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'Get Out': A Dissection

A different take on Jordan Peele's 2017 Oscar-nominated horror satire.

By Carlos GonzalezPublished 6 years ago 8 min read
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Oscar nominee Daniel Kaluuya in a fan-made art piece.

Hello, one and all.

So, I bit the bullet and finally watched Get Out after it was announced that it received four Academy Award nominations including Best Picture and a nod for it's charismatic lead star, UK actor Daniel Kaluuya, whose main credit is a teen dramedy in Britain called Skins and the Zack Snyder action-adventure, Sucker Punch.

Writer/director Jordan Peele (of Key & Peele comedy fame) has been only the fifth African American director to be nominated in the Best Director category as well as his original screenplay, which is a safe bet it has a lock on, but more on that later.

I'll be the first to admit that Peele was certainly a good choice to meld horror with some effective social commentary. His sleeper smash hit from February of 2017 was certainly the talk of the town and critics and audiences eating all 100 minutes of it.

Who would've thought that a horror film, sprinkled with acidic humor and deriving much from classic 1970s horror cinema, all the while keeping its thumb firmly planted on all things race and it's perceived dent on society, would make such a splash? I had erroneously made the prediction that Andy Muschetti's adaptation of Stephen King's IT would get some consideration from the Academy. It didn't—and in fairness, I figured the grotesque nature of the film was probably why it was destined for a definite snub. IT was full-throttle horror. Get Out was more subtle and aimed for satire...I think.

For my two cents, or perhaps, three or four; Get Out certainly has its strong points. Peele has clearly done his homework. He cited George A. Romero's Night Of The Living Dead as an inspiration, but to me, he has two, maybe three or four films as points of reference. Namely, Stanley Kramer's 1967 drama, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner and Bryan Forbes classic 1975 horror/comedy, The Stepford Wives, which was based on the Ira Levin novel.

I can also cite Brian De Palma's 1973 horror/thriller, Sisters, which had an interracial romance theme and even dealt with hypnosis and Wes Craven's 1991 thriller, The People Under The Stairs. I'll even go for broke in assuming Dario Argento's Suspiria from 1977 was also a major source of inspiration. Peele knows his horror as well as he does his comedy. Major plus column.

But, and this is my third or fourth cent, Peele has a message. Maybe I'm reading it wrong, after all, the film is largely satire, but Quentin Tarantino; a Caucasian filmmaker also directed Django Unchained from 2012, and it too had many points of reference; spaghetti westerns and blaxploitation to name a few. I personally found it the most racially repellent film ever made, and (surprise, surprise) was indeed a multiple Oscar winner in 2013. Anyway, both films had a message. Fear race. Yes, indeedy, you read me right. Fear race. More on this later.

Teaser Poster #1

Universal Pictures/Blumhouse Productions.

Main Poster #2 (2017)

Universal Pictures/Blumhouse Productions.

Plot gist and summary. A young black man (Lakeith Stanfield) is stranded in a non-disclosed suburb, presumably mostly white, calling a friend and seeming weirded out. He's then grabbed by an assailant and knocked out and pulled into a car. A strange, jaunty 1930s-style folk song, "Run Rabbit Run" by Flanagan and Allen plays at full blast out of the car, clearly setting an almost eerie tone and keeping us in suspense. Cut to, Chris Washington (Kaluuya) and his Caucasian girlfriend, Rose Armitage (Allison Williams of Girls fame) and they're obviously on their way to meet the girlfriend's family. The expected question is asked. "Do they know I'm black?" Chris inquires. Rose makes it very clear that her family is ultra-liberal with allegiance to Post-Obama. Uh-huh. Moving on.

They are driving to the Armitage estate. Chris calls his best friend, a TSA agent (Lil Rey Howery) who clearly provides the hip comic relief. He jokes about whites wanting to turn black people into "sex slaves" (a major hint about where this is all going) and so on and so forth. They joke, smile, kiss and canoodle—then, a deer hits the car; they veer off and stop. Washington eyes the deer with pity and sadness. A major hint as with any horror film that something dreadful is waiting in the wings.

We're at the estate now. Neurosurgeon Dean Amitage (the always resolute Bradley Whitford) and Missy Armitage (Catherine Keener, in a performance that is borderline Kathy Bates in Misery good), aka Ma and Pa, are so sweet and eager to meet their daughter's new beau.

Words like "my man" and "thang" are thrown around and yes, the aforementioned former President Barack Obama is indeed, idolized and idealized. He meets her brother, Jeremy (Caleb Landrey Jones); a hothead lacrosse player who is definitely forward with his racist views. Chris is a smoker, but tries to quit for Rose's sake. Missy is a hypnotherapist who suggests Chris try a quit-smoking session. A tea cup and spoon substitutes for the pocket watch. There's a hidden tragedy in Chris' past that is a trigger. In a terrifying sequence, we see Missy jackrape Chris' mind and the ultimate goal of the session—submission.

As the plot thickens (literally), Chris makes an effort to connect with the few black people in the estate; not surprisingly, the help. Needless to say, they are walking shells of their former selves, shedding tears on cue and even throw menace his way. He meets a blind party guest; an art dealer (a terrific Stephen Root) who may be the key to Chris understanding the unease all throughout the estate.

He then meets Logan King (Stanfield), who as luck would have it is the young black man kidnapped in the opening scene. He too is a walking zombie and in the arms of a white older woman debutante. A smartphone camera flash and suddenly, King is lucid, frightened and brazen, giving Chris the titular warning. More than enough events have passed that force Chris to re-evaluate the situation; even that of his girlfriend's actual "love" for him and they make a break for it. Then, as horror movies will often delineate when the final act approaches—all bets are off.

First, the good news. I didn't hate the film. I enjoyed the surfacey story, the skill used to tell it and all the clever horror riffings and Kaluuya's terrific performance. Peele has a keen eye for the craft of filmmaking and he's clearly enjoyed himself making it. That's fantastic. A filmmaker should be proud of his work. There are key scenes of pure horror that creep and unnerve. The initial Keener/Kaluuya hypnosis scene. The bizarre "Bingo" scene. The big reveal and of course, a great use for a deer's head on the study wall. Most of it works. I, in fact, predict Peele will win for his original script hands down. If I'm wrong, it'll be a first.

Now the bad news...

***FAIR WARNING - Do Not Read If You Anger Easily. I Fully Intend To Do So***

Peele's message is as plain as (forgive the pun) black and white. The message is...fear white people. Fear them. It seems that it pops up far more often than any positive message about interracial love and romance does. I get that it's a horror/comedy/satire, but what's the basis of horror? Fear. Fearing something. Something unholy, evil, ungodly etc. etc. The target of fear here? Whites.

It's out of the bag. And before I get flooded with hate mail, I also stake claim that Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained was the most abhorrently racist movie ever made. It's message: black men avenge their past through violence. That's it. No tricks. No bells or whistles. Never mind that Jamie Foxx and Kerry Washington were good in it. Never mind that Leonardo DiCaprio eluded an Oscar nomination and never mind that Christoph Waltz won a second Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. It's racism passing for Grand Guignol entertainment. I have since disavowed the film and will never watch another Tarantino film ever; not even his seminal 1994 movie Pulp Fiction which breathed life into John Travolta's then-sagging movie career.

Get Out is trickier. It has likability. It's made with skill and if the themes were explored deeper, would have something stronger to say about black/white relationships and even love. But, bearing in mind that it's trapped by a set genre, obviously that would be like asking Mel Gibson to direct a solid film about LGBT civil rights (yeah Ramon, that'll happen). Knowing him, he'd make a terrific film about the benefits of gay conversion therapy. A 2016 drama by Jeff Nichols called Loving, based on the true story of a married interracial couple in the deep segregated south, while admittedly slow, was poignant and effective and showed us what progress has been made in our tragic civil rights calendar.

One final thought to stew on. If this had been a story about a white young man courting a pretty black girl and taking her to meet his parents and she being subjected to a sort of a family KKK shit show with a similar end result; would the film not be considered horribly racist toward blacks?

On that happy note, wishing Peele and company all the best this awards season.

Rated R for graphic bloody violence (including with said deer's head) and pervasive language including sexual references.

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About the Creator

Carlos Gonzalez

A passionate writer and graphic artist looking to break into the BIG TIME! Short stories, scripts and graphic art are my forte! Brooklyn N.Y. born and raised. Living in Manchester, Connecticut! Working on two novels now!

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