Get Out : Why Jordan Peele's Directorial Debut is a Masterpiece... with Unaddressed Issues

(Spoiler Alert: This blog post contains potential spoilers for the 2017 film Get Out.) 

So, I just finished watching the 2017 horror/thriller Get Out. At a reasonably well-paced runtime of 104 minutes, funnyman Jordan Peele showcases his film-making forte with a compelling commentary on racial issues. And let me get this very clear right off the bat: this is a movie about racism. This one-dimensional characterization of this film might not be palatable to many, but it is what it is. In fact, the "horror" of the film is itself derived from the protagonist experiencing varied and progressively deeper degrees of racism. The "thriller" element is the constant urge of the protagonist to escape this bind; the need to, quite literally, "get out."

Let's discuss how the protagonist faces racial discrimination in various stages, starting from the seemingly harmless "soft racism"; the non-sequitur support of the Obama presidency, the over-friendly "my man" greeting by the girlfriend's dad, and the almost-cute white savior act of the girlfriend not letting the racist cop get at "her man". This "seemingly harmless" banter, however, soon gets an edge, starts to strike even the audience as infuriating, getting worse still at a white-majority house party. Here the protagonist is inundated with inappropriate stereotypical questions charged with racial undertones ( the golfer dude goes out of his way to mention that Tiger Woods is the best; a random gal suggestively inquires of the girlfriend "is it true?", while glancing towards the protagonists pants). The narrative then quickly gets frantic, climaxing with the racism level hitting "slavery-era messed-up", and ending with the usual senseless gore-and-massacre routine of a typical horror film. To clarify a bit: this last line might give the impression that the film itself is a typical horror film - this is far from the truth, for it is anything but. No, the point is that the ending is constructed in the usual way of the genre, and in fact, seems a bit contrived; I'll expand upon this in a bit. 

While this constant discrimination leads the protagonist to a feeling of being trapped, that is not all that contributes to it. There are surrealistic encounters with other black people our protagonist experiences; all of them seeming to be trapped in a trance, feeling some inexplicable helplessness. Another element of the story is the protagonist's best friend who adds fuel to his fears every time they talk and also all the times they can't (for the protagonist fears a conspiracy that he is being cut off somehow). All these elements attempt to heighten the tension of the plot and are very successful in their subtlety.

All this seems good. It is. To be sure, this is not an article denigrating the film in any way. However, there are certain issues regarding this movie that I would like to address. But not just yet. I will first like to point out some more creative genius employed by the filmmakers. One of these elements was an allegorical foreshadowing of the true nature of the Armitage family; hearing the couple's harrowing experience of hitting a deer, the Armitage patriarch expresses his disturbingly deep hatred of the creatures, going as far as to thank them for eliminating one. The subtext is chilling.

Now, having established the merits of the film as it stands, I will bring some problematic points to the forefront, with some suggestions as to how this film could've been something much more profound. For clarity, I'm going to break down my argument into a list of points.

1. The film slightly (and unwittingly) trivializes the issue of soft racism arising from a benevolent place- the very issue of liberal racism that it seeks to address, according to Peele's own admission. The movie in its first half or so brilliantly sensitizes the viewer to the awkwardness and hurt that can be caused by stereotypical small-talk. "They just mean to be polite" is a common defense- it does not erase the fact that these situations are psychologically stressful and, although perhaps consciously unintended, effectively divisive. The film manages to get home this point, but fails to capitalize on it (I'll come to this later). Instead, it does something that dilutes this key takeaway. By painting the Armitages as cultists who essentially practice something akin to slavery, the film opens itself to the following interpretation: benevolent racism also comes from a place of very deep-seated prejudice. Put simply, based on this interpretation of the message of the film, one could say that "anyone who talks street-fighting with you just because you're black, is, in fact, racist to the point of being a slave-owner."
2. The film resolves with the killing of cultists who are modern-day slavery practitioners. Instead of going with this frankly ridiculous ending, the movie could've evolved as a more refined psychological thriller. "The compounding effects of casual racism, stuck in a place with a racially homogeneous population, begin to take a toll on the mental state of the protagonist. Will he successfully escape?" This could've been the plot overview of an alternative movie. Contact me for the screenplay if anyone's interested in making this :)
3. Though not related to the main subject matter, the film does not explicitly make it clear if the Armitages are actual doctors. The notion that shrinks can get into your head and fuck you up gets unwittingly supported. Though the days when Psychiatry was subject to wide-scale skepticism have passed, the movie should've been more careful about making the distinction between the actual profession and the crazy weaponized version being used by Mama Armitage.
4. Racial mistrust: This film is guaranteed to breed it in some way, and it possibly cannot be otherwise. This was a tough line to walk, as to make a statement, the white savior cliche had to be ditched. The supportive girlfriend had to become a cold, ruthless, calculating accessory to the crime. This was a problematic point, but I personally don't have any resolution for it either

...and that's it. That covers most of the (slightly critical) stuff I felt I needed to speak about with regards to this movie.

BTW, this is my first time posting a blog of any sort, and I'm not sure if I can edit it in the future. 

So, just ignore all collapses of spelling, grammar, and structure, if it indeed cannot be edited.

Point out anything off about this, I'll try to work on it in the future. ∎

AB