In 2017, ten years after Obama's presidency, director Jordan Peele released his physiological horror film ‘Get Out’. In the film the audience witnesses a society where white people desire to take control of African American's bodies through implanting a piece of their mind into theirs, resulting from white liberals’ belief that African American’s bodies are superior, while their own minds are superior. The film follows the story of the main character, Chris Washington, who is about to meet his girlfriend Rose Armitage's white liberal family for the first time. Upon its release the film ‘Get Out’ has been critiqued for its representation of white liberals and how they interact with African Americans. In the beginning of the film, Rose's family is overly welcoming and friendly upon meeting Chris to which most would recognize as a common practice or stereotype of white liberals when dealing with people from a different race. Chris notices this oddly accommodating behavior as off putting, but assumes that this is Rose's family's way of dealing with the fact that their daughter is dating an African American. Does the film ‘Get Out’ offer a successful representation of white liberals, or is it perpetuating a negative stereotype in regards to their treatment of and interactions with African Americans.
White Liberals and Their Influence on African American Separation
White liberals have the power to separate African Americans from not only whites, but amongst themselves as well. In addition to the awkward attempts of the liberals trying to ingratiate Chris, the Armitages display this power or control that they have. The most prevalent scenes that show the separation amongst the African Americans in the film is Chris's interactions with Georgina, Walter, and Logan. These three play the 'African American' help, Georgina and Walter working for the Armitages and Logan working for a separate white liberal associated with the Armitages. When Chris eventually ends up approaching all three of these people throughout the film, he is under the assumption that they will provide him with some form of peace of mind in what is essentially an environment consisting of only white people. Unfortunately for Chris, in every interaction he has with one of them something goes wrong in the sense that there is something off about how they respond to Chris. For example, in the film, Georgina insists that the Armitages treat her and Walter like family, and Walter’s comment on how lovely Chris’s girlfriend is, raises a lot of questions for Chris. The worst interaction being with Logan, who Chris not only confides that he is glad to be around him and is more comfortable with him being at the Armitages home since they are basically the only African Americans there, to which Logan betrays this sentiment by magnifying Chris's anxiety and telling the other white guests what Chris said to him. The confusion that Chris is feeling from these interactions is in part because of the mismatch of what Chris sees, fellow African Americans, to what he hears when they speak. In a sense at first viewing this, one would think they are acting white when in actuality it is the opposite. The Armitages have taken over their bodies by implanting white people's brains in place of a piece of their own, meaning that the white person and the African American's whose body they are inhabiting are, to some extent, coexisting. In turn that means that the person Chris is speaking to, who visually we see as an African American male, is in actuality a white person controlling their body who is unable to ‘act’ black whenever Chris tries to have a conversation.
Post-Racial America: A Critical Examination in 'Get Out
In the film white liberals take part in perpetuating the concept of post racial America or the theoretical environment in which America is free from racial preference, discrimination, and prejudice. To start off with, the film ‘Get Out’ shows Rose, a young white woman, scrolling through pictures, examining the torsos of African American athletes on her laptop. To most, this would be viewed as completely normal for a relatively young girl to be looking at pictures of guys she's attracted to, but in this case director Jordan Peele wanted to reveal to the audience who Rose really is, that she is the equivalent of a plantation owner in modern times.
The way Rose studies the bodies of African Americans prior to bringing them home to her parents is comparable to that of a buyer at a slave market. All of this is a comment on the re-emergence of white supremacy in America in recent times. It ridicules the racism that still lies behind the smile of white liberals in so called 'post racial' America. ‘Get Out’ is a film that shows the continuing impact that slavery has had on African American’s lives. It goes on to argue that present day race relations are heavily influenced by past myths that were used to justify slavery. A common and heavily used myth is that black people were never fully human and therefore didn't warrant the same treatment as white people. Even after slavery’s abolishment, it was still continued by other means such as mass incarceration, forced labor, and being deprived of the same privileges as white people. The term 'post racial' America really came into play after the election of our first African American president. This is shown in the film when Rose introduces Chris to her white liberal family. The family fits the stereotype of a white family living in 'post racial' America as well as a plantation trope. The Armitage family fits this trope by having African American 'help' who seem to be off, but are represented as being like family all while Dean Armitage tries to ease Chris's worries through his statement about loving African Americans and that he “would have voted for Obama a third time”, if possible. Eventually Chris realizes that their excessive friendliness and fondness of African Americans is fake and that they are really just out to control him and take his body. The film overall isn't meant to be an attack on white liberals, but to simply show that 'post racial' America is a myth that has historically conditioned the preconceptions of race and blackness.
The Myth of White Liberal Benevolence
The long-standing belief that white liberals can do no wrong in the eyes of the law is represented in ‘Get Out’. Chris's close friend Rod, who is also African American, was suspicious of Chris going to meet the Armitages. Towards the end of the film, it turns out Rod's feelings were correct instead of being what was thought of as far more pessimistic than necessary. A scene that shows the belief that white liberals can do no wrong is when Rod goes to the police about his suspicions on the Armitage family. Although he was being completely serious, his claims went against the presumption of ‘white liberal goodness’, even though Rod was talking to people of color about his concerns regarding Chris. In the end Rod decides on rescuing Chris himself after his defeat handed to him by law enforcement. Even though him and Chris are back together again, society's view of white liberals still hasn't changed and they still will have to face that fact together. In ‘Get Out’, Jordan Peele explores race, specifically in regards to post racial liberalism in America. In the film, the attitudes of white liberals towards African Americans are closely shown to demonstrate the relationship between the two races in modern society. A recurring theme shown by this relationship is that many liberals believe themselves that racism is a thing of the past, when it in fact still very prevalent today. The film shows all of this by putting a major emphasis on the fascination on African Americans that the Armitages and their primarily white guests have with African American culture through their interaction with Chris. These interactions show the romanticization of blackness by the liberals as an object to collect rather than a cultural identity on equal standing as their own. Although the film illustrates the romanticization of African Americans, it also reinforces the struggles they face as well. The struggle being trying to navigate through a larger racial dynamic where white liberals either glorify or vilify African Americans. This treatment shown in the film clearly dictated by Chris's identity and in general affects African American's view of themselves.
Racial Stereotypes and White Liberalism: A Critical Analysis
Every interaction that Chris experiences, he always feels some sort of discomfort which creates an uneasiness, the opposite effect that the Armitages are trying to have on Chris. From his arrival to the Armitages Chris is skeptical of their overly friendly behavior towards him. In general, these interactions seem incredibly unnatural and forced. They over-do their acceptance of African American culture, further alienating African Americans by establishing the differences between white liberals and African Americans rather than actually making them feel welcomed. Chris is constantly reminded that he is a different race through a series of conversations and microaggressions. One example from the film is when a white couple visiting the Armitages asks Chris about gold and makes the assumption that he likes Tiger Woods. This assumption demonstrates how the ignorance of microaggressions furthers the stereotypical way African American's are characterized. Another example seen later in the film is when another white couple visiting the Armitages comments that black is 'in fashion', making it evident that Chris's body is something to be attained due to his physical attributes.
The representation of white liberals in ‘Get Out’ is perpetuating a stereotype based on their relations with African Americans. It is problematic because while the film shows in depth the issue of race relations between white liberals and African Americans, overall, that is not what the entirety of what the population is actually like. The texts all have a stance of that white people are trying to understand black culture, but are prevented from doing so by their ignorance. ‘Get Out’ definitely showed this through multiple scenes where the Armitages would try to act or speak more like Chris, when they themselves were not only fulfilling their own stereotype, but perpetuating Chris’s as well that he acts and speaks any differently from them based on the color of his skin. Overall, the three main points, white liberals have the power to separate African Americans, are perpetuating the concept of post racial America, and can do no wrong in the eyes of the law from the text are all shown in the film, but to what extent of accuracy are these points shown? The representation in this film isn’t completely inaccurate, but could go on to cause even more tension between the two populations based off of the stereotypes presented.
Public Perception and Criticism of 'Get Out's' Racial Commentary
Jordan Peele’s film ‘Get Out’ amassed a lot of criticism post its release in 2017. Of the multitude of criticism, the film received the aspect on the representation of white liberals in the film and whether or not this representation was problematic or not was questioned by critics. A lot of the representation that came along with the white liberals involved how they treated and acted towards the African Americans. Through the liberals fulfilling their stereotypes that they are associated with, causing separation amongst race, continuing post racial America, and being above the law, the viewer is able to determine whether or not this is true and even how it relates back to them and their lives. ‘Get Out’ had a diverse viewership and depending on which population you related to in the film, determined their judgement on the accuracy of the white liberals’ representation.