The impact “Get Out” can have on an Audience.
The following is a final essay I wrote for a film class my freshman year of college.
My first semester has passed at University of Colorado, and after taking a handful of classes including “Anthropology 1170: Exploring Culture and Gender through Film” and this “Intro to Film” class my view of the natural world, society and art such as the films we studied has greatly changed and I’ve found much more appreciation for the deep thought that goes into the movies America seems to passively watch at their local AMC. I no longer seem to be able to sit through a film without beginning to analyze the mise-en-scéne, cinematography, editing and so on. Typically, it takes the dramatic types of documentaries like 13th (Ava DuVernay, 2016) to inflict enough heartfelt guilt on the audience for them to say, “Wow there really is a problem here isn’t there?”. No doubt 13th was a powerful film, leading one of the elderly men in my Anthropology class to tears as he shared with the class he realized his generation was guilty for some of the wrong doings displayed in that film. Powerful these documentaries can be yes, but I think much more symbolic and effective is masterpieces like that of Get Out (Jordan Peele, 2017). A lot can be said about a film that received at 99% rating on rotten tomatoes, but reading reviews or watching the trailer on YouTube will only begin to scratch the surface of what Peele has to offer for his debut film. Subtle messages, a powerful cast of actors and his vision for this film lead it to top the charts in 2017. So then, how does this horror, mystery, thriller film stack up against other of its kind? As we dive into analyzing this piece we will no doubt uncover the greatness that this film is.
The cinematography of this film overall is just brilliant and establishes deeper meaning starting almost straight away. Take the collision with the deer is the first scene that is great for analyzing this camera work. After the crash Chris steps out of the car and moves towards the noises emerging from the forest we get a shot that moves backwards leading him to the deer, the camera moves up and down almost mimicking his steps, we then get a shot of his feet moving from the pavement to the side of the road. We are then met with a stationary shot from a low angle in the forest, then cut back to Chris where we can put together that the shot was from the deer’s point of view — the stationary shot representing the deer’s inability to move. Minutes later in the film we are pulling into Rose’s family’s house as the camera is positioned in the backseat of her car and bounces a bit as to simulate the moderately bumpy terrain. Lastly for this sequence we get an establishing shot that seems to be fairly ordinary until it pans out enough to reveal that we are coming into line with Walter who is watching the family walk inside. This is just the very start of the horror that is in store for Chris and already the tension has begun to rise just because of some fairly simple shots. If we jump to the first night of dinner we get a more aggressive example of the camera work Peele chooses to use. As uncomfortable as a “meet the parents” type family dinner is the awkwardness if further emphasized as a drunk Jeremy pushes question after question upon Chris which is matched with this sequence of shot reverse shot and close ups making you sit on the edge of your seat expecting something drastic to happen. If Peele can create enough tension with his directing of camerawork alone to make this film live up to other horror films of it category then once you add in his symbolism, color and beautiful soundtrack you can understand why this film is acclaimed as such a masterpiece.
The elements of a film just listed above are an amazing thing to look into with something like color able to play such a critical role on the audience’s judgement of character. We see this in Get Out in an overarching theme of a red and blue clash. In film, we often see one of a few possible scenarios- often something like warm colors usually meaning safety, home, etc. and cool colors meaning danger or sadness — unlike Pan’s Labyrinth (Guillermo del Toro, 2006) where the cold setting of the Army post conflicts with that of the fantasy of the film which is often lit with overwhelming warn colors. What we see in Get Out however is an association with the color blue for Chris and red for Rose and her family. For Chris blue is overly present in what he wears, in his friend Rod’s TSA outfit, the memory of his mother is a blue tint, and arguably still relevant the title text of the movie is blue. As for Rose, she often is seen in her red-striped sweater, has a red car, and her very name is a red flower. One might agree that the symbolism for color in this film is to signify Chris as the friendly, innocent one relating to a cool blue while Rose and her family are the threatening red color you might associate with danger, enemies and so forth. Perhaps it is worth pointing out that lighting in the family’s home is often warm colors that our deceptively inviting with the major anomaly being in the bedroom Chris stays in which is often drained of color.
Transitioning from color I think mention of the soundtrack that accompanies the scenes is worth talking about at this point. One of the more mainstream examples is the use of Redbone by Childish Gambino — a song literally about a relationship that is falling apart which of course connects to Chris and Rose. We also get songs from the composer Michael Abels that tie very well into the film and its meaning such as iconic “Sikiliza Kwa Wahenga” the main title of the film and an extremely eerie song that at the same time is reminiscent of songs that might have been sung by African-American slaves back in the day due to the heavy vocals found throughout the track. So, whether as drastic as a song by Childish Gambino with a literal meaning that connects to the film or a song by the composer that gives you the appropriately eerie feeling of film you start to get a understanding of the use of music in the film. Yet Peele also leaves room for more simple uses of sound to torment the viewers such as that of Jeremy playing the ukulele on the porch or the iconic horror film musical cords paired with the jump scares in the film (Which for some reason are almost entirely involving Georgina) or the creepy tunes found in the background as Chris was in the hypnosis chamber.
Speaking of this hypnosis chamber, I think it is an appropriate time to start talking about the symbolism found in the movie with relevance of the chamber coming in with what is hung above the TV set — a mounted deer head watching a trapped immobile Chris, the exact opposite of the collision with the deer scene. Deer are one of the strongest metaphors in the film in this case standing for African-Americans as we are almost literally told by the lines of Dean Armitage when he says “Those things are everywhere up here, Chris; like rats. The damage they’ve done to the ecology alone…Anyway, are we ready for the grand tour?” a creepy foreshadow as to what might be in store for Chris. Before we begin to analyze what else the film we should move back to the hypnosis chamber where at one point Chris begins picking at the cotton in the arm of the chair an undeniable reference to the main activity of slaves back in the day picking cotton from fields. The film finds room to makes symbolic moments like this but at the same time is able to set itself apart from traditional horror films with its recurring theme of taking action. This is seen in two major places first Chris’s escape from captivity is insane as he goes against all odds pointing towards his demise kills all the villains (Dean, Missy, and Rose) and makes it out practically unharmed. The other example being his friend Rod getting enough courage to essential me ready to rescue who he was worried about (Chris) and unfortunate reflection on Chris who was unable to help is mother when he was a child. Somethings in this film don’t require such a specific eye as the “Bingo game” that was in fact an auction for Chris was obviously reminiscent of slave trading with a more modern twist.
A film like this even for someone like me- a novice film buff and aspiring Media Production major leaves me excited to see what else Jordan Peele has to offer and if it will be restricted to the horror genre. I agree with the description that this film was a refreshing movie as compared to the kind of Hollywood production that happens to reveal the entire film within the first trailer. With Get Out Peele tackled the kind of racial problems that other films don’t often bother touching — films like Django Unchained (Quentin Tarantino, 2012) go after the historical wrong doings and depict a liberated slave fighting plantation owners but for a film released in 2012 isn’t doing much to point fingers at the kind of racism still alive today. Get Out compared to this Blaxploitation instead gets a relevant meaning across by pointing fingers at White Liberals living in a fancy house with “black servants”. Either way sitting at a budget of 4.5 million one can hardly criticize this film for any minor imperfections as overall Jordan Peele did a brilliant job for his first film.
