How does “GET OUT” Reveal the secrets of Racism?
Jordan Peele’s directorial debut film “Get Out” (2017) is a psychological thriller that takes an uncanny approach to tackle racism. The horror film begins with an African American protagonist, Chris, visiting his white friend, Rose’s parents, in an affluent suburb. The storyline focuses on the subtle form of racism that comes from liberal-minded folks who promulgate their love for black people but on the inside, they look down upon them and want to control them.
If we dig deep below the surface, we find some extraordinary imagery and symbolism in this exceptional script. One of the most evident emblems was a silver spoon, which represents a wealthy upper-class family. When Chris sits down with Rose’s mother to have a cup of tea, Rose’s mother, while asking about his traumatic past, continues to stir her tea with a silver spoon and emotionally disturbs him. This imagery refers to how rich, white families suppress the consciousness of black people by using their dark past against them and turn them into slaves.
Peele takes an intriguing approach to portray the feelings of a black man who has fallen victim to microaggression. After the scene of hypnosis, Chris falls into a deep and uncontrollable dark place in his mind, which perfectly represents discrimination based on color and race. This peculiar place in his mind also embodies the mass imprisonment of black people in the past.
In Get Out, Chris finds out that a flash from a cell phone camera can help black people escape from the previously mentioned sunken place. This idea represents how the media has recorded and captured the cases of racially motivated police brutality. This imagery also resonates with what happened to George Floyd (2020). The viral video of his killing motivated the “Black Lives Matter” campaign and helped black people to fight for their rights.
Racial gas lighting was a significant theme around which the movie revolves. In the beginning, Chris was quite optimistic about this white family, ignoring the subtle racial statements from Rose’s parents. However, the second half conveyed that for a black man to survive, he needs to remain alert to manipulation, gaslighting, and discrimination.
The audiences of mainstream and high-rated films rarely see a black man’s perspective. Get Out does something distinctive and depicts the covert form of racial tension that persists in white liberal families instead of commonly known overt forms. This clever representation of racial anxiety faced by African American minorities is what makes Get Out so unique, rated 7.7 on IMDB and grossed $255.4 million in Box office.
