White And Black: The Meaning Of The Horror Get Out. Review Get Out (2017): Plot Analysis, Meaning, Alternative Endings, Similar Films.
Country: USA, Japan
Genre: horror, thriller, detective
Year of production: 2017
Directed by: Jordan Peele
Actors: Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Catherine Keener
tagline: “Meeting your parents doesn’t always end in marriage”
Awards and nominations: In 2018, the film won an Oscar in the Best Screenplay category.
Horror is not always what it seems at first glance. Some of them are smart, layered paintings. The plot of the film “Get Out” is tied to elements of both horror and satire. The main theme of the picture is racism. However, it also raises other important issues.
What is the movie about
Brief description of the content of the film “Get Out”. Chris is a nice young man who works as a photographer. He has a girlfriend, Rose. One day, the guys decided to go to the countryside so that Chris could meet the family of his beloved. The guy is worried about this: he is black, and Rose is white. However, she reassures him: her parents are not racists.
Allison Williams played the role of Rose, Daniel Kaluuya played the role of Chris. Frame from the film.
They go to the outback, which is known for its conservatism. On the way, Chris calls his buddy Rod, who warns him to stay away from Rose’s “white ancestors”.
Suddenly, the guys knock down a deer. They call the police, the officer who arrives asks for documents from Chris, although Rose was driving. The girl rushes to attack the policeman, accusing him of racism, and he surrenders. Chris is surprised: he had never seen Rose so furious before…
Acquaintance with parents went more than successfully. Rose Dean’s father, during a tour of the house, tells the young man about the family. He works as a neurosurgeon, and Rose’s mother, Missy, is a psychotherapist. Dean, who has warmly received Chris, speaks indignantly about racial harassment and shows respect for black people.
Chris is not very comfortable here. Rose’s parents are not just polite, but extremely friendly. To relax and enjoy the rest, he is given not only by the falsehood that is felt in the people who received him so warmly, but also by the fact that only black servants work in the house.
Dean and Missy question Chris about his family and learn that he is an orphan. Noticing that he smokes, Missy offers to help him get rid of his addiction and casually mentions that she knows how to hypnosis.
From this point on, the plot of the film Get Out becomes more and more gloomy. Accidentally spilled tea by the maid, the strange behavior of the servants at night, Missy’s obsessive desire to help – all these details literally scream to Chris that he must get out of this house before it’s too late.
Rose’s parents were played by Catherine Keener as Missy and Bradley Whitford as Dean. Frame from the film.
However, he succumbs to Missy’s gentle hypnosis with her tea… He not only stays, but also tells his girlfriend’s mother about his own tragedy: his mother died in a car accident. The memories traumatize him, and he cries and is completely unaware that he has lost the ability to move. As it turned out, he was under hypnosis all this time and now Missy has complete control over him.
The next morning, the young man wakes up in his bed and for some time cannot understand what the night’s event was – a dream or a terrible reality? After talking with a rather strange, like all the servants in the house, gardener, Chris is convinced that at the time of the hypnotic tea party with Missy, he was awake. Telling Rose about this, he notices that now he does not want to smoke at all. But he is scared, also because he does not remember any other events of that night. What else could Missy do to him?
Soon friends and relatives of the family come to the house. The annual family holiday begins and Rose introduces her boyfriend to all the guests who are sincerely interested in him and ask a strange question: is it really fashionable to be black now? Chris calls a friend and tells him about all the strange things he sees. Rod advises him to get out as soon as possible.
Soon the young man finds out that his girlfriend’s family has a dark secret and he really should leave as soon as possible. He calls Rose to a serious conversation and informs her that he is going to leave the house – with or without her. She agrees to leave together. But the trap has already closed…
Closer to the finale, Rose’s parents hold a closed auction, the main lot of which is Chris himself. The guests raise the stakes, and in the end the guy “wins” one of them. A lot of money was paid for him and, of course, they will not allow him to leave just like that.
Frame from the film.
Contacting Rod again, who is sincerely worried and rushing him, Chris begins to pack and accidentally finds a box of photographs in the closet: they show Rose with her ex-boyfriends. Chris shudders in horror: all the young people in the photo are black. The scariest photos are the last ones: in them, Chris sees Rose next to the gardener and the maid. He understands that his beloved is a member of what he thinks is a strange sect, and now he has to get out on his own.
After collecting his things, Chris goes downstairs, but all the family members are already there: they are not going to let him go. The young man tries to break through with a fight, but Missy “turns on” hypnosis, and he loses his strength.
When he comes to, he finds himself tied to a chair in front of the TV. In the recording, an elderly white man reveals that Chris, because of his great body and genetics, was chosen for a special mysterious operation, the meaning of which is as terrible as it is strange.
Chris’s “buyer” informs that the young man is now his: part of his brain will be transported into Chris’s body. That is, now he will be a passenger in his own body, and the old man himself will control his behavior. Chris finally understands why the black servants behave so strangely: they are under the influence of white “aristocrats” who have taken over their bodies (Grandma Rose “lives” in the body of the maid, and grandfather lives in the body of the gardener). If he does not find a way to escape, he will become like them.
Frame from the film.
Ending explanation
At the end of the picture “Get Out” it turns out that during his captivity, Chris was not under hypnosis – he managed to tear out the cotton wool from the chair to which he was tied and plug his ears. He attacks the head of the family, who is already preparing for the operation, and kills first him and then Missy.
Trying to leave, Chris knocks down the maid who ran out into the road and decides to take her with him. He did not take into account one thing: the grandmother, “living” in the body of an unfortunate girl, will raise a terrible cry. She does this to attract the attention of the police: having found a pile of corpses in the house, the officers will know who to look for … “Grandma” attacks Chris, and they crash into a tree.
After getting out of the car, he sees Rose, who aims a gun at him. He tries to hide from the fire, but “grandfather” attacks him. Chris is saved by the fact that for a moment the handsome gardener takes control of his mind and, having snatched a gun from Rose, shoots his lover who betrayed him.
Chris, shuddering with horror, disgust and pity, tries to strangle the seriously wounded Rose, but suddenly a police car appears. It would seem that out of the fire and into the frying pan: Chris is facing arrest and several life sentences. However, the “god from the car” enters the scene – Rod, who works in the transport police, who decided to look for a friend himself.
The explanation for the ending is the simplest: the hero is saved. But what will happen to him next and whether he can trust people who, as it turned out, are not always what they seem, is a big question…
Lil Rel Howery played the role of Chris’ friend Rod. Frame from the film.
Alternative endings
Get Out has two alternate endings. According to one of them, a guy with blood on his hands, surrounded by several corpses, is found by “real” policemen.
The meaning of the other alternative ending of the film “Get Out” is no less sinister: Dean manages to perform the operation and Chris, like other victims, becomes the same zombie.
The reason why the director abandoned a much more realistic and gloomy ending in favor of a happy ending is banal: on a test screening, viewers who fell in love with Chris rejected both alternative endings. Therefore, he not only survives, but also remains at large.
However, the clue to the finale of the film “Get Out” may look different. The police will still find the corpses, and numerous relatives and friends will easily describe to the officers an attractive black man who brutally cracked down on his beloved’s parents and herself.
The meaning of the film Get Out
Jordan Peele worked on Get Out for eight years. He wanted not just to shoot a “black” picture with meaning – he wanted to give the public an intellectual tape with a deep idea.
The director himself outlined the essence of the film: “Get Out” is a picture about waiting. The protagonist of the picture finds himself in a strange situation and constantly expects some kind of catch. In the end, he gets hit, but not from the side he expected. That is, the picture has an ominous hidden meaning: how well do we know those who are close to us? Can they really be trusted?
In their analysis, viewers pay attention to the image of a deer: this is a metaphor. The main interpretation of this image is an innocent victim. It has to do with the situation that Chris finds himself in, and with his mother, who died in a car accident, and with his release.
In the image of Chris, the whole history of black Americans is conditionally told. Throughout the film there are references to slavery: this is both black servants and tea, which is a powerful weapon here. In former times, tea became the cause of wars – here it is served as a reflection of intelligence, elegance, education and aristocracy. At the same time, it turns out to be a representation of danger and hostility.
Black Americans have long been integrated into society, and almost everyone looks at slavery as a shameful page in the history of the country. However, stereotypes continue to live – and not only in white, but also in black heads.
“Get Out” can be called a timely banter against political correctness, a talented satire on the hypocritical leftist society: under the guise of tolerance, it tries to put out the fire with gasoline. And this applies not only to white and black Americans – the problem of racial discrimination exists in almost all countries.
Frame from the film.
Similar films
Here are a few pictures that are similar in meaning to the movie “Get Out”:
- “Key to all doors” (USA, Germany, 2005). Caroline Ellis works as a nurse for an elderly gentleman, a bright representative of the “old South”. One day, a strange key falls into her hands;
- “I’m going to look” (USA, 2019). Grace could not even imagine what her wedding night would turn out to be for her;
- “Visit” (2015). The main character, who once ran away from her father’s house in horror, receives a letter from relatives she does not know – her grandparents. The girl decides to visit them.
- “Grandma” (Spain, 2021). The old woman is trying to move into the body of her granddaughter.
