Review of Get Out (2017) by Laura V — 26 May 2018

Get Out was an important movie because it made me think, but it was a good movie because it grabbed so I watched the whole thing. When a film is entertaining and helps you understand the world better, then it is a great movie. Get Out used a fictional account to tackle subtle racism in our society, showed the difficulties still present in interracial relationships, and demonstrated the horror of slavery that still affects young African American men today. Get Out was a great movie because it did what the newspapers didn't do, it provided a way for all of us to witness what it must be like to be young, male, and African American trying to fit into an upper middle class white world in a way that everyone could understand.

Get Out was an important movie because it showed how hard it was to be an African American man struggling to be accepted in a white world. For example, when the black protagonist, Chris, was at the dinner table with his white girlfriend's brother, the brother questioned Chris as if he were a hoodlum. The white guy had no idea what to say to a black guy so he resorted to stereotypes. As a Caucasian woman, I had no idea of what it would be like to be a young black man, so I might not have known what to say to a black dinner guest either. Chris's responses to the brother's stereotypical questions showed that real African American men aren't all hoodlum and how silly the stereotypes are.

It should be obvious that all black men are not into fighting, but the news in 2016 sensationalized violence done to black men in a way that it didn't really sink in. Even events such as the Trayvon Martin shooting or the Black Lives Matter movement were portrayed as something happening to someone else far away. The news didn't really focus on Trayvon Martin as a real kid, instead the media used the example to focused on the racism in general. Get Out humanized racial stereotypes in a way that I could see them and feel why they were wrong.

Get Out went beyond racial the brother's racial bias to show that it occurs even when the person doesn't believe their racist. The girlfriend's father confides in Chris that he would have voted for Obama for a third time if he could. The father was trying to be nice to Chris, but it sounded so stupid. The scene drove home the point that a person's skin color does not dictate the person's politics. This reminded me of times when I have made assumptions about people that turned out to be stupid or wrong. It showed me that young black men, even when people are trying to be nice to them, are subjected to stereotypes and racial prejudice.

The news can't really deal effectively with more subtle racism that occurs when the person doesn't believe they are racist. The media jumps to the most startling case so people will view it or "like" it. This type of journalism doesn't show people how engrained stereotypes are in everyday life. In the movie, you could see that the father should have asked Chris about school or ask about subjects until they found something in common. I have never seen a newspaper or even an advice column deal with this issue. It took a movie to clarify the depth of racial stereotyping in our society.

Get Out depicted how hard it was for an African American man to date a Caucasian woman because of the deep prejudice in our society. The movie showed how uncomfortable Chris was in meeting his girlfriend's white parents. It also showed that his Caucasian girlfriend, Rose, was so uncomfortable that she didn't tell her parents that her boyfriend was African American. It was so realistic for me, I would have a hard time telling my parents that my boyfriend was African American, and the movie made it clear that that made it harder for the African American boyfriend. I could see how much harder it was for a black man to meet a White father than it would have been for a White man in the same role. These details in the storyline made it an important movie, because it made crystal clear how hard it is to be a black man with a white girlfriend even in the 21st century.

The movie Get Out was released on February 24th, 2017, which was a perfect time to reflect how interracial relationships because there were still many stories in the news about problems between blacks and whites. The media missed the opportunity to tackle this important issue because it focused on hate crimes against African Americans. While hate crimes are bad, openly discussing the difficulties of interracial relationships would go further to understanding what it is like to be an African American man in the 21st century. Get Out went beyond the headlines of what was happening to some African Americans to tackle everyday circumstances like dating. When it comes to interracial dating, some white parents do not support their child dating an African American. The movie made it clear, it is hard for the African American man to date a white woman.

Finally, Get Out portrayed enslavement of African American men in a way that made me understand the horror of slavery and how easy it would be to enslave people again. It was chilling to see Rose's dad, Dean, hold an auction for who was going to get Chris as a slave. This was gripping because it felt like it could really happen. Even though I was probably not the intended audience, even I could understand how bad it would be to be an enslaved African American man was because of how it was depicted in the movie.

While Get Out was fiction, it made me realize that there are real life connections that I never thought about. The news reports of unarmed black men being killed by police were frequent in 2016 and 2017. There were even stories of their parents reminding their teenaged black sons to be extra cooperative with the police, so they didn't get shot. The media does a good job highlighting the horror, but did not focus on how some white people stilled held black lives in their hands. Get Out did what the newspapers couldn't, it made me see that the life of an African American man is still held back by aspects of slavery that still persist in our society.

Get Out was a great movie because it used fiction to highlight how hard it is to be an African American young man in the 21st century. As a Caucasian female, this movie raised my awareness of issues such as racial stereotypes, difficulties with interracial relationships and how horrible slavery really is. These issues aren't part of my normal world, so it took a movie like Get Out to convey the problems and show how they are occurring in our world today. The media didn't, and probably couldn't convey the same topics as well as the movie. The news media focuses on big issues which seem far away. The media doesn't dwell on personal relationships or on subtle stereotypes. The material is not exciting enough to get people to read it. Most importantly, the media does not focus young unarmed black men being killed by white men as a subtle for of slavery. They focus on whether the police officer was scared and the black man's provocation. Like the slave of old, it is up to the young unarmed black man not to provoke the white man to kill him. I am glad I saw Get Out. It was a great movie because it did what the newspapers didn't do, gave me a glimpse into African American man's life and made me see, in a way news accounts never did, how racism and even slavery are still a real part of that life today.