Let’s talk about Jordan Peele
Racism is discussed, it is denounced, but it still exists. Many films touch on the hegemony of whiteness. However, there is a continuous theme in the way these films are constructed with predominantly white protagonists and filtered content that leave uncomfortable racial tendencies among rather ignorant white privileged audiences mute. The white hierarchy in today’s society is often undetected because the entertainment industry fails to create new, creative ways to shock audiences. Barriers were broken in a film that demands a reaction from fans and denounces white privilege through ground-breaking film strategy, casting, and content. In his horror movie Get Out, director Jordan Peele exposes society’s ignorance to present racial segregation through a film about a black man’s struggle in a white supremacist society. Peele’s casting decisions and script perk ears about racism across the globe.
Today, society attempts to embrace equality, but racism seeps through. Although America predominantly endorses intersectionality, there are underlying scars from the past that persist. These racial formations are embedded in history, and impact equality today. After reading a great book, Racial Formation in the United States, the authors Omi and Winant wrote, “Race is indeed a pre-eminently socio-historical concept. Racial categories and the meaning of race are given concrete expression by the specific social relations and historical context in which they are embedded.” It’s true in history segregation embedded superiority in whiteness. It creates a “natural” outlook on the rank seen in ethnicities. Liberal ideology denounces racism, but the topic always focuses on everyone except white citizens. This counter-effective effort to create equality only creates unspoken segregation. Jordan Peele exposes this ignorance in his 2017 film, Get Out.
Jordan Peele’s movie, Get Out, publicizes the social construction of race and the ever-present struggle black citizens experience in an ignorant society. Get Out is a film about a black male protagonist named Chris Washington who visits his white girlfriend, Rose Armitage’s parents’ home for the first time. Once he arrives, he immediately experiences strange, racist tendencies from his girlfriend’s family and friends. When Chris meets the Armitage family and friends, he notices their dominance over three black characters, Logan, Walter, and Georgina. When these characters’ submissive behavior becomes apparent, the film’s intention is exposed. Chris realizes that the town is a time capsule for racial ideology and white supremacy.
The weekend only continues to worsen when uncomfortable situations in the film exhibit white characters’ fetish with the black body. In one scene, the Armitage family and friends examine Chris and interrogate him during a high-class party at the Armitage estate with questions about his athleticism and physical capabilities. At the party, Chris realizes that Logan is actually one of his past acquaintances who went missing earlier that year with a strange and submissive new personality. His weekend trip results in a horrific discovery involving black reductionism and lobotomy. He discovers these white residents reel black men and women such as Logan into their town and bid on the possession and surgical violation of their bodies in a twisted attempt to gain their physical traits. The plot sends Chris into a fight for his life when Rose’s mother hypnotizes him into submission in hopes of lobotomizing him and giving his eyes to a blind, white art dealer. The plot is an explicit allegory to historical white supremacy, and the dialogue in the film shocks fans and exposes discomfort people still face with racism’s lasting effect on social construction.
There are multiple facets in the movie Get Out that expose today’s racist tendencies, and Jordan Peele uses explicit racist white ideology in his plot line to expose these subtle tendencies and shock viewers. One major component is Peele’s dialogue throughout the film. The objectification of black characters throughout conversation is a direct representation of hegemonic behavior, and it is foreign to twenty-first century films apart from Peele’s Get Out. White characters in the film objectify Chris, alluding to historical domination where blackness was said to be barbaric and strong, yet submissive to whiteness. In James Lull’s book, Media, Communication, Culture: A Global Approach, he writes, “Because information and entertainment technology is so thoroughly integrated into the everyday realities of modern societies, mass media’s social influence is not always recognized, discussed, or criticized, particularly in societies where the overall standard of living is relatively high. Hegemony, therefore, can easily go undetected.”
Racism today is filtered because it is apparent this ideology is hurtful and problematic. In Carolyn Finney’s article, “Brave New World,” she writes about this filtration and the suppression of conversation about race in order to maintain peace among ethnic groups in society. She writes, “Our romance with “post race” is more reflective of our inability to stand where we are, than it is in showing how “evolved” we have become.” However even in such a democratic atmosphere, whiteness is detected, and Peele uses creative dialogue to dramatically exemplify more subtle tendencies in current social construction in his film.
In the film, the main character, Chris has multiple conversations with family members and friends that allude to historical ideology in hierarchal ethnic groups. Peele personally experienced racism growing up, and uses those memories in his film. In an interview with Esquire, Peele says, “"Racism comes in many different forms. Sometimes it’s subtle and sometimes it’s overt. Sometimes it’s violent and sometimes it’s harmless, but it’s definitely here.” He recalls accusations from police when he was a kid and the way these impulsive elders made him insecure at times around people different from himself. In an article with USA Today, Peele says, “Get Out has the potential ‘to give white audiences or audience members who’ve never experienced any of this firsthand an opportunity to be with a protagonist who’s black and going through it. That in and of itself to me is a radical notion, even though it shouldn’t be at this point.” His experience is a direct example of the naturalization of racism in society that remains present. Even if it is undetected, it constructs our social structure. In Stuart Hall’s “The Spectacle of the ‘Other,’” he writes about the logic behind naturalization. He writes, “If the differences between black and white people are ‘cultural’, then they are open to modification and change. But if they are ‘natural…’ they are beyond history, permanent and fixed. ‘Naturalization’ is therefore a representation strategy designed to fix ‘difference’, and thus secure it forever.” Jordan Peele exudes a heavily present issue in his film and connects with viewers because his content comes with feeling and experience.
The experience that comes with racial segregation attaches to many black actors, because there are tendencies in the film industry to pinpoint stereotypes in race. In an interview with famous actor Samuel L. Jackson on New York radio station Hot 97.1 covering multiple topics of interest, Jackson recovers an ongoing debate in the film industry that is exemplified in the movie, Get Out.CNN news writes, "A film about the American black experience stars an actor that doesn’t have any first-hand knowledge of the American black experience. The star of "Get Out” is British.” Jackson criticizes the casting decision to star Daniel Kaluuya as Chris Washington, the black male protagonist in the film. In his interview with 97.1, Jackson criticizes Kaluuya’s role as a part of an interracial relationship. Perhaps these racial ideologies and hegemony stems from interracial transgressions of sexual space in varying social boundaries.Jackson says in his interview, “Daniel grew up in a country where they’ve been interracial dating for 100 years. What would a brother from America have made of that role? Some things are universal but [not everything is].” Britain’s experience with racist history and the social construction of ethnic groups is different from America’s. However, no one experience is the same, and both countries identify a hegemonic issue today.
No two countries share the exact same pain with racial hegemony, but it is important to acknowledge the individual citizen that is oppressed given their skin color. Britain has a history of negative racial climate. Its anti-racist movement that emerged in the 1960s was influenced by Black Power in the US and eventually fragmented into politics of ethnic difference around the 1980s.The united 'black’ struggle and political identity became construed, and its intention to combine anti-racist political solidarity with cultural diversity was misplaced. In an article written by Kundnani Arun titled, “Echoes of Empire,” he writes, "New forms of racism - linked to a systematic failure to understand the causes of forced migration, global terrorism and social segregation - have spread. The result is a climate of hatred and fear, directed especially at Muslim and migrant communities, and the erosion of the human rights of those whose cultures and values are perceived as 'alien.’” These racial tendencies restrict black actors and actresses with roles. Britain’s film industry lacks ethnic diversity in existing roles, and those casting opportunities exist for ethnic actors and actresses in other countries such as America. Empathy for everyone involved is important when racist segregation is discussed, because it exists outside the United States as well. In Carolyn Finney’s “Brave New World,” she writes, “The combination of mind and body engagement and expression of lived “race” yields numerous opportunities for how we see/vision/employ race as an idea, and in determining who actually get to participate in the continued production of theories, practices and possibilities of race reimagined.” Not only American minorities, but suppressed citizens across the globe experience this struggle in their lives, and open participation in this discussion is vital in order to change the way we view race.
In Jordan Peele’s interview with Esquire, he says, “Any horror that works for me has, on some level, a social connotation. In some way, they represent a very real, grounded horror. Even if it’s not directly clear, like Get Out, horror movies are also great when there’s a vague allegory.” Not only Get Out’s gore, but also its explicit content involving blunt racism that dates back to earlier openly racist ideology shocks viewers and changes the way we talk about the issue. In an article written by Eugene Shanklin regarding color-blindness in societies, she studies the history of anthropology in regards to race and ethnicity, and the way it is taught to students. Shanklin emphasizes the confusion that stems from 'color blindness’ because it ignores the deeply-rooted stereotypes that plague society, even in the twenty-first century. She writes, "The folk idea of race as skin color remains powerful in our society and racism has become part of legislation and institutions in ways that make it very difficult to extirpate.” We hush the real issue because it is deeply rooted in history, and effects a great amount of people. This “post race” ideology is not beneficial, it is simply softer segregation. Carolyn Finney writes in her article, “'Post race” promises to transform our collective neurosis into irrelevant cultural artifacts relegated to a past that we are desperately trying to separate ourselves from.” It creates an unspoken problem that goes overlooked. However it continues to affect social construction with all parties involved. In bell hook’s Representing Whiteness in the Black Imagination, she insists these stereotypes live on in society and evoke a simplistic, essentialist “us and them” dichotomy. Stereotyping reduces people to a few simple characteristics, and Jordan Peele’s Get Out blatantly expresses the suppression and transgressions that result from racist behavior.
Jordan Peele exposes society’s ignorance to present racial segregation through Get Out, involving naturalization and representational intersectionality about Chris Washington’s struggle in a white supremacist society. Peele’s casting decisions and script open the conversation that goes undiscussed to discover racist tendencies. Although his casting decisions were critiqued by fellow actors such as Samuel L. Jackson, it only spans our knowledge of the issue across other countries who deal with this in different circumstances. Peele’s debut film, Get Out took a twist on the present issue and pleased fans with a horror that excites and informs. In his interview with Esquire, he says, Revenge and killing the deserving bad guy really works, regardless of skin color.” He utilizes the black male protagonist in his film to prove the indifference in skin color. Racial segregation is current, and films like Peele’s are excellent examples of publicly denouncing racism.
