No thread for this? Or am I just drunk enough that I missed it?

Man, Papi's absence is felt.

How long has it been since Papi has been around? I can't even remember what it was that caused him to leave.

As for Get Out, it's a very solid, clever, stylish Twilight Zone episode that got over-inflated into this "subversive" pop culture juggernaut. Take out the whole "Why black people?" idea (if the kidnapped men had been white, or any other race), and it would have been just another January horror movie that got lucky. Hell, Split came out around the same time, was just as good, and made nearly as much money, yet got no props from the critics when the Awards Season came around because Shymalan had been happily rolling around in his own feces for so long the stink still hasn't dissipated entirely.

I'm not saying that Get Out is bad, far from it, but it's one of those Hey-this-is-smarter-than-expected! happy surprises that's not nearly the instant-classic it was hailed it. It's a B-plus movie at best, not exactly the new Silence Of The Lambs.

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We'll pray. For the last time, we'll pray...

Papi left because I made a scooter joke. Though I imagine it was a long time coming, and I was a catalyst rather than a cause.

Yeah, even in the movie they don't explain why it's just black people that are being targeted. For the first third, I was like "Man, this isn't much different from my experience as a poor white guy meeting his rich girlfriend's family." And then in the second two thirds, I was like "Actually, it is."

Why do the grandparents do house work after getting new bodies?

I enjoyed this film a lot. I don't think it's one you're meant to pick apart though.

Also wtf was up with running grandpa man?

I'm not sure it's meant to make too much sense. That said, my grandmother would absolutely wait on family hand and foot when she was alive. Every time I'd go over her house, she was convinced I was starving and made a pot of ravioli.

I have no idea, except to act as red herrings.



Wasn't he an olympic athlete in the 30's who competed against Jesse Owens, and lost? He ran because he could, thanks to his new young body (plus, a totally bitchin' jump scare).

I mean, I totally get the movie's concept of corrupt, wealthy people wanting to live forever by hijacking young, fresh bodies, but there's no reason said bodies had to be specifically black people, aside from making the movie into a one-sided racial "statement" from a black filmmaker. It would have been creepier to have an assortment of races and sexes being procured and sold like cattle...why not men wanting to be women, or vice versa? Any black dudes wanting to be white? Chinese people wanting to be Indian? The movie is a fine little thriller, but its concept doesn't hold much water if you examine it too closely (it's a Cinema Sins wet dream). This can be excused for a half-hour Twilight Zone episode, but for a feature-length movie, the plot holes start adding up after a while.

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We'll pray. For the last time, we'll pray...

This is pretty much true of all grandmothers, regardless of race or nationality. They spoil their grandkids rotten, and always want to feed them no matter how fat they are.

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We'll pray. For the last time, we'll pray...

Plot holes?

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Pender will beat off to anything....

The entirety of American popular culture has been co-opted wholesale from black culture and what black culture that has been allowed to flourish for the most part was packaged and sold almost entirely by companies operated by white executives and businessmen. It's simply taking the notion of everyone wanting to be black and taking it to its logical conclusion.


The inclusion of the Japanese character among the white community was a fascinating touch given the rrrrrrrrrrreally complicated history of race relations between Black people and Asian people.

Ultimately I think this is going to be a film one can't fully comprehend the subtle insidiousness that permeates throughout if you're not a person of color. The delightful irony of course being that overcompensating white culture has already shifted from "I would have voted for Obama three times if I could" to "I've seen Get Out three times," which I think shows an astonishing lack of self-awareness.

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...fuck you, JFelix, fuck you into the ground. - Ericubus

Exactly.

Sure, if you boil it down to its basics, Get Out told a fairly straightforward horror-thriller-with-a-twist that would have been relatively unchanged, narrative speaking, if the social commentary was removed.

But the whole point was to recontexualize some common tropes in a way that made important points about America's social and cultural landscape. Using the format to comment on the simultaneous desire for and loathing of black culture that much of white society has is a brilliant re-imagining of standard horror tropes. It's a harsh look at the idea of, "We want all the things we think are cool and admirable about you, but we don't want you; you don't matter as a human being, all that matters is what we can take from you."

You can do Get Out without that social commentary, yeah, but it'd be a far weaker movie as a result.

Not really understanding the accusation of it being a "one-sided racial statement from a black filmmaker," either. Don't we usually praise filmmakers who have a message and vision, and who use their talents to deliver it? Are we really asking Jordan Peele to "please think of the white people?"

Historically, dudes like Peele have never had much of a platform to deliver a big message in good entertainment. Good on him for seizing the opportunity to do so.

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"Hitler had a pretty good idea there." - Eric

I can see the commentary angle, but it's just not explained in the movie's world. Why? Seems like the characters in the movie would want poor white people instead, and they're choosing black people to make the director's point in a way that isn't explained in terms of characters' motivation.

I thought the commentary about race and points about whites taking over black culture were blatantly obvious.

And I came into this movie having avoided any information or even a hint of what was going to happen.

I did know that a LOT of white people were offended by the story.

But, how were the race and culture things not obvious?

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Pender will beat off to anything....

I don't think I explained myself. The race/culture commentary was obvious, but seemed imposed on the characters rather than organic. It seemed like they were choosing black people's bodies because the director wanted to comment on American race issues, not because those characters would make that choice.

Okay, breaking the 4th wall, yes, the writer wanted the story to be about black people and according to the original ending (which was the protagonist was to be arrested for "murdering" the white family), it never was anything but about black people.

But, within the framework of the story and movie, I remember the reason for black people being used was that it was part of the science. Genetics, DNA, whatever. I was sure that was the reasoning.

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Pender will beat off to anything....

Missed that part, I guess.

You're not talking about me, right? Because I saw it with my black friend!

Monty, thank you for the reminder about the Olympic running bit, totally forgot about that.