Get Out

       

     Get out is a 2017 horror/thriller movie made by Jordan Peele. The movie starts off showing us a young couple, Rose a white woman, and Chris a black man. Rose is bringing Chris to meet her family. Chris is concerned a little bit because he doesn’t know how her family will react to him being a black man. On the way down to the home in the middle of the woods(off the lake) they hit a deer. The deer screams out and Chris goes back to look at it, we get an eerie feeling. The film then progresses into a weird feeling throughout the visit, the mom and dad seem a little off. They are two workers, a black man and black woman, this makes Chris feel uncomfortable. Rose and Chris then find out that their annual family gathering is taking place this weekend. The whole family meets Chris, making inappropriate comments towards his physical stature and skin color. This raises another red flag in Chris’s mind, he then finds his phone is turned off and unplugged. The maid unplugged the phone when “cleaning”, Chris doesn't buy it. He then wants to leave after a few other incidents, when trying to leave he is cornered by the family, put into a hypnosis and is taken to the basement. This is where he is going to have his brain switched with another member of the family, he will still be there but will just be a passenger in his own body. He gets out of the hypnosis trip, fights his way out and is saved by his best friend Rod as they drive away to safety. 

From a cinematic view the film has a lot of layers. Starting off the way Peele uses the camera Chris has as another point of view is brilliant. We see this when Chris looks around through his lens, it's more of a sneaky point of view. Most people don’t know the camera is on them so it's a secret camera angle. Music also plays a major part in scenes similar to these. The intense music is active throughout the entire film, most notably in scenes of Chris entering the Sunken Place. The music is intense and makes it feel as we are drifting away into a different reality. Along with that, when the “chase” or running scenes are occurring, we get fast, upbeat, loud music to get the heart racing. Another technique that Peele uses is tight shots to really bring out the emotions in our characters. We get creepy looks from the workers and the antagonists in the film. But the main tight shot I want to focus on is when Chris is being put in the Sunken place, and the pure emotion he shows. He is crying but is not moving his face or eyes at all. Just the same look across his face while he sits there with tears streaming down his face. This is highlighted excellently by the tight camera shot that is used during this scene, we can see all the emotion up close. 

    Cultural relevance is evident throughout the entire film. Starting off with the cop asking for Chris’s ID when they hit the deer. No need to see his ID but he is asked for it anyway, due to his skin color. We see at the beginning when Rose’s father makes a comment that he would’ve voted for Obama a third time if he could have. This is just an example of a white man trying to justify that he is not racist, which in reality makes him seem more racist. Along with that he constantly says slang terms or more modern terms like “my man” to seem younger or more hip. We also see the two black workers which is a huge sign of older times. Rose's father does realize that it looks bad, but it does show us a culture they have. When family members are making comments about his skin color and “genetics” we see casual racism being thrown around like it's nothing, representing a culture that has been built in modern times. The film shines a light onto racism and other ideologies that still occur today, and it uses racism as a form of horror. I think it works very well and the film was put together well.