• About
  • Editorial Board
    • Staff Writers
  • Advertise
  • Join Us
  • Archives
The Wellesley News -
  • News and Features
    • The Wellesley (COVID) 100
      The Wellesley (COVID) 100
    • In memory of Professor Rebecca Summerhays
      In memory of Professor Rebecca Summerhays
    • Trans flag controversy: College power washes staircase after trans flag is painted over Harry Potter spray paint
      Trans flag controversy: College power washes staircase after trans flag is painted over Harry Potter spray paint
    • News
      • News in Brief
      • Nation & World
      • President’s Corner
      • Senate Report
    • Features
      • Alumnae Spotlight
      • Eye on Science
      • Faculty Focus
      • LGBTQIA+ Column
  • Opinions
    • The News in Conversation: Wellesley Against Mass Incarceration
      The News in Conversation: Wellesley Against Mass Incarceration
    • Editorial Board calls for keeping up trans flag murals
      Editorial Board calls for keeping up trans flag murals
    • No, Elon Musk’s Twitter will not restore free speech
      No, Elon Musk’s Twitter will not restore free speech
    • Staff Editorial
    • Letters to the Editor
    • The Elephant in the Room
  • Arts
    • Be/longing Centers Connection and Care
      Be/longing Centers Connection and Care
    • No image
      Birds Falling Upwards: Wellesley College Theater’s The Moors is a Must-See
    • No image
      Sometimes you just need to read a YA “Groundhog Day” to feel something
    • Arts In The News
    • Reviews
    • Music Peek
    • Books Before Boys
  • Health and Wellness
    • February Student Athlete of the Month
      February Student Athlete of the Month
    • Athletics Update
      Athletics Update
    • Victoria Garrick Speaks on Mental Health
      Victoria Garrick Speaks on Mental Health
    • Athlete of the Week
    • Boston Sports Update
    • The Vegan Digest
    • The SHE Corner
  • The Wellesley Snooze
    • Wellesley News Leadership Changes Completely Peacefully Without Any Suspicious Disappearances At All
      Wellesley News Leadership Changes Completely Peacefully Without Any Suspicious Disappearances At All
    • Solve Your Connection Problems With Wellesley Insecure
      Solve Your Connection Problems With Wellesley Insecure
    • Mayhem strikes Wellesley as paper towels removed from campus
      Mayhem strikes Wellesley as paper towels removed from campus
  • Miscellanea
    • President’s Column: The Butterfly Effect
      President’s Column: The Butterfly Effect
    • Administrators shocked to learn that students dislike being left in dark
      Administrators shocked to learn that students dislike being left in dark
    • 50 Lies You Tell Yourself in Order to Survive Until Graduation
      50 Lies You Tell Yourself in Order to Survive Until Graduation
    • The Dose
    • The Olive Branch
    • Multimedia
      • Galleries
      • Infographics
      • Videos
By Jodi Wei Arts, ReviewsMarch 9, 2017

“Get Out” blends horror, comedy and politics into 2017’s breakout film

Daniel Kaluuya stars as Chris Washington in Jordan Peele’s directorial debut. Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures.

I’ve been on a horror film kick. I’ve tortured myself with Kubrick’s classic villains, bloodthirsty cave-dwellers and the slithery eels in Gore Verbinski’s surprisingly good—or is it bad?— thriller, “A Cure for Wellness.” But it’s Jordan Peele’s directorial debut “Get Out” that takes the proverbial cake. It’s a genre-blending experience that proffers genuinely funny moments and relevant social critique in one minute only to turn on a dime and scare the popcorn out of your lap in the next.

In an effort to avoid spoilers, here’s a quick-and-dirty synopsis: Chris Washington (Daniel Kaluuya) and his white girlfriend Rose Armitage (Allison Williams) visit her frighteningly normal and painfully white parents Missy (Catherine Keener) and Dean (Bradley Whitford). Dean, a neurosurgeon, and Missy, a psychiatrist with a concentration on hypnosis, paint a picture of suburban perfection, one that even Norman Rockwell would be hard-pressed to believe. As idiosyncrasies pile up, Chris becomes increasingly uncomfortable with his obvious blackness until he must fight to the death for his survival in a maelstrom of violence that would make Quentin Tarantino jealous.

By blending the implausible—transmutation, anyone?—with the stark reality of suburban anti-blackness, Peele has managed to capture the 21st-century African-American experience in a horror film that’s being properly lauded for both its merits as a movie and its undisguised politics. Whether it’s of the supernatural or bad cop variety, the audience knows something bad will happen to Andrew, played by Lakeith Stanfield, when he walks down a dark street by himself. This isn’t some dark alleyway in the inner city; it’s a well-lit street in a neighborhood with manicured lawns and cul-de-sacs.

Through the fate of Andrew—from muttering to himself about the street names to being followed by a menacing white sedan to being attacked and stuffed into the sedan’s trunk—Peele winks, grins and sagely nods at the audience. We all know where the scene is going because it’s been seen before in the news and in shared stories on social media.

The slow-burning reality is just as, if not more, scary as an opaque preteen in a lacy white dress. The uneasiness Chris feels at a gathering organized by Missy and Dean, complete with bingo, bocce ball and white cluelessness, cuts through to the audience; we’ve all been somewhere where we’ve stuck out like a sore thumb.

For most, uneasiness is all we feel. For Chris and other African-Americans, the uneasiness can switch to danger in a fatal instant. What’s more, writer-director Peele, most often associated with frequent collaborator Keegan-Michael Key, plays with a much-needed reversal of roles.

The radical inversion of ‘the big scary black guy’ trope, innocent victim and placing Chris in the role of a black man allows him to be scared, emotional, and vulnerable. “Moonlight” started it, but “Get Out” took the defenseless confusion to a whole other level. “Get Out” joins the likes of “The Godfather,” “The Wizard of Oz” and “Toy Story 3” with a rare 99 percent on movie review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.

Numbers used to define something as subjective as art should always be taken with a grain of salt. The critical acclaim of “Get Out” could be in part attributed to the political climate of the day. But it’s not so much a ‘right time, right place’ situation. Only now can—and should—a horror film be as political as “Get Out.”

It’s a sincere wish of mine that the context of “Get Out” becomes obsolete and as confusing to the next generations as VHS tapes and Sony Walkmans are to ours, because the scariest films are the ones hidden in reality, and in 2017, “Get Out” is as real as it comes.

Share on

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Google +
  • LinkedIn
  • Email
Previous article“Vogue” could learn a thing or two from “Teen Vogue”
Next articleNo renewed contracts for “Modern Family” stars as eighth season wraps

You may also like

Be/longing Centers Connection and Care

Birds Falling Upwards: Wellesley College Theater’s The Moors is a Must-See

Sometimes you just need to read a YA “Groundhog Day” to feel something

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Email Newsletter

Sign up to receive our weekly digest in your inbox

* indicates required

Top Articles

Sorry. No data so far.

Recent Tweets

Tweets by @Wellesley_News

The independent student newspaper of Wellesley College since 1901.

Sign up to receive our weekly digest in your inbox

* indicates required

  • About
  • Editorial Board
    • Staff Writers
  • Advertise
  • Join Us
  • Archives
COPYRIGHT © 2022 THE WELLESLEY NEWS
Back to top