More Than Just a Horror Film

 

Get Out. 

I can clearly remember the buzz surrounding this movie. To be fair, it wasn’t that long— 2017 to be precise. In any case, this hit film, starring Daniel Kaluuya with director Jordan Peele, soon became all anyone could talk about. So when I was finally able to get a night off work to go to the theater, I was all too excited. With most modern day horror films, I typically enter the theater with low expectations. They are usually too unrealistic, with terrible dialogue and I often end up with laughter instead of terror.  But alas, I am a horror film enthusiast, and deep down hoped for nightmares for two days. Now, seeing that this film debuted six years ago — yikes — I will not bore you with details; but I will say this: it affectively creeped the bejesus out of me. Do not get me wrong, all the ominous music, thick layer of tension throughout the film, and psychological craziness was more than enough to make me squirm in my seat; but it was the undertones of the film that ultimately left me in a tizzy.

Get Out addresses a far more unsettling and probing issue within our reality: the commodification, exploitation, and appropriation of black bodies, people and culture. The thick layer of tension that is felt throughout the film is not only a foreshadowing to the harrowing discovery our main character, Chris, will uncover. It is also meant to create a sense of anxiety for the audience. Why? Because the uncomfortable, completely out-of-place, eternally dissected and watched experience that Chris is feeling throughout the film, is to reflect the every day lives of black people in America. It is to show all those unable to have this experience first hand, what it feels like to be either demonized or commodified. Through this thematic confrontation, Jordan Peele presents us with a horror film that extends beyond the four corners of the silver screen.