The Fetishization of Black Men in the Film Get Out

docx

School

Pwani University *

*We aren’t endorsed by this school

Course

E37S/PUC/1

Subject

Anthropology

Date

Nov 24, 2024

Type

docx

Pages

Uploaded by mertino

Surname 1 The Fetishization of Black Men in the Film Get Out Name PID Number Date

Surname 2 The Fetishization of Black Men in the Film Get Out Introduction As part of literature, films hold more than they portray. Karnik and Ahmad argue that "literature has had a major impact on the development of society. It has shaped civilizations, changed political systems, and exposed injustice. Literature gives us a detailed preview of human experiences, allowing us to connect on basic levels of desire and emotion." 1 But no other film plays this role of literature better than Jordan Peele's Get Out, as it shows what it is like for a black man to date a white woman in the U.S . 2 Released in 2017, the film touches on some of the issues that have been hugely contended for decades, racism, slavery, and, the one most relevant to this paper, fetishism. Regardless of age, gender, or race, anyone watching this film can easily and quickly notice the wide-ranging fetish issues presented in this one-hour-forty-four-minutes long horror movie. While some parts of the film are undeniably scary to watch, Peele does not lose focus regarding the main themes and central purpose. While millions of people have watched this film, perhaps due to its accurate representation of the modern world, little focus has been given towards its position as far as the fetishization of black men is concerned. Even those studies that have touched on this perspective of the film have done so narrowly, only brushing over a few scenes while ignoring other crucial scenes. This paper fills that gap. The essay takes an in-depth look at the film, taking note of how black men are represented, that is, how their white counterparts portray them. For clarity purposes, the paper is divided into three parts: The first part is a summary of the film; the second 1 Karnik, Baharti Sheikh, and Showkat Ahmad. "The Role of English Literature in Re-Construction Society." changes 7 (2015). 2 Lauer, Samantha. "Get Out: Peele's First Film Exposes and Teaches." Cinematic Codes Review 2, no. 2 (2017): 81.

Surname 3 part is the definition of fetishism and its prevalence in the American society; the last part, and the elephant in the room, discusses the fetishism in the film, Get Out. Summary of the Film A middle-aged African-American photographer, Chris Washington, has fallen in love with a Caucasian girl, Rose Armitage. After dating for about four to five months, Rose insists that Chris meet her parents and stay at their country estate over the weekend. Chris is hesitant because he is black, but he decides to go anyway. On their way, the duo hits a deer and reports the matter to the police, and upon responding to the call, the police accusingly ask Chris for his identification even though it was Rose driving when the incident occurred. Vehemently, Rose defends Chris, forcing the officer to back off. Even though they discussed the issue with Rose's parents, Chris and Rose brush it off as a minor road mishap. The couple soon arrives at the Armitage county estate, and they are warmly received by Rose's parents—Missy, a hypnotherapist, and Dean, an accomplished neurosurgeon. Chris notices that despite being a white family, the Armitages have a black man and black woman as their gardener and maid, respectively. After settling, Dean shows Chris around while making weird comments regarding race relations. Rose's brother, Jeremy, soon arrives before dinner. He starts making upsetting comments about African Americans before eventually asking Chris if he [Jeremy] could exercise some Jiu-Jitsu moves on him. Missy steps in to diffuse the situation. When he goes to bed later that evening, Chris is unable to sleep and steps outside to smoke. While outside, he sees the gardener, Walter, running towards him. Elsewhere, the maid, Georgina, acts absurdly, prowling all over the house like a ghost. Chris decides to go back into the house but meets up with Missy, who forces him into a hypnotherapy session to "cure" him of his smoking habit. Even though Chris seems reluctant, Missy insists and manages to put him in a

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version

Access to all documents
Unlimited textbook solutions
24/7 expert homework help

Surname 4 trance. Missy realizes that Chris feels guilty of his mother's death and uses that chance to sink his consciousness into a place she refers to as "The Sunken Place." Chris wakes up from the trance covered in sweat. He quickly dismisses the whole thing as a dream, but after talking with Walter, he realizes that the experience was real and that Missy had hypnotized him. Elsewhere, wealthy Caucasians come to the Armitage estate for the annual party. Many of them, in a peculiar manner, show much interest in Chris. Some show interest in his physical appearance, while others make unusual sentiments regarding black people in Chris' presence. Chris feels uneasy and takes a walk around. He meets Jim Hudson, an art dealer, who despite claiming to be blind, is interested in Chris's photographs. Chris goes back to the party and meets another black man who introduces himself as Logan King. Chris feels like he has met Logan before and that his behavior and dressing have changed. He takes a picture of the guy and later sends the picture to Rod, who identifies the weird guy as Andre Haworth. At this point, Chris is certain that something is not right. He starts to make exit plans and goes to the woods, where Rose joins him. What he doesn't know is that the Caucasian guests were holding an auction with his image as the prize. Chris prepares to escape, and in that process, finds a small cabinet full of Rose's pictures with other black people, including Walter and Georgina. He realizes that he has been set up and tries to go outside, but the Armitages prevent him from leaving. Rose confesses that she only wanted to lure him from leaving the house and that she had the keys all along. Missy renders Chris cataleptic, and when he wakes up, he finds himself strapped to a chair in the basement with a TV in front of him. The truth comes out, and Chris realizes that the Armitages plan to take out his eyes and artistic abilities and give them to Jim, the blind art man. Chris manages to unstrap

Surname 5 himself and kills both Jeremy, Dean. He escapes the house using Jeremy's car, leaving Walter Georgina, and Jeremy, all dead. His friend, Rod Williams, comes to pick him up. Understanding Fetishism This section of the paper is important for two reasons. First, it reviews the broad definitions of the term "fetishism," clarifying the meaning which the paper will be more inclined to. Second, it helps eradicate any forms of ambiguity in order to create an enabling environment for a clear discussion. Fetishism could be defined in different ways and terms, but the most acceptable definition, as Roger Sansi, a professor at the University of Barcelona explains, is the "adoration of objects and natural events." 3 The term has been widely used in various fields, including sociology, anthropology, health disciplines, psychoanalysis, and has become widespread in lay discourses. In anthropology, for example, the term has been used in relation to religion. In Marx's writing of commodity fetishism, the term has been used to study sexual attachment. Modern psychiatrists incorporate the notion to describe a form of mental illness known as fetishism. 4 Based on the definitions above, fetishism is more like an ideology. To avoid ambiguity, this paper focuses on racial and sexual fetishism, taking an in-depth look at how various characters commodify African American men and see them as sexual objects in the film Get Out. In other words, the paper only considers and analyzes the various instances in the movie where the bodies of African American men are represented as "better" as far as sexual desires are concerned and what such a representation means in contemporary society. It is undoubtedly true that the "black" body has been sexually fetishized for decades. For example, the common phrase, 3 Roca, Roger Sansi. "Fetishism." International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences (2015): 105-110. 4 Mountian, I. (2014). Fetishism. Encyclopedia of Critical Psychology, 723–727. doi:10.1007/978-1- 4614-5583-7_625

Surname 6 tall, dark, and handsome, has been used for years to imply that dark-skinned men are better in bed than their light-skinned counterparts. Throughout the rest of the paper, we shall see how such notions are represented in Jordan Peele's, Get Out. The Film, Get Out , Fetishizes African American Men Right from the beginning of the film, being black is associated with danger, characterized by abductions and kidnappings. This perhaps foreshadows what is bound to happen later in the movie. In the film's first few minutes, a black man is abducted by someone whose face is not shown. However, since the area was a predominantly white neighborhood, the abductor must be Caucasian. We don't know where this young man is taken, but there is clear evidence that African American men are either eliminated because they are seen as less human or have special physical features that the white man desperately needs. At this point in the film, it is not yet clear to draw conclusions. Everything starts to become clear when the film introduces Chris Washington and his girlfriend, Rose. As mentioned earlier, Rose is pushing Chris so hard to meet her parents 5 . This scene is the first red flag. In any normal relationship, meeting the parents is a mutual agreement between the lovebirds, and no one is supposed to be coerced into doing so. One would argue that, perhaps, to rose, Chris is just a submissive object, expected to give in to Rose's demands without asking questions. Though not yet clear until you watch the whole film and connect the dots, the viewer gets the first characteristic of fetishized "sexual objects"—they should be submissive. Rose, on the other hand symbolizes an epitome of a non-racist woman but uses this trait to justice her amoral behavior. 5 Peele, Jordan, director. Get Out. Blumhouse Productions; QC Entertainment; Monkeypaw Productions , 2017. 00:7:15. http://162.12.215.254/Data/Movies/Hollywood/2016_2017/Get%20Out %20%282017%29/Get%20Out%202017%20720p%2010bit%20BluRay%206CH%20x265%20HEVC %20PSA.mkv

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version

Access to all documents
Unlimited textbook solutions
24/7 expert homework help

Surname 7 As mentioned earlier, fetishization comes in many forms. For example, some people have dubbed the harmful racial fetishization, showing preferences for Asian women, also referred to as "yellow fever." 6 The first instance of racial fetishization of African American men is when the police officer who had reported to the scene—when Rose and Chris hit a deer—showed much interest in seeing Chris's identification. 7 The police officer's reaction might seem like any standard procedure a police officer must undertake. However, asking for Chris's ID was unnecessary because he was not behind the wheels when the accident occurred. The white police officer shows much interest in Chris because, for decades, African American men have been stereotyped and seen as potential criminals. The police officer is overly obsessed with seeing Chris's ID because he believes African American men are potential offenders. This is a form of racial fetishism—showing interest in someone because of their physical appearance. The physical appearance, in this case, is the color of Chris's skin and crime is the basis through which interest is shown. It takes the intervention of Rose for the police officer to let Chris go, but even so, he [police officer] doesn't seem satisfied. Furthermore, the racial fetishism presented in the film depicts whites as ignorant and they use this ignorance as shield to appear non-racist, but consequently maintains contemporary racial power relations and therefore their privilege. 8 This scene, perhaps, sets the pace for other instances of fetishism that are yet to occur throughout the film. The first instance of sexual fetishization of African American men is shown when the rich Caucasian guests come to the Armitage estate for the annual party. An example of the most chilling scenes regarding the same is when the Armitage family organizes the Bingo 6 Zheng, Robin. "Why yellow fever isn't flattering: A case against racial fetishes." Journal of the American Philosophical Association 2, no. 3 (2016): 400-419. 7 Peele, Jordan, director. Get Out. Blumhouse Productions; QC Entertainment; Monkeypaw Productions , 2017. 00:12:33 8 Diemer, P. "The Dangers of Whiteness: An analysis of the representation of whiteness in GET OUT (2017)." Bachelor's thesis, 2019.

Surname 8 game. 9 The game is not actually what it seems to be—the Armitage family had invited the guests to auction Chris's body, echoing the slave trade. Jim Hudson, who claims to be blind, wins the auction and is set to have Chris's eyes and other genetic abilities surgically transferred to him. The fact that these people bid over an African American man's body indicates how much they are obsessed with it. Furthermore, their comments throughout the film show how desperately they admire the 'black' body and its genetic makeup. For example, while talking to Chris, Lisa, one of the guests, admires Chris's appearance. She asks Rose weird questions regarding whether dating a black man is indeed better. 10 Lisa is clearly asking about their sexual life. She even goes ahead to touch Chris's biceps, saying how handsome he is. Based on her facial expression, Lisa thinks that Chris is good in bed because of his physical appearance. In other words, she is fetishizing Chris. As Lisa Human explains, Get Out depicts examples of racial micro aggressions, subtle racism that appears innocent on the surface but is still damaging. 11 What is shocking the most is that these guests do not see their behavior as wrong and amoral. Like Rose, these guests represent the so called “non-racist” America. They actively admit their obsession with the black body in seemingly terrifying ways. Similarly, even after Rose realizes their plan has been uncovered, she keeps looking through her laptop for other men to lure. Furthermore, the camera pans through Rose's wall, showing her trophies, which happen to be pictures of her with the black men she managed to lure into the family home. 12 She feels no remorse for her inhumane actions and goes ahead to shoot after Chris when he tries to escape. Even most terrifying is how these people try to justify their actions. Most of them claim that being black is in fashion and that people want to be stronger, faster, cooler. The film represents 9 Ibid, 00:50:07 10 Ibid, 00:43:38 11 Human, Lizzy. "Fetishism of The Black Body in Get Out." Literary Cultures 1, no. 2 (2018). 12 Peele, Jordan, director. Get Out. Blumhouse Productions; QC Entertainment; Monkeypaw Productions , 2017, 1:32:50

Surname 9 the kind of slavery that the Black man in America faces today. The fact that African men are admired for their physical appearance, genetic makeup, to be precise, does not mean that fetishization is good. The evil side of this practice becomes clear at the end of the film when death and somber mood feels the Armitage estate. Even though the movie is fictitious, it touches on issues that happen, but people do not talk about them. For example, while people show interest in light-skinned women over dark-skinned ones, they do not realize how such notions pave the way for body shaming and internalized racism.

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version

Access to all documents
Unlimited textbook solutions
24/7 expert homework help

Surname 10 Bibliography Diemer, P. "The Dangers of Whiteness: An analysis of the representation of whiteness in GET OUT (2017)." Bachelor's thesis, 2019. Human, Lizzy. "Fetishism of The Black Body in Get Out." Literary Cultures 1, no. 2 (2018). Karnik, Baharti Sheikh, and Showkat Ahmad. "The Role of English Literature in Re- Construction Society." changes 7 (2015). Mountian, I. (2014). Fetishism. Encyclopedia of Critical Psychology, 723–727. doi:10.1007/978- 1-4614-5583-7_625 Peele, Jordan, director. Get Out. Blumhouse Productions; QC Entertainment; Monkeypaw Productions , 2017. 00:7:15. http://162.12.215.254/Data/Movies/Hollywood/2016_2017/Get%20Out %20%282017%29/Get%20Out%202017%20720p%2010bit%20BluRay%206CH %20x265%20HEVC%20PSA.mkv Roca, Roger Sansi. "Fetishism." International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences (2015): 105-110. Zheng, Robin. "Why yellow fever isn't flattering: A case against racial fetishes." Journal of the American Philosophical Association 2, no. 3 (2016): 400-419.

The Fetishization of Black Men in the Film Get Out

Related Documents