Introduction
Get Out is a horror film that describes the story of how Chris, an African American, goes to a suburban house to visit and get acquainted with his girlfriends’ parents who are white. Soon, the character finds himself being a part of queer situations and communicating with strange people. It finally appears that Chris’s girlfriend and her family are not the people that they seemed to be, and Chris is in danger. This brief description demonstrates that the movie focuses on racism issues, meaning that it is necessary to find supporting evidence to analyze it. Firstly, Benshoff’s scholarly article is useful because it focuses on what roles minorities play in American horror films. Secondly, Subramanian study focuses on American Horror Story, but it also comments on how monstrous effects are achieved in such movies. Thus, the essay will locate credible evidence to demonstrate that Get Out has an unusual approach to minorities, emphasizing related stereotypes, denying them, and depicting black-skinned heroes as victims rather than monsters.
Analyzing the Minorities’ Portrayal
There is a specific scene that provides evidence to investigate how the film considers minorities. It refers to a garden party that is attended by wealthy and aged individuals (Get Out 00:42:40-00:48:03). This scene offers a few cinematic details to demonstrate that a representative of the minority is dehumanized and viewed as a material object. It relates to all those people who assess Chris’s strength, appearance, and body features, drawing no attention to his personality. Furthermore, his talent as a photographer is understated by saying that the character has “a great eye” (Get Out 00:46:57-00:46:59). It seems that the film tries to demonstrate that minorities often occupy a disadvantaged position in society. It is so because other people judge them based on their experience and existing stereotypes. Thus, Jordan Peele, the film’s director and scriptwriter, has created this piece of art to reveal that some forms of prejudice are present in the modern world even though it is considered equal and developed.
The garden party offers another scene to both describe minorities and make the film have horror features. It relates to the conversation between Chris and Logan King, another black-skinned man (Get Out 00:45:05-00:46:05). On the one hand, this scene demonstrates that when representatives of a minority group enter a majority group, they typically assimilate. This claim is evident because Logan behaves as an aged and aristocratic person. On the other hand, the dialogue creates a horrific effect because seemingly similar individuals do not have any connection; instead, they feel different or other. Benshoff explains that this feeling appears because it focuses on the idea of otherness (31). Since the character cannot identify how and why his dialog partner is different, he starts suspecting that something is wrong with the situation. These two aspects allow for disclosing the thought that it sometimes happens that people forget their origin when they become a part of a different group. The film demonstrates that this process can have adverse consequences because Logan King oppresses being a part of this society and warns Chris to leave the house.
Another scene can shed more light on how minorities are portrayed in the film. It relates to the situation when Chris was hypnotized by Missy Armitage, his girlfriend’s mother (Get Out 00:31:00-00:36:50). This scene reveals that white-skinned Missy uses violence against Chris. This situation demonstrates that the director’s attempt to vanish the existing stereotypes since it goes against the traditional approach in American horror films. According to Benshoff, white characters are traditionally considered “normal,” while representatives of minorities introduce “monsters.” (31). However, the film under analysis demonstrates the opposite attitude toward the distribution of roles. Thus, a white-skinned villain catches and tortures a black-skinned victim. One can claim that the film introduces this aspect to indicate that stereotyping does not always rely on solid reasoning. This aspect also conveys the meaning that society is not a stable phenomenon, meaning that its members can change and develop their qualities. Thus, people should enhance their understanding to avoid judging people by their peculiarities.
Furthermore, the given scene is useful to identify that some representatives of minority groups experience assimilation against their will. The hypnosis paralyzed Chris, while Missy’s words “sink into the floor” made him lose full control over his body and mind (Get Out 00:35:15-00:36:50). Subramanian argues that the destruction of the body and the loss of control over it is typical in horror films (111). This idea is aligned with Benshoff’s thoughts above regarding the concept of otherness. However, people experience this feeling within their bodies this time, which leads to internal struggle. These ideas explain that outside oppression can impact representatives of minorities to assimilate to a majority group. The film demonstrates that this process can be harmful to such individuals. It is so because losing identity results in the fact that people cannot find their place in the world, which makes them suffer adverse emotions.
Finally, the film under analysis is full of contrasting elements, implying some differences between people of various backgrounds, but these discrepancies should not affect human relationships. In particular, the most significant opposite effect is found when the Armitages’ attitude to Chris is compared with their guests’. All these friends only consider Chris a representative of a minority group, while the Armitages behave as if Chris is not black-skinned at all. However, further events have demonstrated that these two approaches can bring adverse consequences for minorities. Thus, the film indicates that black-skinned individuals can face different attitudes in society, but it is not reasonable to take them for granted. Jordan Peele highlights that neither exaggerating a person’s difference nor ignoring it at all is a productive way of social interaction. All the people are different, meaning that it is necessary to pay sufficient respect to others’ characteristic features.
Conclusion
The essay has presented the analysis of the Get Out movie by Jordan Peele. It is worth considering how this horror film portrays minorities because this theme is covered unusually. The given film depicts that minority group representatives can face racism and other kinds of prejudice, which leads to their objectifying and dehumanization. Furthermore, the director has done excellent work to reveal and deny the real-life and cinematographic stereotypes concerning black-skinned people. The essay has relied on the evidence from the film and scholarly articles to support the ideas. One should admit that the application of these sources implies some limitations because they originally focus on different pieces of art. However, they offer reliable comments regarding Get Out because they consider horror films and representatives of minorities in them. In the end, the movie under analysis demonstrates that minority portrayal is not a fixed phenomenon in cinematography. Directors and scriptwriters are free to look for alternative and even surprising ways of introducing minorities in their films. Get Out exemplifies that this experimental approach can result in significant benefits in the form of positive responses.
Works Cited
Benshoff, Harry M. “Blaxploitation Horror Films: Generic Reappropriation or Reinscription?” Cinema Journal, vol. 39, no. 2, 2000, pp. 31-50.
Get Out. Directed by Jordan Peele, performance by Daniel Kaluuya, Universal Pictures, 2017.
Subramanian, Janani. “The Monstrous Makeover: American Horror Story, Femininity, and Special Effects.” Critical Studies in Television, vol. 8, no. 3, 2013, pp. 108-123.