Getting Out: Movie Review

The film Get Out, is a terribly enjoyable film genre which tackles the well-worn tropes of horror intertwined and entrapped in the heartily yet so sad state of contemporary racial and gender politics. In case that sounds like an uncomfortable combination, then one could be excused. The writer of the film must have been one of the finest and brilliant comedic of his time. His prowess and wit of sketching jokes around while highlighting as well as inverting the racial stereotypes makes the film so educative and provocative at the same time. While at it, the film has cast light on racial issues that are inherent in humanity. It can be argued that by enjoying and taking part in the joke, one is subscribed to the imagination and idea, at least somewhere along the way.

While most movie writers have tackled the theme of the race with some horrific and absurd angels, the plot of this film and its approach takes an opposite angle. While some denote the movie as an African America nightmare film, the film is quite the contrary. Much as it has made use of satirical aspects, Get Outcasts a number the dark, ironic eye on pressing issues such as race and does so without a joke. It frames the ordinary anxieties of the contemporary white and black intercultural clumsiness as a great mask of a more nasty and sinister motive or act. The result of this kind of approach is the genuinely, and suspenseful horrific movie that would certainly be effective with topical references being at the center of its plot and still cuts deep due to its deep inspiration (Kaiser, & Shibahara, 2014).

Interestingly, the film tends to play fair in the sense that in spite of the fact that it ultimately reveals the on-goings in the film, the film themes and revelations are a bit unexpected. It employs the art of genre-bending, makes use of teases and misdirection as well as hidden, plain sight gestures and indications that fit together to form the logics that provide the answers to the mystery that surround the story.

The issue of high power distance is when individuals are expected to demonstrate high levels of obedience to the supposedly high-status people without questioning or challenging their authority. With this in mind, people tend to be more sensitive to the hierarchical distinctions at their disposal. People of lower social status are expected to show compliance with the requests and wishes of the supposed superiors without questions (Watch, 2017).

Culture is a convention of beliefs and values that people have concerning the working of the world and the norms that define behavior as derived from the set of values achieved. Going by the description, and as clearly depicted in the film, culture remains a great force that impacts on the way humans interact and relate. When people of color interact with the white people, there is the tendency of these people trying to do certain things in an attempt to fit in (Kaiser, & Shibahara, 2014). It is a reflection of the guilt they have to go through when they try to change their culture, their behavior and everything about themselves just so that they get to fit in white society. When a person of color has whitewashed themselves, they more often than not, encounter more persons of color, and upon doing so, they can do little but feel the enormous burden of self-betrayal. This is what happens in Georginas case; she has uncontrollable tears, a perfect case of someone who wishes that things could be revisited and undone. She hates what she had become but has no other choice but remain in that new state just to be accepted in the white land.

The manner in which Chris walks and the staging exchanges that accompany his gait is a reflection of what forms the everyday life experience. However, he does so with some ambiguity of a greater extent of menace. The white teens and partygoers apparently make some jokes about him, and the jokes are racist in nature, a perfect reflection of the razor-sharp annotation of how humans strive to possess or acquire cultures that are not their own (Watch, 2017).

The theme of individualism vs. collectivism is an idea that has significantly been employed in the movie. In actuality, this concept is a phenomenon that is widely applied in the modern societies. Individualism refers to instances where people tend to take care of individual needs, that is, they take care of themselves. They take care of their values, personal time and personal challenges.

On matters social and individual groupings, one thing is certain. The extended groups or social groups include clans, families, and friends. In such a setup, some values are used as drivers and tools for maintaining these social units in one piece. There is an elaborate insight into the dimensions of collectivism and individualism as impacted by the players in the film.

The love between the two is color blind, but the reality is that the world is not color blind. There is a reaction as posed by Chris where he shows his nervy attitude at the thought of them being seen together with his friend. The reception at the girls place is not warm either, courtesy of the racial world we live in (Get Out Official Trailer, 2017).

Georgina and Walter are very obedient in the eyes of Chris and gets shocked at the almost lobotomized with which they move around. It is a perfect case of high power distance where they are reduced to total subjects and never to question the authority.

The manner in which Roses parents smile and pretend to be accommodative to Chris is quite baffling. The mother, Mrs. Armitage pretends that she in insensitive to the color of the skin of Chris and ends up giving themselves a pat on the back at the fact that they were welcoming. When Roses father shares with Chris on his experience as a young man is the fact that his father took part in the Olympics running alongside Owen, a fact that Chris does not take lightly but show submission through nodding and smiles (Get Out Official Trailer, 2017).

The shift of events is the surprising nature of how Chris encounters a large group of wealthy friends visiting the Armitage family and the type of reception they accord him. He expects a different way but gets one of the most acceptable receptions around the white people, although their utterances look a bit out of place.

Get out has extensively delved on culture and demonstrated how the privileged white people had made use of their racial tendencies to alienate themselves from the people of color. Through the film revealing how the ruling white majority grants freedoms, and also have the powers to take them away, the writer exposes what the actual picture of the African Americans and how difficult it is for them to breathe easy.

References

Kaiser, M., & Shibahara, C. (2014). Film as source material in advanced foreign language classes. L2 Journal, 6(1).

Get Out Official Trailer 1 (2017) - Daniel Kaluuya Movie. (2017). YouTube. Retrieved 17 May 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzfpyUB60YY

Watch: The alternate ending for 'Get Out' is bleak AF (spoilers). (2017). entertainment.ie. Retrieved 17 May 2017, from http://entertainment.ie/cinema/news/Watch-The-alternate-ending-for-Get-Out-is-bleak-AF-spoilers/393409.htm