I’ve read nothing about this film. I was told by my wife that I had to see it. I saw it with my students today. Awesome.

First of all, I may be wrong, but I assumed all along that the title came from the Eddie Murphy routine about Poltergeist.

1:33
Get out.

Too bad we can’t stay.

As for the rest of the film, what a great starting point for many conversations:

One, when and how do Americans talk about race? The movie, by virtue of the horror plot, teases you on this: is he asking that question out of racial motives? Or out of class motives? Or because of the craziness that undergirds the rest of the plot? If we get rid of the plot and head into real life, why do people talk this way? Why can the movie continue for as long as it does before the horror part becomes necessary? Is part of the minority experience in America a near constant stream of comments that you’re forced into trying to decipher or identify the meaning behind? What slights might you come to take for normal that someone with majority status would never feel?

Two, what are the codes, the handshakes, the nods, the secret looks that a group shares and how do we become aware of these? I was reminded of George Chauncey’s social history of gay New York where he documented all the ways a minority group facing persecution secretly communicated with each other. Chris, the main character, faces a steady diet of confusion through the film as he seeks to forge these connections; again, in real life, what does this feel like?

Three, I was reminded of multiple social histories of slavery, most notably Walter Johnson. Central to his book was the idea that of different forms of southern white identity emerged via their treatment and understanding of black bodies. This racial tragedy remains, I think, and came up throughout this film. How does a dominant group understand themselves or even make themselves through their treatment of minority groups?

Too much to talk about. This is an amazing film.
#nowIcanreadandtalkabouit