The Monster that is Society

After watching the film Get Out (2017), my eyes were opened to an interesting category of film which isn't exactly horror, satire, or thriller alone, but rather a combination of these genres. In what Jordan Peele (director and screenplay writer of Get Out (2017)) describes as a "social thriller", conventions of horror and thriller films are brought together to reflect "the monster that is all of us".

According to this video, Get Out (2017) drew on a concept called absurdism as well as satire to portray its messages on implicit and explicit racism in American society. Metaphorical imagery and events throughout the film often work toward this social criticism, with symbols like cotton and a plantation-style house representing the legacy oppression of African Americans under slavery has in the United States. Other films within the "social thriller" or "social horror" genre are Rosemary's Baby (1968) and The Stepford Wives (1975); rather than addressing race issues like Get Out (2017), both of these films acted as criticisms of the gender inequality of their time. The demonstrated variety of social criticisms in this genre could be very helpful to my group moving forward. Some issues we have looked into satirizing are the modern use of social media by teenagers, vanity in society, and societal expectations surrounding gender. 

A scene from Stepford Wives (1975)

Absurdism in social horror/thrillers can serve as a way to emphasize the peculiarity of social norms by taking them to an extreme or placing them in an unusual context. In Get Out (2017) the hidden racism of non-minorities who claim to have liberal beliefs is challenged through absurdism when it is revealed that the Caucasian family who has taken the protagonist into their home plan to surgically remove his consciousness and replace it with that of an elderly white man. Although this is neither realistic nor logical, this aspect of the film clearly delivers a social message to the audience. This kind of over-exaggeration is something we would like to utilize in our film opening

Dadaism is an art movement I particularly like, and I believe this is reflected in my interest in absurdism in film. Similarly to "social thrillers" or "social horror" this art style protests political or social issues through satire. In fact, this art style is often seen as the inspiration for modern absurdism. Although features on these art pieces are purposely meaningless or exaggerated, an overall message is sent to viewers (besides those who are utterly confused).

The Art Critic by Raoul Hausmann (1919-20)

ABSURDiTY iN CiNEMA. - Movie List. (n.d.). Retrieved March 04, 2018, from https://mubi.com/lists/absurdity-in-cinema

Chitwood, A. (2017, May 03). Jordan Peeles Next Film Is a Another Social Thriller for Universal. Retrieved March 04, 2018, from http://collider.com/jordan-peele-next-movie-details/

Forbes, B. (Director), & Scherick, E. J. (Producer). (1975). The Stepford Wives [Video File]. United States: Columbia Pictures. Retrieved March 4, 2018, from https://youtu.be/VG7JAM6DQnM

Hausmann, R. (1919-20). The Art Critic [Painting]. Tate.

[ScreenPrism]. (2017, May 28). Get Out Explain: Symbols, Satire & Social Horror [Video File]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/ubNKSgdT1FQ