So, at the risk of turning the comments section into a shitshow, I’m going to get a little
political here because, well, this film is explicitly political, and if you can’t handle that, well...
[Andre] Get out.
[Chris] Sorry man.
[Andre] Get out!
[Rafa] Now for those of you still watching, today we’re gonna be talking about a social
phenomenon known as a microaggression.
A microaggression is an indirect, subtle, or even unintentional expression of discrimination
towards a marginalized group, and they are extremely difficult to explain to people who’ve
never experienced them.
They tend to be innocuous, exceedingly minor moments that nonetheless display ignorance
or bias in a way that just makes you feel… small.
Alienated.
Something like this.
[Dean] So how long has this been going on, this thing?
How long?
[Rafa] Or this.
[Jeremy] ‘Cause with your frame and your genetic make-up, if you really pushed your
body…and I mean really trained, you know, no pussy-footing around, you’d be a fucking
beast.
[Rafa] Invariably, describing these incidents to people is like playing Russian roulette,
where the bullet is some variation of the phrase “Just get over it, it’s not a big
deal.”
[Tate] Everything’s a microaggression, this makes me want to vomit.
I mean like liberals don’t think we should be allowed to say anything because everything
can be a micro aggression.
They need to crawl back into their safe space, put on All Things Considered, and get the
heck out of everyone else’s business.
[Rafa] Get Out’s massive success was a hugely important moment for me, not just because
of its excellence as a genre exercise, nor its nuanced and oh so real depiction of racism
in contemporary America.
No, the thing that really stood out to me was how it deals with microaggressions.
Specifically, how Chris deals with them.
First, there’s the immediate reaction.
[Parker] Black is in fashion.
[Rafa] You can see see him holding back that initial rush of anger, then struggling to
find an appropriate response, and then finally the response he chooses.
[Chris] Pardon me, I’m gonna take some pictures.
[Rose] Sure thing.
[Rafa] Which is almost always awkward because… well what hell can you say?
Chris is acutely aware of how ridiculous he sounds to people who just don’t get it.
Trying to explain to his white girlfriend why finding his phone unplugged feels threatening
is a lot like trying to explain why this feels threatening.
[Cat caller #1] How you doing today?
[Cat caller #2] Smile!
[Cat caller #3] I guess not good.
[Cat caller #2] Smile!
[Rafa] In a situation like this, it’s almost always easier to just bite your tongue and
let it go then it is to open your mouth and be confronted with this.
[Tomi] Say it out loud and hear how ridiculous you sound.
I’m upset the mascot wears a cowboy hat and has a mustache because it may or may not
be reminiscent of a Confederate soldier.
Hm.
Sounds like history to me.
But oh I forgot, you’d rather study feelings than bother with reality.
[Rafa] Thus, Chris is the one who ends up having to apologize and reconcile, over and
over again.
[Chris] Cool. It's all good.
Don’t talk to your dad, it’s fine, it’s fine, it’s not a big deal.
It’s not a big deal.
Forget about it.
No, it’s cool, I was just confused.
Forget it, never mind.
[Rose] No no no, stop, don’t.
Don’t do that, don’t —
[Chris] Okay.
Okay, I’m sorry, it’s all good, right?
[Missy] So you’re comfortable enough, right?
[Chris] It’s perfect, thanks.
[Rafa] But no matter how many times he demurs to the feelings of others, it just keeps happening.
[Hiroki] Do you find that being African American has more advantage or disadvantage in the
modern world?
[Rafa] And it happens a lot.
The effects are cumulative.
If they weren’t such a regular occurrence, nobody would care.
As real as this portrayal is, the film’s true stroke of genius is that it depicts this
within a horror movie.
Because of the genre, everybody watching the film is expecting something awful to happen.
Every single moment holds the potential for life-threatening danger.
Despite the numerous false alarms...
...we all know that at some point, the axe will fall.
We don’t know when or how often, but it’s as certain as death.
The audience, in other words, regardless of their identity, experiences the same guarded
tension marginalized people feel every day.
Those of us who are the target of racism move through the world knowing that at some point,
someone who looks like this is going to say something like this.
[Gordon] I do know Tiger.
[Rose] Oh, that’s great.
[Emily] Gordon loves Tiger.
[Rafa] It won’t be everybody, of course, and it might not happen today, but it will
happen, so best be on your guard.
Because you never know when this…
[Dean] By the way, I woulda voted for Obama for a third term if I could.
Best president in my lifetime, hands down.
will lead to this.
And then there’s the betrayal we’ve experienced throughout the ages, where people who purport
to be our allies suddenly take aggressive action against us.
[Chris] Where are those keys, Rose?
[Rose] You know I can’t give you the keys, right babe?
[Rafa] I don’t think anyone will disagree that suspicion and a heightened state of alertness
are absolutely essential to surviving a horror movie.
But because the lives of minorities like myself exist in the real world and not a medium full
of tropes, these states of mind become in the eyes of many totally unwarranted.
But maybe a film like this, couched in the entertaining and familiar, can help others
understand how and why it is we see the world the way we do.
Maybe, instead of laughing off our concerns…
…people can be just a little bit more like Rod.
[Rod] Bro, how are you not scared of this, man?
[Rafa] If you liked that, please share and subscribe.
I have more videos coming down the line, including the long-awaited Alien 3 essay.
Plus a couple videos on Twin Peaks: The Return.
And I’ll be launching my Patreon account very soon, so stay tuned.