Get Out Film Analysis
Racial inequalities are a prevalent issue in our current society with fundamental discrimination regardless of the intention. Jordan Peele, with his film Get Out, aimed to expose these issues with an exaggerated storyline to demonstrate this overall theme. This is exhibited through an array of symbolism and very specific formal elements. All elements of the film, including inanimate and animate objects, allude to the over-arching theme of racial inequality and the history of how African Americans have evolved to the present day. Moreover, I will analyze the symbolic imagery and its relationship with the racial overtones of the film. More specifically, I will examine how the use of animals, such as a deer, indicates a certain moral triumph over discriminatory people in addition to amplifying imbalances of power and control.
Consisting within the film are many clear racially significant symbols, as well as some more obscure references that individuals may not understand with only one viewing. Director Jordan Peele attempted to show this through various techniques including mise-en-scene which is a large contributor to the symbolic nature of the film. There are scenes in which a prop is added to the background to supplement the plot of the film and enrich the understanding of Peele’s objective. One of the most prominent examples of this is how he include animals in his story line to reflect the animalistic nature view that the white people possess in the film. Where this idea is implemented is with the deer imagery which truly grasps the fundamental problems regarding institutions of race and resistance.
The deer symbol shows up throughout the film however it quickly appears in the beginning scenes. The main character in the film, Chris, begins his trip to his girlfriend’s, Rose, parents house by colliding with a deer. This is the first time that the viewer is exposed to any animal. The deer is sent into the woods and Chris can hear it struggling for life while making moaning sounds showing severe pain and distress. Once Chris goes over to the deer to look at its’ body, it dies, and the camera shows a close up of the deer’s eyes with a cut to a close up of Chris’s eyes, as if they were making eye contact with one another. This shot sequence also displays Chris’s calm captivated face with hints of a greater ominous significance. Further along, one aspect of the significance is revealed when Chris informs Rose’s mother that Chris was responsible for the death of his mother after he hit and run accident. Thus, one may conclude that when he watches the deer die, it reminds him of the death of his mother, establishing the symbolic significance of the deer.
To continue with the analyzation of the deer, it is evident that it holds a greater value when Rose’s father, Dean, reacts to the story once Chris and Rose had arrived. Dean goes on a diatribe concerning the species of deer and how they are similar to rats in how they destroy the ecosystem. Essentially, he wishes that they would all be killed saying, “one down, a couple hundred thousand to go.” This understandably sets an uncomfortable impression with Chris and his future interactions with the family. In this specific scene the deer would correlate to persons of color and how people ignorantly claim that they “ruin neighborhoods”, which Dean said was true of deer, and how they are not assimilated. Therefore, the viewer may interpret Dean’s rant in correlation to those aimed at persons of color. As the viewer discovers in the latter section of the film, Rose’s family uses black bodies for a wealthy white society justified by believing it is to benefit society. As a result, Dean’s dialogue regarding the deer, intentionally out of place, refers to what the deer is a referent to in his mind.
The deer imagery further develops when Dean gives Chris a tour of his house. There are souvenirs of many different cultures because Dean is a traveler. A quote that is significant and holds a lot of weight is when Dean says, “It’s such a privilege to experience another person’s culture.” This at the time does not seem significant however with the knowledge that he transports someone’s consciousness into a black person’s body, this quote offers a great deal of foreshadowing. During the house tour, the viewers can see a small taxidermy deer head next to family photos. It is not explicitly focused on however it is present. Later on, there is a large mounted buck on the wall of the rec room where Chris is subsequently held against his will. The large antlers on the deer indicate that it was a strong experienced male. The fact that the deer is a buck, is in of itself a symbol of a racial slur. “Black Buck” was a term that is used to describe black men with features of violence, rudeness, lechery and disrespect for white authority (Kocić́ 88). The stereotype of a “black buck” was of black men who would cause destruction of “white” property and as a result white society took necessary measures to ensure order. Thus, the buck that is mounted onto the wall in the fill is a symbol of white dominance and the oppression of black individuals.
The terminal symbolism that exists with the deer is during the turning point in the film. When Chris is to be hypnotized, he is strapped into a chair forced to stare into a tv with the deer mounted above it. This scene offers irony as the deer is essentially watching Chris struggle for his life just as Chris watched the deer struggle for its own life. Unrelated to the animal perspective, however symbolic nonetheless, Chris is able to avoid being hypnotized this time by picking cotton from the armrest and placing in his ear. The symbolism is here clear, the black population for years were slaves to cotton plantations where day in and day out they would work the cotton fields picking cotton for their owner, therefore the use of a material, that once was associated with the slavery of his people, to trick the white people in the film is certainly a moral triumph with the racial irony symbolizing the strength and history of the black population. While Chris attempts to escape, Rose’s brother finds him, and they begin to fight, which ends with Chris grabbing the mounted buck and forcefully stabbing the antlers through the father Dean. This scene emphasizes that Chris, and for that matter the entire black population, are not animals and will not be a trophy to be sold to the white society. Moreover, the symbolic irony is present because of what the viewer knows about Dean’s feelings towards the deer population. The entity that he wishes to be eradicated, ultimately ends up killing him in addition to the underlying extension that his belief regarding deer population actually represents the black community. The action of ending the operation that this family performs with the deer may be interpreted as a racial triumph over oppression and a step in the right direction when it comes to equality. Chris extinguishes the force that was causing the oppression and appropriation of his people with this doing. Going forward, just as our society moving forward from our racist past, Chris will always remember what happened and be affected by it however he leaves Rose’s family’s estate knowing that the black community there has been released and is free to interact with society how they please which is what our current society is striving to achieve.
In conclusion, Jordan Peele’s Get Out is linked to an array of symbolic racial undertones with a prevalent focus being attributed towards the animalistic behavioral view of persons of color. The imagery within the film provides a powerful representation of our society, to an extreme extent, and how certain racial views may be exemplified in counter subcultures in our society. The deer holds several different symbolic references a previous stated including the animal nature of the black community, Chris’s traumatic past involving the death of his mother, defiance and violence as associated with the racial slur “black buck”, and as a method for ending the oppression of the black community. There are countless other examples of symbolic imagery in the film however none as pivotal and substantial as the animalistic representation.