A Comprehensive Analysis of Jordan Peele’s Get Out

Film Analysis: Get Out (2017)

Today, movies have become deeply embedded in people’s lives. People enjoy movies at home, on airplanes, in buses and cars, in offices, and in theaters. Films communicate ideas and information and show viewers new ways of being and places. They take the audience through satisfying experiences, typically driven by a narrative developed around characters. Such things do not happen by accident. Instead, filmmakers use various qualities, such as sound textures and visual elements, to convey themes and provide gratifying experiences. Thus, to understand film as a form of art, one should examine why it is designed in a particular way. Throughout this paper, the author puts themselves in the filmmaker's shoes and analyzes Get Out, the 2017 directorial debut of Academy Award winner Jordan Peele. Peele’s Get Out film was released in 2017. In the film, Jordan Peele employs compelling narrative, cultural, and stylistic elements such as cinematography, mise-en-scène, sound, and editing to critique contemporary racial tensions in America, focusing on the underlying persistence of racism in a seemingly post-racial society.

Narrative Form

The narrative structure in Get Out represents one of the key elements that makes the audience care more about the characters on the screen. A narrative can be defined as a "chain of events linked by cause and effect and occurring in space and time” (Bordwell, Thompson, and Smith 73). Therefore, the audience’s engagement with a film depends on their understanding of the various patterns of change and stability, cause-and-effect, and time and space. However, other elements define a movie's narrative form besides this bare-bones framework. The relevant components include story and plot, openings and closings, and the development pattern.

Plot, Causes, and Effects

The audience organizes events around the plot to build a story. In Get Out, Chris Washington, an African American (AA) man, is invited by her Caucasian girlfriend, Rose Armitage, to meet her family during the weekend. Chris fears that Rose’s upper-middle-class white parents do not know she is dating a black man. She often cites how her family is progressive (Peele et al. 00:08:02). Rose and Chris arrive at the Armitages’ home, and the protagonist learns that his girlfriend's father, Dean Armitage, is a neurosurgeon while her mother, Catherine Kenner a.k.a Missy, is a hypnotherapist. The family has two black helpers, Georgina, the housekeeper, and Walter, the groundsman. Chris notices that something is “off” about these two workers, a riddle that will become apparent as action continues to rise.

At night, Chris sneaks out to smoke a cigarette. As he returns to his room, Missy turns on a light and says she can help him with an effective smoking intervention (Peele et al. 00:31:12). Upon accepting the offer, Missy hypnotizes Chris through a process that involves stirring a teacup with a spoon. He loses his consciousness, with his body remaining paralyzed in a chair. The next day, the Armitages’ well-off friends arrive for a scheduled party. He interacts with some of the guests who say inappropriate things to him, including complementing his built body, awkwardly highlighting the idea of black is currently in “fashion”, and voicing their admiration for celebrated figures in the African American community such as Obama and Tiger woods (Peele et al. 00:43:42). He coincidentally meets his old friend Andre Logan King, who acts awkwardly like the other servants in the mansion. As the event continues, Chris’s friend Rod Williams, a security transportation officer for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), warns him that he needs to leave the Armitage’s house as he could be used as a sex slave.

Later, Dean Armitage leads a bingo game, which turns out to be a bidding war for Chris’s body. Jim Hudson wins the auction. While at the house, Chris finds pictures of Rose with other black boyfriends, including his old friend Logan King (Peele et al. 01:05:51). He immediately senses that something is wrong and decides to leave the Armitage’s compound. However, Rose cannot give him the car keys. A struggle ensues as Chris attempts to exit the house while the Armitages maintain their interest in his brain. After killing Dean, Missy, and Rose’s brother, Chris, they escape from the home. As the film ends, Rod saves Chris from being killed by Rose.

Time and Space

Get Out’s filmmakers presented events in a chronological sequence. From the opening scene, one event leads to another, driven by the actors’ motivations. Get Out contains a few flashbacks and no flashforward, making the story have a non-linear order. Regarding temporal duration, events in the film stretch over a weekend. The plot is compressed to a 1-hour, 44-minute screen time.

Temporal frequency, which refers to how often the audience hears or sees an action, is a critical quality of a film’s narrative form. Increased frequency enables the viewer to see the same event in different or several ways (Bordwell, Thompson, and Smith 81). In Get Out, Rod repeatedly warns Chris about the threat of being in the Armitage family. When Rose and Chris are going to meet her family, he is talking over the phone with Chris, who tells him that he does not listen to his advice, “like don’t go to a white girl’s parents’ house” (Peele et al. 00:10:01). Also, when Chris tells Rod that he suspects being hypnotized by Missy, he warns of the dangers that he could face in Rose’s family, advising him to get out of there. For example, he tells the protagonist that “white people love making people sex slaves" (Peele et al. 00:50:51). Moreover, upon learning that the young black man who appeared unnatural when interacting with the Armitages’ wealthy guests is Andre Hayworth, Rod advises Chris to get out the Armitage’s house (Peele et al. 01:04:35). Such repeated events warn the audience of the danger that could face Chris. The events in Get Out occur in Westchester County, New York. Rose tells a police officer that her parents are from the Lake Pocantico area (00:12:21).

Opening and Closing

Get Out’s opening seeks to elicit curiosity. In the opening scene, a middle-aged black man walks across a predominantly white neighborhood with a street named Edgewood Way. He seems lost and uncomfortable. Suddenly, a white car with loud music appears and begins following him. He changes direction as he is concerned about the motives of the vehicle’s occupants. Then, a man emerges from the right side of the road, attacks the black man, and stuffs him in the car's trunk. The film's opening reveals the general anxiety, fear, and panic AA men experience while traversing white neighborhoods.

Get Out has a resolved ending. Bordwell, Thompson, and Smith (88) note that the climax “serves to settle the causal issues that have run throughout the film.” In Get Out’s closing scene, Rose chases Chris after he escapes their house. Chris crashes the car, an event that leads to Georgina’s death. Walter, an African American gardener working for the Armitages, is ordered to kill a wounded Chris but shoots Rose and turns the gun on himself. Chris attempts to strangle Rose but is overcome by emotions. Then, a police car appears. Amidst suspense and fear, Rod Williams emerges to rescue his best friend. The ending of Get Out restores the moral universe.

Film Style

Mise en scène

Mise en scène provides filmmakers with various areas of control and choice, including setting, costumes, and lighting. Setting refers to the design and décor of scenes. Jordan Peele effectively uses setting to ensure that the viewer is part of an intense and irrational moment based on Get Out’s narrative. Rose's brother is standing or sitting opposite her and Chris in nearly all the scenes. Such a setting enables the audience to view the brother as an oppositional force acting against Chris. Also, Peele represents the Bingo game as similar to how plantation owners auctioned enslaved people in the 1800s. Dean Armitage uses hand gestures to guide a crowd of wealthy whites in a bidding contest for Chris’s body. Additionally, a deer can be seen several times in Get Out. For instance, a dear sculpture is placed on a wall in the Armitage’s mansion and appears in Chris's first experience in the "sunken place." The incorporation of deer in the film’s setting evokes fear and shows how the white family sees African American men as trophies.

The lead costume designer in Get Out, Nadine Haders, used costumes to convey various messages to the audience. Firstly, the clothes worn by Rose reflect a slightly naïve, typical preppy American girl. Haders wanted her to have an effortless, easy-going vibe, which made her approachable and less strange. When Rose first appears to the audience, she is wearing a denim dress (Peele et al. 00:06:53). This was purposeful as denim portrays an all-American girl. Additionally, red is a common aspect of the costumes worn by the Armitages and their guests. The red costumes symbolize a secret society. At the party, Chris wears blue, which depicts him as an outsider and enforces the "us versus them" mentality.

Get Out uses lighting as a critical quality to guide the audience’s attention to particular actions or objects and evoke certain emotions. For example, the opening scene has low-key lighting, which helps to create a dramatic, dark, and mysterious mood. Furthermore, this type of lighting is present in the "sunken place" scene, when Chris steps outside at night, and in the movie's conclusion. Besides, the film involves filtered lighting, particularly inside the Armitages’ house. Filtered lighting indicates the warmth that could be found in Rose's parents' house. However, the audience soon finds the contrary.

Cinematography

Get Out’s cinematography team exploited space to their advantage. For instance, when Rose and Chris enter the Armitages’ home, the camera is positioned far away (Peele et al. 00:14:34). The viewers cannot see the two characters for a few seconds. As a result, the audience feels left out of the family love. Point of view (POV) shots are crucial in Get Out. One such shot is when Walter is running toward Chris at night. At first, Chris looks into the compound and sees nothing except grass and trees. In the following moment, he notices a dark figure that seems to be approaching from a distance. A cut shows Chris squinting his eyes as he questions what could happen. Another POV shot occurs when Chris enters the “sunken place.” He floats in darkness, and a small rectangular screen shows him events happening in the real world (Peele et al. 00:14:34).

Furthermore, close-up shots form an important component of Get Out. The camera shot of the main character’s face when he is undergoing hypnosis reveals extreme emotion, making the viewer feel the fear he is experiencing. The close-up shots involving the teacup and its teaspoon are vital to the film's plot. The shots are significant as they indicate the danger that Chris could face. Also, Get Out favors showing characters from below. The low-angle camera shots create a fearful atmosphere. When Walter is shown in the film ending with a gun, the viewer considers him intimidating. The audience expects Walter to kill Chris as the camera angle portrays him as the one holding all the power.

Editing

Editing significantly contributed to making Get Out (2017) a masterpiece. The shots included in this film and their arrangement make the audience feel part of the story. The cut represents the standard join used to link shots. In the scene where Chris is introduced to the viewer, cuts are used to show his house. Moreover, Get Out relies on cross-cutting to guide the audience to improve their understanding of the film. For example, Chris can be seen preparing to leave his house as Rose prepares snacks in a different location (Peele et al. 00:05:50). Additionally, cross-cutting happens when Rose and Chris go for a walk down the river as the Armitages and their guests hold the bidding event for the protagonist’s brain using a bingo game. The camera shots switch back and forth between scenes, indicating that the events are occurring simultaneously but in different locations. In Get Out, this editing technique creates suspense and illustrates contrast.

Editing in Get Out serves to shape chronology. Most of the shots are presented in a 1-2-3-4 order. However, this order is impacted by plot-story relations, particularly when Chris is having flashbacks. The recollection of past events leads to the presentation of the camera shots chronologically.

Sound

Sound is a powerful element in filmmaking. Specifically, sound provides the audience a complete experience, shapes how they understand images, and guides the eye and the mind. Get Out filmmakers effectively used both diegetic and non-diegetic sounds. The former sound form comes from the story’s world, while the latter emanates from outside the story's world. For example, the audience can hear the sound of a moving car during the opening scene as Chris and Rose ride to her parents' house. When the vehicle hits a deer, a loud bang and tire screeching can be heard. The film features unexpected door openings and bangs that create fear and shock.

Two key examples of non-diegetic sounds in Get Out include the “Run Rabbit Run” score in the opening scene and the “Sikiliza Kwa Wahenga” title, which plays as Chris and Rose ride their car in the film’s second scene. In the score, the rabbit can be considered to represent an African American persecuted by a white farmer. The music foreshadows that the Armitages will catch and attempt to harm Chris. Additionally, the protagonist’s flight from the Armitages’ house at the film’s climax parallels the rabbit’s escape from the farmer. On the other hand, the title of the song "Sikiliza Kwa Wahenga" means "Listen to the elders." The voices in this non-diegetic music represent the lynching victims and departed enslaved people. They use an African language to warn Chris that race relations are still broken in America and that he should run away and save himself. Also, the non-simultaneous sound is present in the chosen film. Chris hears the rain, which poured at the time of his mother's death, when he becomes hypnotized by Missy.

Cultural Analysis

Get Out exposes the audience to prevailing cultural trends. Specifically, the film explores America's current racist behaviors and how the fight against racism has changed between the Civil Rights era and now. Nearly all the people that Chris encounters appear to be accepting. For example, Dean Armitage tells him he can vote for Barack Obama for a third term. Besides, Dr. Armitage argues that Walter and Georgina have become like his family members, making it hard to let them go. He uses this storyline to prevent Chris from seeing a “white family, black servants.” Also, the wealthy friends at the party celebrate prominent black people such as Tiger Woods and Obama.

Also, one of the guests says that black is in fashion to suggest that he is color blind. However, these remarks and many others in the film can be viewed as racial slurs from an AA perspective. For instance, Jeremy tells Chris that if he trains hard, he could become a beast and even an MMA fighter. The comment propagates the myth that blacks and whites are genetically and biologically different. Also, the same myth justifies the transplantation operation at the film’s conclusion. Get Out gives the audience the impression that the Armitages and their friends are accommodating. However, this is far from the truth. The film’s plot is built around oppression and racism.

How the Film Derives Its Meaning

Get Out derives its meaning from the horror genre. The film relies on aspects of this genre to unmask the existing racism in a professedly post-racial America. In the 2018 Critics' Choice Awards, Get Out won the best Horror/Sci-fi movie (Los Angeles Times para.2). The film shows the audience that racism still exists in the US. Nothing is communicated to the viewer directly, as everything is behind dramatic interpretations, mannerisms, and metaphors, which must be taken out of this film. Get Out shows the new ways in which Americans are being racist.

Additionally, addressing racism in the US has remained a contentious topic for decades. The extent to which the issue is talked about has been diminishing over the past few years. Today, the race problem is discussed very discreetly. Get Out employs some humor that significantly hides the serious topic under exploration. Peele relied on Rod Williams as the film’s leading comedian. His scenes not only lighten the mood but also soften the intensity of the presented issues.

In conclusion, Get Out (2017) is a horror film that presents the issue of racism and race to the audience. Events in the film are arranged linearly and occur in Westchester County, New York, over the weekend. Costumes in the movie portray Rose as a typical all-American girl and the Armitages and their friends as secret society members. Close-up shots, using space, POV shots, and camera angles were essential to Get Out’s cinematography. The film features diegetic, non-diegetic, and non-simultaneous sounds. From a cultural perspective, Get Out delves into the racial relations in America. The masterpiece derives its meaning from the horror genre.