Get Out Analysis

Movies and entertainment outlets speak volumes about the current state of a nation’s culture. Cinematic creations in the United States allow small voices to be heard and controversial issues to be addressed. However, a repetitive and monumental issue continues to be addressed, yet continues to persist in our 21st century culture, racial inequalities. Since the inception of the United States, black men and women alike have been disenfranchised at the hands of the “white man” in America. Instead of continuing the conversation today, the issue is continually silenced referencing the successes and achievements of the Civil Rights Movement in the 20th century. Nonetheless, an unfortunate reality looms upon this great land; racially based systems and structures continue to exist in 2015 the in United States. This paper synthesizes three films focused on racial inequalities in different time periods. Separate but Equal (1991), Selma (2015), and Crash (2005) illustrate how influential the Civil War amendments are, while serving as an uncanny reminder of how the racial prejudices during the 20th century continue to exist in our great nation today. Needless to say our nation has made great strides, but still has a long way to go.

I decided to analyze the film “Get Out” because I feel like it’s one of the best films out there. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a film that uses both comedy and horror at the same time while also talking about issues such as race, class and more. Watching the film in the movies, I was constantly on the edge of my seat worried about what’s going to happen next to Chris who is explained later on. I remember even when the audience at the movies were cheering along with characters in the movie which made it even more funnier but entertaining to watch. It’s not often you will see movies that talk about racial issues that are happening today because of the most of the time it’s about stuff from the past such as slavery.In addition, I also liked this film because I could somewhat relate to the main character. He was always apologizing and being understanding in situations that was not his fault but instead the other person which reminds of myself. It’s important for me to analyze this film because I believe there’s many symbols and hidden meanings that I didn't realize while watching the first time around which made me want to dig deeper.

Having two different film critics get the obvious message from this film, must mean that the public had to get it to. After viewing this film weather one agrees with the message or not it still effected them in a way. The audience will not watch this film and instantly change their opinion on the political issue of segregation, it will make them think. The audience will think about this film. In the long run this film got people to think about difference and similarities between races. Kramer is critiquing the audience and their opinions on the segregation issue.

The movie, The Help, is based on the book written by Kathryn Stockett. It was released in 2011 and directed by Tate Taylor (Taylor, 2017). The Help is set in Jackson, Mississippi in the 1960’s, and it is about the experiences black women had as maids for white families. These women decided to risk it all and tell their stories in an effort to show what is was really like for them (Taylor, 2011). The Help illustrates how these women fought racism and prejudice by becoming unified with one another. This paper will address how prejudice, discrimination, stereotyping, and inequality affect the characters and their relationships in the story.

George C. Wolfe’s satirical play, The Colored Museum, elicits emotion from those who read its powerful lines and make its sentiments spring to life on stage. The play is Wolfe’s indelicate way of handling sensitive subjects related to the African American community. The play carries just enough humor to keep its audience captivated and just enough scalding stereotype to keep its audience from growing bored. The satire and parody presented in The Colored Museum depicts the harsh truth about the lives of African Americans.

Wilson stated that ''The truth is that often where there are esthetic criteria of excellence, there are also sociological criteria that have traditionally excluded blacks.'' He then continued on to say ''... raise the standards and remove the sociological consideration of race as privilege, and we will meet you at the crossroads, in equal numbers, prepared to do the work of extending and developing the common ground of the American theater.'' Through these powerful words Wilson is saying that in order to reflect American culture in the theater, the history of African American’s must be reflected. There have always been systems in place that have excluded African Americans and white Americans will never understand the way that sense of oppression felt. White Americans will never understand how it feels to be enslaved, be powerless in protecting your family, and being sold off as property, as Eliza Harris from Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and millions of other slaves felt. Photographing the “American Negro” by Shawn Michelle Smith presented the idea that white Americans have tried to take away the histories of other races in America. People have always turned against embracing the histories of the African Americans because they were seen as alien to their owners. Their different skin tone separated them from the white Americans who thought of them as uncivilized before they were brought to work for them. Ultimately Wilson calls for Black Theaters to prevent the culture of the

Racism is a huge problem in today’s society. Get Out (2017) gives the audience insight of the pressures and treatments a black individual may experience. A Washington Post article written by Bethonie Butler states “As Chris warily interacts with Rose's parents (her dad has the sudden inclination to use such phrases as "my man!") and their inner circle, the story conveys what it means to constantly be on alert in certain settings and company. In other words, what it means to be black in America.” (Washington Post)

Throughout the 1900’s racial prejudice behaviours were adopted during the colonisation of white Europeans in counties deemed undiscovered. The play ‘No Sugar’ written by Jack Davis, published in 1986, encompasses the impacts of racial discrimination inflicted on the Indigenous Australians during the attempted assimilation into Western Society. Similarly Tate Taylor explored issues of racism in America in the film, ‘The Help’, released in 2011. Set in the 1960’s, ‘The Help’ showcases the racial discrimination in Jackson, Mississippi, focusing on the coloured women left with little choice other than to work as a maid in the homes of white families. Both texts present the same ideas being, minority groups, such as Aboriginals and African-Americans, are severely discriminated against in society simply due to their race; and marginalized groups begin a resistance movement within society towards equal rights. The two different texts present the same ideas through conventions such as dialogue, characterisation and colloquial language to highlight the two ideas.

Recently, racism has been widely addressed in earnest documentaries (13th, I’m Not Your Negro) and fact-based dramas (Hidden Figures, Fences, and A United Kingdom). In contrast to these, Get Out is entirely fictional and combines genres with aplomb.

the play are ―rich symbol[s]‖ that convey the barriers of a ―racist society‖ (Kenny par. 18). The

What I also found to be quite interesting and perhaps a weakness of the film, was the sense of performative racism that four of the main white characters utilize and how the makers of the film appeal to such a phenomenon through symbolisms as well. In the movie, there seems to be two main kinds of racism the characters exhibit, one of them being blatant racism and another being subtle racism through microaggressions. For example, Katherine experiences blatantly racist and misogynistic behavior from her coworkers, especially from Paul Stafford, the lead engineer (making groupthink much easier) and Ruth, the only other woman working in the office. On the other hand, Al Harrison and John Glenn appeal to the subtler sides of racism and performative white pity, Glenn going out of his way to shake the hands of the computers as the film attempted to paint a positive, “not-all-whites” picture of inclusion, acceptance and tolerance, a kind of racism that almost all of the white people in the film come to, by its end. Examples of this can be seen in scenes like the one in which Al Harrison smashes down the “coloreds” and “whites” restroom signs as if implying that doing so will abolish all racial inequalities with a couple of blows of blunt force. One could infer it seems, that paired with the groundbreaking stories of these three women, white people being decent human

The cinematic film Get Out, directed by Jordan Peele, presents a scenario in which African Americans are targeted by white people mainly for their physical advantages. The plot follows Chris Washington, a professional African American photographer who goes away for the weekend to visit his white girlfriend’s family. Chris’ best friend, Rod Williams, is a TSA agent who is concerned about Chris going to a white family’s estate. Throughout the movie, Chris discusses to Rod the strange events that occur in the Armitage house. Get out displays how two people use their intelligence and ability to identify social cues to escape from an arduous situation.

In his 2017 horror film Get Out, Jordan Peele not only makes his director debut, but delivers a particularly insightful view into the state of racial affairs in modern America.The stories narrative follows an African American man named Chris, who goes to visit his white girlfriend's parents at their rural home only to uncover a horrifying plot in which the girlfriend and her parents are in fact racist and have been abducting black people and using their bodies in medical experiments involving the transfer of consciousness. On a surface level, the plot of the film has the ability to come across as quite simplistic in scope, an obvious labeling of privileged American whites as racist; however, a deeper analysis reveals careful consideration to

The theories of Laura Mulvey and Bell Hooks share their views on how individuals who attend the cinema have the opportunity to gaze and interrupt the messages that are being portrayed. Based upon their views, spectators can have their own beliefs and views of life and not have to focus on societal practices of racism and sexism. The article “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” critiqued by Mulvey, focused on how sexism and voyeurism were the main theme in terms of how males dominated society and how woman were subservient to males due to castration. In the article “In Black Looks: Race and Representation” Chapter 7, The Oppositional Gaze, Hooks mainly focused on black woman’s identity and touches on both sexism and male/white female dominance over them. Both Mulvey and Hooks help to focus ones attention on how the white male sexist and black racial domination is portrayed by Hollywood in cinema. An example of this portrayal is represented by the movie “The Help”, produced in 2011 and directed by Tate Taylor.

[1] Before I start this essay, I feel the need to remind the reader that I find slavery in all its forms to be an oppressive and terrible institution, and I firmly believe that for centuries (including this one) bigotry is one of the most terrible stains on our civilization. The views I intend to express in the following essay are in no way meant to condone the practices of slavery or racism; they are meant only to evaluate and interpret the construction of slavery in film.