Get Out; a Black Horror film influenced by Night of The Living Dead, a “Blacks in Horror” film
Jordan Peele’s 2017 horror film, Get Out, provides a particularly good example of “black
horror” as described in Means Coleman’s article Horror Noire. As stated by Coleman, “Black
film is about Black experiences and Black cultural traditions – a Black cultural milieu and history
swirling around and impacting Blacks lives in America.” (Coleman, 7). The film references the
cultural identity of Blacks, and it focuses on addressing and exploring racial topics and conflicts
present throughout history, as an attempt to evoke a sense of awareness towards the matter. The
film is a reminder that even in today’s America, racism is a present issue regardless of the
modern idea of post-racial liberalism in our society. It remarks upon black culture through the
allegory of slavery, inequality, and white supremacy, while it further examines race, racial
identities through history, and their conflicts in an all-white environment, where the stereotypical
negative tropes associated with blacks are reversed through the implementation of new heroic
roles.
Jordan Peele, by using Romero’s 1968 film, Night of the Living Dead as an inspiration to
his film, continues to uncover the familiar outcome of unjustified black deaths when placing a
black man in a threatening all-white environment. Through both films and their slightly different
approaches, we uncover the different ways black culture and people are depicted in the horror
genre, which as stated by Coleman, “offer[s] up an extraordinary opportunity for an examination
into how race, racial identities, and race relationships are constructed and depicted.”(Coleman,
8). While Get Out is a Black horror film, Night of the Living Dead presents an overview of
blacks in horror films, in accordance with Means Coleman’s essay Horror Noire. As stated by
Coleman, “‘Blacks in horror’” films present Blacks and Blackness in the context of horror, even
if the horror film is not wholly or substantially focused on either one.”(Coleman, 6). Romero’s
Lilly 2
film makes no intentional mention of African American culture or any otherness aside from the
unintended relationship between ghouls and Haitian folklore, yet it cannot escape the obvious
political imagery created by the presence of a black hero in a home full of white people. Peele’s
black horror film transmits a direct message to the viewer and intends to elicit a sense of
apprehension towards racial enmity, whereas Night with its unwitting origin and accidental
message, leaves further room for interpretation aside from the topic of race and its social impact.
It is important to note that although Night of the Living Dead would fall under the category of
Blacks in horror because of its unintentional approach to convey racial enmity, it is somewhat
exceptional in that it does some of the same political work as black horror does when addressing
racial conflicts in society because of the conversation it creates between races.
As previously mentioned, Get Out is considered a Black Horror film because of how it
references blackness and the overall black culture. Slavery is known to be an influential factor in
the African American’s historical formation of culture. Therefore, it is not surprising that Peele
used such a remark in his film. Because Chris is a black man surrounded by a wealthy white
family who employs black people as servants, it does not take long for the viewer to find the
resemblance between the common ideas of slavery and the Armitage’s twisted intentions with
the main black character. The presence of unusual medical practices of hypnotization as mind
games played by the Armitages and used on black characters throughout the film could be
interpreted as a manipulative tactic to induce blacks into different types of slavery. The allegory
of slavery is further explored throughout the film in scenes similar to Chris’s hypnotization,
where his body is seen floating in space. This could be interpreted as a metaphor for the
helplessness and powerlessness of African Americans in the era of slavery. The complete loss of
control in their lives and their bodies reflects upon the theft of blacks because of their physical
Lilly 3
appearance (caused by the fascination of such) and their supposed advantages for the benefit of
whites. This predominant theme is portrayed through the auction scene, where all the white
people in the Armitage’s party, bid in hopes of buying Chris and his body. It ponders on the
historically known idea of slave markets, essentially portraying blacks as disposable objects and
property, while at the same time feeding stereotypical ideas regarding blacks, which is also seen
in the scene in which Chris is introduced to a woman who bluntly comments on his physical
appearance as her hands wander around his body. The overall use of allusions towards slavery
contributes to the present racism of blacks, and the systematic and racial inequalities caused by
such.
White supremacy, the culturally constructed notion of people of color as a “metaphor and
catalyst for evil, and demonized” (Coleman, 2) and the subversion of such through the reversal of
traditional roles of heroism, are seen in the horror genre considering the genre itself “has been a
vehicle to take up all sorts of topics of empowerment, revolution, and rewriting the sites for
heroism and evil” (Coleman, 9). It is common for the horror genre to depict the Western white
hero as a “hero whose mission is to protect a similarly situated white woman from a primordial
black monster [implying the traditional tropes of “Blackness-as-monstrosity”(Coleman, 6)].”
(Coleman, 7), while Black men are portrayed as “horrific figures – [they are] monstrous, savage
boogeymen with troublesome cultural practices.”( Coleman, 7). Nonetheless, these traditional
tropes, along with the conventional ideas of heroism and evil as qualities associated with a
specific race, are overthrown by the depiction of white people in Get Out as evil and villains. In a
similar way that Chris is portrayed as a hero for putting an end to the evilness of the Armitage
family, Ben, from Night of the Living Dead becomes the hero by attempting to take control over
the critical situation in order to keep all the prejudicial white characters safe in the home. The
Lilly 4
two black characters of the films substantially become the heroes against the whites, since the
negative stereotypical ideas linked to the black race are reversed to overturn and accentuate the
current racial situation in society.
When examining the impact of race relationships in society, both films focus on
positioning an ingenious black character who creates racial tension in a house full of white
people. For instance, in Night, the horrific aspect of the movie not only lies in the zombies
outside of the house in rural Pennsylvania, but inside the home, where Ben is the only black
person and is faced with the truth that the other white characters are possibly threatened and
terrified by the presence of a black man as a hero. Similarly, Chris is found in an environment
composed of the white’s obsession and fascination with stereotypical black identity. These
examples resonate with the previously mentioned reversal of traditional heroic roles, serving as a
different perspective from conventional ideas while reflecting the reality that blacks face every
day. Although Get Out is more of an intricate example of society’s racial ethics and politics
between whites and blacks; it draws attention to the deeper problem of blackness portrayed as
something acquirable, reflecting on slavery, and the white characters’ desires to achieve
predominantly black traits. Once again, it could be argued that the intentionality and directness
of the film’s message to address certain racial issues contributes to the previously established
differences between “black horror” and “blacks in horror”. Additionally, it is the intentional
message of the film that reflect upon the scope of societies
Both films essentially present parallels between conventional horror narratives and
real-life events. It is important to note that horror films generally contain a fantasy element that
leads to the disengagement of the real world from the narrative of the film. However, Romero
and Peele use these parallels to reinforce the presence of racial conflicts and the truth of reality
Lilly 5
by utilizing zombies as a symbol for the privileged majority who feed off of racial minorities, as
seen through the characters of Ben and Chris. Ben’s death conveys the many deaths of African
Americans during the Civil Rights Movements, serving as a metaphor for the power of white
against black, and how blackness (in a day-to-day context) supposes a threat to the white rule
and therefore must be castigated, or killed, in Ben’s case. On the other hand, we encounter
Chris’s life-threatening experience at the Armitages’ home, which plays a similar role to Night
of the Living Dead, depicting the battle of black minorities in today´s America, disproving the
modern idea of post-racial liberalism. Both black heroes essentially found themselves threatened
by their “natural enemies” (Coleman. 107), in homes ruled by white oppression, yet it is their
presence that contributes to the subversion of the “whiteness as heroic” and “blackness as evil”
tropes.
The two endings to the films become key factors to the overall racial conversation evoked
in Peele’s Get Out, along with its influence, Night. In Night of the Living Dead, although Ben
survives the hungry ghouls, and an entire night full of horrific events, he is killed at the light of
dawn by some of the town’s sheriff deputies. A possible interpretation of racial relationships
found throughout the film lies at the ending, as the real monsters are not only the flesh-eating
zombies outside the farmhouse but rather the “rednecks” and “Small-town police” who shot the
narrative’s hero because they saw him as a real-life zombie, a threat based on his skin color. The
interpretation of Ben being shot in the head for being black is very possible, as it resembles
political racial imagery present throughout the history (and present) of black people getting
killed inexplicably.
Likewise, the ending scene in Get Out seems to resonate perfectly with very recent events
regarding the murder of black people in contemporary America. Chris, who remained alive even
Lilly 6
after being chased and psychologically manipulated by the Armitages, manages to escape the
home only after killing every member of the family first. The scene concludes with the
appearance of a police car, to which Chris reacts by putting his hands up in surrender. For a
second, we believe Chris will become another innocent black victim, like so many others whose
stories we know so well. The intentional scenery created presents a black man surrounded by
dead white people. It is, after all, the perfect setting for law enforcement to make assumptions
and thus fire shots. It is a very powerful moment that screams political imagery and conflict, a
thought-provoking moment where the viewer stops to think and realize what our culture and
society have made of minorities.
Jordan Peele’s film Get Out adheres to Black Horror by making references to black
culture throughout and further examines race, racial relationships, and their conflicts in a
predominantly white environment by subverting stereotypical negative ideas linked with the
black race by reversing traditional heroic roles. On the other hand, George Romero’s film Night
of the Living Dead, which influenced Get Out, utilizes Blacks in horror as a way to transmit to
the viewer a sense of understanding towards the racial enmity found through the Civil Rights
Movement, continuing to be relevant to this day. Additionally, it also explores the idea of fear
towards a black hero in a white space.
Both films essentially ponder on the conflict in America of racial relationships that were
important at the time they were released, while taking advantage of the horrific aspect of our
current reality. Although through different approaches, by using a direct mention to black culture
as seen in black horror, and an indirect and unintentional approach as seen through Night, the
films depict the roles of black minorities in our society through familiar scenes of blacks as
victims to the hands of law enforcement. They explore racial relationships in the battle of whites
Lilly 7
against blacks. They are an overall reminder of race throughout history as well as in today’s
America; and how we should always stay awake and conscious towards the matter.