If you haven’t yet seen the movie Get Out, you most certainly should. The movie marks comedian and actor Jordan Peele’s directorial debut and offers both insightful and important commentary on race relations in the United States. The movie grossed more than $250 million in theaters worldwide and has been nominated for two Golden Globe Awards—one for best picture and the other for Daniel Kaluuya as best actor. The film definitely deserves this recognition. But what’s fascinating is that the movie was nominated in the category of best musical or comedy—generating much controversy outside of the film itself.
For those of you who haven’t seen it, the film centers on the relationship between Chris and Rose, an interracial couple going to visit her parents for the first time. Chris, a black man, worries about the reception he will get from Rose’s family, as it is the first time that she, a white woman, has ever brought a black boyfriend home. Upon arrival, there are a series of strange interactions that Chris has with Rose’s parents, brother and friends who gather for a party. Without giving away the entire plot, just know that it only gets stranger and deeper from there.
After the nominations were announced, Jordan Peele spoke about how the film is not easy to categorize.
At a lunch event for the movie at New York’s Lincoln Ristorante, Peele elaborated on his reservations. “The problem is, it’s not a movie that can really be put into a genre box,” he said in an interview prior to the lunch. “Originally, I set out to make a horror movie. I ended up showing it to people and hearing, you know, it doesn’t even feel like horror. It’s in this thriller world. So it was a social thriller.” [...]
“Call it what you want, but the movie is an expression of my truth, my experience, the experiences of a lot of black people, and minorities. Anyone who feels like the other. Any conversation that limits what it can be is putting it in a box.”
It’s true that the movie is pretty hard to categorize. And yet, for the purposes of awards and recognition, it is forced into one of the nomination categories. But the most pertinent question here is why the comedy category? While there were comedic elements to the film, it wasn’t exactly slapstick. A case could be made that it was satire. But even still, there is nothing funny about racism. And the bottom line of the film is really about examining the ways in which white supremacy shows up in our society. That requires introspection and is not something to make light of. And that’s what Peele and supporters of the movie have said—loud and clear.
Get Out deals with many serious issues and Peele shed a bit more light on the potentially damaging situation of a "comedy" designation when he initially responded to the news in an interview with IndieWire, published on Nov. 15. "We don't want our truth trivialized," he said. "The label of comedy is often a trivial thing. The real question is, what are you laughing at?" [...]
Because, satirical overtones or not, giving the "comedy" designation on a film like this mostly just feels inappropriate. And, while the Golden Globes' musical/comedy category is notorious for its interesting inclusions (remember The Martian?), the stakes, in this case, seem to be quite a bit higher.
Because, whichever way you spin it, racism just isn't funny. It isn't funny in any one of its guileful iterations, and it especially isn't funny in this film. Or, at least, it shouldn't be.
Regardless of category, the movie is incredibly thought-provoking, challenging and reflective of the mythical post-racial country we currently live in. It deserves discussion and to win lots of awards. One of the best parts of seeing it in the theater was to observe the reactions of the audience—especially by race. In this watershed moment in time, where people are doing more leaning into conversations about race, racism and white supremacy, Get Out is a film we can use to help us move race relations forward.
What do you think? If you’ve already seen it, do you consider the movie Get Out to be a comedy?
The Golden Globes airs on January 7, 2018, on NBC.