Jordan Peele's Horror Film "Get Out"
Jordan Peele’s horror film titled "get out" is one of the most educative works which indirectly reveals events that happen in some Americans lives. Get Out narrates a story of Chris Washington, a photographer who spend a weekend meeting his girlfriend’s parents at their home in a New York upstate. However, the visit did not end well because he became a captive in their house and Rose forgot all about him while she resumed the business of identifying the next victim to lure into captivity. The encounters with the groundskeeper Walter and Maid Georgina unlocked an elaborate therapeutic hypnosis scheme and a brain transformation that aimed at prolonging lives of the weak white people. While visiting the home, Chris had seen Walter charge at him at night like a person chasing an invisible enemy (Peele 34). Additionally, he had witnessed Georgina staring at her reflection in a state of a zombie. Just like Chris, both workers were African-Americans while Missy and Dean, the girlfriend's parents were both white. Indeed, the author applied symbolism in various instances to portray racism in America.
The Symbolism in the Film "Get Out" and How it Portrays Racism in America
The Sunken Place
The sunken place appeared in the play as a deep and dark abyss where Chris was floating when Missy hypnotized him. As he was aimlessly retreating backward through his minds recess, he experienced an exceptional feeling that represented the Black Americas views and perception. This theme has been evident in American history as an indicator of slavery right from the Tuskegee experiments to the mass incarceration. It further exhibited the idea that horrible and denigrating issues emanated from the white ownership of black bodies (Peele 11). While in this abyss, Chris felt immobilized, powerless and vulnerable in the Missy’s trance grips that emanated from the lie that the hypnosis would help in curing his addiction to nicotine. A scrutiny of the film indicates that Chris gets “sunken” every time he trusts his well-being to the whites.
The Symbolism of the Deer
The deer was also a symbol of racism in the movie. One of the deer-themed scenes occurred at the beginning of the story when rose hit a deer while driving upstate. Chris ventured onto the woods to establish whether it was dead and once they finally arrived at her parents' home, Roses father started a bizarre story of how he hated the creatures (Peele 9). He further explained that all dead deers were a victory to humankind. Such revelations send shivers down Chris' spine, and it was later evident that the deer represented several issues. First, Chris mother had died as a result of a hit and run accident and left him at age 11. He felt guilty that he had not reported her as a missing person.
The Symbolism of Light
On the other hand, the family members perceive Chris and deer as resemblances of each other. According to Rose, the black men and women she had dated were fit for hunting and immortalizing as trophies just like the deer that hang on the wall in the room of Chris captivity (Peele 79). The fact that Dean perceived deers as pests but still kept them around him was an indication that he despised the blacks he compared to the animals.
Rose's Actions
The light also symbolized the feeling of being black and later realizing that he was not the only one around. At first, Chris felt that things were not right and felt uncomfortable in the house of his girlfriend’s parents and their friends. However, he felt relieved after seeing other blacks within the same compound but later came to realize that the whites had lobotomized and implanted their brain types in the black servants (Peele 27). The only thing which could revive their memories about the reality was Chris camera which would make them realize their blackness. Such is an indication that the whites did not value black peoples thinking and they opted to change their brains so that they could act white despite being black.
Racism in Rose's Actions
Racism was also evident in Roses actions, but she always feigned innocence to avoid suspicion from her prey. Although she would pretend to be in love, her main aim was to lure the black people into captivity and ensure that they separated from the whites. While Chris was at the basement fighting for his life, Rose was upstairs in her bedroom snacking on milk and cereal as she listened to dirty soundtracks. The scene revealed her dressed in a white dress shirt and riding pants while taking the white milk and colored cereals separately. Therefore, it is evident that the colored cereals symbolized the black people while the while milk was Roses folks (Peele 62). Taking them separately was a symbolism of what was in her heart: that the two races could never mix. On the other hand, her all-white wardrobes contradicted the innocence she always portrayed. While consuming the snacks, Rose was online shopping for her next victim. Therefore, the witty use of color white was the author’s way of showing how the whites discriminated against the blacks.
Annotated Bibliography
Boger, Jillian. "Manipulations of Stereotypes and Horror Clichés to Criticize Post-Racial White Liberalism in Jordan Peele’s Get Out." The Graduate Review 3.1 (2018): 149-158.
The author, Jillian Boger who is pursuing a Master of Arts in English completed the writing through the guidance of Dr. Kimberly Davis in 2017. Additionally, the author plans to continue a Literature Ph.D. by the fall of 2019. In this article, the author observed that the movie by Peele makes the horror genres and the white liberalism notions items of satire. Subverting the traditional horror tropes and clichés the way Carol Clover indicated in Final girl enables Peele to imitate the genre and re-orient the viewers against the blackness stereotypes (Boger 151). While evaluating the subversion of expectations, it is crucial to identify the codeswitching moments.
Additionally, it will be vital to analyze how Chris Washington challenges the black masculinity stereotypes in various media. According to the author, it could be essential to apply the fear of assimilation in the discussion about cold war criticisms or body snatching. Boger further observed that despite the temptation to dismiss Peele’s choice of this particular genre as a pure satire vehicle, he addresses a horrific reality (Boger 153). Moreover, utilizing black bodies in the elevation of white liberals could be only symbolic in the outside world. However, the literal approach would make it hard to distinguish horror from body snatching. Since horror complies with the perpetuation of negative stereotypes regarding the back bodies, it is a perfect model which enables criticizing the black men’s media representations as well as white liberalism.
Hughes, Brooke Dianne-Mae. Our Sunken Place:" Post-Racial" America in Jordan Peele's Get Out. Diss. State University of New York at Buffalo, 2018.
Hughes critically analyzes the post-racial America as depicted in Jordan Peele’s movie get out. He observed that as a society, people have become victims of constant racist cases that dominate political frameworks and popular cultures. The author highlighted various matters with a focus on the pit within which the United States is trapped. According to Hughes, Peele’s work represented the current gothic genres from the south in a manipulated way to reveal how the slavery scars can exhibit the contemporary representations of the country’s socio-political ideologies. The author also looked at the death contract of blackness aspect which highlighted the depiction of black participants within the film. It also analyzed how Peele inverted the white final girls’ tradition from the slashed subgenre to a horror movie (Hughes 44). Get out highlights the Blacks population movies and contrasts the normative approaches of whiteness that the horror genre reinforced. The paper further analyzed the film’s highlighting of the post-Obama colorblind attitudes as well as the links with the “black lives matter” movement. As such, it is easier to reflect the movie through the application of the postulations by Charles Mills regarding white liberalism and the reality that black people in modern America face discrimination on a daily basis. All the challenges occur despite the numerous societal attempts to indicate that they live in a post-racial country. However, the author observed that various people have stigmatized the horror genre due to its focus on violence and the anxiety it instills. Both the audiences and critics dismiss the genre due to its patterns of tropes and the depictions of powerful, gruesome ways that people apply to bring out the worst in each other.
Research Proposal
Racism is a practice that has existed in the US for the longest time possible. However, it is hard to notice because unlike in the past when the habit was open, people currently disguise it in different ways and use subtle approaches to mistreat the blacks.
Rationale
The rationale of this research is to establish how Peele applies symbolism in the movie to depict racism in America. Additionally, the research aim will be to reveal various ways in which racism occurs.
Objective
The paper's aim is to make revelations about the various racism practices that go unnoticed in different American regions.
Research Questions
In which ways does racism occur in America?
How does racism affect the black populations in America?
Are there measures in place to eliminate the act?
Literature Review
Lauer (2017) observed that unlike any film, Get Out narrates a universal story of how it feels like for a black man to date a white woman in the US. Although many perceive it as a privilege and sophisticated process, it later emerges that there is no comfort in their lives. However, the movie provides frightening, educative, and inspiring sentiments at the same time. Additionally, it combines mystery and horror without too much reliance on jump scares.
Research Methodology
The study will utilize library searches and secondary materials from various authors.
Anticipated Findings
The research will establish the real happenings in the American scene and confirm that many people have been suffering silently in the hands of oppressors who still practice racism.
Works Cited
Boger, Jillian. "Manipulations of Stereotypes and Horror Clichés to Criticize Post-Racial White Liberalism in Jordan Peele’s Get Out." The Graduate Review 3.1 (2018): 149-158.
Hughes, Brooke Dianne-Mae. Our Sunken Place:" Post-Racial" America in Jordan Peele's Get Out. Diss. State University of New York at Buffalo, 2018.
Lauer, Samantha. "Get Out: Peele's First Film Exposes and Teaches." Cinematic Codes Review 2.2 (2017): 81.
Peele, Jordan. Get out. 2017. http://www.universalpicturesawards.com/site-content/uploads/2017/09/GET-OUT.pdf
