Have You Watched “Get Out”?

This weekend I did something I rarely do: I watched a horror movie.

Okay, technically the director of Get Out calls it a “social thriller,” which is accurate. But I think it’s fair to say that it’s also a horror movie–there’s a sense of dread and a few jump scares.

I had heard great things about the movie, and I wasn’t disappointed. It was riveting from start to finish. I laughed, I cringed, I jumped a little bit, and I really enjoyed watching the mystery unfold.

In fact, I wish I had seen it while it was in the theater, as I bet it would have been a lot of fun to watch with a live audience instead of just 2 sleeping cats.

One of the best aspects of the movie is that, despite the premise, everything makes sense. It’s impeccably structured and very well written. But there’s one element that didn’t quite fit, and I was hoping those who have seen it can help me make sense of it.

***spoilers below***

Throughout the movie, the housekeeper and gardener act really weird, like they’re not completely there. In the end we learn that the brains of the grandparents were transferred into their bodies a while ago. Wouldn’t that mean that they should have been acting like grandparents the whole time? Why were they working for the family? And why was the gardener/grandfather running around the house at night?

I’m guessing that I just didn’t fully understand the brain transfer process.

***end spoilers***

What did you think of Get Out?

6 thoughts on “Have You Watched “Get Out”?”

  1. I LOVED this movie! The brain transplants work, but there is still a bit of the body’s original owner fighting to get out, which is why they periodically have to be re-hypnotized. The gardener and housekeeper can’t act like grandparents in public; however would people explain it? They can’t just start calling them family without giving themselves away. These are white people who have kidnapped, and auctioned off black people so they could have their brains removed and replaced with white people brains.

    Grandpa was an Olympic runner – or an Olympic candidate (I can’t remember). He was just working with his new awesomely healthy and muscular body. The idea that they’re “not completely there” is because the body’s original owner is trying to bust through being squashed by the transplanted [white person’s] brain.

    Reply
    • Sara: Ah, I see, so they’re just pretending while their special guest is in the house? That makes sense.

      As for the night running, couldn’t he have just taken a nice jog during the day? 🙂

      Reply
      • Groundskeepers don’t generally take time out of their day for a leisurely jog. Just my guess. Plus it’s in the script.

        Yes, since this is a supposedly annual event with all the guests coming, I would assume that Grandma and Grandpa were putting on an act – hard to say with the other guy that was kidnapped in the beginning of the movie. The transplant initiator can’t travel very far away from the doctor in case of the need for some more hypnotizing, I would guess.

        The movie was heartbreaking for me. I thought Chris and Rose were really great together – until she showed us her true colors.

        Reply
  2. Watch the part of the film when they first get to the parents house and are looking at family pictures on the wall. The dad remarks something along the lines of, “My dad lost the Olympics to Jesse Owens and he never quite got over it.” Lots of foreshadowing during the beginning scenes.

    Reply
    • Oh yes, I made that connection. 🙂 I guess I just thought it would have been more normal for the gardener to take a jog during the day–their guest wouldn’t have thought that was weird. And there’s the moment where the grandmother/housekeeper was standing all creepy-like in the kitchen with the cake. Wouldn’t it have been a better act if she was trying a little harder to be less creepy? 🙂

      I’m nitpicking, of course, and I really do love the way we were fooled into thinking they were simply brainwashed instead of the victims of a brain transfer. The movie works on a number of different levels, which is really impressive.

      Reply

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