If you’ve seen Get Out, then you were probably prepared to experience some racial tension regardless of your own. It is no secret that Jordan Peele’s directorial debut film beautifully (excuse my word choice) exaggerates the very real concept of the fetishism of black people by white people (in particular), and ignoring that fact is simply disturbing. Sure, the movie is “creepy” - it’s a horror film, so I’m sure that that was the intention–but using that as an excuse to hide your discomfort with facing the horrors of racism is not subtle or respectable. Nice try, though.
Get Out is introduced as being “from the mind of Jordan Peele,” rather than directly stating that he wrote and directed the film. This slight change in wording is a poke in the ribcage that, yes, these experiences that Chris, played by Daniel Kaluuya, are going through, are unfortunately common. Peele says this emphasis is because people need to know that this movie is by a black writer, stating that it would be different if a white guy did it.* I won’t spoil the plot, but know that Peele still makes it extremely easy for everyone in the audience to root for him despite their race.
Hm. That’s funny. I have to actually point out that despite your race, you can still manage to find it in your heart to be on the black character’s side–a black character who isn’t aggressive, a criminal, a servant, or poor–even though his experiences differ from yours. I wonder what people of color have been doing all these years!
But really, it’s no shocker that some white people are shifty over this movie. And isn’t it interesting how acceptable racial issues are in comedic sketches (for example, the Comedy Central show ‘Key and Peele’) but how controversial they are when presented as a horror? Think on that. You may not be used to seeing characters that represent you or your relatives in a dramatic, “race-related” enemy position. It can be uncomfortable at first, yet these roles don’t have to define you as a person or change your beliefs. But remaining blind is not going to fix the race-related issues in this country! Stepping away from the world before your eyes and into the view of another’s will not hurt you or threaten your values. After all, Peele designed this movie so that everyone could experience the black experience through Chris’s character. You’re still you.
Normalizing the black experiences, black characters, black writers and directors, normalizing BLACK SUCCESS is an essential part of this country’s revolution! Did I say revolution? Revo-fucking-lution!
This is why Get Out is so much more important than pointing out the obvious differences in race in America. This $4.5 million movie has crossed a huge milestone for black entertainment, gaining $111 million since its release in late February.** Seeing this kind of success from black artists, this kind of representation, is vital for the rising and incoming generations. We need to see that there is room for black artists and creativity in a country where we have been deemed unable to reach certain achievements and are constantly shone in a light where we are unintelligent, angry, or some other stigma. And although February of 2017 was an iconic breakthrough for black artistry–from the magic of Viola Davis’s record-breaking awards, to the announcement of Beyoncé’s pregnancy, to Barry Jenkins’s Moonlight winning Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay at the 89th Academy Awards, to “Bad and Boujee” by the Migos reaching Platinum certification by the RIAA–there is much to achieve in the recognition of black greatness throughout America.
That’s the first step in getting closer to uniting the races–recognition. Recognize that black people and white people are equal, but we are not the same. Centuries of oppression that rooted thorns into the souls of African-Americans is not going to be healed overnight, in a decade, or even in a century. We are a generation still healing from the repercussions of years of inequality and cruelty, and we are rising. Recognize that history will repeat itself, and we will overcome in time.
*From an interview by Fox 5 with Jordan Peele, by reporter Kathy McCarthy
** From an article written by Yohana Desta for Vanity Fair http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/03/get-ou...
