Comedy and horror have an
awful lot in common. Both are about defying expectations (or at least they should
be), both require more skill than one would expect to pull off properly, both
have a singular goal that will result in failure if not met, and the best ones
give the audience something to think about between bouts of fear and/or
laughter. Combining the two seems like a feat that only the maddest of mad
scientists are willing to pull off, but there have been a few successful
attempts like Evil Dead II, Army of
Darkness, Shaun of the Dead, Scream, Cabin in the Woods, just to name a
few. Get Out strikes that balance
while also tackling the heavy subject of racism in a refreshing way. The
directorial debut of Jordan Peele of Key
and Peele fame, Get Out will make
you laugh your ass off, shit your pants in terror, and think about whose lives
really matter, sometimes all within a few minutes of each other.
Our story follows Chris
(Daniel Kaluuya), a photographer who’s traveling with his girlfriend Rose
(Allison Williams) to meet her wealthy upscale parents (Bradley Whitford and
Catherine Keener) for the first time, but he’s a little uneasy since she failed
to tell them that he’s black. Rose insists that he has nothing to worry about.
In fact, they’re ecstatic to meet him and can’t wait to tell them how much they
love Obama. At first things seem a little bit off, particularly with their
groundskeeper and maid, who both black, and just a little bit too polite. Chris’s
suspicions start getting higher and higher as the family’s attention towards
him starts to increase, and eventually he discovers the true reason he was
brought there and must escape.
To be honest, I was a
little nervous about this one for many reasons, but mostly because of who was
making it. Jordan Peele is widely known for his comedic prowess, so seeing him
choose a genre film, particularly a horror film, as his directorial debut had
me raising an eyebrow, but to my surprise, he did exceptionally well. In fact,
the direction is at a level that would take other directors two or three films
to perfect. He has a great sense of tension, he knows how to plant enough
evidence to let the audience put the pieces together themselves and yet keep on
guessing, and his comedic chops give him the ability to defy and subvert
everyone’s expectations. This is perfectly demonstrated by the movie’s cold
open, a brilliant one-take scene where a black man is kidnapped by hooded
strangers while strolling through the suburbs. It’s also reflected in its final
moments which I dare not spoil here, but rest assured it’s guaranteed to give
the viewer a serious case of emotional whiplash.
But there’s plenty of
comedy to help give this movie a bit of levity. If they had played it straight,
it would’ve come across as ham fisted or too on the nose, and while the movie
does take its subject seriously, it’s well-aware that it’ll lose some people
without something to balance things out. The bulk of the humor comes from Chris’s
friend Rodney, a TSA agent who’s basically the audience surrogate. He’s the one
who keeps warning Chris about Rose’s parents, and he’s the one who starts
investigating when Chris falls off the grid, and he ultimately has the movie’s
crowning achievement of awesomeness.
But then there’s that
whole race issue. There’s no doubt this movie was going to ruffle some feathers,
but what makes Get Out so different
from other films that tackle racism like Hidden
Figures or American History X is
the kind of racism it decides to hone in on. Going after blatant, obvious examples
of racism like slavery, Jim Crow laws or the Ku Klux Klan is shooting fish in a
barrel at this point, but what doesn’t nearly get addressed nearly as much in
the movies is the subtler, deeply ingrained forms of casual bigotry perpetuated
by well-meaning, liberal minded white people who pride themselves in not being
a Nazi or a Klansman. The first red flag for Chris that something is up was how
eager Rose’s parents were to show their admiration for him and his culture.
They talk about how they would’ve voted for Obama for a third term, the dad
mentions that his father’s claim to fame was losing to Jesse Owens at the
Olympics, and they go on and on about how their favorite athletes, musicians
and actors are black, and just how black people in general are inherently
superior. They don’t admire black people as much as they fetishize them, and
while it seemingly comes from a good place, it still shows that they see him
more as a skin color than a person. Even the irony of them having black
servants while simultaneously putting them on a pedestal isn’t lost on them. Not
even his girlfriend is exempt from that mindset. This attitude becomes
especially sinister when it’s revealed to be the foundation of what’s really
happening.
A smaller or more cynical
mind would interpret this as “white are always racist, even when they’re not,”
but I don’t see it that way. To me, this is more about the social discomfort
that black people feel when around those who think they’re being nice but are overstepping,
but you know what they say about good intentions. Every black person, hell,
every non-white person I know has had a similar encounter to the one that Chris
is going through. So not only does this play into the suspense, with Chris
doubt whether his unease is due to his instincts kicking in or his thinning
patience with these condescending idiots, and it’s a situation a good chunk of
the audience should be all too familiar with. Then again, I’m whiter than a
goth’s underbelly, so I’m probably not the best person to be speaking about
this kind of thing.
Overall, Get Out is one of the best movies to
come out this year so far, a great balance of horror, comedy and satire. Even
though the critical consensus seems to be universally positive, it’s already
dividing audiences. When a piece of art has something important to say, not
everyone is going to want to hear it. It should invoke discussion, it should
get people thinking, and it should offer a perspective that hasn’t been given
before. And as far as I’m concerned, that’s a good thing.
9/10
No comments:
Post a Comment