E. T. - The Extra-Terrestrial

SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

E. T. - The Extra-Terrestrial (1982), although considered by many to be a children’s film, contains elements common in other Steven Spielberg movies: seemingly ordinary characters who excel under extraordinary situations; the suspicion toward government forces; the presentation of frightening and comic elements together; and the theme of reality versus fantasy. In addition, as Robert Ebert points out in his book, The Great Movies, this film is a triumph of cinematic perspective.

It begins with a shot of the stars, a place of wonder and amazement, and a spacecraft that descends to our planet, bringing those elevated elements down to earth. We see obscured night shots in the forest which add to the mystery of this visit, as alien fingers explore and experiment with the forest vegetation. The celestial visitors hear a sound and lights shine in their chests, possibly revealing an emotional response but which can also show how the beings connect with each other. E. T. is an agricultural worker and is curious and wanders off. He looks at a town’s lights from the height of a cliff, as if viewing its inhabitant from a more highly aware level. The shot is similar to ones in Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind. However, the camera following E. T. and the other aliens provides shots close to the ground to stress the perspective of the short E. T. since his race has the same view of life as do children, which cements the connection between the two groups.

Pickup trucks arrive to investigate the outer space arrival, and again the glaring lights of the vehicles and just the legs of the arriving men are shown from E. T.’s perspective. This view contributes a sense of danger because the men seem imposing in their height. We see that one man has keys attached to his belt, suggesting he is the one in charge, the man who keeps secrets locked away. E. T. is alarmed and tries to run away, his breathing labored, and he lets out screams. His fellow space travelers can’t wait for him to reach the spacecraft, so they take off as the men arrive. E. T. hides, his “heart light” glowing because of the loss of his connection to his companions.

Elliott (Henry Thomas) and his older brother Mike (Robert MacNaughton) along with his friends are at Elliott’s house in a suburban California neighborhood. One can see the influence here on the show Stranger Things, as almost the entire film centers on young children involved with beings from another world. They are playing a fantasy board game, not knowing at this point that fantasy will become reality for them. Elliott hears a noise outside as he picks up the pizza delivery and finds it is coming from a storage shed. As he approaches it, a ball rolls out to him. Even though this action seems harmless and somewhat playful, Elliott is startled and runs inside. Despite Elliott’s warning, the boys, given their age, innocently see the situation as a game as they head outside. They reproduce The Twilight Zone theme song to indulge their playful scary fun. They see footprints and Mike concludes it was a coyote.

Later, when everyone else is asleep, Elliott, still alert, and his dog hear noises again. He goes outside with a flashlight and enters some cornfields (why are so many eerie events in movies occur in these crops? Maybe because they are tall and can hide stuff). Again the camera films from Elliott’s height level, putting the audience in his shoes. The flashlight shines on E. T. and both he and Elliott frighten each other. E. T. runs off, and all we see are the swinging child’s gym set, overturned trash can, and swinging gate left in his wake, which adds a sense of the mysterious to the setting. Elliott looks upward, as if having an inclination that what he saw was otherworldly and he must alter his perspective to deal with this change in his life.

Elliot later goes into the woods and leaves Reese's Pieces (definitely not adult food) as a way to lure the creature he saw out into the open. He spies a man in the same area who looks like he is checking out the ground, looking for evidence. Elliott instinctively is wary of this unknown person as if realizing that human strangers can be scary, too. Elliott’s family, including Gertie (Drew Barrymore), his little sister, don’t believe him when he tells them what he saw. People often do not want to believe in anything so unusual, especially when a child is telling the story, as they attribute such stories to the lively imagination of the young.

The film introduces the effects of divorce on children as Elliott says that his dad would believe him, but can’t talk to him because he is in Mexico with the new woman in his life. Kids tend to shift their allegiance to the absent parent when the one who is present does not seem to be meeting the child’s needs. Mom, Mary (Dee Wallace), is in tears just thinking about the marital breakup. Elliott has insight into what scientists do when they discover something new. He says they’ll give this new specimen a “lobotomy” or something invasive, and Elliott is looking for someone to fill up the whole created by the absence of his father. Mike is then angry at Elliott for upsetting their mother, which adds to the family unhappiness.

Elliott sleeps outside, wanting to meet the creature he saw, but becomes afraid when E. T. shows up and approaches him. But, E. T. drops the candy Elliott left him on Elliott’s chair, as if saying he would like more. E. T. makes cute, almost purring sounds and waddles, which makes him likable. Elliott drops more candy and he follows the boy upstairs to his room. E. T. imitates Elliott’s hand gestures, as the two start to communicate in a playful way. E. T. seems to make a mental connection with Elliott as the alien gets sleepy when Elliott does.

The faceless men, including “Keys” (Peter Coyote), investigate the woods, and we view them again from a child’s vantage point, low to the ground, which makes the adults seem ominously towering. Keys finds E. T.’s footprints and a stash of Reese’s Pieces. Meanwhile, the next day, Elliott puts a thermometer near a light in his bedroom to fake a fever so he can stay home with E. T.  Elliott introduces E. T. to his world through his playthings. Spielberg gives a humorous nod here to his pal, George Lucas, by noting toy figures from Star Wars movies, and also to his own film, Jaws, when Elliott says fish eat their food, and sharks eat other fish, “but nobody eats a shark.” Elliott is talking quickly, dispensing information pertaining to the objects in his room, as he appears eager to make a connection with someone else. E. T. puts things in his mouth, as if the creature is like Elliott’s baby sibling. Elliott wonders if E. T. is hungry, and he says he himself is, which again points to their developing closeness. Poor E. T. is frightened by Elliott’s barking dog, Harvey, which stresses how vulnerable the space visitor feels, just like we would, if stranded in an alien environment. When E. T. is startled by the quick opening of an umbrella he handles, Elliott, in the kitchen, likewise is alarmed, and drops the food he is gathering from the refrigerator, which again shows the quickly growing link between the two. Elliott finds his new friend shaking among his stuffed toy animals, the image making it look like E. T. is one of Elliott’s toys, only much more interactive. Elliott, like most children, is very accepting of someone who is different because he brings no prejudices and fears with him. The relationship between the two shows humans are at their best when they embrace those that are different from each other. Elliott humorously asks E. T. if he wants a Coke, just as if this alien was already one of his friends.

When Mike comes home, Elliott wants to include him in his discovery, but makes him swear to go by his rules. After Mike sees E. T., Gertie also comes in and the screaming starts as Mike knocks down a bookcase accidentally, and Gertie and E. T. become hysterical at each other’s appearance. Mike keeps his promise about obeying his brother's wishes, and ensures that Gertie is quiet as they and E. T. hide from their mother upon her return. The camera shots from Elliot’s closet put us in the same place as Mike and Gertie, as we feel like we are included within their circle, and are hiding with them. After Mary leaves, Elliott immediately tells Mike that he is “keeping him,” like E. T. is his adopted pal. Gertie’s youthful curiosity kicks in as she asks about E. T. Elliott wants her not to tell their mother, and makes up a reason, saying E. T. is invisible to adults and only little kids can see him. Gertie shifts from innocent, inquisitive child to grown-up cynicism, and the contrast is humorous when she says, “Give me a break,” an improvised line by the already savvy Barrymore.

Keys and his comrades continue to probe the surrounding area with telephoto lens cameras and electronic detection devices. The children gather food and objects for E. T., including a potted flowering plant, that will gain significance later. Elliott shows E. T. a globe of the earth and points out their location in California. When he asks E. T. where he’s from, E. T. seems to understand and points upward to the sky through the window. Elliott shows a picture of the solar system and points to the earth and then to the globe, saying the planet is “home,” the word resonating with the alien visitor later. The children are astonished as E. T. then makes some fruit levitate, as if attempting to create a three-dimensional picture of orbiting planets. The kids now see that E. T. has some amazing abilities, which make an impact on their lives which were only exciting through imagination before. E. T. looks at a book about the alphabet as he tries to learn to communicate. The plant which looked like it was dying now sprouts to life as E. T. looks at it, showing his regenerative powers, and pointing to his Christ-figure, regenerative character. (There are other possible Christian references, although Spielberg insists that they are only coincidental).

On the way to the school bus, the kids seem like genuine characters as they trade youthful insults, goading Elliott about his goblin coming back. When Elliott blurts out that he’s a spaceman, one boy asks does he come from “Uranus,” but then qualifies his joke by saying, “your anus.” Young Elliott is funny when he tells the boy in an adult way that the youth is “immature.” Their other verbal attacks appear genuine as they derive from the pop culture that makes up their world. As Mary is getting Gertie ready to go to school, she hears some shuffling upstairs in the house. Mary goes to Elliott’s room and into the closet. In a very funny shot, she looks at the wall of stuffed creatures, and E. T. is smart enough to hide in plain sight, his face motionless as his head appears again like one of Elliott’s many toys. The joke here is that E. T. is one of Elliott’s playmates who comes to life, which puts E. T. in the company of Pinocchio and the characters in Toy Story, among other transformative characters.

In his biology class, Elliott is drawing a picture of E. T. (writing “E. T.” on the paper, thus naming his new friend, which reminds us that Elliott’s name begins with an “E” and ends with a “T,” further stressing their connection). The class is assigned to dissect frogs. Meanwhile, E. T. walks around the house in a robe looking like a suburbanite, checking out the refrigerator. E. T. drinks beer, just like an earthling, as he assimilates human ways. As he becomes intoxicated, so does Elliott, who burps due to the intake of the alcoholic beverage, and slips off his chair as E. T. falls down. E. T. plays with an electronic toy (which he will use later along with the umbrella) and the TV remote. He is engrossed by the sci-fi movie being shown, as he probably thinks it’s real, given how he came to earth. The use of the film clip also points to how human imagination through art can turn fantasy into reality in the viewer’s mind. The frogs in the class are not already dead and must be put to sleep in jars with chloroform, which allows the ensuing action to take place. The frog caught in Elliott’s jar is accompanied by the film’s theme music which reminds us of E. T. caught here on earth. This shot is followed by a cut to E. T.’s fingers, whose skin looks frog-like, cementing the connection between the two creatures for us and with Elliott. E. T. looks at a newspaper cartoon about aliens and the drawing shows a request for “Help.” E. T. then watches the television which has people talking on phones as he notices the house phone. E. T. will use these observations to devise a plan for his rescue. E. T’s thoughts translate to Elliott as the words “Save him,” which Elliott utters, and he proceeds to liberate all of the frogs in a variation on E. T’s plight. Ordinary Elliott is elevated to hero status, bringing freedom to the amphibians. E. T. watches a romantic scene in a movie where a man kisses a woman, and just like the man in the movie Elliott triumphantly kisses a girl from the class, showing E. T.’s emotional effect on him, and how cinema has an impact on an audience.

E. T. is assembling his tools when the mother comes home along with Gertie. Still a bit drunk, E. T. wanders around the house, but the adult Mary from her height doesn’t notice him, even knocking him over as she opens the refrigerator door, (and turning Elliott’s invented story about adults not being capable of seeing E. T. into a reality). Gertie tries to have her mother meet E. T., but she is not paying attention to her daughter as she is caught up in her activities. E. T. here represents the children that adults overlook as they are immersed in their more mature lives. Mary sees an empty beer can on the kitchen floor while at the same time she gets a call from school saying Elliott was intoxicated. As she goes to pick her son up, Gertie hears E. T. repeating letters that she is saying as she watches a children’s educational show on the television. He begins to repeat her words, including “phone.” She asks if he wants to call someone. Indeed he does.

When Elliott comes home he hears Gertie talking to E. T. upstairs. In a funny scene, Elliott sees she dressed E. T. up in girl’s clothes with a silly wig, as in her own way she joins Elliott in wanting to have fun and play with their new friend. E. T. is talking now. He calls Elliott by his name and looks at the sky, saying “home.” Then comes the famous line, “E. T phone home,” which he repeats. Mike arrives and is stunned that the alien is talking. Elliott realizes that if his new friend communicates with his people, “they will come.” E. T. says he wants to “come home,” which is what we all want, no matter who we are, because it makes us feel secure and happy.

There is an ominous black (the movie color representing potential danger) van monitoring the conversations in the neighborhood. The anonymous government people listen to Elliott and Mike talking about how they are looking for equipment for E. T. Mike notes that the alien is looking less healthy, and Elliott doesn’t want to hear that negativity, saying “we” are doing fine. Mike questions the plural pronoun, but the audience has seen how the two are linked together. As they go through garage items, Elliott becomes nostalgic about how they did things with their father, another indication about the feelings of loss among children of divorced parents.

Mary reads Peter Pan to Gertie as E. T. listens in hiding, again implying how for children the world of imagination feels real. Gertie claps her hands to show she believes in fairies and to demonstrate her childlike belief in magic. To drive home this point, Elliott hurts his finger bringing items from the garage. He says “ouch,” and E. T. lights up his own finger which heals the cut, which stresses E. T.’s redemptive power. But as he levitates his assembled objects to make his “phone,” the plant that was flowering now appears limp as it reflects E. T.’s failing health.

The children devise a plan to get E. T. out of the house on Halloween, an appropriate holiday for a story about an alien visitor. They cover E. T. in a ghost costume so as to pass him off as Gertie. The perspective again is upward as we see things from E. T.’s viewpoint so we can better empathize with his character. Mike has on makeup that looks like he has a knife through his head. E. T. takes fantasy for reality when he wants to heal the wound, repeating Elliott’s word, “ouch.” It’s a funny moment, but it emphasizes Spielberg’s interest that he explores in many of his films concerning the contrast between the real and fantastic realms.

We continue to see the camera peer through the eye holes cut out in the ghost sheet, looking up at what for E. T. are strange sights but as we know are pretend visions as a result of costumes. The audience members watch the invented image of E. T. and suspend their disbelief and submit to the illusion created by movies. One humorous shot connected to this theme occurs when a child in a Yoda outfit passes by and E. T. calls out “home, home,” as if he has recognized a fellow visitor from outer space. Elliott rides his bike to take E. T. to a site in the woods to send the signal. As they approach the edge of a cliff, E. T. uses his powers to make the bike fly. It is an exhilarating moment as John Williams’s score rises with the movement of the bike. We empathize as we are thrilled because what kid or adult doesn’t dream of flying? It seems silly that Elliott keeps pedaling since he is no longer on the ground, but it stresses how part of him is anchored to the earth since what is actually happening is something that was confined to dreams and imagination. The now iconic shot of the bike against the glowing moon shows how people can break the tether that restricts them to the mundane and soar above what confines them. In contrast, we see Elliott’s mother, dressed up in a costume, being a kid herself for the night, then looking at the clock as if, like Cinderella, her coach has turned back into a pumpkin. She snuffs out a candle, symbolically extinguishing her youthful playfulness for the evening.

E. T. deploys his makeshift transmitter, while Mary goes looking for the tardy Elliott. After she drives away, the mysterious government men get out of a car parked in front of the house and invade the sanctity of their private home. E. T. keeps saying “home,” and says, “ouch” as he points to himself to indicate that he is getting sick and doesn’t have much time. Elliott wants his new friend to stay so they could grow up together as buddies. Elliot falls asleep in the woods and realizes E. T. is missing when he wakes up. Elliott returns home but doesn’t look well. He asks Mike to find E. T. in the woods. His brother rides on his bike as the secret investigators try to follow him. Mike finds E. T. looking very pale in a shallow stream. Mike brings E. T. back home and they finally reveal their secret to their mother. Elliott says “we’re sick. I think we’re dying.” His empathic link to another suffering creature is a model for humans who all too often think only of themselves. Mary, not understanding the situation, instinctively wants to remove her children from E. T.’s presence to protect them. As she opens her door to leave the house a man in a spacesuit slowly enters the residence, exhibiting ominous breathing sounds similar to those of Darth Vader. He walks through a beaded curtain covering a doorway, looking like a ghost. Another suited person comes through a window. Who is scarier, the earth spacemen or the real alien, E. T.?

Now the government men show up in force. They cocoon Elliot’s house in plastic covering and set up a quarantined environment. But, as we know, living creatures break out of their cocoons. The family is questioned by doctors as their world is invaded not by aliens but by earthlings. Elliott says they are scaring E. T., and as Mike informs the government people, Elliott knows because he shares E. T.’s feelings. Elliott keeps saying he is the one to take care of E. T. since he chose Elliott. We now see Keys’ face and he turns out to be a sympathetic character who has retained his childlike wonder of the fantastic. He tells Elliot that E. T. came to him, too, in a way, probably because he has wanted to contact an extra-terrestrial since he was ten years old. He assures Elliott that he doesn’t want E. T. to die. Elliot says that to save E. T. the alien must go home and that is why he tried to contact his people. Keys says it is a “miracle” that E. T. is here. His words carry a religious implication. E. T.  performs miracles in the sense that he defies gravity and has healing powers. As Keys talks, Elliott is reflected in his visor, emphasizing the connection between Elliott and Keys. Keys says to Elliot that he was “glad he met you first,” which shows that Keys realizes that an innocent, imaginative, uncorrupted child was the best first contact that can be made by someone foreign.

Elliott tells E. T. as they lie next to each other in hospital beds that he wants them to stay together, and that “I’ll be right here” for E. T. As E. T.’s vital signs fail, the link between the two disconnects and Elliott’s health returns. There is a shot of the older Mike huddling with the stuffed toys as he, too, finds strength in a childlike setting. When Mike wakes up in the morning the plant dramatically wilts and dies, echoing E. T.’s demise. Elliott cries in his mother’s arms and the doctors call the time of E. T.’s death.  A tearful Gertie tells her mom that she wishes E. T. would come back, the way fairies can return in Peter Pan, by believing in them. She sounds as if she feels that magic can transcend the laws of our material world. To show how this belief can extend to the adult world, her mother says, “I wish, too.”

Keys lets Elliot spend some time alone with E. T. before they take him away. Elliott is unhappy because he knows that they will just dissect him, like the frogs. Elliott says he can’t feel anything anymore, as if this loss has emptied all his emotions except sadness. He says he loves E. T. which is the greatest gift one can give to another, no matter where they are from. Elliott closes the container that houses E. T., and the top seals like a coffin. But as Elliott walks out, he passes the flowerpot which begins to bloom again. Elliott goes to the container and E. T. has revived and is yapping about phoning home. His heart light is glowing, which makes Elliott realize that they were successful in getting in touch with E. T.’s comrades, and that restored connection helped bring him back to life. One can argue that E. T.’s resurrection emulates Jesus rising from the dead. Elliott muffles E. T.’s excited words and closes the container, crying over it to prevent others from hearing him.

Elliott and Mike hatch a plan to get E. T. to the site in the forest so he can be rescued. They hijack the van containing E. T. and with the help of Mike’s friends they try to stay ahead of the authorities. When E. T. is ready to exit the van, he appears elevated physically and symbolically in front of the youths, his heart glowing as he wears a white robe. This image could be interpreted as a god appearing before his disciples. Elliott tells them E. T. is from outer space and they have to take him to his spaceship. One of the boys taps into his Star Trek knowledge and asks why they just can’t “beam” him up. In one of the funniest lines in the film, Elliott dismisses the notion as ridiculous, saying, “This is reality, Greg.” Despite the unreal events that are occurring, Elliott’s line is comically incongruous, as if some things are just too outlandish. 

The boys racing on their bikes form an escort for E. T. as they are able to get around hills and other areas better than the cop cars for a while. But as they are about to get caught, E. T. makes the boys fly, again using his extraordinary powers to alter accepted reality. (In the updated edition of the movie, Spielberg felt it was inappropriate to have guns in the hands of the authorities so close to children so he removed them and substituted walkie-talkies as the boys rise into the sky). They arrive at the transmission site as the alien spaceship lands. Gertie knows where they are going and she joins the others with her mother to say goodbye to E. T. She gives him the flowering plant as a parting gift. E. T., acting like a parent, tells her to be good, because they have become so close. Keys, who is really a kid in adult disguise, also joins them. E. T. tells Elliott “come,” wanting him to board the spaceship with him. But, Elliott says, “Stay,” wanting E. T. to remain on earth. They realize that they must part in order to be with their respective families. The word “ouch” is repeated but it as an emotional wound because E. T. must leave. E. T. then repeats Elliott’s words as he lights up his finger, points to Elliott’s head, and says, “I’ll be right here,” knowing that he will remain in Elliott’s memories. He boards the spaceship, and the door closes like a circular camera dissolve, as Spielberg reminds us of the magical abilities of the movies.

There is a rainbow left behind as the spaceship flies off. It is a biblical symbol of the establishment of a covenant between God and his creations. E. T. may as well have been pointing to all our heads with his brilliant finger, imitating God touching Adam’s hand in the Sistine Chapel, since he will remain with us and generations to come.

The next film is Memento.

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.