Get Out Satire

The comedian Jordan Peele ripped off the band aid and exposed the horror of racism still prevalent in America today when he released his controversial movie Get Out. Many people in America believe racism is long gone and no longer an issue in society, however, Get Out proves how inaccurate this conception is. The thriller is about a young interracial couple, Chris Washington and Rose Armitage. Now that their relationship has become serious Rose invites Chris upstate to visit her parents for the first time. Chris is quite apprehensive about meeting Rose’s parents because he is black and Rose’s family is white. Although, when Rose’s parents, Missy and Dean, meet Chris they disregard his race and welcome him into their home with open arms. It’s

not long until Chris slowly begins to uncover the family’s true motive behind inviting him over for the weekend. The family’s two black servants are not the only thing that concerns Chris, the Armitage’s annual gathering that occurs over the weekend turns out to be an auction between older white people who are bidding for Chris’s body. The Armitage’s turn out to be the minds behind a conspiracy where white people transplant their brains into black people’s bodies so they can gain their athleticism and genetic advantage.
In order for Peele to entertain his audience and still voice his opinion on racism he approaches expressing racism and the relationship between whites and blacks in a new way.

Instead of referring to racism as the hatred whites have for blacks, he refers to racism as whites using and exploiting blacks to gain their genetic advantage. Peele combines the genres comedy and horror to express the horror of racism in America. As a comedian it is unexcepted that Jordan Peele would direct a horror movie, however, he incorporates comedy into the movie not only to ease the tension of the subject being discussed but also to connect directly with the audience. The character Rod Williams, a TSA agent, who is also Chris’s best friend plays the role of the comedian and the hero of the movie. Most of his lines relate to the thoughts of audience, he suspects something bad is approaching from the beginning of the movie when Chris decides to visit his white girlfriend’s family. He stays in constant contact with Chris while he is away, and once Chris no longer answers his call he begins to investigate on his own and winds up saving Chris. At the end of the movie when Rod pulls up to the gory scene outside the Armitage’s house to save Chris, the first thing he says to him is “I mean, I told you not to go in that

house.”.
Throughout the movie, Peele contrasts the colors black and white not only in the form of race but also through visual details.

The separation of races in society is first introduced when the movie begins with a black man walking down the dark streets of the suburbs, talking about how he feels like a “sore thumb” in the neighborhood. A white car pulls up next to the man and slowly begins to follow him, out of nowhere the man is attacked and kidnapped. In the beginning of the movie we are unaware who this black man is, however, we later find out that it is Andre, a friend of Chris’s who has gone missing and appears at the Armitage’s gathering acting strange. Peele uses visual details like the dark night and the white car to incorporate the social separation between blacks and whites. He is trying to express how unsafe and misplaced Andre, a black man, feels walking through a white neighborhood. The thrilling and horrific end of this scene follows an upbeat song “Redbone” by Childish Gambino, the song’s chorus explains Peele’s purpose behind the movie, “but stay woke”. The director wants this movie to bring awareness to the ongoing racism in America that is currently being

ignored.
Many American’s believe that our society is post racial following the election of our first African American president, Barack Obama. However, this is not the case, there are still many issues within society regarding race. Andreja Zevnik, the author of the article Postracial Society as Social Fantasy states that “The problem with postracial society is that it seems to forget the history of racism and racial discrimination, and it especially tends to forget or obscure the proximity of struggles for institutionally endowed legal and political equality.” Zevnik concludes that this post racial society we claim we are a part of is a social fantasy that has convinced many that racism no longer exists, even though it still does. Jordan Peele introduces the idea that many white Americans are convinced of this post racial fantasy when Rose’s father, Dean, is speaking to Chris. Dean tells Chris that he “would have voted for Obama third time if I could.”, this is Dean’s way of expressing how he is not racist because he voted for Obama, however, later in the movie we find out how racist he truly is.