Where racism, envy for the physical bodies and abilities of blacks in America, and satire meet, Get Out is born. For those of us who have seen it, go see it again. For those of us who haven’t, what are you waiting for?
Jordan Peele, writer, producer, and director of the film has become the first black writer-director with a $100,000,000 movie debut. People seemed to be very pleased with the fact that the movie was marketed as a horror film, but it is safe to say that Get Out is not your typical scare flick. The film encompasses all entities that you may identify with horror: a road trip to a unknown place in the middle of nowhere, hypnotism, blacks as house slaves to a white family, an interracial couple, and some occasional killings. Scary, right? Well, it just so happens that the scariest part of the whole film is the reality of being black in America. The film is a political commentary on racial issues and tensions in America gracefully highlighting and placing white superiority, privilege, and power in juxtaposition to blacks as the “other” in the forefront.
With a fairly unknown cast, Peele’s great directing and writing, and the amazing acting from the talented performers will leave you wanting more. It’s definitely worth the second and third watch. After all, you may have to because you won’t merely catch all the subliminal messages that Peele laces throughout the film without seeing it again.
In the opening scene of Get Out, Childish Gambino’s “Redbone” is playing, while Chris (Daniel Kaluuya), the lead character, a black man is preparing to go home with his white girlfriend, Rose (Allison Williams) to meet her parents. The lyrics of the chorus playing in the background is a perfect prelude of what the movie has to offer. As the lyrics “But Stay Woke…They gon find you/Gon’ catch you sleepin’,” blares through the screen, it’s almost as if you are being given a warning to Stay Woke during the movie.
The term “Stay Woke” is commonly used in today’s time to encourage social and political awareness. The mission of Get Out is to encourage a social and political awareness of the value of black bodies and lives in America. It is also to encourage white men and women to debunk their own prejudices and racial bias against blacks. Without ruining the film, I’ll say that Get Out makes for the perfect conversation starter and it is a movie that you must go see! Congratulations Jordan Peele for successfully keeping us all surprised and intrigued, and encouraging us to “stay woke.”
Brytnie Devon 