Get Out (2017)

**DO NOT READ UNTIL AFTER YOU HAVE SEEN THIS FILM**

Jordan Peele's Get Out is really an embarrassment of riches. There is so much to talk about. Both the filmmaking itself and the social issues covered in this film are equally fertile grounds for discussion and dissection. Though there are many intensely specific conversations one can have about this film, the one that grabbed me the most was the choice of victims.

The Armitage Family aren't just picking generic black people to foist themselves into, they are picking black people with potential. Though we don't know it at first, we later discover that the opening victim was a budding  jazz musician, Chris is clearly shown to be an up and coming photographer, and near the end we see Rose looking for promising student athletes. All I could think about was names like Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and Tamir Rice: young men taken from this earth before they had a chance to make their mark.

And what are these white people doing with that potential? Are they taking the glory for themselves? Worse, they are squandering those gifts. A once promising jazz musician is reduced to being some white woman's meek, arm candy. A once promising athlete is reduced to splitting logs. And a promising photographer is about to become some old, art dealer's new eyes. All of that promise squandered by rich people who already had their bite at the apple and want more. And that is the real horror in this film.