[Spoiler Alert]
First off, If you haven't yet seen Jordan Peele's "Get Out:" Watch it. It truly is a masterpiece; blending comedy, horror, and social critique into a one-of-a-kind mixture.
Going into the film, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I'd heard universal praise, but felt apprehensive after seeing the deluge of bizarre identity-politics rooted analysis flowing through my Facebook feed. Coming out of it, there's so much to say. But I'd like to focus on one tendency in the film which most of the think-pieces ignored: the role of black labor.
Chris, the protagonist, is meeting the parents of his girlfriend Rose for what ought to be an awkward, but innocuous, visit. One problem: she's white and he's black. Rose reassures Chris that race won't be an issue to her liberal parents. But from the beginning, Rose's reassurances ring hollow. Rose's family employs three black servants and bombard Chris with various degrees of racism. In particular, interactions with Rose's father, Dean, expose the tropes of liberal racism. It's impossible not to cringe watching Dean trying to connect with Chris by "speaking his language," repeatedly alluding to his support for Barack Obama, and a litany of other microagressions.
But the film transitions from an uncomfortable and upsetting portrayal of everyday racism to horror when the purpose of this racism is shown: the control of black bodies.
The Armitage family hypnotizes and brainwashes black people to give a coterie of mainly bourgeois whites the ability to inhabit black bodies. This twist in the story appears first as a horrifying venture into a nightmare world. But this turn to dark fantasy reveals the real nightmare of racial terror in this country. The real horror of racism in the film and in everyday life is not located in the individual prejudice which liberals see as the main site of oppression. Rather, the horror arise from the fact that these individual prejudices are deeply rooted within broader systems of power and dominance. And these systems create racist discourse as a means of ensuring the super-exploitation of black people. All of the stereotypes and prejudices Chris is subjected to throughout the film are rooted in the real threat of physical and mental exploitation. To these bourgeois whites, Chris is nothing more than a vessel for physical labor. Thus, the film highlights the key role that the super-exploitation of black people's labor plays in the system of white supremacy.
Not only does the film pinpoint the locus of racial oppression; it also illustrates the potential of resistance. Chris ultimately escapes being doomed to "the sunken place" and enslavement. This escape also represents an ideological rejection of accomodationism, or the attempt to function in white society without fundamentally challenging its structures. And ultimately Chris escapes exploitation through the violence of self-defense.
"Get Out" is one of the most politically astute films I've seen on race; a clear reflection of the radicalization accompanying the Black Lives Matter Movement.
Ultimately: great film, great politics.
Watch it.
