Recently in class we started watching the film Get Out by Jordan Peele. This film is about an African American man, meeting his white girlfriend’s family for the first time. Within the first ten minutes of this film you get the sense that something is going to happen however you’re not sure what. That is one reason why the film is just so terrifying. Since you are confused throughout the movie and yet at the same time you are also dealing with such large topics; the main one being racism. And since racism is so relevant today and has such a crucial role in our history and current day it strikes a chord with most people.

To get a small sense of what the movie is about here is the trailer:

This movie was released just as US President Obama was coming to his final term meaning race was very much so a topic on peoples mind’s. Another idea people were most likely subconsciously aware of was that white people didn‘t even realize they were being racist, and yet they were which is very present throughout the film. For example in one of the first scenes when Chris (the main character) is meeting his girlfriend’s dad the father mentions that “he would have elected Obama for another 4 years”. This is racist in the fact that he is generalized that automatically all African Americans support Obama, and he has the obligation to say he supports them. This point also plays into why the movie is so horrifying. That it is mind bending and causes you to doubt if what you are seeing or hearing is true. And that people can say one thing and mean another or even subconsciously mean something else so truly you can never trust anyone.

As for the actual cinematography of the movie, you get the feeling as a viewer that you are seeing things you maybe shouldn’t see. In another aspect however you feel that you are being restricted in what you see. You feel as though you are not getting the whole story and something is being held back from you, and in the end if you watch the movie you will realize that’s true. At the end you realize that the family (girlfriend included) is basically hypnotizing black people and then auctioning them off to people, so they can transfer their brain essentially into the hypnotized body. I realize that doesn’t make complete sense, and trust me its just as complicated as it sounds. If you want to understand it a bit more go ahead and watch it!

Looking back at the film you begin to realize everything has a purpose and nothing is simply “filler” or something to waste time. For example in order to save himself at the end of the film Chris fills his ears with cotton he scratched out of the cushion. This is a representation of the cotton trade and the role African Americans had in the world’s history. Anther instance when it’s not until later you realize there was a hidden meaning was when another black man being controlled was wearing clothes that looked very similar to Emit Till’s clothes and what drew him back to reality was the flash of a camera. To me that seems very obvious that they are referencing Emit Till’s death.

In an article by VOX called “Get out is a horror film about benevolent racism. It’s spine-chilling.”  They talk about how the film draws on many films such as Silence of the Lambs or the Shining where you are being controlled and now you are however can do nothing about it which to most is a terrifying thought. It’s dealing with that feeling that you are being turned into an object instead of a human.

The feeling of being turned into an object and dehumanized is also an aspect we have been looking at while reading Mary Shelly’s, Frankenstein. The creature just wants to be accepted by others however is at first controlled by Victor Frankenstein. In both story’s the characters have no control over the unfair stereotype put on them which then creates the rest of the story and the mystery. A difference however is that Frankenstein isn’t as complex and complicated as Get Out however that makes sense because as time has gone on it is harder and harder to scare people and so now lots of horror movies are more mind benders.

Overall this film was definitely interesting and more then you would expect it to be. It goes over topics such as racism and individuality and makes you think about not only yourself but society in general. I would never have expected this from a horror movie however it is opening up my eyes as to how significant and reflecting films and specifically horror films can be on society and yourself.