and the unsettling early clues to the film’s major themes
- The social commentary embedded in horror and how Peele plays with genre conventions
📚 Skills Developed
- Media literacy & close visual analysis
- Symbolism and thematic interpretation
- Understanding of film technique (framing, sound, editing, etc.)
- Critical thinking about class, division, and metaphor in film
🧑🏫 Perfect For:
- High school English, Film Studies, or Social Justice classrooms
- Classes studying horror, satire, or genre-blending films
- Pairing with texts like Get Out, Parasite, or Lord of the Flies
- Students who’ve seen Get Out and are ready to dig deeper
🔗 Related Resources:
- 🎥 Get Out Opening Sequence Questions – Explore social tension and genre through Peele’s debut
- 🏠 [Parasite First 15-Minute Analysis] – A brilliant pairing to explore space, class, and suspense in Korean cinema
- 👑 Mean Girls + Lord of the Flies Activity – Social structures and satire through teen media
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