Forum Post #4: GET OUT and Afropessimism

14/11/2023

Due by Tuesday, 21 November (end of day), as an entry in the "Comments" section below this post or just above and to the right. (maximum 250 words)

TOPIC
At its most basic narrative level Jordan Peele’s 2017 film Get Out revolves around the insertion of white consciousness into black bodies. Discuss Get Out in the terms of embodiment set out in the readings by Ta-Nehisi Coates and Vinson Cunningham (on Frank B. Wilderson III’s work). Think about examples of concepts such as double consciousness, interest, convergence, or the American dream, and how this ties in with the idea of attempting to inhabit multiple embodiments or perspectives—in this context, for example, Black and white realities. Provide specific examples from the film (and/or texts) in your discussion.

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Make a clear, concise point. Support your arguments and ideas with quoted references to relevant course texts. Quotations should be followed by a parenthetical citation at the end of the sentence. For example:

The narrator of "The Tell-Tale Heart" repeatedly questions “for what had I to fear?”--a sign that
his overconfidence on having so perfectly handled the murder may be a mask for unconscious
insecurity (Poe 320).

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Image Credit: Still from Get Out (Jordan Peele, 2017)

26 Comments

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Be original!

Vanessa Bragagnolo

16/11/2023 06:15:59 pm

THE ARGUMENT OF AFROPESSIMISM by Vinson Cunningham explores the concept of social death, described as black people not only being capitalized upon, but having their personhood taken from them (Cunningham, np). This concept is also shown in the film GET OUT. The Armitage family uses black people for the benefit of the highest (white) bidder, helping them achieve whatever it is they feel they’re missing. “Black people are integral to human society”, or in the Armitages’ case, their livelihood, “but [are] at all times and in all places excluded from it” (Cunningham, np). In order for these white people to excel physically, black men like Chris are essential. However, once used, they are quite literally excluded from their own bodies, residing as mere passengers. The Armitages and company exploit these black men for the traits they deem to be desirable for their own personal gain. For example, the couple in the kitchen during the party reduce Chris to but an object, commenting on his sexual performances and attractiveness while the woman squeezes his biceps. This idea of social death is further shown through the symbolism of the deer. At the beginning of the film, the deer Rose and Chris hit represent Chris’s helplessness as a callback to his mother’s death. Missy then capitalizes on said helplessness, using it to render him immobile and susceptible. Chris, however, reclaims his personhood by stabbing Dean with the deer head, ultimately freeing him from the social death he was doomed to endure. Thus, the image of helplessness transforms into that of strength.

Zeya D'Alto

16/11/2023 07:41:50 pm

The American dream is a concept created by white people for white people. It’s supposed to be achievable by anyone, a kind of “equal opportunity for all”. However, that is far from the case; all it does is demonstrate the inequality that will exist as long as the system remains in place.
The Armitage family in GET OUT perfectly represents the so-called “ideal”: they’re rich, with a nice house and beautiful grounds, and most importantly, they are white. They belong to a world that belittles and practically condemns the existence of black people, as evidenced by the way Chris is spoken to (condescension and inappropriate questions by his girlfriend’s family members) or how Andre instinctively knows that being in that suburb is a bad idea at the beginning of the movie. In BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME, Ta-Nehisi Coates writes about innocent black children being shot simply for existing– one wrong, or rather, misinterpreted move could mean the end of their lives. There is an inherent danger that comes with being black in America, a danger that is reinforced by the very benefactors of the American dream– white people. These same people will go on to say “anyone can achieve anything if they work hard enough”, which they know is not true because the carefully crafted world they live in is founded on the fact that that statement is a lie. Coates states that America’s progress “was built on looting and violence” (Coates, np), and the perpetrators of the violence are people exactly like the Armitages. Peoples’ realities vary depending on their skin tone, and living with the presumption that everyone is born with equal opportunity is blatantly wrong and incredibly ignorant.

Joane Chandra

17/11/2023 05:35:24 pm

Jordan Peele’s GET OUT explores, among other topics, that the reason why racism is so deeply engrained in North American society is because this racism inherently benefits the oppressors, as acts committed by oppressors usually do. In GET OUT, Peele shows how the only reason the Armitage’s entourage had any in Chris was for his physical capabilities, as seen when Gordon Greene attempts to inspect if Chris’ golf posture is ideal or when the woman in the kitchen comments about his attractiveness and strength. Dean then proceeds to sell Chris to the highest bidder, implying that, much like the deer, African Americans are only acceptable if they are able to serve white people. This idea of interest convergence, meaning that racism exists because acts of racism benefit a certain group, is also seen in Ta-Nehisi Coats’ BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME which addresses topics of systematic racism and how much more dangerous it is to be a black person in America than it is to be elsewhere. While less blatant, Coats’ work discusses how even when one commits an atrocious act against a black person, “they [would at most] receive pensions”, especially if they are white (Coats, np). This systematic leniency for crimes against the African American populace serves to further the exploitation of black people in an order to make (usually) their white oppressors richer, so they can continue living the ideal American lifestyle, which we can also see in GET OUT as, at its very surface, the movie is about how white people exploit black peoples’ bodies to extend their lives and not have to deal with the growing pains of aging.

Neïla Manseur

17/11/2023 06:22:01 pm

The concept of double consciousness, the mental charge of always having to deal with both your inner self, culture and personality and the way others perceive you as a racial minority, more specifically, is found in the movie GET OUT (Du Bois n.p). The various film mediums used in this film serve as symbolic representations of this dual experience. As a photographer, Chris perceives the world differently than the average person, analyzing and looking outward through his camera. He captures landscapes and objects in his lenses, using one of his consciousnesses to look outside, in a first-person point of view. His other consciousness is used to look at himself in a third-person position, as through the microscope he was being put under by the people at the party. Becoming the object of scrutiny of the white elderly people, Chris had to be overly aware of himself. He was being observed, palped, and questioned by everyone. Knowing the sick scheme they all were in, we understand that the seniors were interested in him for his body, the body they wished to have. An old golfer even asked Chris about his golf form and hips’ health, assessing the perks of a future investment. His black body was being objectified, leaving his personhood aside. In the pivotal scene of the sunken place, Chris sees the outside world as if through a television frame, another medium related to film, and is, therefore, robbed from one of his consciousness, his free will and being. The threat of the transplant operation also adds a dimension to the double consciousness, exploring it to a literal sense, where someone else would inhabit Chris’ body.

Emanuela Guberaj

17/11/2023 09:27:43 pm

In THE ARGUMENT OF “AFROPESSIMISM”, Vinson Cunningham mentions that: “Blackness is coterminous with slaveness” (Cunningham n.p.) meaning that black people will always remain in an eternal suffering state, the “social death”, as Cunningham calls it and as Vanessa wrote. Black people have to accept to live with everyday and benevolent racism implemented by white people. We witness this phenomenon in the movie GET OUT by Jordan Peele. In the beginning, Chris was asked by the police to show his ID even though he didn’t do anything wrong. He replies by saying “It’s fine” (Peele n.p.) because he knows that if he reacts differently or tries to argue it’ll be pointless and it could end badly, also related to double consciousness. Another moment is after the gathering of the white people where Chris and Rose are talking about how he was treated during the party. The comment that stood out was “I told you so” by Chris (Peele n.p.). It supports the statement of Cunningham that Chris and other black individuals must not only live in but also live with racism. They have no other choice than just accepting the fact that this is their ugly reality. Moreover, in the excerpt from the book FROM BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME, the main character says to his child: “I did not tell you that it would be okay because I have never believed it would be okay” showing that he accepted his black body as “the other”.

Lola D'Aquila

19/11/2023 02:19:29 pm

In Ta-Nehisi Coates’ text BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME, he writes, “Last Sunday the host of a popular news show asked me what it meant to lose my body [...] The host read these words for the audience, and when she finished she turned to the subject of my body, although she did not mention it specifically. But by now I am accustomed to intelligent people asking about the condition of my body without realizing the nature of their request” (Coates, n.p.). His words express the decomposition of self between the Black body and conciousness at the expense of others, specifically white people, in this case the audience and the host. He refers to the time old tale of white society governing an oppressed life through enslavement, racism, and oppression which translates to a lack of sensitivity that continues to follow. White society holds onto American innocence and remains in abdication from their history of violence towards Black people (Coates, n.p.). By doing this, society refuses Black consciousness and self as this history still defines their existence. In GET OUT, Jordan Peele expresses similar ideas. Chris is treated as an object, his body a prize to bid on by the Armitage’s and their guests. They dissect him for their own use; they want his eyes to see once for, to know if his hips move well for golfing, etc. As Missy hypnotizes him, he is not only disconnected from his sense of self by those biding on him, he is physically detached from his consciousness through the Sunken Place at the expense of personal use and manipulation for Jim Hudson. The Armitage family allows Chris to lose a sense of self for the use of his body. This demonstrates an ignorance between a body and its consciousness, like Coates describes.

Maé

19/11/2023 05:18:41 pm

In BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME, the exploration of the concept of double consciousness is present throughout the text with the idea that black people have to acknowledge that their black body will always mean their lack of freedom and that they have to learn to live within the system that oppressed them in order to survive. In order to live in the oppressive system, black people are conscious on two levels: they are conscious of themselves moving through the world but they are also conscious of the way they are perceived by others as a black body moving through the world. As Neïla previously said, Jordan Peele’s GET OUT portrays this concept extremely well in many different ways through the narrative of a black man: Chris. Indeed, Chris is worried about Rose not telling her family that he is black. He can see past him just being a new boyfriend (first consciousness) and see that he is about to walk in a white family where his skin color might affect everyone’s perception of him (second consciousness). The watchers also get to experience the double consciousness. We follow Chris’ story the whole time and we root for him and yet, when the police car pulls up at the end of the movie, the watcher knows that Chris won’t be treated fairly by the justice system; we understand how the situation is going to be perceived because of his blackness.

Édouard Hudon

19/11/2023 06:39:14 pm

In Jordan Peele’s GET OUT, Black people are reduced to nothing but mere objects. They're present only so their bodies can be exploited and stolen by their oppressors. This removal of oneself is described by sociologist Orlando Patterson as social death. Indeed, he writes that “someone robbed of his or her personhood” is in a state of social death. He, however, “does not think that African-Americans are currently in a situation of social death.” (Cunningham n.p.) On the contrary, Frank B. Wilderson III writes that “Blackness is coterminous with slaveness.” (Cunningham n.p.) This movie, with its black servants, agrees with the later statement. The Armitage lure Black people into their heir to steal their body and exploit them. However, the only two “black” Armitage showed are servants. The first and only thing the family could think of to make the two black people’s presence not raise any inquiries was to make them servants. This standard white family cannot see past the black body. They associate black with slavery, and so they must make their white relatives their servants for them to not seem out-of-place. Knowing that the black bodies are inhabited by white minds, the Armitage should see them as perfect. Yet, their first instinct is to make them inferior when given the chance. Their black skin will always make them inferior in the eyes of the oppressor. Ta-Nehisi Coates writes that “the process of naming “the people” has never been a matter of genealogy and physiognomy so much as one of hierarchy.” (Coates n.p.) This systemic association between black and slavery portrays that so long as we document the differences, such a black or white skin, that exists between us, racism will continue to exist

Gill Coscia

19/11/2023 07:00:27 pm

In THE ARGUMENT OF AFROPESSIMISM written by Vinson Cunningham, he explores, as Vanessa mentions, the concept of social death. He claims Black people are in a state of social death which is described as an experience of slavery wherein, “a slave is not merely an exploited person, but someone robbed of his or her personhood” (Cunningham, np). Jordan Peele’s film, GET OUT, is essential to this concept and can be observed through the main character Chris. A prominent instance was when the cop asked for his ID. Despite him not being the source of the mayhem they witnessed, the cop was looking past the situation and straight to his blackness. Another thing relating to social death that Wilderson mentions is that “Black people are integral to human society but at all times and in all places excluded from it.” (Cunningham, np) We can clearly observe this through the portrayal of Black people in the Armitage’s home. All of them were stripped of their own identity purely to benefit the white people. They wanted to reap the benefits of their “genetic makeup”, their physiques, their abilities and all the things those seniors lacked at their age. This forced these victims to view life in a state of double consciousness as their main consciousness that defined them was being buried under the new one, they’ve been forcefully manipulated into. The destruction of these victims' individuality is enough to represent the lack of Black people’s importance in society and the constant stripping of their personhood.

Dorlicas Makuikila

19/11/2023 07:53:54 pm

The American dream directly plays a hand in black exploitation, fetishization and objectification. As Zeya mentioned, the American dream is made by white people for white people. It plays into the core philosophy of white America that white people should be able to obtain whatever they want no matter the cost; even if it means the dehumanization of another person. The white American dream can only exist with the existence of slavery and as mentioned in THE ARGUMENT OF “AFROPESSIMISM” “Emancipation is a myth” meaning that black people will always be slaves; objects of white desire; nonhuman (Cunningham, n.p; Wilderson, n.p). This permanent slave state and the American Dream are perfectly tied together in GET OUT, as we see pictures of Rose’s black ex-boyfriends on her wall followed by her looking up pictures of “Top NCAA prospects” (who are all black). In this scene, we witness a common issue the black community faces due to racism and slavery: fetishization. The way she scrolls on the internet and looks at black men feels as if she’s shopping; dehumanizing them. Although she does this for The Coagula, she seems to personally enjoy this game of theirs as she could’ve used a more violent method like her brother. For her, the American dream is based on gratification and her fetish for black men pushes her to use them before selling them off at the auction. The same way black slaves, who just arrived in the Americas were used sexually because of their “uniqueness” before being sold off.

Keith Fleury

19/11/2023 10:52:24 pm

Continuing what Emanuela was saying, it is true that black people are perceived as “the other” just because of their skin color. They are also excluded from living their day-to-day life for having a black body. Like it is mentioned in the excerpt from BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME which is mentioned that: “And destruction is merely the superlative form of a dominion whose prerogatives include friskings, detainings, beatings, and humiliations. All of this is common to black people. And all of this is old for black people. No one is held responsible” (Ta-Nehisi Coates n.p.). Telling us how people who are darker skinned than others might feel afraid and victimised by people and this is now their life.

They have gotten so used to being discriminated that they have their tricks to avoid any sort of conflict. Just like in the movie GET OUT, the main character Chris, who is a black man, has shown very visibly his concerns with Rose about meeting her family knowing that they don’t know his skin color. Like in a scene, we can see the character in the beginning asking Rose if her parents knew about him being a black man, when she responds with no, he gets very concerned and starts a bit panicking. He explains how it is an important thing to mention to them and that it is a pretty big deal how a black man is dating a white woman, but Rose tells him it’s not a big deal.

Sophie Nguyen

20/11/2023 08:03:13 pm

The movie GET OUT by Jordan Peele explores embodiment and racial dynamics by digging into interpersonal relationships and societal power. Chris, the main character, suffers from the family seeing him as an object, and he starts being a victim of the fetishization of his identity, which creates a double consciousness. This theme can be seen in some elements of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ ideas, where he discusses the financial benefits of institutional racism. Also, referring to Dorlicas’ remarks, the family’s pursuit for power and an eternal life mocks the American dream where achievements are done over the bodies of black people. This is where Afropessimism can be seen, the theory consisting of Black people being destined to a “social death” and a different suffering from other, and it is being put in THE ARGUMENT OF “AFROPESSIMISM” as “Rather, Afropessimism sketches a structural map of human experience” by Frank B. Wilderson III (Cunningham, n.p; Wilderson, n.p). This idea presents a framework for understanding racism that goes beyond the individual and reaches the structural and systemic aspect related to the black experience. It is not the only instance in Chris’ life that Rose’s family incarnation of white consciousness in black bodies occurred. This scheme represents a vivid metaphor for the more structural problems that are ingrained in the power dynamics of society actively happening for centuries and not being put under the spotlight. Nevertheless, Afropessimism aligns with the plot of Peele’s work by emphasizing as a constructional map of the human experience inside a racialized society.

Christina Simeonidis

20/11/2023 10:08:22 pm

In the excerpt from BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME, author Ta-Nehisi Coates writes: “I am accustomed to intelligent people asking about the condition of my body without realizing the nature of their request.” (Coates, n.p.) Coates expresses how he is accustomed to people’s ignorant questions and comments objectifying his body despite it filling him with an “old and indistinct sadness.” (Coates n.p.) In the movie Get Out we see how these old white people objectify the black body as “an expensive toy”. On the surface it seems as if Rose is introducing everyone to Chris, but really, she’s showing off the new “thing on the market.” Mr. Green asking Chris to swing his hips, Lisa touching Chris’ bicep and asking if it’s better, and the next guy saying black is the new fashion are the old people’s way of checking out the “new product”. Chris, at first seeming accustomed to some comments, gets more and more uncomfortable with the more people he meets. Soon he realises they are objectifying him to use his body as a personal servant. When the reality of the situation hits him, he realises that he’s there to be sold for his body. In THE ARGUMENT OF “AFROPESSIMSIM” Cunningham rights how for Wilderson “the state of slavery, for Black people, is permanent.” (Wilderson,n.p) And in the case of Get Out, black people literarily are the white man’s slave. They are there to be auctioned off and used for their body. The movie highlights how with the objectification of the black body, a black person will be in a constant state of slavery.

Noemie Stam

20/11/2023 11:48:43 pm

The use of cameras in Jordan Peele’s GET OUT is the strongest symbol of double consciousness throughout the film. They display the constant monitoring of black bodies, how a mass of white people observes a black person, listen to their footsteps when they exit the room; how they watch for any reason to hate, and how black people must even monitor themselves to ensure their own safety. But cameras aren’t only there to symbolize constant surveillance, they're also a vehicle for truth. The first and most obvious example of this symbol is when Chris takes a picture of Andre, and the flash reveals his identity; a sort of “the truth will set you free” moment. Importantly, it is also displayed when Chris is praised for his photography by the art dealer. He says his images are deeply melancholic, and he yearns for an eye like his.
While it does mean an aesthetic vision, the eye also means his ability to see truth. A truth that is inherent to black people, a melancholy and despair white people cannot see; for they have not been the ones to struggle. It is an appropriation of his identity, forcible ownership over Chris. This narrative also helps the film become extremely relevant (although it is timeless in its main issue of racism). With recent surges in recorded physical assaults on black men by the police, the camera is now more important than ever, evolving from a justified pessimistic view of the police. “The police departments of your country have been endowed with the authority to destroy your body.” (Coates, np) GET OUT’s very own presence attests to this, as it conveys a reality that people who do not struggle because of racism could not understand without this kind of media.

Romina Roman

21/11/2023 12:34:04 am

Jordan Peele’s Get Out is a horror movie with an ending justified by the concept of double consciousness. As Maé suggested, Ta-Nehisi Coates’ BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME submerges, like the movie, into the idea that Black people not only have to be conscious of space and time, as bodies in the world, but also of how society will perceive them for being Black. As the main character from Coates’ book expresses, Black people are treated inhumanely by the white society they live in, preventing them from having access to the minimum feeling of security: “And you know now, if you did not before, that the police departments of your country have been endowed with the authority to destroy your body” (Coates, n.p.). Not only they do not have the right to protection by the police like white people do, but they are also deprived of their freedom. The main character explains to their son that as a Black person, he does not have the liberty to act as other people do when it comes to the police. Such deprivation of freedom could be the reason the film ended with Chris and Rod leaving the crime scene without contacting the police. Indeed, Rod could have called the police to save his friend, but as a Black person, he had to consider the consequences of calling the service that is supposed to protect them. He ended up not calling the police because the chances of the police officers being white were high and as a Black person, Chris would had been the first to be accused as a criminal even without proof. In both the film and the book, due to their skin color, the characters could not act the same way as a white person could have in the same situation.

Romina

21/11/2023 12:35:23 am

Get Out is meant to be GET OUT

Léa Mukadi

21/11/2023 11:16:16 am

In THE ARGUMENT OF “AFROPESSIMISM”, Vinson Cunningham retells Wilderson getting anxiously sweaty and worried. He feels the touch of insects all over his body. He is aching and he screams for help, “He starts to drool, and, fearing that his white neighbours will hurt him if he cries out for help, makes his own way to the hospital” (Cunningham, np) This very act is the embodiment of double-consciousness, equally present in the movie GET OUT. The ending of the movie, for example, where Chris raises his hands in the air at the sight of a police car. He did so, knowing that he is the victim in the story. But also knowing the image that society has imprinted for people of African descendants and Wilderson later explains it. “On this map, Black people are integral to human society but at all times and in all places excluded from it. They are in a state of “social death" (Cunningham, np), a concept that Wilderson borrows from the sociologist Orlando Patterson.” Chris knew that playing along as the stereotyped angered black man would do him more of a service than lashing out and risking losing his life. It is what the society requires him and all black people, to be. There is a loss of personhood when it comes to double consciousness as it is the time to be who you are seen to be. In the original ending, we see the prisoners alongside Chris to have a point in common with him: his skin color.

Heidi Schaffhauser

21/11/2023 04:55:11 pm

"What I told you is what your grandparents tried to tell me: that this is your country, that this is your world, that this is your body, and you must find some way to live within the all of it." (Ta-Nehisi Coates), I believe that this quote from BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME relates to many themes in Jordan Peele's movie GET OUT. One of the themes explored in GET OUT is the theme of double consciousness, a term that relates to black people and how they need to be aware of themself as a person in society but also to be aware that they are a black person in society and that they need to be aware of that fact. This concept of double consciousness is seen throughout the length of the film beginning even in the first scene. In the first scene we see a young black man walking at night in a quiet neighborhood, we come to find out later that the character's name in Andre, he is talking on the phone when a car slows down behind him and slowly follows him. Andre then becomes hyper aware of his surroundings and decides to turn around and head back the way he came. This can be used as an example of double consciousness because before the car begins following Andre he makes a comment to the person on the phone about how he is walking through a white suburban neighborhood. Before the car pulls up he is only aware that he is a man in society but when the car appears his mood shifts and the character begins to become uncomfortable/frightened even saying "not me, not today" before turning around to most probably leave the neighborhood.

Maya Besmi

21/11/2023 07:42:51 pm

"Blackness is coterminous with slaveness. Every Black person is always a slave and, therefore, a perpetual corpse, buried beneath the world and stinking it up. Civil society as we know it requires this category of nonperson to exist. Emancipation is a myth" (Cunningham,np). Indeed, this quote from THE ARGUMENT OF AFROPESSIMISM describes the movie GET OUT as uncovering disturbing but realistic truths about the realities of black male embodiment in American culture, pointing to racial profiling, a militaristic criminal justice system, and various biases as mechanisms that displace male humanity. Mirroring Du Bois's concept, Chris is portrayed in his struggle to reconcile self-perception with societal perceptions. A crucial dialogue preceding Chris's visit to his girlfriend's parents encapsulates this internal tension. As he asks her if they know he's black, it unveils the perpetual awareness African Americans must maintain regarding societal perceptions. This is double consciousness, where every action and response is shaped by this awareness of societal perceptions. Thus, the Armitage family, outwardly progressive, becomes complicit in the exploitation and dehumanization of black bodies. Indeed, symbolism with the teacup and spoon serve as poignant emblems of the intrusion of white consciousness into black experiences. The hypnotic induction involving the clinking of the teacup and spoon becomes a ritualistic expression of control, metaphorically reinforcing the manipulation of black minds. This is a pure horror genre offering a nuanced commentary on how seemingly innocuous elements can bear profound racial implications. It implies that black people are integral but eternally abused and excluded and that white consciousness will be imposed onto black individuals, revealing the ingrained nature of racial manipulation. Chris encounters sexual objectification like being praised for his physique, which shows how vulnerable he might be. The guests view him with both exoticism and amusement, reducing him to an amalgamation of their desires, gazes, and curiosity linked to his body. This double consciousness reveals the unsettling truths about sexual fetishization and vulnerability, reducing him only to his body.

Kristal Ng

21/11/2023 08:54:43 pm

Peele's film GET OUT and Ta-Nehisi Coates' "Between the World and Me" explores the concept of double consciousness, which refers to the experience of African Americans having to navigate multiple identities and expectations imposed upon them by society. As Coates states, “What I told you is what your grandparents tried to tell me: that this is your country, that this is your world, that this is your body, and you must find some way to live within the all of it – emphasizes the importance of Black people finding a way to live within the confines of a society dominated by white supremacy, without compromising their true selves.” In GET OUT, this struggle is depicted through Chris's encounters with Dean Armitage, where he faces uncomfortable questions about his background and interests, leading to inner conflict and tension. Chris tries to answer these questions while also trying to fit in and make a good impression, highlighting how Chris feels like he has to suppress parts of his true self in order to conform to the expectations of others. Additionally, the "sunken place" showcases the internalized oppression that people of color often face, as Chris is forced to confront his past traumas and the ways in which society has made him feel ashamed of being Black. This scene represents the internalized oppression that many people of color experience, feeling like they are constantly being pulled down by societal forces that seek to erase their cultural identities. Ultimately, GET OUT and “Between the World and Me” shows the complexities of racial identity and the struggle for African American to find their place within society.

Emily Hebel

21/11/2023 09:09:46 pm

Ta-Nehisi Coates states: “But now I am accustomed to intelligent people asking about the condition of my body without realizing the nature of their request” in his book BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME (Coates n.p.). As mentioned by Lola and Christina, Chris, the protagonist of Jordan Peele’s film GET OUT, is constantly objectified. Specifically, his body. For instance, when his girlfriend’s brother Jeremy drunkenly asks Chris if he used to get into any street fights as a kid. Chris says that he did Judo in first grade. Jeremy responds by saying that Christ can become a “beast” with enough training because of his frame and “genetic makeup.” The film constantly alludes to white people's belief that Black men are physically superior. When Rose’s father, Dean gives Chris a house tour, he points out that Jesse Owens, a Black man, beat his father during the Olympics. Later on, it is revealed that Dean’s father inhabits Walter’s body and trains at night, possibly to beat Owens in his head. A white person literally inhabits a black body to benefit from their perceived greater strength. This is double consciousness, where one body has two consciousnesses. In GET OUT, only the white consciousness benefits from the double conscience. The white person’s experience inhabiting a white person’s body is much different. While they flaunt their new “purchase,” the Black person’s consciousness is silenced and imprisoned in their own body. They can rarely act against the white counterpart that controls their body like a puppet master.

Arianna Carafa

21/11/2023 10:04:08 pm

“And the process of naming “the people” has never been a matter of genealogy and physiognomy so much as one of hierarchy” ( Coates n.p). Coate’s article FROM THE WORLD BETWEEN YOU AND ME delves into the deep rooted racism in western society due to a hierarchy white people have created to work in their favor. This same concept of interest conversion is depicted in Jordan Peele’s GET OUT, the Armitage’s whole concept of earning money via bidding off and capitalizing off black people. This bidding essentially sells the black body to be an old white person's slave. The blatant power dynamic displays not only contemporary deep rooted racist hierarchical structures but demonstrates interest convergence, the Armitages will capitalize off this bidding and the buyer will use the black person for their own personal agenda. The only party not benefitting would be the black people they bid off like objects depriving them of their freedom and consciousness minimizing them to physical stereotypes as a part of the bidding process. The Armitages earn large sums of money off the selling of the black body, they are able to benefit off of it at the expense of innocent black people. This reveals that a part of the Armitage’s wealth is all due to their bidding of black people starting generations ago with their grandfather. They are reaping the benefits of having a large house, living a lavish lifestyle and earning a living by capitalizing off of bidding black people. Their preconceived racial notions is what prompts them to reap the benefits of their disturbing bidding concept.

Philippe B.

21/11/2023 10:30:20 pm

“And for so long I have wanted to escape into the Dream, to fold my country over my head like a blanket. But this has never been an option because the Dream rests on our backs, the bedding made from our bodies” writes Ta-Nehisi Coates in BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME (Coates np). This “Dream” he writes about is the American Dream, a white dream of freedom and ownership built on the enslavement of Black people; built on a notion of pre-eminence of hue and hair (Coates np). In GET OUT, the American Dream is taken another step further : the dream evolves into one of being able to step into a black body and have total ownership of it. The interest here is not one of trying to live the black experience, it is in the appropriation of a body and the benefits ownership brings to the owner. This is outlined in the scene in which the different guests at the party inquire about Chris’ body, to determine his value and the gains they could make of his body. They objectify him, and dissociate his self from his body, as Lola mentioned, but this is done to reduce his body to property, meant to be owned. This idea of property and shopping is also represented in the scene where Rose scrolls through different black men, as Dory outlined. GET OUT makes a strong point on the American Dream being one of ownership through enslavement, and freedom (taken from black people).

Diana Kryuchkov

21/11/2023 11:59:52 pm

In Jordan Peele’s 2017 film GET OUT, the Armitage family’s actions can be seen as an analogy – though a little extremist in its representation – to the notion of White individuals profiting from the exploitation, objectification (by the transplantation of the White relative’s consciousness into an “ideal” body) and the suppression (through “the sunken place”) of Black individuals in society. This sort of degradation is further explored in Ta-Nehisi Coates’ BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME, as the idea of a “dream” – the “American dream” – influences and builds onto the racially-driven hierarchal system in America but is parallelly built on the enslavement of Black individuals (or even simply “non-White” individuals). Coates embellishes this perception put on the Black community when he says: “And for so long I have wanted to escape into the Dream, to fold my country over my head like a blanket. But this has never been an option because the Dream rests on our backs, the bedding made from our bodies.” (Coates, np). No matter how much one may attempt to present themselves, their skin colour will always be the first indicator of their core identity, ‘one who was once, who could still be and who still is a slave’. When the father takes Chris on a tour of the house, he sensed like he owed an explanation as to why Black people were working as servants in the Armitage’s household – as if it seemed wrong and odd (and perhaps it was). Unironically, the Coalition does not just allude to the figurative day-to-day dominance of the White on the Black, but also the literal, physical ownership of the Black body (as they insert themselves into them, overpowering the original body’s consciousness), which further challenges and questions whose “dreams” are prioritized, and at who’s expense. Another thing the film did that pieced the details together, were the implicit portrayals of the human and non-human relationship, such as the metaphorical image of the deer (as it got hit by the car, the head collection in the basement), Rose’s change of demeanor (change of clothes – resembling a hunter outfit – ‘window-shopping’ of Black men on the internet) and the wordplays (‘One deer less in the world’, ‘Black rot’ in the basement). All these little remarks end up reducing the Black mind to a lower state, animalistic, non-human state.

Lilian Yates

22/11/2023 12:32:38 am

Jordan Peele's GET OUT obliterates the notion that working hard enough as a black person will lead one to prosperity. It doesn’t matter how hard they work because they will always end up back where they started. Chris gets antagonized by a policeman at the beginning, only to be protected for corrupt reasons, then goes to unimaginable lengths to get out against all odds, and then inevitably ends up back under the scrutiny of the police. Though this is not the official ending, it is the original, and arguably the most realistic. Cunningham argues in THE ARGUMENT OF AFROPESSIMISM against the collective hope found in many black autobiographies, stating that “what happened to him yesterday is what will happen to him today, only more loudly” (Cunningham n.p.). The course of the film feels much like this. As Chris peels back the layers of the Armitage family, he is met with increasing disappointment until he realizes the family is not just racist, but racism in and of itself. The coagula works on the principle of shrinking black people down in order to extend the reach of whiteness. Dorlicas mentions that white people operate with the idea that they can attain the American dream by whatever means they want. Not only do the Armitages take advantage of this privilege, but they pride themselves on it. The means they take are not unfortunate, but clever. It is not simply that black people have to work harder. It is that their work is the very fuel for white success. Black people will never be part of something that is built in the space their suffering leaves behind.

Yikai Fu

22/11/2023 01:22:31 pm

One of the concepts that Poole explores in GET OUT is that the upper class, portrayed in the film as the bidders and guests of the party, must ignore the products of their disease, the American Dream, for it to be perpetuated. Logically, for every person who stands to gain from the American Dream, there is another person who stands to lose, since wealth does not appear out of thin air. Historically, as others have said, it has been Black people and other minorities who have gotten the short end of the stick

During the party, one of the guests, the only non-white non-Black people in the film, asks, “do you find that being African American has more advantages or disadvantages in America?”, demonstrating a blatant lack of social awareness. His question offers insight on how little rich white folks seem to understand issues that are “below” them, whether it be poverty or racism. They have no motive to do so, and are even compelled to stay ignorant since by acknowledging any suffering of any group, there would also be an acknowledgment that the American Dream is not a perfect ideal, but rather a flawed way to deflect the fundamental issues of capitalism onto the unsuccessful individual, who is simply labelled as “not hard working enough”.

The use of a Japanese man also acknowledges the sort of mysticism that surrounds Black people present especially in East-Asian countries, where overly homogenous populations have guaranteed that fitting in as a Black person is impossible. This is an example of what Cunningham describes as “junior partner” racism, where a non-white and non-Black person aids in enslavement of Black people.

Forum Post #4: GET OUT and Afropessimism

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