Get Out

SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

Jordan Peele’s deservedly Oscar-winning horror script (with accolades to those actors who improvised lines) suggests the title, Get Out, has multiple meanings. It can be a warning to the main black male character. It can also imply that white people want African Americans to leave, if not in body, but mentally.

The opening has a fit young black man, who we later learn is named Andre (LaKeith Stanfield) walking in a white suburban neighborhood, lost, trying to find an address. He talks to himself, feeling like “a sore thumb” because he is an African American and from his words he is in an affluent area, where many black people may feel that they are at risk. It is night, and a white sports car pulls up near him. He tries to play it cool, and walks the other way. The music in the car is an old song with the words “Run, rabbit, run,” which makes it sound like Andre is the prey of a hunter, and the line resembles the title of the movie. The driver of the car, who is wearing a black outfit with a hood, gets Andre in a choke hold. The black man passes out and the hooded man puts him in the trunk and drives off. The soundtrack switches to quick violin strokes, reminiscent of Bernard Herrmann’s score in Psycho, telling the audience that things are going to get weirdly scary. This abduction is a setup, and the movie is saying that even in this current day, a black man in a white neighborhood is in jeopardy.

Chris Washington (Daniel Kaluuya) is an African American, (whose first name suggests he is a Christ figure, but who turns out refuses to be sacrificed, and whose last name may refer to George Washington, a person who fought against the tyranny of others), is in his apartment that has photos on the walls and we see him holding a camera. So, we know he is a photographer. His girlfriend, Rose Armitage (Allison Williams), whose first name we later discover is deceptively seductive, is white, and visits Chris. As IMDb notes foreshadowing items are in this scene. Chris has white soap on his face as he shaves, suggesting transformation from black to white. He is packing to meet her family but is cautious because she has not mentioned that he is black, and she confirms that she never dated a man of color before. He says he doesn’t want her father to go after him in the driveway with a shotgun, which turns out to be close to what happens. She assures him that his dad will be awkward and say he would have voted for Obama for a third term. She assures him that her parents are not racist. As we find, they are certainly not in the traditional sense, but in a way far more sinister.

Chris is nervous as they drive deep into the woods, and wants a cigarette that Rose throws out the window. She is concerned about his health, but, as we discover, not for the usual reasons. He calls his friend, Rod (Lil Rel Howery), who is a TSA employee at the airport. He is the comic relief in the film as he relates being disciplined for padding down a female senior citizen, and says the next 9/11 will involve a “geriatric” person because of a lack of caution (which turns out refers to the eventual events involving Chris). Rod will be taking care of Chris’s dog, Sid. Rod says jokingly that Chris shouldn’t meet a white girl’s parents. A definite foreshadowing.

While laughing and driving along, the car, an upscale Lincoln SUV, reflecting the wealth of Rose’s family, hits a deer. Chris checks out the animal which is dying off the side of the road. He looks at it and is shaken by what happened to the animal. This event, along with the opening attack on Andre and the song’s rabbit reference, give us images of innocent creatures being harmed. They call the police. The cop asks for Chris’s ID, but Rose is outraged as she emphasizes that Chris was not driving. The officer says that the police have a right to investigate any incident. She says that’s “Bullshit,” as she suggests that he is engaging in racial profiling. He backs off and Chris later tells her it was “hot” the way she defended him. She says she wouldn’t let anyone mess with her “man,” which under other circumstances would seem admirable, but in the context of this story, takes on a reference to ownership.

They arrive and her parent’s house is large and lovely. There is black man, Walter (Marcus Henderson), on the lawn who mechanically waves at them. She announces that the man is the groundskeeper (IMDb suggests that Rose’s pronunciation sounds like “grandskeeper,” as in grandparent). Rose’s father is Dean (Bradley Whitford), an authoritative name, who calls Chris “my man,” which seems like an awkward attempt to relate to Chris’s cultural background, but which echoes Rose’s ownership connotation. Missy (Catherine Keener), is Rose’s mother. When they relate the deer story, Dean says they did the ecosystem a favor by hitting it, calling the deer the rural equivalent of rats. Even though framed as an exaggeration, Dean’s call for eradication of a species is disturbing. Dean asks how long has this “thang” been going on between the couple, another awkward use of a word. They have been together for five months, not enough time for Chris to really know what Rose truly represents.

Dean gives Chris a house tour. Missy is a psychiatrist, which we find out shows she has the qualifications to mess with someone’s head. Dean says Rose’s younger brother, Jeremy (Caleb Landry Jones), wants to be a doctor like his dad. These people are significantly involved in medical science. Dean also says that he collects stuff from everywhere he travels. This statement is another clue about his inclination to appropriate stuff for his own benefit. He says it’s “Such a privilege to experience another person’s culture,” a praiseworthy statement that later takes on an ominous side. Dean says his father, who was a sprinter, was eliminated by Jesse Owens who was on his way to winning gold medals in Germany in front of Hitler, defying the Nazi “Aryan” superiority beliefs. Dean obviously admires African American physical prowess, but as we see, in order to use it.

He then brings Chris into the kitchen. As they pass the basement door, Dean says they had to seal it off because of black mold, which is another suspicious statement, as we wonder why this well-to-do family couldn’t remove the problem. Dean takes Chris to the kitchen, which Dean says his mother loved. There is a young smiling, unblinking black woman there, Georgina (Betty Gabriel), as Dean says in reference to his mother, “we keep a piece of her in here.” His remark turns out to be a darkly humorous line.

Dean takes Chris outside and says that he loves how the closest house is on the other side of the lake, which provides “total privacy.” But privacy for what? Dean says that he knows how bad it looks for a white family to have black servants. But, Dean explains that they hired Georgina and Walter to help take care of his ailing parents. He didn’t feel right to let “them” go after the parents died so he kept them on. The “them” has two meanings, one literal one that refers to Georgina and Walter, and a veiled allusion to his mother and father. Dean then confirms Rose’s prediction when Dean says he would have voted for Obama for a third term if he could, adding he was the best president in his lifetime. The film suggests that when someone is constantly trying to make himself look good, it is a red flag that they are overcompensating.

Dean notices that Chris has cigarettes. He says that Missy, through hypnosis, cured him of the habit and offers to do the same for Chris. Chris does not want to be controlled by someone else (which is what happens to slaves) and says he’s okay with not pursuing any treatment. Missy taps her glass of iced tea with a spoon, another foreshadowing action. Rose claims she doesn’t realize the annual party thrown in honor of her grandfather is happening this weekend. Has she been away from home that long? (When I first saw this movie, I was suspicious of Rose early on, wondering how she could not know what her parents were up to). Georgina zones out and pours too much iced tea, suggesting there is definitely something strange going on here. Missy says she should go lie down, and Georgina re-pastes the big smile on her face.

Jeremy arrives. He is intoxicated at dinner and tells stories about Rose that one can write off as just weird youthful antics, including biting the tongue of her first boyfriend when he used it during her first kiss. However, the anecdote inserts a bit of past violence into the story. When Missy goes into the kitchen to check on dessert, Chris catches a glimpse of Georgina standing in the kitchen, looking like a grinning robot, holding a cake. Jeremy says that Chris could turn himself into a real athlete, transforming himself into a real “beast,” which appears to be a compliment, but along with the rabbit and deer references, we begin to see a pattern of viewing African Americans as dehumanized in the white world. Jeremy wants to know more about Chris, but his questions seem like an interrogation, asking if he ever was involved in street fights. Chris said he took judo in first grade, but instead of just laughing it off, Jeremy reveals he is a martial arts practitioner, and says jujitsu is a superior sport because it is mental, like chess, where one must be several moves ahead of an opponent. This remark can later be seen as the family being several steps ahead of Chris, and how Chris eventually shows his mental abilities. Jeremy is competitive with Chris, as if he wants to show that a white person can be just as athletic as an African American. He wants to perform some of his moves with Chris, who diplomatically says he has a rule about not engaging in such activity with an inebriated individual. Jeremy then looks at his parents apologetically and says he wasn’t going to harm Chris. He isn’t just talking about his behavior, he specifically says he wouldn’t hurt Chris, as we realize later he means he didn’t want to damage Chris’s body for their plans.

Later in their bedroom, Rose appears incensed about her brother’s actions, and how he never acted that way with her other boyfriends. Her reference to her brother probably wanting to put Chris in a choke hold connects with the first scene of the film, where the hooded individual incapacitated Andre, which suggests that it was Jeremy who abducted Andre. Chris has a waking dream while in bed about that deer in the woods, and there is a fly buzzing around Chris, which he swats. He is sensing that there is something not quite right here, and subconsciously feels threatened.

Chris gets out of bed, dresses, and heads outside to smoke. Georgina glides out of Chris’s sight, like a ghost, which is sort of what she is, as we discover. On the lawn, Walter, the groundskeeper, is running at top speed right at Chris, and then abruptly veers off to Chris’s left. This scene should remind us that Dean said his father was a runner who was eliminated by the African American champion, Jesse Owens. Chris is then startled by Georgina looking out of the kitchen. But she is not staring at him, but at her own reflection, and she smooths her hair to the side of her forehead, as if pleased with the way she looks. She then mechanically moves away.

Chris returns inside only to be surprised again by Missy who turns on the light to her office, warning Chris in a quiet voice how dangerous smoking is, but she has an ulterior motive. She asks him to sit with her. She has a cup of tea and a silver spoon in her hands (IMDb suggests that the silver spoon symbolizes her position of privilege). She says that hypnosis works by putting people in a state of “heightened suggestibility.” She then brings up his past that he noted at dinner, how his mother died of a car accident when he was eleven. This reference throws him off guard. He says he was watching TV and it was raining at the time. Missy continues to stir the tea. There is the sound of rain in the background as Chris relives the scene and he says his mother was heading home. He looks sleepy sitting in the chair. He says he just sat in his house but didn’t call anyone when his mother was late. He is trembling now as he admits that he didn’t want to call anyone because then it would make something bad become real. He cries, as she targets his guilt about feeling that his mother’s death was his fault. He says he can’t move. She says that he is paralyzed now like he was the night his mother died. The therapy turns sinister as she says, “Now, sink into the floor.” He is in a panic as he feels himself falling into a dark void. She approaches him sitting in the chair. It appears to him that she is looking at him through a small window telling him that he is now in the “Sunken Place.” She closes his eyes. (Jordan Peele, who is also the film’s director, said, “The Sunken Place means we are marginalized. No matter how loud we scream, the system silences us.”)

Chris wakes up as if he was having a nightmare. Rose is taking a shower. There is a poster with the odd but foreboding picture on the bathroom door of a woman with a skeleton head holding a skull. The words on the poster read, “Death Cheetah vs. Matter.” This image could be a warning about the women in this family. IMDb suggests that the poster may refer to the Armitages’ desire to cheat death, and Chris must use his brain “matter” to defeat them.

Chris walks outside and takes some pictures. Walter is chopping wood. Chris approaches the man and comments that they are working him hard. Walter smiles artificially, like Georgina, and says he isn’t doing anything he doesn’t want to, stressing his autonomy despite his supposed servant status. He then says that Rose is lovely, and adds she is “one of a kind, top of the line.” Walter sounds like he is reciting a cliché phrase, instead of candidly conversing with a fellow black man. Walter apologizes for his scaring Chris the previous night. He says he was only exercising, which seems like a stretch the way he was running full throttle. His whole manner is creepy because of his artificial, mannered speaking style. He sounds like he is actually referring to Chris when his voice gets louder and intimidating as he says, “I better mind my own business.”

Chris pulls out a cigarette but doesn’t smoke it. He tells Rose that he thinks her mom hypnotized him. Missy was successful in stopping the smoking from causing any more harm to be inflicted on Chris’s body. He admits he doesn’t remember much, but the thought of smoking now nauseates him, just as Dean had reported he felt. He confides that he had a dream about being in a dark pit. He then asks what is going on with Walter and his hostile attitude. Chris wonders if Walter is jealous because the groundskeeper likes Rose. She jokes about maybe she has a chance with him, which successively results in Chris dropping the conversation.

The neighbors begin to arrive for the party. Chris and Rose greet the Greenes. Gordon Greene ((John Wilmot) was a professional golfer and asks if Chris ever played golf. Like Dean, Gordon awkwardly addresses Chris’s race by saying he knows Tiger Woods. Gordon wants to check out Chris’s golf form, as if inspecting the young man’s physicality. The couple then encounter a very old man on oxygen, and his wife Lisa (Ashley LeConte Campbell), who looks several years younger than her husband. Lisa comments how handsome Chris is, and then inappropriately feels his arm and strangely says to her invalid husband how Chris looks pretty good. They are like plantation owners checking out a future slave. Lisa then asks Rose if “it” is better, meaning sex with an African American male, implying she is checking out a future sexual prospect.

They converse with another couple, who also only stress Chris’s color instead of dealing with him as another human being. The man goes on about how for a couple of hundred years, “fairer skin has been in favor.” But he says it’s different now, and “Black is in fashion,” as if having dark skin is trending, like something to buy on Amazon. Rose looks annoyed, and the embarrassed Chris excuses himself to take some pictures.

Chris sees an African American man, Logan (who is really the abducted Andre from the first scene) among this sea of white people standing in front of a table of refreshments. He is wearing clothes that would appear more conducive to what a suburban white male would wear, including a conservative sport jacket and straw hat. Chris says to his back that it is good to see another “brother” there. The young man turns around, revealing the same smile the other black people display, as he says, “Hi. Yes, of course it is.” Like Walter and Georgina, he appears like an automaton. His wife, who is much older, arrives saying they must talk with some of the others in attendance. Chris extends his hand in a fist bump position, but instead of returning the gesture, Logan grasps Chris’s hand in a traditional grip. It’s as if all the African American cultural behavior has been drained out of the black people here.

Chris walks and finds a gazebo with chairs in front of it. A seated blind man, Jim Hudson (Stephen Root), seems to know it is Chris who is there. He says that the people present are ignorant of “what real people go through,” as if explaining the inappropriate remarks of the others there. Perhaps he is saying they he and Chris have had obstacles to overcome, he because of his loss of sight, and Chris because of prejudice. He compliments Chris on his photography, which is odd considering his disability. Chris realizes he is a major player in the photographic field, owning a prominent gallery. Jim says his assistant describes the works to him in great detail. He knows about Chris’s accomplishments and admits he did not have the “eye” that Chris has before Jim went blind. Here, this sounds like a compliment, but his remarks later are seen as ominous.

Chris returns to the house and there are several guests who are talking but abruptly stop after he walks in and goes upstairs. Creepy. We now know that this party, if we didn’t already realize it, is really to assess Chris. In the bedroom, Chris notices for the second time that his cell phone cord was disconnected from the device, preventing recharging. He tells Rose that he believes Georgina is behind this act because she doesn’t want him with Rose. She kids about the jealousy angle again, and he relents for a second time. IMDb makes an astute observation about colors. The white guests wear black clothes and drive black cars. Jeremy, the abductor in the opening scene, wears black clothing, including a black hood, but his car is white, hinting at his race. In Chris’s apartment there is a picture of a white girl wearing a black mask. The conclusion is that these images suggest the desire of the white people of this community wanting to forcefully experience what they perceive are the advantages of being black.

Chris call his friend Rod again and tells him about the weird goings on, and the conversation between the two sounds genuine compared to what has been going on before. Rod warns him about the hypnosis and messing with his head, despite curing his smoking habit. Rod is funny as he says the residents may get Chris to “bark like a dog,” or that white people like to turn black individuals into “sex slaves.” But, his job background brings a suspicious and investigative mind to bear on the proceedings. He mentions serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, who used the heads of his victims, which comes close to the sinister nature of what is really going on here.

After Chris hangs up with Rod, Georgina suddenly appears and startles Chris. She smiles and talks in her posed, even voice as she apologizes for accidentally unplugging his phone while she was cleaning. Rose obviously mentioned Chris’s concerns. Chris has this sideways glance during the movie, which accents his suspicion of what is happening. He says he didn’t want to “snitch” or “rat” her out. She doesn’t seem to comprehend the slang words until she finally understands the meaning and substitutes the white, anachronistic word “tattletale,” which again implies that her true nature has been subverted. She says she isn’t worried because she “doesn’t answer to anyone.” She is telling the truth as we find out later. He says he just gets “nervous” when he is around “too many white people.” His statement seems to rattle Georgina, like he has caused a crack in her mannered facade. She loses the smile, gasps, and sheds some tears. She starts to nervously giggle and repeats the word “no” numerous times as she tries to recover. She says the Armitages treat the black people “like family.” With good reason, as Chris eventually discovers.

As Chris exits the house, Dean introduces him to a bunch of visitors. The overemphasis on his skin color is again brought up as one of the guests asks if being African American is more of an advantage or disadvantage in modern society. Logan wanders by, and Chris asks that Logan answer the question. Logan doesn’t (or can’t) answer, he says, because he has become a homebody lately. He is divorced from the African American experience, trapped in this white stronghold. Chris uses his phone to take a picture of Logan, probably to show Rod later what he is going through. The camera’s flash engages, and Logan now is the one who loses his composure. His face mirrors fear, and blood begins to trickle out of his nose. Logan moves toward Chris and screams the title of the film, “Get out!” to him, stressing the immediacy of his warning.

Afterwards Dean tries to attribute Logan’s actions as due to a seizure condition triggered by the camera flash. Logan comes out of a session with Missy acting tranquilized as before, no doubt undergoing one of her hypnosis sessions. Missy says to him that they are “very happy that you’re yourself again,” the identity reference turning out to be very ironic. Logan and his wife leave so he can rest. Dean says they are going to get the party going with “bingo and sparklers.” Wow, these older rich white folks know how to have fun.

The supposedly concerned Rose says she and Chris need a walk. Chris tells her when they are alone that he has a relative who has epilepsy and what Logan experienced was not a seizure. Rose argues that her father is a neurosurgeon (a person who physically deals with the brain while his wife does so psychologically), so she accepts his diagnosis. She admits that she just met Logan that day. But Chris says that the alarmed man was someone he recognized, which turns out to be literally true, and also symbolically accurate as Logan is a black brother who knows the danger white people have inflicted upon African Americans. Chris says he wants to leave. Rose acts upset because she suggests he will go without her if she wants to stay. Chris relates more details to Rose about the night his mother was killed by a hit-and-run driver. She did not die immediately. She bled and suffered on the side of the road, “cold and alone.” We now know why the fate of the deer, which suffered the same way as his mother, had personal significance for Chris. He blames himself that he did not call when she was late so that someone could have gone looking for her. Chris says he will not abandon Rose the way he feels that he was not there for his mother. Rose says they should leave, and they tell each other that they love each other, which makes what happens especially cruel.

While the two are having this conversation, we witness a frightening, silent auction. At the spot where the gazebo and chairs are, Dean holds up fingers as the seated white people display shaded numbers on their bingo cards. A large photograph of Chris is facing the audience. Dean’s gestures show the progress of the bidding for Chris. The blind man, Jim Hudson, who is envious of Chris’s eyes, wins. What we have here is a current day slave auction taking place.

Chris sent the picture of Logan to Rod, who does some research and finds out that Logan is really Andre Hayworth who they both knew had dated a mutual acquaintance. Chris says that not only his clothes but his manner changed and he arrived with a white woman thirty years older. Of course Rod comically proclaims it’s proof of his “sex slave” conspiracy theory. He is very funny as he says Chris has to get out of there because he is in an Eyes Wide Shut situation.

Chris’s phone battery dies in the middle of the conversation. Chris tells Rose they have to go right away and she leaves the room to pack. He happens to notice a small door is ajar that leads to a storage area in the bedroom (a bit of a contrived plot device). There is a box with photographs in it. Chris now realizes Rose has been lying to him. There are shots of her cuddling numerous black men, and there is even one with her next to Georgina with unprocessed hair. It is interesting that Chris, the photographer, learns about Rose through photographs, which are meant to reveal the truth about their subjects.

Rose surprises him as he closes the door to the storage closet. She says she hasn’t found the keys to the car in her bag yet. Brother Jeremy is twirling a broom in front of the house door, as if on guard. Missy and Dean are also there as Chris becomes increasingly worried. Dean starts talking mysteriously, asking what is Chris’s purpose in life? We soon find out what Dean thinks it is. He implies it by saying everything dies, but he says they actually are immortal, but wrapped in “cocoons,” which means our bodies. Jeremy swings the broomstick at Chris, who yells for the keys, but Rose now drops her charade, and holds up the keys in her hand, saying Chris knows she can’t give them to him. Jeremy, who is still trying to prove he has physical superiority over a black man, wants a fight. As soon as Chris grapples with him, Missy taps the teacup she is holding, and Chris falls to the floor, paralyzed as before. Missy commands the men to take Chris to the basement, the one that was supposedly sealed off because of mold. She is concerned that there is no damage done to Chris because that would hinder their plans. Chris is in the “Sunken Place,” as he views from a distance through that tiny psychological window how they drag his body along.

Rod can’t reach Chris on his cell phone. Rod spends some time with Sid at Chris’s apartment, watching television. There is a darkly ironic voice-over from the TV that says, “A mind is a terrible thing to waste,” which was an advertisement that used to be broadcast by the United Negro College Fund (which is a bit outdated for the current time frame of the film) to advocate that African Americans be given the opportunity to receive a good education. There is also a woman on the television noting the effects of aging. In this story, the white people in the remote community value the young bodies of black persons, but don’t care about their minds. Rod Googles Andre Hayworth, Logan’s real name, and finds he is a missing person. Of course, Rod is now frightened for his friend.

In the finished basement of the Armitage house, complete with ping pong table and dart board, looking very white suburban, the unconscious Chris is seated in an easy chair, with his hands and legs bound. He gasps as he wakes up. There is a deer’s head on the wall facing Chris, which reminds us of the dying deer in the woods, Chris’s mother, and what might happen to Chris. An old video appears on the television screen showing the aged Roman Armitage who says if someone is watching this recording, “you’re probably wondering what's going on.” That statement is not only addressed to Chris, but also to the audience. He says that a person, like Chris, was chosen for his or her physical attributes to be part of something “grand.” Roman goes on to say that something called the “Coagula procedure is a man-made miracle,” as the screen presents an insect exiting a cocoon, which reminds us of what Dean said earlier. IMDb notes that “coagula” means “it joins,” and it refers to an alchemy phrase that deals with transforming matter. Roman talks about his “group” which will benefit from the years of work put into the project and which was perfected by his son, Dean. Roman brings out his then younger family and says that whoever is watching may become “a member of the family.” We now know what is going on. The Armitage family developed a way to transfer the brains of aging white people into the bodies of young, physically fit black people. They are admiring black bodies while marginalizing African American minds, and violently appropriating human beings for their own selfish interests. Walter has Roman’s brain, and Dean’s mother inhabits Georgina. That is how those chosen African Americans become members of “the family.” Roman, inside of Walter, still is running because he never got over being defeated by Jesse Owens, and Georgina answers to no one because she is the family matriarch residing in the young black woman. A cup appears on the screen with a spoon stirring the tea, and the sound again puts Chris into that helpless dream state.

Rod goes to the police, shows Andre’s picture, says Chris has been out of touch for two days in the white suburbs, and tells his hypnosis, brainwashing, sex slave theory to a female African American detective. She keeps a straight face, and invites in two male cops, who listen to Rod. They then break out laughing as the female cop invited them in for some fun. No help here. Rod goes back to Chris’s apartment, writing down his impressions as he tries to work out what is going on. He tries calling Chris again, and Rose answers. Her face is unemotional as she pretends to be worried because she says that Chris became paranoid and “freaked out” on her, leaving two days ago. She says he took a cab, but left his phone, which doesn’t sound right. When Rod smartly asks what cab company Chris used, she then pleads ignorance. He is convinced she is lying, and starts to record her. But when he resumes their conversation, she says he is calling because Rod is attracted to her and wants to have sex with her. He is outraged, protests, and hangs up, voicing how smart she is for throwing suspicion off of herself. During the phone call, Rose’s family stands close to her, like silent ghouls.

Chris wakes up again, and this time the blind man, Jim Hudson, appears on the screen on a two-way live closed-circuit connection. He is in a hospital bed, his head shaved for a medical procedure. Jim laughs and calls Chris, “buddy,” and asks how he’s doing. Given the circumstances, his words are comically nasty. Their conversation is mental preparation, a sort of “psychological pre-op.” Then comes “transplantation,” which is really “partial,” since the “piece” of Chris’s brain connected to his nervous system “needs to stay put, keeping those intricate connections intact.” That is why Georgina and Logan retained some aspect of their prior identities. Jim says Chris’s existence after the surgery will be as a “passenger,” with the white person’s brain in control. During slavery, White owners had control over black persons’ bodies. Here they also have control over their brains. Chris realizes that he will indefinitely live in “the Sunken Place.” Chris asks why African Americans? We see flashbacks of the encounters he had with the white guests as Jim says people want to be “stronger, faster, cooler,” and then we get the statement about how “black is in fashion” repeated. But Jim doesn’t want to be lumped with those superficial reasons. He isn’t racist, he says, but he wants Chris’s artistic vision.

In his struggling in the chair, Chris found that he ripped open the leather armchair covering, revealing tufts of fabric. The TV comes on, and Chris sees the spoon stirring the cup again. Chris appears to be hypnotized as he closes his eyes and sinks into the chair. In the surgery room, Dean removes the top part of Jim’s skull and begins to remove his brain. Jeremy, in scrubs, brings in a wheelchair to collect Chris. After unfastening the restraints, Chris smashes Jeremy’s head with a croquet ball, an appropriately white upper-class object to mete out justice here. Chris pulls out the fabric from his ears that he used to prevent hearing the spoon tinkling against the cup. Peele confirmed that the material is cotton, to refer to the days that slaves were forced to pick the plant in the plantation fields. But here, Peele turns the tables, and the material is used to liberate a black man from subservience. Dean looks for the absent Jeremy. In another very effective image, Chris uses the antlers on the deer’s head to impale Dean. The hunted becomes the hunter, and the oppressed rises up and rebels against the oppressor. Chris has taken the symbol of his helplessness, the deer, a surrogate for his mother, and has overcome his guilt to become empowered.

As Chris tries to get out of the house, he encounters Georgina, who runs out of the kitchen. He sees Missy. The cup and spoon are on a table. He is able to knock the objects off and the cup shatters before she can hypnotize him again, another image of the revolt against privileged dominance. She grabs a letter opener and stabs him through the hand, but Chris overpowers her, and puts the blade through one of her eyes. Somehow Jeremy was able to recover to attack Chris before he gets to the door, putting him in his trademark stranglehold. Chris, looking at his opponent's moves, is now the chess master, and anticipates Jeremy slamming the front door closed, and is able to stab him in the leg. Chris then stomps Jeremy’s head, making sure he is dead this time.

Rose is in a bedroom, listening to music while looking online for the next black victim. Chris gets to a car and calls the police. He is interrupted when he sideswipes Georgina. He decides to try to save what’s left of her original identity and puts her in the car. She, however, wakes up and attacks Chris, saying he ruined her house, which is really Grandma Armitage talking. Chris runs the car into a tree. Rose heard the commotion and comes out with a shotgun, shooting at Chris, which is what Chris comically said he was worried about. She is now calling Georgina “Grandma,” making us laugh uneasily. “Grandpa” Walter tackles Chris, but Chris is able to use the flash on his camera. Walter gets enlightenment, as it were, with the light going off. He loses his hat and there is the surgical scar that was hidden by it, as Georgina’s hair hid hers, and Logan’s hat covered his. He tells Rose to give him the gun to “finish” it. Walter shoots Rose and then kills himself as he would rather be dead than remain a slave.

As Rose reaches for the shotgun, Chris pushes it away. She tries to seduce him by saying she is sorry and that she loves him. He begins to strangle her, but relents. A police car arrives, and there is the thought that Chris will be blamed for murder, stressing in our society that white lives matter more than black ones. But, in a nice twist, Rod is there in an airport security car. With a fellow African American man as the policeman, Chris is allowed his righteous justice. And, the evil Rose now is the one left to die alone on the road, just like the deer, and Chris’s mother.

After a week break, the next film is E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.