Exploring Modern Day Racism in America by Alanta Tarver
Get Out Movie Review with Hidden Messages (And secrets you might’ve missed)
Get Out was an exciting “horror-thriller” film on race, with many hidden actions that resemble whats going on between the caucasian race and black race today. “Get Out” is a movie where a white girl brings her black boyfriend home to meet her parents, who’s phony warm welcoming masks hide their surprising, unthinkably dark secret. Blending race with “horror”, this movie also has some metaphors in the scenes. “Get Out” delivers plenty to frighten and keeps the audience engaged by showing thrilling, terrifying ways of showing a new way that white people have found to continue the unusual institution of slavery.
There was some violence, nothing too gory, besides a surgery scene, but the violence/action was extremely brutal when it came to fighting, hitting others with objects, kicking, stabbing, guns, shooting and fairly a good amount of blood. The movie also shows a character trying to quit smoking, but was not seen in the act of smoking. I am going to tell you the hidden messages, and/or hidden secrets in “Get Out” you might have missed.
The Hidden Messages
The movie started off with a scene showing what happens in the neighborhood of which the main character is going to, to meet his girlfriend’s parents. In the next scene, the main character asks if his girlfriends parents know he is black, she says of course and that they are not racist to ease him. On the way to her parents house, in the middle of nowhere, the couple hit a deer. Rose calls the police, and when the police arrived, he surprisingly asked for Chris’ ID which Rose was not too happy about. It may have looked as if the police officer were racist because Chris was not driving. Rose did not want the police to get his ID because she’d be documented being with him.
Once Chris and Rose get to her parents house, the movie showed what the house looked like from outside. In the two front bushes before the steps to get onto the doorstep, there were omega symbols on the bushes. Omega is the last letter of the Greek alphabet, which could represent “the end” for Chris.
Once everyone gets into the house, the couple tells Rose’s parents, Dean and Missy, about how they hit a deer. Dean has plenty to say about how he doesn't care for deer and bucks because they are ruining the ecosystem. He uses the term “Black buck” which was a racist slur in post reconstruction America for black men who refused to bow down to white authority.
In the next scene, Dean takes Chris around the house for a tour. He shows Chris a picture of his father that was hanging up on a wall, and reveals the family’s hatred towards black men. It stemmed from his father losing to Jesse Owens in the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany. Jesse Owens’ victory was a challenge to Hitler’s belief that German’s were the superior race. Dean’s father felt overshadowed by this physical and political victory, creating an extreme sense of jealousy and hatred for black men’s physical capability. We later see Dean’s father was the mastermind behind the transformation process.
During the tour, Dean tells Chris “We hired Georgina and Walter to help take care of my parents. When they died, I couldn’t bear to let them go.” There was a pronoun slip, on purpose. You may think “they” as in “Walter” and “Georgina”, but he was most definitely speaking in reference to his parents. The next scene, the two couples went outside for some drinks. Georgina who was “working to take care” of Dean’s parents, spilled iced tea because Missy clicked a spoon against a glass. The click was to send her back into a brief hypnosis.
Chris goes out of the house in the middle of night, and Walter, who was the “caretaker” for Dean’s parents, was running towards him, and turned. “Walter” who was really Dean’s father, was running because he was reliving his race and loss to Jesse Owens in the 1936 Olympics. Chris also seen Georgina fixing her bangs in the reflection of the window that night. She was fixing her bangs to cover the scar, which is why we never seen Walter without his hat, nor Logan.
After Chris seen Walter and Georgina that night, he went inside, and was tricked into getting hypnotized. He experienced “The sunken place”. When he experienced “The sunken place” Chris was like a deer in headlights during hypnosis as he was paralyzed, and unable to do anything to save himself. “The sunken place” is similar to the actual paralyzing state of being when you are unable to defend yourself against racism in certain settings like a workplace. The hypnosis is an extreme example of the psychology associated with racism of all kinds. You are aware that it is happening, but the need to keep your job, or not go to jail prevents you from being able to react. The mind of the actual black person was trapped in the sunken place, and while they were aware, they were unable to react.
In the next scene, the family had a party where people from the neighborhood came to meet Chris. At the party, everyone is wearing red, and Chris is wearing blue which can be seen as an “us vs. them”. At the party, when Chris’s cell phone camera, which got a picture of Logan with the flash, gives him his first insight into Logan’s mysterious behavior. Cell phone footage has been instrumental in shedding light on police brutality cases in America.
Chris’ clue that something was off with the other black people at the house was their incapability to recognize social cues associated with black culture. When he tried to dap up Andrew at the party, Andrew missed the cue and grabbed his fist. When Chris mentions that he didn’t want to be a “snitch” to Georgina, she isn’t familiar with the term.
The “bingo game” was based on slave auctioning. The people at the party were playing to “win” Chris. While Chris was “captured” and restrained to a chair, he was forced to watch the TV. The TV had a video that kept repeating “A mind is a terrible thing to waste,” which was a slogan for the United Negro College Fund. After the video, there’d be the clicking of a spoon and the cup which would make Chris go to sleep. Chris rips the stuffing out of the leather chair to plug his ears so that he wouldn’t continue to be hypnotized. The stuffing in the leather chair was cotton, Chris was literally being forced to “pick cotton” to save himself.
Chris uses a ball to overcome Jeremy, Rose’s brother, to escape the room and the next step of transformation. Often times, black men are taught that the only way to escape a bad environment is to use their physical abilities by excelling as an athlete. In this scene, a ball actually did save a black man and get him closer to getting out of a bad environment.
While Chris is in the basement about to go through a torturous transformation, Rose is casually listening to (I’ve Had) The Time Of My Life, and looking up NCAA top prospects. Her song choice shows she is very much please with her actions and contributions to the transformations many have went through in the neighborhood, both previous and current. This scene not only shows how white women can be complicit in crimes against black people, but also that the family only seen the value in the physical capabilities in black bodies. This is a theme in the movie that there is no value placed on the minds of the black men chosen, only the physical or artistic talents (Chris being a photographer, and Andrew was a jazz musician).
Rose eating Fruit Loops and milk separately is a metaphor for not mixing nonwhite and white things. The knight’s helmet that was seen in the white car has everything to do with the “White Knights of the Klu Klux Klan” who are known for being the most violent chapter of the Klu Klux Klan. At the end, Chris sees police lights on the dark empty road, and immediately put his hands up. Whether or not if he were in danger.
