Racial Commentary of Get Out

In Jordan Peele’s horror film Get Out, the protagonist Chris goes with his girlfriend Rose to visit her parents up north. The reason why Chris is concerned with how this meeting will go is because he is black and they are white. Peele’s Get Out is a great satire on modern day racism because it shows that racism does not have to be so clear and outright for the viewer to still sense it or feel uncomfortable. Many of the white characters in this film all try to have normal conversation with Chris or talk about Chris about Chris normally, but end up making him feel uneasy anyway. An example would be Rose’s father Dean and his argument about how he’s not racist. “I would’ve voted for Obama a third term If I could.” Although his intention was to make Chris seem more comfortable, he actually does the opposite because of how he comes across saying it. It almost sounds as if Dean is saying that because Obama is also black, not because he was a good president. Another example of covert racism would be during the afternoon party where Dean and Missy’s friends stop by. Everyone is coming up to Chris to ask about him, and more specifically, his physical and mental characteristics. Towards the end of the film, we realize it is because they want to use him for his body. However, at the time of the scene, it still comes across as racist because these are not questions people would normally ask person a person of another color. They are curious about his style, his strength, his speed because he’s black. Even if they were liberal, they still don’t come close to understanding the struggles african americans have and continue to face. This is the racial commentary that Jordan Peele addresses in Get Out.