Just a thought about….Race

Get Out Through a Race Lens

https://youtu.be/DzfpyUB60YY?si=mjtEe3XKXQjW76Mr

By :Brielle Smith

Race is a hot topic today and honestly it always has been. Through various films, movies, and tv shows we can understand literary theory through a racial lens. In this blog we are gonna discuss the popular movie…..Get Out by Jordan Peele.

So if anyone doesn’t know this movie, let me give you a run down. We have two main character, Chris (a black man) and Rose ( a white women), yes this is an important detail. They have hit the point in their relationship where Chris has to meet the parents. The coming weekend the couple drive to the parents estate, and at first Chris believe the parents are overcompensating for the fact that their daughter is in an interracial relationship. In reality the family is planning something even darker. Chris is kidnapped by the family, who has discovered a way to attained your desired physical characteristics. They can move your brain into the desired body. This movie is complex, it’s very entertaining, but walk through it with me to understand it better through a race lens.

In the book Literary Theory by Mary Klages one of the first things mention in the race chapter is how “you can be actively racist by complying and agreeing with racial hierarchies within a culture and passively racist by being unaware such hierarchies and structures exist.” This is very prevalent in the movie as there are multiple scenes with colorblind racism. This is when white people say they don’t see color, and the problem with this is if you don’t see color then your not acknowledging the inequalities or hardships people of color endure, which is ignorant. 

https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/university-venus/addressing-passive-racism-academy

One thing i would like to touch on is that in the Literary Theory book Maria Lugones discussed that even things that aren’t about race, are about race. What’s interesting about this is that in this movie, the wealthy white people are taking their brains and moving them into black peoples bodies so that they can simply get their desired physical appearance. This is an interesting reversal shown in the movie and goes to prove what Lugones said. What makes black peoples physical appearance better in this case? Is it about the physical or would they rather not harm their own race. Something that shouldn’t be about race ( should be about how the family found a way to keep people alive) has been found to be about race all because they believe black people to have interesting builds and appearance.

Lastly, the movie Get Out shows Critical Race Theory. This is where racism isn’t just individual prejudice but imbedded in systems, institutions and society. This is shown through the movie with the micro-aggressions and hostility shown towards Chris in the movie. For example, when the white guest arrive at the party, they begin making micro aggressive comments about Chris’ race and physical traits, one guest said they were a fan of Tiger Woods. Why does another black persons success and athleticism need to be commented on based off race? 

Literary theory helps to understand this movie more through certain lenses and this is only a taste. This movie can be analyzed throughly whether through a race lens or a feminist lens. All I know is after watching this movie your eyes will be open, or not ? 

I don’t know , Just a Thought

Peele, Jordan. Get Out. Universal Pictures, 2017.