I love thriller movies. They’re literally the best genre, in my humble opinion. They have the opportunity to provide everything — action, horror, humor, romance, and even some indie vibes — all in one two hour package.
I had seen the trailer for Get Out in early November on a friend’s Facebook page. I was immediately intrigued; I was taking a racial and ethnic relations course and figured the content would be relevant to the course. I was pretty sad when it came out that the movie wouldn’t be released until I was done with the course; however, I put it on my ‘watch eventually’ list and moved on.
And then the movie came out.
Boasting a 99% from Rotten Tomatoes, my roommates immediately wanted to go see it when we were in Orlando for Spring Break (thank you Groupon!). In a packed theater in Universal Studios, the seven of us settled in to watch it.
I had heard a short run down from a co-worker a few days before break had started, so I knew what to expect. Regardless, it has been one of the BEST MOVES OF 2017 SO FAR I PROMISE YOU GO SEE IT.
No, but literally. I loved it so much that I’m going to give you 5 reasons you need to go see it.
It’s satirical.
The entire movie you get strange vibes from Rose’s family. From her whole “Naw, I didn’t tell me white parents from rural-nowhere-land that my new boyfriend is black” before leaving on this trip to the dad’s “And that’s the basement, we keep the door locked, don’t go down there” trip, it’s just a weird feeling from the beginning, and you know it was done to mock horror movies. Chris has plenty of opportunities to “get out” but never takes them, or threatens to, and ends up stuck in a bad situation.
It’s humorous.
Every horror movie has that funny character who seems dumb but is actually smart as hell and has all the answers. Get Out casted Milton Rowery (The Carmichael Show, Friends of the People) as this character, the ultimate hero of the film, swooping in at the last minute to save Chris from being killed by Rose.
You get an emotional surge of anger towards the characters.
From Rose being the worst actor in the world, to her brother just being a weirdo-KKK guy that’s obsessed with brutality, to these random white people buying black people to transplant their brains into, you just get angry. Literally, our entire theater was yelling and clapping and interacting with the movie like we were there or something.
The symbolism is on point.
From the Greek letters on the outside of Rose’s family’s house to the remorse Rose doesn’t feel to the deer that she hits driving there, the symbolism is everywhere. And it’s glorious. I’m not even going to get into the whole scene where Rose keeps her fruit loops separate from her milk.
Yet.
And, of course, the racial implications.
There’s literally so much I could do with this. Literally SO MUCH. Buzzfeed does a great job talking about them in this article, but I’m going to just highlight a few of my thoughts.
First, there’s a slight possibility that the movie argues that blacks are the superior race. Rose’s grandfather was beat by a black man in the Olympic finals in the 1930s, maintaining that blacks are superior athletically. And, before the brain transplant’s supposed to happen, Chris asks the man who bought his body as a vessel “Why black people?” and the man responds something similar to (paraphrased in Royall’s signature explanation voice) “Idk man, ya’lls bodies are just best for it.” Their bodies are better than other white peoples or Asians (the stereotypical smart ones). Rose’s brother remarks early on in the movie “With you genetic makeup and my medical expertise, you could be a beast,” showing his admiration and fascination at the superiority of the black race.
But is it? Because all of this could be skewed the opposite way. Rose’s grandfather was beat by a black man, and her dad remarks “And he almost forgot about it.” Almost, but not enough to want to use black people to transplant white people’s brains into them. They’re only seen as vessels; the man who bought Chris said that the entire motor functions would be his and not Chris’. Chris was just the body. Rose’s brother — who I’ve decided is just a lunatic that deserved everything coming to him — calls Chris a beast. He doesn’t think he’s human — similar to all the white people at the “party” *cough* slave auction *cough* Chris was at. They objectified him — “Black is in now” and that weird white lady asking Rose if “it was true” (and I know all ya’ll know what I’m talking about here) — in uncomfortable and demeaning ways that insinuate Chris not being a human being or capable of being affected by their words.
GO SEE Get Out. Jordan Peele is the first black writer AND director combo to have a $100 million debut movie at the box office. The FIRST ONE. His movie, and his success, is a milestone that’s long overdue for the black community, and the film he did it with is extraordinary.
GO. SEE. IT.