This week we’re talking about “Get Out,” an excellent horror film that also provides poignant social commentary on racial issues in America.
Jordan Peele’s first film,“Get Out” (2017) is about Chris Washington (Daniel Kaluuya) meeting his girlfriend’s parents for the first time. The driving tension in the beginning of the film is that Chris is African American, while Rose Armitage (Allison Williams) and her family are white.
Racial aspects are incredibly prevalent throughout the film. Although overt moments of racism do occur during the film, such as when Chris and Rose talk to the police after they hit a deer, or during a scene which mirrors a slave auction, the film focuses more on micro-aggressions. These micro-aggressions can be seen explicitly when Chris meets “friends” of the Armitages. Their friends, who are predominately white, make comments to Chris about his “genetic makeup” or that black culture is “in.”
The micro aggressions of “Get Out” are coupled with the racial attitude exemplified by Dean Armitage (Bradley Whitford), Rose’s dad. Rose initially warns Chris that her dad isn’t racist, and that he will say that he voted for Obama for both terms. This statement hints at the twisted logic that just because you voted for an African American president, racial issues must be a thing of the past.
What I found most interesting about the film is how race and the horror genre work together. Robin Wood has done research on the horror film genre, specifically with the idea that the monster in horror films represents the return of the repressed. Horror is about taboo cultural anxieties, making it hard for most horror films to do well in markets in which they were not produced.
One of the most repressed conversations in America are about slavery and race. These concepts go back as long as this country and a culture have been around; however, these ideas are still considered taboo and thus not discussed.
Peele takes the idea of the return of the oppressed and runs with it. “Get Out” deals with race, though not in a conventional fashion. Typically the repressed in horror films are represented as the villain, not the victim. “Get Out” shows the return of the oppressed not as African Americans but as the return of slavery and racism, bringing a new perspective for many moviegoers. Many people are not accustomed to African American lead protagonists.
“Get Out” is an excellent horror film that also provides poignant social commentary on racial issues in America. The use of the horror genre allows for Peele to use repressed anxieties that Americans feel about race. This manipulation of our fears allows for a good film and hopefully conversations about race at large.