How “Get Out” Exposes the Evolution of Oppression in America L A D Y G A B R I E L L E A SHO N G
On February 26th 2012, Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old African American boy, was killed by George Zimmerman. Zimmerman used the defence that “this guy looks like he is up to no good, on drugs or something” (“Trayvon Martin Shooting Fast Facts”). The unarmed teenager was brutally shot and he died because of his appearance. Although not as blatant as strict segregation rules or human zoos, in modern American society, institutionalized ideas of otherness continue to cause epistemic violence and prejudice. Epistemic violence is defined by Kwame Appiah, a British-Ghanaian philosopher, as a violence manifested through knowledge (Appiah 186). Cases such as Trayvon’s display how latent labels of culture are so deeply embedded into the American liberal subconscious that it can conjure prejudicial thinking and feelings of threat. As a result, despite the abolition of slavery in 1865 and the victories of the civil rights movements 100 years later, American liberalism is not post-racial. According to Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries, American liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on liberty, consent of the governed and equality before law (“Liberalism”). Whilst American liberals believe in a utopic equal American society, the reality is that racism continues to exist in an evolved, more inconspicuous form built on the fear of the “other”, groups of people who do not fit into the white liberal framework. Get Out is an American social thriller directed by Jordan Peele which introduces the complex discussions of race relations in 21st century America. The movie is based on a protagonist Chris Washington (played by Daniel Kaluuya), a black man in an interracial relationship with Rose Armitage (played by Allison Williams). The couple decides to visit the Armitage home for the weekend and though initially, all appears friendly and calm, something sinister lurks behind the façade of the smiles and tea. The first half of the film displays white liberals attempting to understand black culture through a microscopic lens. However, the second half of the movie takes an unexpected turn as we
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EXIT 11
