How Get Out (2017) redefines horror through racial commentary represents a watershed moment in American cinema, merging genuine terror with incisive social criticism in ways that mainstream horror had rarely attempted before. Jordan Peele’s directorial debut grossed over $255 million worldwide against a modest $4.5 million budget, earning an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and fundamentally shifting conversations about what horror films could achieve. The film follows Chris Washington, a Black photographer who visits his white girlfriend’s family estate, only to uncover a conspiracy that literalizes the horrors of racial exploitation and the commodification of Black bodies. The questions Get Out addresses extend far beyond typical genre fare.
What happens when liberal racism””the kind that hides behind compliments and admiration””becomes the monster? How do you create tension from microaggressions and social discomfort rather than jump scares alone? Peele’s film tackles the insidious nature of post-Obama racism, the kind that proclaims it would vote for a third Obama term while simultaneously viewing Black people as objects to possess rather than humans to respect. These questions resonated with audiences across demographic lines, sparking conversations that extended well beyond theater lobbies. By the end of this analysis, readers will understand the specific techniques Peele employed to transform racial anxiety into cinematic terror, the historical and cultural contexts that inform the film’s imagery, and why Get Out’s approach to horror commentary has influenced countless films in its wake. The movie did not simply add racial themes to a horror template””it demonstrated that racial experience in America is itself horrific, requiring no supernatural embellishment to terrify.
Table of Contents
- Why Does Get Out Work as Both Horror and Racial Commentary?
- The Sunken Place and Horror Imagery as Racial Metaphor
- Liberal Racism and the Horror of Progressive Spaces
- How Jordan Peele’s Direction Redefines Horror Filmmaking Techniques
- Get Out’s Influence on Horror and Racial Representation in Film
- The Historical Context of Black Bodies in Horror Cinema
- How to Prepare
- How to Apply This
- Expert Tips
- Conclusion
- Frequently Asked Questions
Why Does Get Out Work as Both Horror and Racial Commentary?
The genius of Get Out lies in its refusal to separate its horror elements from its racial commentary””they are fundamentally the same thing. Traditional horror often uses metaphor loosely, with monsters representing vague anxieties about sexuality, death, or the unknown. Peele’s approach differs in its specificity: every frightening element directly corresponds to documented experiences of Black Americans navigating white spaces. The Armitage family’s estate becomes a haunted house where the ghosts are the accumulated weight of racial history, and the monsters are people who smile while they consume.
The film works because it weaponizes discomfort that Black audiences already recognize. The opening party scene, where white guests make comments about Chris’s physique, ask about his sexual prowess, and declare Tiger Woods their favorite golfer, generates genuine unease before any explicitly horrific event occurs. For Black viewers, these interactions mirror countless real experiences; for white viewers, the concentrated awkwardness forces confrontation with behaviors they may have witnessed or participated in without registering their impact. This dual functionality””horror for some, recognition for others””creates a viewing experience that remains viscerally effective regardless of audience demographics.
- The “Sunken Place” serves as both supernatural horror element and metaphor for Black voicelessness in American society
- Body horror in the film directly parallels historical exploitation of Black bodies from slavery through medical experimentation
- The villain reveal subverts expectations by making liberal allies the threat rather than obvious bigots
- Sound design uses silence and dissonance to externalize the isolation Chris feels in white spaces
- The film’s R rating comes largely from tension rather than gore, proving psychological horror’s effectiveness
The Sunken Place and Horror Imagery as Racial Metaphor
The Sunken Place stands as Get Out’s most enduring contribution to cultural vocabulary, a visual representation of marginalization that has since been referenced in political discourse, academic papers, and everyday conversation. When Missy Armitage hypnotizes Chris, he falls through darkness into an infinite void where he can see the world but cannot interact with it””a literalization of what it means to be seen but not heard, present but powerless. Peele has stated in interviews that the Sunken Place represents the silencing of black voices, the way systemic racism can trap individuals in a state of paralysis while life continues without their input. This imagery connects to broader horror traditions while remaining specific to Black experience.
The concept echoes possession narratives where victims watch helplessly as their bodies commit acts against their will, but it gains particular resonance when applied to a history where Black bodies were legally owned and controlled by others. The Coagula procedure””the brain transplant that allows white minds to inhabit Black bodies””extends this metaphor into body horror territory. Victims become passengers in their own flesh, conscious but enslaved, present but erased. This updates the possession subgenre by grounding supernatural violation in documented historical atrocity.
- The teacup and spoon become instruments of terror through association rather than inherent threat
- Deer imagery throughout the film connects to both hunting culture and the vulnerability of being prey
- The camera frequently positions Chris as observed and surrounded, creating claustrophobic framing in open spaces
- Color grading shifts from warm to cold as Chris moves deeper into the Armitage world
- The basement operating theater recalls both medical experimentation on Black bodies and slave auction blocks
Liberal Racism and the Horror of Progressive Spaces
Get Out’s most subversive choice was making its villains liberals rather than easily identifiable bigots. The Armitage family votes Democrat, admires Black culture, and performs allyship with practiced ease. Dean Armitage’s declaration that he would have voted for Obama a third time if he could has become a cultural touchstone precisely because it captures a specific type of racial performance””the desire to be seen as non-racist without doing the actual work of anti-racism. This choice reflects Peele’s stated experience that the most uncomfortable racial encounters often occur not with hostile racists but with well-meaning progressives who view their good intentions as immunity from criticism.
The horror of progressive spaces manifests in the film’s party sequence, where white guests treat Chris as a curiosity while believing they are complimenting him. Their admiration for his physique, their assumptions about his athletic and sexual abilities, their casual familiarity””all stem from the same dehumanizing impulse that motivated slavery, merely filtered through contemporary politeness. The blind art dealer Jim Hudson explicitly articulates this when he tells Chris he does not care about race, only wanting his eyes for their artistic talent. This nominally colorblind perspective still results in Chris’s literal consumption, revealing how ignoring race often means ignoring racism rather than transcending it.
- The film critiques fetishization and appropriation as forms of violence rather than flattery
- Rose’s initial positioning as ally makes her betrayal more devastating than if she had been obviously suspicious
- The Armitages’ household staff being Black creates horror through historical echo rather than supernatural means
- Liberal guilt becomes a weapon in the film, with Chris’s politeness weaponized against his survival instincts
- The auction format directly references slave markets while maintaining contemporary country club aesthetics
How Jordan Peele’s Direction Redefines Horror Filmmaking Techniques
Jordan Peele’s directorial choices demonstrate how horror techniques can be adapted to serve specific thematic purposes rather than generating generic scares. His background in sketch comedy, particularly the racially-charged observations of Key and Peele, informed his understanding of comedic timing””knowledge he inverted to create sustained dread. The film’s pacing deliberately withholds information, allowing audiences to sense wrongness before confirming it, mirroring the experience of intuiting racism before it becomes explicit enough to name.
Cinematographer Toby Oliver shot the film to emphasize Chris’s isolation within seemingly welcoming spaces. Wide shots position Chris alone against the Armitage estate, while medium shots during conversations frequently frame white characters closer to camera, making them loom larger in the frame. The infamous reveal of Rose eating Froot Loops while browsing photos of her next victim uses composition to disturb: the mundane snack, the casual posture, and the horrific search history create dissonance that unsettles more than any monster could. Sound design similarly serves theme, with the absence of score during key moments forcing audiences to sit in uncomfortable silence alongside Chris.
- Long takes during dialogue scenes prevent editorial relief from awkward racial encounters
- The Swahili chant in the score (Sikiliza Kwa Wahenga, meaning “Listen to the Elders”) provides warnings Chris cannot understand
- Practical effects for the brain transplant sequence ground body horror in physical reality
- The alternate ending, where Chris goes to prison despite surviving, was changed because audiences needed catharsis after 2016
- Peele’s shot list included specific camera movements designed to replicate the sensation of being watched
Get Out’s Influence on Horror and Racial Representation in Film
Get Out’s commercial and critical success fundamentally altered industry calculations about horror with social commentary. The film earned $255.4 million worldwide, making it one of the most profitable films of 2017 relative to budget. More significantly, its four Academy Award nominations””including Best Picture””challenged the genre’s historical exclusion from prestige recognition. Peele became only the third person to receive nominations for producing, directing, and writing the same film on their debut feature, following Warren Beatty and James L.
Brooks. The film’s influence manifested immediately in both horror and mainstream cinema. Studios greenlit projects exploring racial horror, including Peele’s own Us (2019) and the Candyman (2021) sequel he produced, which explicitly engaged with gentrification and racial violence. Films like His House (2020), Antebellum (2020), and Master (2022) directly responded to Get Out’s proof of concept, exploring racial terror through genre frameworks. Beyond horror, the film influenced how studios approached Black stories generally, demonstrating that specificity of experience translated to broader audience engagement rather than limiting appeal.
- The term “Sunken Place” entered mainstream vocabulary to describe Black figures who appear to work against community interests
- Horror film festival programming increasingly prioritized socially conscious genre work after 2017
- Studios began actively seeking projects from Black horror filmmakers, reversing historical exclusion
- Critical analysis of horror shifted to expect deeper thematic engagement rather than pure entertainment
- The film’s success enabled Peele to found Monkeypaw Productions, which has championed diverse genre filmmaking
The Historical Context of Black Bodies in Horror Cinema
Get Out’s achievement becomes clearer when contextualized within horror’s troubled racial history. Early horror frequently positioned Black characters as comic relief, victims who died first, or mystical helpers lacking interiority. The “magical negro” trope reduced Black characters to tools for white protagonist development, while films like King Kong (1933) embedded racist imagery into their foundational texts. Even Night of the Living Dead (1968), often praised for its Black lead, gained much of its power from George Romero’s claim that race was not a factor in casting””an assertion that inadvertently demonstrated how revolutionary simple representation felt.
Peele’s film directly inverts these traditions. Chris survives not through white benevolence but through his own resourcefulness and his Black best friend Rod’s persistence. The horror happens not to a Black character within a white narrative but to the audience through a Black perspective. This shift in point of view transforms familiar elements: the isolated country house, the too-friendly family, the creeping sense of wrongness. These tropes gain new meaning when filtered through specifically Black anxieties about white spaces, making the entire genre feel renewed through changed perspective.
- The horror of slavery rarely received direct genre treatment before Get Out despite its obvious potential
- Blaxploitation horror of the 1970s centered Black characters but often exploited racial fears rather than critiquing them
- Tales from the Hood (1995) attempted social horror but lacked mainstream distribution and budget
- Get Out’s success validated approaches that centered rather than exploited Black experience
- The film reclaimed horror as a space for Black storytelling rather than Black suffering
How to Prepare
- **Familiarize yourself with historical context** by reading about the Tuskegee syphilis study, where the U.S. government experimented on Black men without consent from 1932 to 1972. This medical betrayal directly informs the Coagula procedure and the film’s treatment of Black bodies as resources for white benefit. Understanding this history transforms the basement scenes from generic horror to specific indictment.
- **Consider the 2016 political context** in which Peele wrote and shot the film. The post-Obama era saw simultaneous claims of post-racial progress and documented evidence of persistent institutional racism. This tension between declared equality and lived inequality pervades the film’s treatment of liberal racism. The Armitage family represents Americans who believed electing a Black president absolved ongoing racial work.
- **Watch for visual callbacks to earlier horror films** that Peele deliberately references and subverts. The Stepford Wives (1975), Rosemary’s Baby (1968), and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967) all receive explicit nods. Recognizing these references reveals Peele in conversation with genre history, updating mid-century anxieties about conformity and bodily autonomy for contemporary racial discourse.
- **Pay attention to Chris’s photography** as both character detail and thematic element. His profession involves seeing and capturing images, making his potential loss of sight particularly devastating. The film repeatedly associates looking with power, from the auction stares to Missy’s hypnotic eye contact, establishing vision as a site of racial struggle.
- **Note the function of comedy** throughout the film, particularly Rod’s scenes. Rather than undercutting horror, these moments release pressure to build it again, while also grounding the supernatural threat in recognizable Black vernacular response to white nonsense. Rod’s theories prove correct, validating suspicion that the film’s white characters dismiss as paranoia.
How to Apply This
- **Recognize microaggressions as cumulative harm** by observing how the party sequence demonstrates death by a thousand cuts. No single comment at the gathering would justify outrage in isolation, yet together they create suffocating pressure. This mirrors how systemic racism often operates through individually excusable moments that compound into inescapable patterns.
- **Distinguish between non-racism and anti-racism** through the Armitage example. The family’s professed racial progressivism coexists with their literal consumption of Black bodies, demonstrating that absence of explicit hostility does not indicate safety. Apply this framework to evaluate whether stated values align with material outcomes.
- **Examine your own relationship to “politeness”** and whether social decorum ever prevents naming harmful behavior. Chris’s hesitation to trust his instincts stems partly from not wanting to seem rude or paranoid””a calculation Black Americans often make when navigating white spaces. Consider when civility serves as a silencing mechanism.
- **Use the “Sunken Place” concept** to identify situations where marginalized voices are technically present but structurally prevented from influencing outcomes. This applies beyond race to any context where visibility substitutes for power, where representation exists without actual influence over decisions.
Expert Tips
- **Watch the film twice** with different focuses: first for plot and visceral response, second for compositional and symbolic details. The rewatch reveals Peele’s meticulous foreshadowing, from Rose’s separate eating habits to the unexplained photographs in the opening sequence.
- **Listen to the full score separately** to appreciate Michael Abels’s music, which blends Southern gospel, traditional Swahili, and horror conventions. The warnings embedded in lyrics that Chris cannot understand reward musical attention and demonstrate the film’s care with non-visual elements.
- **Read interviews with Jordan Peele** about his intentions and influences, which clarify ambiguous elements without reducing the film to single meanings. His commentary track on the home release provides scene-by-scene insights that enhance rather than explain away the work’s power.
- **Consider the alternate ending** included in special features, where Chris is arrested despite surviving. Peele’s decision to change this ending after 2016 reveals how political context shapes artistic choices, and understanding both versions illuminates what the theatrical release provides and costs.
- **Engage with scholarly analysis** from Black critics specifically, whose perspective informs readings that might otherwise miss crucial context. Writers like Angelica Jade Bastien, Carvell Wallace, and academics in Black studies have produced essential companion texts to the film itself.
Conclusion
Get Out’s redefinition of horror through racial commentary extends beyond genre innovation into cultural intervention. The film demonstrated that horror works best when its scares derive from real fears rather than arbitrary threats, and that specificity of experience translates to broader resonance rather than narrower appeal. Jordan Peele transformed personal observations about navigating white spaces into universal tension, proving that the most frightening monsters are not supernatural but social””the smiling faces that see you as commodity rather than person.
The film’s legacy continues to unfold as filmmakers apply its lessons to other marginalized experiences and as audiences expect genre work to engage meaningfully with the world it reflects. For viewers approaching or revisiting Get Out, the film offers both immediate entertainment and lasting provocation, a horror movie that genuinely horrifies because it refuses to pretend its terrors are fiction. The monsters in the Armitage house resemble people we know, perhaps people we are, and that recognition is exactly the point. Horror that makes us examine our own potential monstrousness achieves something the genre rarely attempts and even more rarely accomplishes.
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