GET OUT

     Once again, I am faced with a genre I tend to avoid: horror. Like it or not, the film classes I have been taking this semester have forced me to widen my horizons when it comes to the media I consume, and no better example comes to mind than my attitude towards horror now. I won't reiterate the same monologue I made about horror movies in my Nope blog post, but I will say that after watching that film, I was much more accepting of horror movies as long as they fit into more of a thriller/suspense genre than the gory sudden jumpscares I associate with the genre.

    So, when my film class told me I'd be watching the infamous Get Out, I initially felt some nerves, but they were quickly cast aside when I recognized the director's name: Jordan Peele. Hey, that's the same guy who directed Nope! I trust this guy to deliver a solid scary movie that plays more on fear and suspense than blood and guts and jumpscares, so I plopped myself in bed, turned down the lights, and made myself a bowl of hummus and chips to eat as I watched the film.

    Giving a summary of the film without spoiling some of the twists that made this a great film is difficult, but I'll try my best anyways. Our main character, Chris, goes on a weekend retreat to his girlfriend's family home in the woods to meet them for the first time, but he feels a little awkward with how they behave, along with the strange behavior of the only other black people on the property, who are the family's servants. As Chris' weekend visit gets extended for a few more days while the family has a bunch of people over, he gets more and more unnerved by how they act towards him, and he gets even further disturbed by how more black people are acting around him in this space. From that point onwards, there are heavy spoilers, but understand that I cannot recommend this movie enough!

    This movie really hit the mark on several aspects: it's a funny movie, it's a scary movie, and it's a great political movie.

    The humor of this film being standout isn't as big of a surprise as you'd think. After all, Jordan Peele really made a name for himself primarily as a comic in his show Key & Peele, where he'd often work with Keegan-Michael Key on short comedy sketches and stand up routines, most of which had some political messaging or was built on the premise of being black men. This same humor pops up frequently in Get Out, whether it be in the form of how "progressive" the girlfriend's white family is when speaking to Chris, or when the movie shifts to Chris' best friend Rod the TSA agent, who keeps calling out the clear horror movie red flags as Chris continues to ignore them, giving the audience a meta character to both laugh at and address their criticisms with Chris' behavior. It's a much funnier film than most will give credit for, but I think it's a vastly underrated aspect of the movie that should be acknowledged.

    In terms of horror, I think it'd better fit under the thriller genre, since the movie mostly plays with unease, anxiety, and suspense rather than an outright threat. For the entire movie, there isn't really a "villain" or monster, just the vague uneasiness that something isn't quite right in the white family that Chris visits. Around halfway through the movie the family takes on a more obvious antagonistic role, acting more menacingly (especially the mother). From that point onwards, the dread becomes more fast-paced anxiety as the situation escalates very quickly, with tasteful violence and creepy dialogue. Was I scared by this movie? Not really... but that might've been why I enjoyed it!

    Politically, there is a lot this movie has to say about race and racial relations between white and black people that frankly I don't think I'm qualified to get into. After all, there are dozens of essays you can write about each interaction between Chris and the white family throughout the movie. An immediate message you can understand is the newfound fetishization of the black form- how black bodies have shifted from being "undesirable" and "lesser" in the eyes of white racists to being objectified and desired, treating their bodies as new coats of paint, fashion statements, et cetera. But again, to properly discuss that would require to spoil the movie and its twists. 

    Another political message I found interesting was how white people seem to have overcorrected with their attitude towards black people, to a point where they seem desperate to prove how not-racist they are. Honestly, I thought that this depiction of "woke" people being a front for a far more nefarious purpose was really strange and unexpected for this film, since it feels like a more conservative critique of left-leaning people who are apologetic to black people to the point of near-idolatry. I think it is important to recognize the flaws in this weird, fetishized approach to black people that some people take part in, but of course this isn't a sign to suddenly be racist. By depicting two extreme sides, I wonder what Peele's depiction of the "proper" attitude to have would be.

    Overall, a fantastic movie to watch. Not scary to the point of me not enjoying it, but still delightfully unnerving, especially with the shocking twists and the exploration of tense racial relations. Would recommend, and now I'm starting to feel like I'm a fan of Mr. Peele's work!