Given the political climate our country is in right now, the movie "Get Out" couldn't have come out at a better time. On the surface, the premise of this movie seems vaguely familiar: A photographer named Chris, who is played by Daniel Kaluuya, joins his girlfriend Rose, played by Allison Williams, on a weekend trip to meet her family for the first time. Chris' anxiety about meeting her family is heightened when he learns that she has yet to tell her family that he is black. After they arrive his anxiety seems to diffuse. Rose's parents Missy and Dean seem nice on the surface and Jeremy, Rose's brother, seems to be suffering from some weird aggression issues. The weirdest part of the entire family is their black maid and groundskeeper, who are just as ominous as they are mysterious.
There is a lot that happens in between though, the mother hypnotizes Chris to essentially get rid of his free will so other rich white people can bid on who's brain gets to live inside of his body, creepy huh? It turns out that Rose's family runs an operation of transplanting the brains of white people and inserting them into the bodies of black people (and it is important to note that Rose goes on a hunt and searches for these black men and women just to bring them back to her home to, you know, let other rich white people live forever). This just reiterates that idea that black people are indispensable and only used for the advancement of white people and their culture. Ugh, so messed up.
There are a ton of political, social, and economic undertones about race in this movie though, I mean after all the director Jordan Peele and a majority of the writers are black as well. First of all we see black people pained in the light as "vessels" for white people, literally just bodies for white people to live in. In other words, the maid and groundskeeper were completely unable to move or speak in their original mannerisms and were rather portrayed as "whiteified" because they were in fact Rose's grandparents brains in both the maid and groundskeeper's bodies.
Back to when the mom hypnotized Chris though, she made him stay in the "sunken place" which is where the black person becoming hypnotized is forced to live for the remainder of their life, essentially being able to understand whats going on around you but trapped to act as the person's brain who is inside of your head. Could you imagine being able to see, hear, speak, and recall certain events but being forced to act "just as a white person would" because of the effects of the hypnosis and the brain placed inside of your body without your permission? No thanks.
Jim, a blind art dealer purchases Chris's body so he can acquire his "vision." This is the interesting part though, Jim doesn't just want Chris's vision he wants his vision. Let me explain, what Jim really wants is Chris's vision through the lens of the oppression of blacks, black struggles, and their experiences. So basically the white blind art dealer wants to see what it is like to be "black," or in other words see the oppression they have been through for the past 400+ years. Why Jim why? Leave Chris alone.
A majority of this movie is Chris surrounded by a bunch of white people who look at him and are in fact intrigued by him, almost like that of a zoo animal you marvel at through the window (thus emphasizing the idea that black people are not humans, but rather animals and should be treated as such). There is no out right racist symbols in this movie, like a confederate flag or maybe a KKK outfit, instead it is all portrayed through Chris and his interactions with the ignorant guests Rose's family has over, which is the most amazing part of this film in my opinion.
Although there aren't any stereotypical racist symbols, the characters in the movie would say classic racist comments like, "We're not racist we have a black maid" or "I would of voted for Obama for a third term." This is exactly the type of racism we see today, because deep down this family was in fact racist and those comments stemmed from being highly defensive. You shouldn't have to say reasons as to why you're not a racist -- and not to mention just because you have a black maid doesn't mean you're not racist -- your actions should speak for themselves.
Just before "Get Out" ends and while Chris is covered in Rose's blood, with the groundskeeper dead laying down right next to him, a police car pulls up. And this is where it gets good, Chris immediately puts his arms up in the air when the police car arrives, even though he hasn't done anything wrong (because the groundskeeper shot Rose then shot himself because Chris took a picture of him that allowed for him to snap out of his hypnosis for a second.) THIS!! If I could hug Jordan Peele -- the writer and director of this movie -- in this moment, I would. As i'm sure you could tell, that was a complete commentary on police brutality. The fact that Chris automatically threw his hands up in the air even though he did nothing wrong just goes to show how progressive this film is. In the end though it was just his friend Rod showing up in his TSA car that presumably looks exactly like a cop car, well done Jason Peele, well done.
If you have seen the movie and would like to see some specific moments that might have gone over your head while watching, make sure to check this BuzzFeed article out here.
Whether you care about the racial undertones or not, this movie is a must see, in theaters now!
