When an American President Threatens to Annex Canada, What Horror Movie Should I Watch?

Original post from Horror Helpline, over on Substack

Canadians know that the majority of Americans don’t want this tension between us. We’re pretty sure you’ve got bigger problems to worry about besides a Canadian takeover and we know you’re not excited about this trade war either. Neither side of the border is happy about the economic instability that all this tariff business has already caused. 

But Canadians are also waiting for Americans to really stand up for us. And until they do, we’re a little more weary of them and their products. We’re not taking chances crossing the border to visit as often and we’re no longer ignoring the purchasing power we have when it comes to goods we make here at home. 

The recent Canadian boycott of America is largely to send a message to the American government but, like I said, we’re hoping Americans take notice and do their part too.

THE HELPLINE

With the whole America-threatening-to-annex-Canada thing, there’s one movie that I think speaks to this moment in a unique way. 

Jordan Peele’s Us (2018).

The film is thought-provoking enough on its own, but in this moment it provides more to consider as we contend with who’s really benefiting from the tension between Canada and the US. 

Is it anyone?

The film itself explores the idea of two, simultaneous worlds: the above-ground Americans and the underground Americans called the ‘Tethered’. These underground people are doppelgangers of their above-ground counterparts and likely a product of a failed government experiment.

The main interpretation of the film is that it’s a critique on how governments forget about marginalized people and attempt to control those who are rising in the hierarchy of society. This control is one theory on why the ‘Tethered’ were created in the first place, but their original purpose is never quite explained in detail. 

What I personally love is that Jordan Peele trusts the audience enough to leave us questioning while also understanding that it’s all about control and subjugation. 

HOW THIS HELPS:

Canadians and Americans are different in some ways but, as a group, look very similar. We share culture, mostly because we share a language and so we watch the same shows, movies, and read the same books, news, and media. Whether you call it the mosaic (Canada) or the melting pot (US), from the outside at least, we kinda quack alike. 

If you’re the current US President, you see the Canadians as the ‘Tethered’: weak, in the dark, and dependent on the US. You’ll identify with the aboveground people and see Canadians as the lowly duplicates of Americans that can be literally ‘walked all over’.

From a Canadian perspective, the Americans are the lowly workers without a lot of rights, in bad health, and ‘under’ a government who has ignored and forgotten them.

In the film, our main character, Adelaide, discovers her doppelganger and by the end, we get a great twist. Without giving too much away, we see what desperation for a better life can inspire us to do. She wants great healthcare, she wants democracy and opportunities, especially because these were promised to her, but never happened. 

Honestly, to me, she’s like the American who wishes Canada would annex the US instead.

As a Canadian, I’d say we’re living the good life. For now, we’ve done what Trump thought we couldn’t do: depend on ourselves. 

But we’re the family in Us that’s on vacation, spending quality time together. We’ve got health care, happiness, family values and democracy still intact—at least for another month until our election when Glob only knows what could happen. 

So the invaders or doppelgangers are coming ‘up’ here to take what we have? Or, as Trump would have it, bring us Canadians a lot of pegs down to join the US in the basement.

Ya, no thanks. That sounds like a horror movie.