If you read my review of Jordan Peele's 'Get Out' then you'll know that I kept it quite short, in preperation for my analysis of the film. Now there is a lot to unpack with this film, Peele's writing really puts a lot into perspective, and there are many ways to perceive the film and Peele's ideas on race. Again, as I said in my review, the film is essentially a horror film revolving around race and white supremacy. With that idea in my mind, I'll get into the good stuff. Spoiler warning.


Ok, so with that, let me explain the first reading of the film. Earlier on in the film, Rose's father shows Chris a photo of his father, during the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games, where he explains to Chris that Jesse Owens, an African American athlete, beat the grandfather every time. Now with that in mind, this starts off the grandfather's obsession to basically become 'black.' As we see throughout the film, many of the party's white guests say that being black is basically the 'new fashion' and being black is better as they are far better in terms of physicality and the grandfather became obsessed with this. Hence his movement into Walter's head, and his frequent exercise on a night. This begins to drive the rest of the town to do the same, and we begin to see the revelations of the family come to light. So really in this, the white people aspire to be black because they're jealous or envious in a way. So maybe this isn't a question of white superiority? Possibly. But as the blind man, the man who we meet in the second act who wants Chris' eyes explains, it's nothing to do with race, he just wants his eyes. So this leads me on to the second reading, the way I saw it.

My reading constitutes this: the film tricks you into believing it's about race, when it's not at all. The people of this suburb just want to be 'reincarnated' as such into younger or fitter bodies, and whilst they may be all black bodies, the writing tells us this could just be a coincidence - and possibly, as we find ourselves in Chris' shoes, Peele tricks us into thinking its a race thing. Paranoia, it's a bitch. So maybe this is a horror? Of course it is, it may not have the same conventions as one but it acts on our cultural fears on race and modern PC culture. Well, that's how I see it. Peele could be tricking us, playing our sociological fears to the test, then giving us the twist that this is just a psychological thriller. Read it how you will.


Then again, even if that is the case, Peele leaves plenty of ideas that still play on the ideas of race and creeping us out on that subject. The idea at the end of the film, where Rose almost kills Chris, but a sane Walter kills her first (before killing himself) and we see red and blue lights in the distance. We, as Chris knows as well, this is the police, and the situation looks awful. So of course, Chris puts his hands behind his head. It'll be his fault whatever the weather. Of course it ends up being Ron coming to save Chris, but I'll admit: it scared me well. Then of course there's the imagery of the deer, such as the one that is killed at the beginning, and the echo's of what Rose's father says... deer are a nuisance, and they need to be put down, so to say. We see Chris be confronted with deer imagery throughout the film, and I got this reference as soon as I saw the deer at the start. It's obvious, but so clever. There is a clever nod to slave auctions... or not really a nod but an obvious reference to them when the white folk are playing bingo for Chris' body. There's one scene where an Asian man asks Chris what it is like to be African American. Was he once white, then decided to become Asian and now fancies trying out a black body? An ambiguous easter egg which I loved. Colour is used excellently, the white car kidnapping the African American man at the start of the film (with 'Run Rabbit Run' playing, interestingly) and one scene in which we see Rose dressed in white drinking milk out of a black straw. There's plenty of this imagery and easter eggs laid throughout the film, something I need to pick up more of in my second viewing. And I think, my favourite easter egg was the 'black mould' coming from the basement...

So there you have it. I guess there are many ways of reading the film, and I'm yet to find more. It's definitely worth viewing and gathering an understanding for, and I encourage my readers to go out and see this excellent movie. Jordan Peele, well bloody done..