A Tempest in a Teacup - The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste.

Rating: 8/10 (3 March 2019)

When released in 2017, Jordan Peele's film, Get Out, generated a lot of attention, both positive and negative. For some, Get Out was an instant classic - a multi-genre film that made important observations about the status of racial intolerance in America. For others, Peele's depiction of white America was both formulaic and demeaning. In fact, Peele intended for Get Out to be all of that and more.
The movie appears to be a run-of-the-mill romance where "boy meets girl" (BMG). BMG, of course, is a common plot line that can end either happily or sadly - William Shakespeare made it into a tragedy in Romeo and Juliet; Rob Reiner made it into a comedy in When Harry Met Sally; Stanley Kramer made it into a social cometary in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. With Get Out, we begin with uncertainty and end in terror as Peele takes us in a completely unexpected direction. Everything is not as it seems, and we are about to see the mask torn from everyday suburban conventionality.
As the movie begins, Chris and his girlfriend Rose are traveling upstate for a weekend visit with her parents, Missy and Dean Armitage. Echoing Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Chris is concerned that the Armitages will not accept his interracial relationship with their daughter. His concerns seem justified based on their outward pleasantness but obvious nervousness. Besides Chris, there are only three other black people around - two are servants and the other, Dean, is very awkward and odd. Here, Peele evokes the robot-like stiffness of The Stepford Wives - Walter and Georgian are like Stepford servants. As events transpire, Chris - and the audience - discover the disturbing horror that lies beneath the Armitages' outwardly beautiful lake home.
Peele is using the theme of hypnotism throughout the film. Seemingly, in order to cure Chris' smoking habit, Missy hypnotizes Chris by stirring and tapping her teacup. Chris' consciousness is sinking - being oppressed - leaving his physical body under the control of the Armitages. Here, Peele emphasizes the importance of the teacup with a mid-to-low angle, sharp focus shot in which Missy is standing above and controlling both the teacup and Chris.
When Chris takes a photograph, the flash causes Dean to emerge from his trance and he tells Chris to "get out" while you still can. We learn that the guests are actually bidding to own Chris' consciousness. In the finale, Chris is able to fight successfully to retain his very existence by breaking both the teacup and its hypnotic power. Yet, we are left to ponder some troubling truths about racism in post-Obama America and the need to get "woke" from the hypnotic influences of modern culture.