"Can One Get Out?"

     In the article, “Can One Get Out” Ryan Poll breaks down the different horror elements of the movie Get Out and how it resonates with some more than others. He also dissects how this genre works in spreading the message of the movie and targeting audiences. This is because for the white audience members they imagine the world without horror whilst the black audience members see the horror in the movie as the horror of the actual world. However, specifically Poll discusses concepts such as Afro-pessimism, Post-blackness and more. According to Poll, Post-blackness is meant for people to try and break from the past and try not to focus on the “ghosts” of racialize slavery. This can be seen within the narrative of Chris who fails to realize he is intertwined into a story of slavery. Chris lives one of the many lives that black people could live in a Post-black society where being authentically black can mean anything. For him he is relatively wealthy living in a nice apartment in NYC, is a photographer, and is in an interracial relationship. The movie is trying to show the idea that Chris is living in a world of Post-blackness with the many symbolism of progressivism and positive change. However, his lack of ability to see he was in a narrative centered around slavery shows how the world may appear in this Post-blackness state but that is not entirely true. Additionally, Poll discussed the concept Afro-Pessimism which is considered a political philosophy that rejects the ideological foundation of liberal society. This theory means that the modern world was created around black slavery. This means that in modern times people who are black are automatically marked as slaves. This concept is highlighted in the movie Get Out because it shows how the institution of slavery is still seen in society and how it is a national institution and not one just geographically located in one place. The movie shows how black people today are still marked as slaves according to the concept of Afro-Pessimism, and how these institutions still shape the structure of our society in the modern day. 

Moreover, throughout the movie Jordan Peele uses different aesthetics to get his message across. One of the most prominent examples of this is the opening credits where the camera is fluidly following Andre through a white suburb. Andre is aware of his danger as he is in a “white zone” but he does not grapple with the fact that systemic racial violence could actually occur to him. As the scene unfolds, Andre is kidnapped and put in a white car and at this moment the camera stops following him and stays still. This is considered a mastery use of failed aesthetics because it creates a symbol of how Andre, and Chris are unable to see how racialize slavery can determine their lives. Jordan Peele uses these aesthetic choices to continue to create these symbols and further the allegory that these racist institutions shape the structure of the world we live in today. I think the argument Poll makes is very accurate in the sense that on the surface level it appears that we as a society have progressed into a new age that does not build upon the racial discriminations of the past. However, underneath the surface there are still systematic systems of oppression and racial violence that occur and build upon the institutions from the past. I would say that although Chris represents this concept of Post-blackness, where he lacks the knowledge that systemic racial slavery can still exist, he still has the knowledge of racial discriminations that could occur. This can be seen in the beginning of the movie when he asks Rose about her parents and how they will take the news that he is black. This shows how he still lives in a state where he is aware of the dangers of being black in our society. Same can be said for Andre where he was still aware of the dangers of being black in an area considered a white zone.