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How does Jordan Peele convey the identity and representation of the black experience in America

Luke Richardson S5208510

How does Jordan Peele convey the identity and representation of the black experience in America?

In this rich media essay, I will be delving into how the black experience is represented in film by Jordan Peele. My case study in this instance will be Get Out(2017, Jordan Peele). The film deals with the legacy of missing black people and the ongoing mistreatment and oppression of black people in today’s modern society. Get Out(2017, Jordan Peele), for me was an obvious choice to use as my case study, it was a highly successful film both critically and commercially, receiving 84% on rotten tomatoes with an audience of 16 million and received several BAFTA awards. Jordan Peele was also the first ever African American to win best original screenplay for this film. Get Out was a project that Peele had been working on for many years and felt that he needed to make it. He describes that he took inspiration from the film in the presidential race between Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama. Peele says “There were a lot of questions raised about gender civil rights and racial civil rights, and almost a pitting against one another of the two different causes. I began to look at those two issues as being parallel issues.” Peele then states that he linked this to the films Rosemary’s Baby (1968, Roman Polanski) and The Stepford Wives (2004, Frank Oz) as being parallels to Get Out(2017, Jordan Peele).

I believed he took inspiration from these films as those movies deal with gender and are ultimately about men controlling women’s lives, and men being scared by the women’s liberal movements. The family’s housekeepers in the films are very reminiscent of a stepford wife, they act very unnaturally, like they are there half the time. With these characters it feels like Peele is paying homage to the stepford wives instead of being robotic homemakers they are robotic lifeless servants. Instead of evoking dolls like men want them to in the film, they are portrayed as slave like. So, these connections were a clear signal to Peele that you can also develop a movie about race using a similar model. And therefore, create a new fresh film critiquing racial disparity in modern America. So how does Peele use represent the black experience of America in this film? I’d like to start by talking about the attitudes of white middle class Americans in this film, what role they play and how they relate to real white Americans today. At the beginning of this film, we are presented with two characters our protagonist who is a black orphaned photographer (Chris Washington) and his girlfriend, white middle class woman from a rich family (Rose Armitage). In the beginning we are lulled into a false sense of security. We see the couple being affectionate with each other and Chris begins to be nervous about meeting Rose’ white family. He mentions “Do they know im black” where Rose replies “No, Should they?” Which relaxes us as an audience and makes us feel that this is not something she has thought of very much about, meaning it isn’t an issue. We are then given a slight inkling into the routine of Rose and her family where she states “Its fine, my dad would have voted for Obama for a third time if he could”. I perceive this as Peele trying to represent fake woke America. Often white people will say things to make people of colour think they are not racist, or “woke” which in turn really just comes off as insincere. This statement is then repeated by the father when they reach the Armitage household. These statements, and parts of dialogue in the film like it, for example the dad thinking having antiques from different cultures to decorate his house is “experiencing others culture”. Is really just an attempt to make Chris feel there is no danger. But in reality is probably offsetting for the Chris character who represents how black people feel in white social spaces. This links back to part of the black experience in America, where POC’s sometimes feel they have to go along with white peoples fake attempts of wokeness to not stir up tension, even if what they are doing is harmful. Jordan Peele intentionally directed the actors first meeting with chris to not be any different to if they were meeting a boyfriend of their daughters if he was white. Peele states “It points out the juxtaposition of the white liberal parents who proclaim that they’re open minded. The first twist I pulled was when he first arrives they don’t flinch … There is zero conscious acknowledgement of anything being wrong and something about that to me is off, it felt creepy and unnatural”

What I gathered from this is that Peele wanted to convey how a POC normally feels being welcomed into new environments as it usually feels, uncomfortable as you don’t know if someone is being fake to keep up with being politically correct which some white people would even interpret as a trend. This is worded perfectly by Professor William Ming Liu where he states “Many people of colour learn to accommodate White peoples needs, status, and emotions such as avoiding racial discourse to minimize white fragility and distress. We ask that researchers and practitioners recognise the pervasiveness and normal-ness of White supremacy and its underpinning function in structural racism”. We do see a different side to this though from white people in the movie. We see the negative sides of a privileged white man attitude or could I say more accurate example of one. We are introduced to Rose Armitage’s brother, Jeremy Armitage, who represents a more sinister type of person (at the beginning at least) he is less obvious about trying to hide his feelings for Chris. As he keeps microaggression Chris in certain ways, Jeremy starts to talk about the genetics of white and black people and that how Chris would have a biological advantage to him in MMA as if he could train, he would be a “Beast”. This is extremely problematic as it refers to one race being more physically superior to another, the word beast being used I think was intentional by Peele to reference the slave trade era where black people were thought of nothing more than animals or “Beasts”. In this case Jeremy represents the remnants of past beliefs left behind from this era who still believe in this kind of way of life that one can be better than others based on their genetics. Another example of this is when the blind man bids for Chris in an auction style, very reminiscent of a slave auction. He describes to Chris that he wants his “eye” for photography which not only objectifies Chris but completely negates his talent and driving spirit for his passion in his work. The man does not see the hard work he put into his craft nor the natural talent he possesses but just assumes that he is biologically better, and that his natural eye is superior. This just reiterates the fact that in this film the white people only want black body’s for “superior attributes” much like spare parts. The slave auction reveals that these white people are taking over black bodies stands in for white people using black people as slaves, to use them for their own personal gain/ physical labour whilst simultaneously retaining all power.

This relates heavily to how this film depicts the black experience in America. How this film does it is in relation to “The sunken place” and hypnosis. The mother and father, Dean and Missy Armitage, keep reminding Chris and convince Chris to be hypnotised out of being addicted to cigarettes by saying things like “ “Nasty habit … you should let Missy take care of that for you” The father then explains how he was hypnotised out of smoking as it damages the body. It is obvious that the Armitage’s do not want Chris to smoke so that he doesn’t damage his body so they can then sell his body in an auction to the highest bidder. This is an important part of the film as it depicts white people attempting to weaponize Chris addiction to allow him to be persuaded into being hypnotised into the “Sunken Place”. There are two things to look at here, first of all the persistence of the parents trying to make Chris stop smoking could be seen as them not wanting their property to be damaged so that they can use it for their own financial and personal gain. Using a black person’s weaknesses or in some cases talents against them to control or take advantage of them, to benefit the white man. When the mother hypnotises Chris she uses a teacup as her weapon the cup and stirrer are symbols of civility and calm, but are revealed to be hostile and aggressive. Drinking tea strikes us as a refined, harmless activity. Colonialism has long had control over the tea industry. The boston tea party helped launch the American revolutionary war. I think Peele did this to show the subtle ways black people experience racism. It can come off as welcoming or warm but often are microaggressions. When Chris is hypnotised by the mother, she uses his past trauma to grab a hold of him. The hypnosis gives Chris the feeling of falling. The imagery here suggests the family’s 4ulterior motives, to push him down and suppress his will. Within the plot the sunken place is a dimension experienced by the victims of limited consciousness, they see everything happing to them but have little control. But it is also an evocative piece of imagery, on pushing back against forward progress in society. The closing of his eyes by missy while he is under and Chris falling deeper into the void, evokes the withheld held information to disenfranchise black people. Jordan Peele has described the void as a representation of marginalisation and how the system silences you no matter how loud you scream. As a result, black people are slaves in their own bodies.

In conclusion Get Outs mix of horror and sometimes satire is not exactly aimed at overt or blatant racism in our society. I interpret it more as a commentary on smug white middle class liberals. The parents at the beginning are displayed as nice people who they believe themselves are forward thinking. Yet of course there tolerance is strained and true intentions are revealed, their outlook can often be over confident and oblivious thinking that the things they say can hide their true dark intentions, but of course ultimately are uninterested in trying to at all understand the deep inequality of ethnic minorities and white people in America. The movie obviously is an absurd Sci-Fi story about effectively mind control but it acts as a trojan horse, the blatant absurdity allows for Peele to sneak in his political view and critique of modern day America and how he feels as a black man living in it. At the end of the film after a huge fight has taken place between Chris and the family, a police car rolls up and at first the audience is met with huge upset and disappointment as we know, that if a white police officer steps out of the car it is extremely likely that no one would believe Chris’ story and he would be imprisoned. Which is exactly what Rose (Chris girlfriend) is counting on as she screams help. Peele has stated that he originally intended the bleak ending for all the people that believed that we were living in a post racial world, that we were not. but felt tbat with all of the outrage of police shootings of black men that the anger and the pain of the black community, needed to counter the anguish by giving us a hero, a reason to feel hopeful. This film does technically end on a high note but a dark tone still lingers. Yes as a society we have definitely moved forward, but under the surface there is still prejudice. I think the film Get out(2017 Jordan Peele) Perfectly represents the black experience in our society today. Dark intentions still hide behind smiling faces, and racism is still a huge problem, just be it a lot more subtle and hidden from naïve people. Which is exactly what Get Out teaches us, to be less naïve and be more cautious in who we trust. This film perfectly opens up our eyes to our tragic history and mistreatment of POC’s and how these things still affect people to this day.

Bibliography

Professor William Ming Liu, Department of Counseling, Higher Education, and Special Education, College of Education, University of Maryland, USA Plain language summary (via Kudos) of “Racial trauma, microaggressions, and becoming racially innocuous: The role of acculturation and White supremacist ideology“, American Psychologist, 74:1, 143–155

Dr Ameil Joseph, Associate Professor, School of Social Work, McMaster University, Canada Plain language summary (via Kudos) of Tobias and Joseph, “Sustaining Systemic Racism Through Psychological Gaslighting“, Race and Justice, March 2018

Professor Angela Onwuachi-Willig, Dean of the School of Law, Boston University, USA Plain language summary (via Kudos) of “The Trauma of the Routine“, Sociological Theory, 34:4, 335-357

The Daily Beast. 2021. ‘Get Out’: How Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton Inspired the Year’s Best Horror Movie. [online] Available at: <https://www.thedailybeast.com/get-out-how-barack-obama-and-hillary-clinton-inspired-the-years-best-horror-movie> [Accessed 10 August 2021].

Theslant.media. 2021. From Deers to Plantations: The hidden meanings in Get Out. [online] Available at: <https://theslant.media/artsandculture/2020/02/02/hidden-messages-in-get-out-from-deers-to-plantations/> [Accessed 10 August 2021].

Hiatt, B. and Hiatt, B., 2020. The All-American Nightmares Of Jordan Peele. [online] Rolling Stone. Available at: <https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/movie-features/director- jordan-peele-new-movie-cover-story-782743/>.

Cara, M., 2020. ‘Get Out’ Shows How Being Defined By Your Race Puts Your Own Identity At Risk. [online] Bustle. Available at: <https://www.bustle.com/p/get-out-shows-how-being- defined-by-your-race-puts-your-own-identity-at-risk-41121> [Accessed 18 August 2020].

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Identity and Representation within ethnic minorities

Introduction:

Throughout this rich media essay I will be looking into the identity and representation of minority groups in TV and film. My case study will be “Get Out” which was written and directed by Jordan Peele.”Get Out” was a cultural landmark in cinema as it was one of the first horror films to feature a predominantly black cast and be written and directed by a black man. It also won several awards and received critical acclaim. The identity and representation of ethnic minorities has been an ever changing and evolving debate ever since the beginning of cinema. Directors like Jordan peele have strived to make change within the paradigm in regards to the way ethnic minorities are portrayed. This is evident in his 2017 film “Get Out” when the main character Chris Washington played by (Daniel kaluuya) Meets his white girlfriend (Rose armitage) played by (Allison Williams)’s family in suburban America and things get strange when Daniel kaluuyas character Chris finds out that his girlfriend Rose and her family have been secretly plotting to detain him and switch bodies with him because they believe that the black body is more superior to theirs. Jordan Peele wrote the story this was as a result of a belief that some people hold that white people are superior to black people. It is a reverse of eugenics, as in the film the grandfather (Gordon Greene) played by (John Wilmot) tells a story that Jesse Owens beat him in the 1936 olympics and therefore believes that black people are superior Jordan peele wrote the story like this so that it would show black people being the “superior” race which is a far cry to what most of history has been about.

Representation

“Get Out” is an interesting case study as it is a predominantly black cast, not only in terms of the writer and director Jordan Peele, but even the story is about black struggle and the objectification of black culture and identity, Jordan Peele tackles issues around the subject of racism. Since get out release audiences have seen a wider range of diversity both behind and infant of the camera. More black led projects have been headed; for example Peeles second directorial debut “US” and HBO’s “lovecraft, country” maybe these new releases have demonstrated that Hollywood is becoming more diverse and accepting of change. Representation within the genre of horror has improved dramatically. The TV and film industry has always been under fire because alot of people feel that the industry is not diverse enough, it has always casted white people in the industry instead of non white actors for years. You can see this in ever single aspect of production from the cast to the crew, you can also see it in the nominations for awards, and who wins them predominantly. Which is why “Get Out” was such a huge breath of fresh air. Although the representation of the black community has gotten better the path that has had to be taken there has been hard. Minority groups have been shown in a horrific way for hundreds of years. You can date it back hundreds of years to even when they were doing plays with packed out audiences using white actors to dress up in blackface to mock black people. They were painted with comically large mouths with huge red lips and large noses. They would even prance around the stage and intentionally use these characters to be the dumb stupid ones for comedic effect, in this time it was completely socially acceptable to do these things and was the norm. In Peter pan ( 1953 ) there is a part in the film with native Americans who are portrayed as villains and have skin that was very bright and red and are actually called “Red Skins”. The reason for this Is because Hollywood was controlled

by white people and all writers and directors of films at the time were all white, who were extremely proud of their country and thought that native Americans were villains. A genre that was popular at the time was westerns, which always featured white cowboys as heroes and native Americans as villains, even though the fact is, is that white people took over America from native Americans and slaughtered and stole from them. They were even portrayed as the villains up until extremely recently, in Twilight (2008) all the werwolves are portrayed as indigenous people and were all portrayed as uneducated.

Also another problem with representation within the film industry was the award ceremonies. In the nomination process it is still to this day mostly white actors and creatives that get nominated for awards. It even can be seen as recently as 2015 and 2016, where there was huge unrest and a big conversation was started on industry racism and systematic oppression. For 2 years straight every single actor that was nominated for best lead and supporting role were white. Take note that the last time something like this had happened was in 1998, so this did raise the question. Are we going back to old racist ways? Twitter exploded and the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite was trending for days. Because of this scandal alot of the worlds most famous actors and creatives boycotted the ceremony Spike lee took to instagram to announce that he and his wife could not attend because they “Cannot support it” Jada pinkest smith and will smith both said that they would not attend until the issue was resolved. But even when the most recent 2020 Oscar nominations were announced there was a huge backlash because yet again there was a huge obvious hole in the nominations, all best supporting actress role nominations were white. Alot of people believed that Lupita Nyong’os role in US, yet another Jordan Peele classic was definitely worthy of an Oscar nomination. However alot of the public and industry workers feel like she was robbed of this because of systematic oppression. Thankfully films with black cast and crew members have been gaining the attention and success they deserve. Black Panther (2018) now holds the record for highest grossing solo superhero film so far. In 2013 the first ever African American won best adapted screen play for 12 years a slave, his name was John Ridley. The best film 2019 was the “Green Book” which protagonist was mahershala Ali. Also in 2019 “Blackkklansman” won best adapted screenplay which was directed by Spike Lee who many people believe has been snubbed many times within the awards ceremony.

Identity

By now audiences know that Get out is more than your average horror film. Jordan Peele has expressed that Get Out portrays how racism feels to a black man. I agree with this and I also feel that Get Out portrays the complexities of racial identity. Get Out shows us that we still have a long road ahead when it comes to understanding each other. In Get Out all the black characters that’s bodies have been stolen go to a place called the sunken place where they float in an endless void, where the body is paralysed but the mind is completely conscious I think that this may be what Jordan Peele is talking about when he talks about what it feels like to be apart of a minority group. Maybe this is him trying to convey that black voices are not heard in Hollywood or in any walk of life at all, and that the void is like being black because it feels like there is nothing you can do. I also think that the sunken place would resonate with the black community as if you forget the hypnosis and body swapping, it is realistically a metaphor for how your identity can be lost

because people will solely judge you on race, it is also like you are being controlled and governed by someone who doesn’t really have your best interests at heart, and there isn’t anything you can do about it. Jordan Peele is half black and half white he explained in a 2012 interview that "Being of mixed background, we liken it to walking on a tightrope at different points in our lives. At certain points, it seems like we’re between two worlds, or we’re a part of two worlds, or we question where our world is.”

I also think another issue that we have today with identity when it comes to minority groups is, white washing. White washing is when an original source material, comic, book, film, tv show or any form of media is altered to cast a white character in place of one that is from a minority group. This is very harmful to culture and to basic morals in general as it snubs ethnic minorities of roles that resonate with them in place of a white person so that it can appeal to a more western society. whitewashing goes back to the early 1920’s which was a time where society was far less developed as it was today. There was hardly any equality in the 1920’s between races in America, or any part of the world for that matter. For example in 1915 a film was released called “The Birth of a Nation” directed by D.W Griffith, which by some was well regarded because of the technical cinematography. However he used white actors in black face to portray historical actions of the Klu Klux Klan. Because of this the film is widely recognised to be racist and is greatly criticised. Even up until today there have been so many film adaptations of other original source material from different cultures and created by minority groups that have been capitalised on by Hollywood to appeal to a wider audience, therefore being whitewashed. For example a Japanese Manga titled Death Note was adapted into an animation. Both the animation and the manga features an all asian cast. Hollywood noticed that this was an extremely popular anime series and therefore began production of their own live action version. This version replaced all Japanese characters with all white American ones. Compares to the original source material which is critically acclaimed this live adaptation was universally disliked. Some might say that this is because they have no idea of the source material and don’t understand it because they don’t resonate with it, maybe what makes these intellectual properties so good is because of the culture and the art style behind them. The whole of death note is extremely rooted in asian culture which is why the American version didn’t work. Another quick example of recent times is Johnny Depp in “The Lone Ranger”. He was cast as “Tonto” who is a native american character, obviously Johnny Depp is white. In annihilation Natalie portman and Jeniffer Jason Leigh play characters who in the novel are respectively asian and native american descent.

Finally I would say the history of cinema has been extremely controversial and the issue of diversity has been one if the biggest problems throughout. The lack of ethnic minorities in cinema is astonoshing at times, especially in the early days of cinema. Also the portrayal of minorities when they are casted in media is also extremely unfair, one sided and biased towards a racist agenda. Until this issue has been resolved we will not see minorities being depicted clearly and truthfully in any such forms of media. The small amount of minority directors, screen writers, and all other parts of the creative industry has caused an extremely unbalanced work place where white people will benefit, even if the character they are playing is not white. However even though we have seen an improvement in terms of this issue in some spaces. There still seems to be a lack of representation of non white creatives in the industry and award ceremonies.

Bibliography

Low, E. and Jackson, A., 2020. Black Representation In Hollywood: Is The Industry Finally Listening? - Variety. [online] Variety.com. Available at: <https://variety.com/2020/biz/ features/black-representation-hollywood-inclusion-diversity-entertainment-1234693219/>.

Bakare, L., 2020. Get Out: The Film That Dares To Reveal The Horror Of Liberal Racism In America. [online] the Guardian. Available at: <https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/ feb/28/get-out-box-office-jordan-peele>.

Variety.com. 2020. Jordan Peele: How 'Get Out' Tackles Systemic Racism As Horror - Variety. [online] Available at: <https://variety.com/2017/film/news/jordan-peele-get-out- systemic-racism-1202604824/>.

Robinson, T., 2020. Get Out Review: A Ruthlessly Smart Racial Send-Up That's Also Terrifying. [online] The Verge. Available at: <https://www.theverge.com/ 2017/2/24/14724404/jordan-peele-get-out-movie-review-race-horror-film>.

Moore, S., 2020. The Oscars Mix-Up Matters Because This Night Was Always About Racial Bias | Suzanne Moore. [online] the Guardian. Available at: <https:// www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/feb/27/oscars-mix-up-matters-racial-bias>.

Hiatt, B. and Hiatt, B., 2020. The All-American Nightmares Of Jordan Peele. [online] Rolling Stone. Available at: <https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/movie-features/director- jordan-peele-new-movie-cover-story-782743/>.

Cara, M., 2020. ‘Get Out’ Shows How Being Defined By Your Race Puts Your Own Identity At Risk. [online] Bustle. Available at: <https://www.bustle.com/p/get-out-shows-how-being- defined-by-your-race-puts-your-own-identity-at-risk-41121> [Accessed 18 August 2020].