Blackish: An American sitcom following an upper-middle-class African-American family.
Dear White People: A Netflix-original series featuring African-American students exploring today’s “post-racial” society at Winchester University, a predominantly white Ivy League college.
Straight Outta Compton: A biographical drama narrating the career of N.W.A., a gangsta rap group founded in Compton, California in 1986.
Insecure: An HBO-original series depicting exploring black womanhood through the lens of two, African-American women in their late twenties.
Detroit: A historical drama centered around The Algiers Motel Incident in 1967, which left three dead and nine brutally beaten, spurring one of the largest citizen uprisings in United States history.
Fruitvale Station: A biographical drama portraying the events leading up to the murder of Oscar Grant, an unarmed African-American man, in Oakland, California in 2009.
Selma: A historical drama following the events leading up to and following the 1965 Selma Voting Rights March during the Civil Rights Movement.
Atlanta: Atlanta is a camera, semi-autobiographical comedy-drama series created by and starring Donald Glover. The series is about two cousins navigating their way in the Atlanta rap scene in an effort to improve their lives and the lives of their families.
Jim Hudson: “Who knows? Some people want to change– some people want to be stronger, faster, cooler. But don’t, please, don’t lump me into that. I couldn’t give a shit what color you are: what I want is deeper. I want your eyes, man. I want those things you see through.”
Stronger: Since even before America’s founding, African slaves have been the slave of choice due to their ability to complete back-breaking labor without succumbing to sickness or death. They are perceived as physically superior since they were forced to endure the hardest labor known to man and unending torture.
Faster: In a study conducted by Waytz, Hoffman, and Trawalter for Social Psychological and Personality Science, it was found that black people were chosen as more likely to possess superhuman abilities 65 percent of the time, but for everyday abilities, they were chosen only 46 percent of the time over white people. The study concludes that this theory of superhumanization stems from the perception that black people are physically superior while white people are mentally and emotionally superior. Waytz concludes, “Ultimately we believe that superhumanization is just another way of ‘othering’ African Americans.” Superhumanization, in the end, is just dehumanization in a cape.
Cooler: This obsession with black culture can be traced back to the introduction of black slaves into Southern homes. Before the cotton gin, slaves and masters worked in close quarters wherein slave owners took great interest in their slaves– watching the slaves play and even adopting facets of their language. Today, we see this appropriation of culture in a more blatant light. Kylie Jenner, a white reality TV star, dons dreads and Fashion Police praises her “edginess” but when Zendaya Coleman, a black actress, sports dreads, they must “smell like weed.” When Iggy Azalea highlights her big butt or Kylie Jenner’s big lip pout goes viral, Viola Davis is pegged as “less classically beautiful”. It has become cool to take on their culture without taking on the vessel with which they experience the world.
Your Eye: Jim Hudson explains that his desire to inhabit Chris’ body is more genuine than the others’– he is going to steal Chris’ agency in order to gain Chris’ perspective. This draws many parallels to the effects of being “colorblind” in the “post-racial” present. Jim Hudson excludes himself from racist people by noting the lack of importance he sets on “color” much like those that claim “colorblindness” champion their ignorance of the inherent variations in experience based on race. Jim Hudson condemns Chris to a place of paralysis by stealing Chris’ perspective as his own. This mirrors the way that dismissing the differences of minorities under inherently racist social and political structures doesn’t miraculously lift minorities to equality but rather buries and devalues their voices when they protest injustice. Like Jim Hudson robs Chris of his literal ability to control his body, those that claim they’re “colorblind” rob Black America of the credibility assigned to their stories of oppression and injustice.
Connections to the Readings
Da Silva sets the foundation for each of the following arguments by identifying Western imperialist ideals of a hierarchy of rationality based on the degree of variation from the phenotypical universal as the basis of most social and political structures today. Hancock builds on this by noting the distinct profit made from exploiting black stereotypes in the entertainment industry and its negative effects on the stereotyped group– just as the Armitage’s seek to make a profit by selling black bodies for their stereotypically beneficial attributes. Harris and Agostinho emphasize the way feminism and intersectionality are watered down to be more palatable to the general audience when utilized as a profit producing tool in mainstream media– speaking to the cool factor that the media exploits without addressing the systemic oppression of marginalized individuals. Lastly, Jackson identifies “colorblindness” as a term created by the privileged to erase uniqueness and refrain from addressing slavery, colonialism, and imperialism. In short, this scene of Get Out portrays the way society seeks to adopt and profit from black culture without addressing or attempting to ameliorate the oppressive natures that keep those that form the root of the culture from succeeding.
Connections to Current Events
Rachel Dolezal, the former president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, pretended to be of African American descent for several years. She has tried to integrate herself into black culture and has made multiple allegations of discrimination and hate crimes against her because of her white descent. While a student at Howard University, a historically black university, she began darkening her skin and changing her hair texture to appear “blacker.”
The Armitage family in the film also have an obsession with blackness and with being black. Both acknowledge racism but have switched it so that it is black people getting advantages that should, in some way, be theirs. In Dolezal’s case, she changes her appearance to fit in with a community that she wants to fit into. She does not appreciate the cultural appropriation that she is participating in, instead of viewing it as a “social construct” that she is able to manipulate as she likes. In the Armitages’ case, they undergo surgery in order to appropriate a body that they see as physically stronger, better, but also theirs to take. Neither sees black bodies or black culture as something that is not theirs to take at will, and neither appreciates the racism that black people face on a daily basis. In Get Out, several white people asked Chris if he liked the “African American experience.” It was not an opening to discuss the challenges he faces as a black person in a white-dominated society, but rather an expectation of their feelings—those that suggest that black people are facing fewer challenges than white people—being confirmed. They expected Chris to tell them that it was better being black. Both they and Rachel Dolezal fetishize the black body and the black culture.
Missy Armitage hypnotizes Chris with the repetitive scraping of her silver spoon on the bottom of her tea cup to condemn him to The Sunken Place– a place of paralysis.
Chris doesn’t realize that he is being hypnotized because stirring tea is a common action, just as sometimes one does not notice the oppressive nature of political and social systems because they have been so engrained in daily life that few have stopped to question their structure.
Exploiting the perceived failures of his past (his mother’s death) to coax him into paralysis just as the media exploits negative black stereotypes for entertainment value resulting in the infectious idea that failure is inevitable– that minorities cannot escape their statistics and their destiny, just as Chris cannot escape The Sunken Place.
Upon returning from hypnosis, Chris has an inexplicable feeling of uneasiness regarding the situation. Instead of questioning the Armitage’s abnormal behavior, Chris ignores his uneasiness and carries on with his visit because he’s supposed to be safe, nothing is supposed to be wrong and he’s supposed to just be visiting his girlfriend’s family. Just as sometimes, minorities aren’t fully aware of the extent of their inequality because they’re supposed to be equal, they’re supposed to have the same rights.
Missy Armitage stirring her tea to hypnotize Chris
Connections to the Readings
Denise Ferreira da Silva identifies the way that all political and societal structures have been manufactured with the influence of Western imperialist ideals of a hierarchy of rationality wherein subjects are ranked by their degree of variation of the phenotypical universal. Get Out alludes to this underlying, almost undetectable oppressive nature of current political and social structures with the banal, yet fatal, nature of the tea stirring. Hancock explores the negative outcome of the media’s consistent exploitation of defamatory generalizations of minorities. In Get Out, the only way to reach The Sunken Place, wherein your destiny is no longer decided by you, is to be reminded of your failures just as the media reminds minorities of their shortcomings contributing an inevitable repetition of history. “Feminist Theories of the Body”, as published by the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, explores the way in which certain big subjects remain generalized and unquestioned as a result of being so embedded in society. Get Out utilizes Chris’ ignorance of the abnormal behavior as a metaphor for they way society doesn’t question the inherently oppressive nature of the systems in which we live in (capitalist system, patriarchal system, law enforcement system, etc.)
While hypnotized by Rose’s mother, Missy Armitage, Chris is condemned to “The Sunken Place”. The Sunken Place is essentially a black hole of nothingness that strips Chris of his ability to control his body and allows him only to watch the life his body remains living as a passenger. As he is falling backwards aimlessly through the recesses of his mind, Chris experiences an out-of-body experience that represents the greater narrative of Black America. It is a theme that has been played out throughout American history – from slavery to the Tuskegee experiments all the way to present-day mass incarceration; the idea that terrifying and denigrating things come from white ownership of Black bodies. Chris is immobilized, powerless and vulnerable in the grips of Missy’s trance, which all originated from the lie that hypnosis would cure his nicotine addiction. From a big picture standpoint, there is a lot to be said for the fact that Chris is “sunken” anytime he entrusts his well being to the white people in this film.
Chris falling into The Sunken Place
The Sunken Place serves as a symbol for the systemic racism that “steals the agency” of Black Americans today. This systemic oppression of Black people has placed invisible chains on people where they cannot just dig their way out. We cannot dress, dance, talk our way out of it because it is bigger than all of us. And it is deep and all encompassing.
The sunken place represents the helplessness and powerless feeling many Black Americans experience day-to-day, in a society controlled by whites where they are used for what they offer but never allowed to embrace who they truly are.
The way in which statistics of failure (higher rates of incarceration, higher rates of poverty etc.) contribute to the feeling as though a future of failure is inevitable.
Feelings of being a passenger in your own life: This speaks not only to the inevitability of failure as touched on above but also to the lack of influence of black communities on changing their situation. Or as put more, concisely by the director, Jordan Peele:
Or in the words of Daniel Kaluuya, who plays Chris, it can bebe read as a metaphor for the way black people are sometimes forced to resist reacting to what they see around them:
“Just feeling, that’s how being black sometimes feels like. You can’t actually say what you want to say because you may lose your job and you’re paralyzed in your life. You know? You’re paralyzed in your life, you want to express an emotion, and then it comes out in rage elsewhere, because you internalized it, because you can’t live your truth, and that’s what I’m trying to say is so amazing.” -Daniel Kaluuya
Or as referenced in this episode of Black-ish:
Thus, The Sunken Place becomes allegorical to to the actual paralyzing state of being when you are unable to defend yourself against racism in certain settings like the workplace. The hypnosis is a satirical/extreme example of the psychology associated with enduring racism of all kinds. One is aware that it is happening, but the need to keep one’s job, or not go to jail prevents them from being able to react. The mind of the actual black person in the film is trapped in ‘the sunken place’, and while they are aware, they are unable to react. Ultimately, this state of being becomes the suspended animation of how we look at race in America, a nation that has bound to the increasing belief that once Obama was elected President, the nation had overcome racism and had become “post-racial,” as mentioned at several instances throughout the film.
Georgina attempting to reassure Chris
The trope of The Sunken Place is unpacked in different ways in the film. The development of Georgina’s character is one that bears notable significance. She tried to stay woke from the depth of the darkness, and she gives a valiant fight. When the Armitages and Chris sit on their back deck, Georgina comes to pour them all iced tea but at one point, she zones out and spills tea around Chris’ glass. It was the first sign of the fact that she had some fight in her. In another scene, Georgina’s single tear and forced smile, exemplifying her suppressed emotions as a black person having to hide her pain and come off as strong and solid at all times, is indicative of the experiences of black individuals throughout all of American history. However, what is significant is her experience as a presumably queer black woman (who has had relations of some sort with Rose). Unlike Logan and Walter, who apparently needed a camera’s flash to “wake up,” Georgina was the only one whose black consciousness broke through without an external trigger. She is also depicted as seeming to have the greatest internal struggle when she was in close proximity to Chris, indicating that she was fighting the hardest but it was not even for herself (something that has been the case throughout black history in the relationship between black men and black women).
Georgina represents the characterization of how black women have often had to put up a valiant fight on behalf of the black family throughout American history. However, also importantly, it is evident in the film that Rose has been able to scheme up to a dozen black men, perhaps even more. The fact that Georgina is the only black woman that has been taken under the Armitages’ control perhaps embodies the notion that black women are more careful to not be lured into the sirens of white womanhood. Nevertheless, her capture itself still represents the fact that despite black women knowing better, the are still quite vulnerable. And the most vulnerable of black women, perhaps, is a queer black woman.
Connections to the Readings
Da Silva argues that political and social ideals are founded upon Western European imperialist ideals that rationality can be derived from one’s physical characteristics (race, ethnicity etc.). Get Out builds off da Silva highlighting the paralysis of The Sunken Place as a metaphor for the way political and social structures today are created on the basis of inequality and serve to essentially paralyze marginalized individuals from changing and achieving within the system. Hancock identifies the ways in which popular culture holds the power to influence society’s perception of itself and in profiting from reinforcing these defamatory stereotypes, popular culture influences society to view racial minorities negatively and two-dimensionally. In Get Out, Chris is only able to reach The Sunken Place after being repeatedly reminded of his shortcomings just as the amplification of negative statistics and stereotypes can result in a sense that failure is inevitable based on the amount of melanin you may possess.
In Elizabeth Bernstein’s “Carceral Politics as Gender Justice? The “Traffic in Women” and Neoliberal Circuits of Crime, Sex and Rights,” she discusses how state to use incarceration as an apparatus of control, removing those it deems threatening to society and reinforcing the patriarchal structures it thrives on. Additionally, Sune Sandbeck’s “Toward an Understanding of Carceral Feminism as Neoliberal Biopower”suggests that feminist advocacy moves away from relying on the threat of incarceration to address women’s issues since this feeds into the state’s use of prison as a method of control. The articles shed light on the authority of the state power to render blackness as the Other, who is denied protection but is often exploited by the state in order to generate surplus value.
In Treva Ellison’s “The Strangeness of Progress” and “The Disorder of Law and Order” Ellison draws on concepts of hierarchies of value and ethical outrage to develop their own framework of neoliberal multiculturalism, racial capitalism, and carceral geographies. The nation-state creates carceral geographies, which refer to the “formal institutions, processes and developments such as prisons and jails” (Ellison 326) and the knowledge and representational forms that are used to dominate and control, through racial capitalism and a mask of progress in order to further its own agenda. Based on difference, the nation-state creates a realm of relevance, in which those who belong are subjects of legal and ethical concern. At the state’s convenience, those who fall in the space of ethical absence are either protected or not protected. As disposable beings, these bodies are actively hurt when laws, such as Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, that promote mass incarceration are passed.
