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This isnt something everyone catches but I think Jordan Peele had deeper meaning within this scene. Notice how he is picking COTTON out of the chair to save himself. This is a nod to slavery and how even to this day we are still subjugated to white people and their racism.

Get out in relation to Guess who’s Coming to Dinner.

Both of these films do a great job of exposing the duality of the white liberal, however get out goes 10x deeper. Get out tries to expose the lengths at which white people will go to try to be black people while GWCTD talks more about how white liberalism is so nuanced and fake as well as used to cope with white guilt.

White Guilt as presented in Get out

This film does a great job of exposing microaggressions that white people use to quell their white guilt. For example in the film when the father tells Chris that he would’ve voted for Obama if he could for a third term, that is him trying to give Chris the sense of comfort that he is not racist (even though he is) This is done often because white people feel guilty about what they have put their poc counterparts. Though it is not intended to be racist its kind of like saying I have a black friend. People believe that that exempts them from racism when really it exposes the true racism they hold.

My original thoughts on get out

This film was amazing because it really goes out of its way to show how ingrained racism is in our society. Jordan Peele always does a great job of putting the point he is trying to get across right in your face. He does this by showing the extreme version of how much white people want to be black people. They hold onto their whiteness as a token of power however when it comes down to it they steal everything we do and try to pedal it as new information. This film was incredible.

I think this scene is so telling of the times because Minny instinctually ran from the white man without thought. This is because of the pervasive racism during the time and it truly showed that she feared for her life.

Depiction of Black People In “The Help”

Though not many black characters existed outside of the women who worked for the white people, this film did cast a good light on black people. It showed their resilience and their ability to make light of a terrible situation. The scene of Octavia Spencer and Viola Davis laughing while they were at work shows how though they were not in the best situation they made the best they can out of it.

Mammy in “the help”

The help so clearly perpetuated the mammy stereotype. With Viola Davis, Cicely Tyson, and Octavia Spencer all playing mammy characters, it is hard to find positive black characters in the film who do not represent any perpetuated stereotypes.

White Savior in “The Help”

While the film offered a lot of exposure to the life of a person of color during that time period, it still had sort of racist undertones. It was giving very much white savior. The white lady comes and all these black women need her to explain their story and are functionally hopeless without her. This is the classic white savior trope.

I can draw a direct parallel to the scene in moonlight where Chiron asks about the f slur. The child has an older almost father like figure who has to explain to them the deep and troubling nuances of racism.

Gook and Moonlight Relation

Both of these films do a good job on deconstructing social constructs by viewing the world through a child’s eyes. While Moonlight chooses to look at it from the perspective of a young black boy Gook uses the perspective of a young black girl. This allows them to comment on the social construction of racial divide.

The roof scene

The scene towards the end of Gook where they are throwing the shows off of the building is one of my favorite scenes. The cinematography was immaculate. The scene truly shows the brothers letting go of the generational curses that plagued them and allowed them to truly be free and express themself.

Kamila’s character in the film gook allows her to offer a very special commentary. Her commentary comes from the place of a child which is not blinded by social constructions such as race and gender. This unique perspective gives filmmakers a lot more freedom in their depiction of certain races.

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Let me tell you something, man. There are black people everywhere. You remember that, okay? No place you can go in the world ain’t got no black people, we was the first on this planet.

Juan (Moonlight)

I love this quote from this film because it shows Juan trying to instill a feeling of pride in Chiron. Pride in his blackness and pride in himself. This is important because Chiron lacks a male father figure to tell him to take pride in himself and be proud of his dark skin but Juan telling him that helps him reaffirm a sense of pride.

Let me tell you something, man. There are black people everywhere. You remember that, okay? No place you can go in the world ain't got no black people, we was the first on this planet.

Juan (Moonlight)

This scene attempts to talk about the social construction of homophobia. Chiron only thinks this of himself due to the constant bullying however therefore he associates a negative connotation with it. Chiron does not know what it means but what he does know is that it causes him to be treated differently.

This photo depicts one of my personal favorite scenes from this movie. Though it simply depicts Chiron swimming it means much more. In this scene Juan is trying to teach Chiron how to be vulnerable with other black men, and that vulnerability is not a weakness. In today’s age black men are not usually taught to be vulnerable and this scene is so beautiful because it attempts to break down that stigma.

Impact of Moonlight

Moonlight bought light to one of the most prevalent issues within the black community that is overlooked, which is mental health. it shows how the toxicity we are exposed to can create a perpetuated cycle that negatively impacts us. Black men are often excluded in conversations of mental health and this movie impacted the narrative that black men do not suffer from these issues.

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