Twisting the Horror Narrative

Get Out, is a horror film directed by Jordan Peele. Formally a comedy sketch writer/ actor, he has recently taken over the horror genre with amazing films such as Get Out, Us, and Nope. All of these films host amazing actors who make these films what they are, along with Peele's brilliant writing and directing. The film we discussed in class, Get Out, was Jordan's first horror film to hit the mainstream. I would argue that this film deals directly with concerns of race, and how they are shown in the horror genre, far more than any of his other films. Get Out stars Daniel Kaluuya as a young black man being introduced to his white girlfriend's white family. The film is awkward from the beginning. We are set on edge when all of his girlfriend's family is strange, setting the viewer on edge; something is wrong here. In the end, it turns out that the family he is visiting is taking out old white man's brains, and transplanting them into healthy young black bodies. We are used to black characters in horror films falling into racist, preconceived ideas, where the black character will die first, they won't act without being supported by a white character, and they're never the heroic figure. This movie breaks all of these horror tropes. Daniels's character is smart, observant, and acts with a calm demeanor, unraveling the mystery, and ending black stereotypes in horror.