By Leeya
Get Out, a horror movie that draws parallels to our racially complex society today, delves deeper into what one race wants that others have. For example, the movie centers around a White family wanting to steal a Black man’s strength. I interpreted this as symbolism of the phenomenon we are seeing today: cultural appropriation. We see other cultures taking aspects of Black fashion or mainstreaming what has been traditionally Black music. Another example is in sports where White owners are taking advantage of Black athletes and profiting off of them. Essentially, even though we’ve moved away from the chattel of slavery and passed the Civil Rights Act, we still see commodification of Blacks. This can be seen in the auction scene in the movie where White people are bidding on which Black person they want to make their victim next.
My favorite scene in the movie is when Rose is seen drinking a tall glass of milk while eating Froot Loops separately. She has this weird snack while she looks through top NBA prospects and finds her next victim. While I mostly liked the weirdness and suspense of this scene, I read it carried deeper symbolism. Apparently, milk has been used as a symbol of white supremacy. In addition, the separation of milk and Froot Loops is supposed to symbolize Rose’s beliefs in the segregation of people by skin town (separating the white milk from the multi-colored Froot Loops).
Lastly, I liked how this movie went against stereotypical race and gender roles. Oftentimes, films portray Black men as violent villains. However, in this film, the Black man is the gentle character who treats women well. He is the victim and the one who is oppressed. Similarly, Rose is not the helpless white woman. Rather, she is the villain.
Overall, I believe horror is a genre that can be used to comment on social and political problems in an indirect or direct way. Although some horror films are meaningless and escapist, others have complex meanings.