By Maggie Jaghatspanyan
In recent years, claims of cultural appropriation have reached a new high. In the academic sphere, “cultural appropriation” is described to be the taking of a disparaged group’s culture by a more dominant group without the slightest regard for the former group’s cultural significance. The significance of the discussion of cultural appropriation resides within the white community’s habitual appropriation of the Black community for their own benefit, claiming originality but never giving credit where credit is due. We see displays of cultural appropriation all around us—especially in our present day—with social media platforms, like Instagram, proving to be at the center of such displays. From “black-fishing” to the use of cultural braids, appropriation of one’s culture has multiplied and left its mark on the world. When a movie like Jordan Peele’s Get Out debuts in a society where cultural appropriation is running rampant, it need not come as a surprise that discussions around the subject would emerge. We see images and symbols of cultural appropriation in Get Out, which this paper will explore in the following pages.
It would be beneficial to this conversation to begin with a discussion of cultural appropriation, where we decide upon an accurate definition which will carry onward throughout the argument. In Imani Kai Johnson’s 2020 book Are You Entertained?: Black Popular Culture in the Twenty-First Century, she dedicates a chapter titled “Black Culture without Black People” in which she describes cultural appropriation of the Black community.
To appropriate speaks to both the fact of something being taken and to its being taken up in a certain kind of way: with the power to do so uncritically and unethically. Simply put, appropriation is colonialism at the scale of the dancing body or the sacred ritual object, its life and dynamism reduced to a thing for consumption or a costume for play. Though not exactly “theft”—and I am wary of thinking of culture through the lens of capitalist ownership—the presumption that one has the right to stake a claim to something and use it, buy and sell it, misrepresent it, and rewrite its history is colonial logic at work. (Johnson, Are You Entertained?)
Interesting to note here is the fact that Johnson does not want to liken appropriation with theft, rather she wishes to define appropriation as its own negative term. When you take something that doesn’t belong to you, that is theft. Since culture isn’t a physical entity, “theft” is not the appropriate word to use. “Appropriation” seems to suggest the taking and benefiting of aspects of a culture that does not belong to you while also changing and rewriting the history of such things. We see this sort of appropriation on social media today, with white creators sporting cultural braids from a community they do not belong to. Furthermore, we see people injecting fillers into their lips for fullness, when the Black community would be tantalized for their naturally full lips. In other words, it is appropriation precisely at the point in which the white community benefits from aspects of the Black community that the latter are ridiculed for.
Jordan Peele’s move Get Out is seen as an allegory about racial issues and suppression of Black consciousness that is still relevant in our society today. Through the white community’s appropriation of Black culture to gain power and the silencing of the Black community who fight against this power of turning Black minds into white bodies, the community is lowered into the sunken place: a mentality where consciousness is suppressed, where one is helplessly tethered and forced to watch others gain privilege by appropriating the culture of a historically oppressed group of individuals. As we see in Peele’s movie, the desire for the appropriation of one’s culture for the benefit of another group is hidden in plain sight. The Armitage family are a typical suburban white family who “would have voted for Obama a third time” if it were possible. The trope of hiding in plain sight is relevant when thinking about the concept of the sunken place because it adds to the feeling of helplessness. With the suppression of the black consciousness, the Black community cannot fight to move towards racial equality. Instead they must watch, voiceless from the sunken place, as the white community appropriates their culture and gains power and prosperity over aspects of Black culture that the Black community is oftentimes ridiculed for.
The topic of cultural appropriation resonates throughout the entire movie. In the beginning scenes, Chris is introduced to Rose Armitage’s eccentric family after a year of forming a relationship with each other. While giving Chris a tour of his house, Rose’s father shows Chris souvenirs he has brought back from his various travels, saying,
“It’s pretty eclectic. I’m a traveller, I can’t help it. I keep bringing souvenirs back. It’s such a privilege to be able to experience another person’s culture” (Peele, Get Out).
Rose’s father, and the patriarch of the Order of Coagula cult he has created, claims that experiencing “another person’s culture” is a “privilege”. Ironically—and indirectly in this early stage of the movie—Rose’s father is talking about the black community: a community of people who know all too well that basic privileges are hardly extended to them. However, already privileged white people appropriating a culture of historically oppressed Black people is a way for them to gain power. How can it be a privilege to experience another person’s culture when the culture is filled with oppression and suppression? The power and privilege come from people—like the Armitage family and their like-minded friends—who can get away with doing things that the Black community would otherwise be ridiculed for, even if it is part of their own culture. With this newly found power, the white community is able to suppress the Black consciousness and have them watch in silence and helplessness as white individuals are praised.
The white community appropriates Black culture to gain what they cannot anymore. Within the ending scenes of the movie, it is clear that through the tampering of black minds, the goal of the Order of the Coagula cult is to access these “natural gifts” and “physical advantages” that black individuals possess and have enjoyed throughout their lives.
You have been chosen because of the physical advantages you’ve enjoyed your entire lifetime. With your natural gifts and our determination, we can both be part of something greater. Something perfect. (Peele, Get Out)
The members of this cult select people of color who exhibit excellent physical performances in areas of the members’ interests in order to live through them the life they themselves cannot live anymore. For instance, Rose’s grandfather was a highly competitive and talented runner when he was younger. Once he became a little older and lost a very important competition, he swapped bodies with an able-bodied African American man—Rose’s previous love interest—who exhibited excellence in running. That way, Rose’s grandfather would be able to live through this African American man and use that man’s abilities and talents for their own personal gain. By appropriating Black culture, the white community has gained power they did not otherwise possess. By gaining this new power, they are shutting down Black voices from speaking about the issue of such cultural appropriation. They are pushing racial issues aside and making them seem less relevant and important than they actually are.
The theme of pushing racial issues aside radiates throughout the conversation that Rose and Chris have with each other. Chris says, “You said I was the first black guy you ever dated. So this is uncharted territory for them. You know, I don’t wanna get chased off the lawn with a shotgun.” Rose responds by saying, “First of all, my dad would’ve voted for Obama for the third time if he could’ve. Like, the love is so real” (Peele, Get Out). When confronted by Chris about her parents taking issue with the fact that he is the “first black guy you ever dated,” Rose suggests that her family is not racist and no issues would arise from their relationship. The initial reason why Rose brings up the fact that her father would have voted for Obama for a third term seems to be to ease Chris’s concerns. Upon further analysis, it is evident that what Rose said to Chris is symbolic of the white community silencing the Black community when the topic of race is brought up. The silencers, or the antagonists of the movie, aren’t Southerners or Nazis or people who fall into the “alt-right” group. Instead, they are ordinary middle-class people who are liberals and who would “vote for Obama for a third time” if they could. Because of this, we are given a sense of real-worldness. The Armitage family can be any American family. This gives the viewer the sense that anybody can be in place of Rose’s family and treat others the way Rose and her family treated Chris. The fact that these silencers are hidden in plain sight is important to note, because it makes the racism seem that much more normalized. The fact that a white suburban family are racist cult leaders speaks volumes about where we are as a society. The Black community is aware of such racism, even from the sunken place.
Another scene worth mentioning is the scene where Rose and Chris are driving up to see Rose’s parents for the weekend and they collide with a deer on the road, injuring it severely. When Rose tells her father about the collision, he sternly states,
Well, you know what I say? I say one down, a couple hundred thousand to go. No, I don’t mean to get on my high horse, but I’m telling you I don’t like the deer. I’m sick of it. They’re taking over. They’re like rats; they’re destroying the ecosystem. I see a dead deer on the side of the road, I think to myself ‘That’s a start’ (Peele, Get Out)
Evident through Chris’s flashbacks, the deer represents his deceased mother who died helplessly on the side of the road after being struck by a careless driver. With this information in mind, Rose’s father talking about the dead deer in that manner is symbolic of his support in the removal of the members of the black community. He partakes in this “removal” when he uses black bodies as a vessel for his white counterparts. There is a sense of Rose’s father masking racial issues that he is grappling with because he is indirectly talking about getting rid of Black people through directly talking about the deer. Textually, the style used to mask racial issues is noticeably different from the style used in the previous scenes, although both are significant in the recurrent theme of hiding relevancy in racial issues. The white community is trying to store black consciousness in mentality where they are silenced and cannot talk about racial issues. This mentality is the sunken place.
The sunken place is described to be a kind of alternate reality where you cannot move and you cannot speak; you view your life through the eyes of a bystander. Symbolically, the “sunken place” is a mentality that the Black community is forced into by the white community where their voices are silenced and their efforts for equality is halted to a stop. It is important to note that though lowered to the sunken place, the black community is fully aware of the racism that is directed towards them. They are “woke” to the unfair treatments they face. When in the sunken place, the human consciousness cannot be revived. It is completely disabled. The white community, especially evident throughout the middle scenes of Get Out, forcefully silence the voices of black people: people who are trying to extend rights and privileges to everybody within the society. However, it is clear that the white community, especially evident through the characters in the movie, has a very separatist mentality when it comes to rights and privileges.
Through the appropriation of Black culture to gain power, hiding the relevance of racial issues from the black community, and suppressing black consciousness, the white community tries to render Black people silent in their battle for equality. Due to the constant appropriation of their culture and constant efforts by the white community to convince them that racial issues are no longer prevalent in today’s world, the black community descends into the sunken place: an alternate reality where their voices for change cannot be heard. The problem with race within the society has not been resolved and cannot be swept under the rug, contrary to the actions of white individuals in Get Out. Thus, the parallels drawn from appropriating Black culture, efforts made to erase racial issues, and suppressing the black consciousness all tie into the main theme of the movie; the power struggle of the white community to silence the black community so no efforts are made in moving towards equality. The positive ending of the movie, however, is optimistic, suggesting the power has been given back to the Black community and their fight for equal treatment continues.
Works Cited
Johnson, Imani Kai. “BLACK CULTURE WITHOUT BLACK PEOPLE: HIP-HOP DANCE BEYOND APPROPRIATION DISCOURSE.” Are You Entertained?: Black Popular Culture in the Twenty-First Century, edited by SIMONE C. DRAKE and DWAN K. HENDERSON, Duke University Press, Durham; London, 2020, pp. 191–206. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1131bwx.15.
Peele, Jordan, director. Get Out. Youtube. 24 February 2017. http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=YfLSryEaAfw.
Interpretations: Journal of the Graduate Literature Association 