Characters of Chris and Rose in the film ‘Get Out’

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Characters of Chris and Rose in the film ‘Get Out’

The film ‘Get Out’ is an American horror film that was released in 2017. It was directed by Jordan Peele for whom the film marked his debut as a film director. It is a critically acclaimed film that has earned several nominations and awards including Academy Awards, Golden Globe Awards, and Critics Choice Awards.

Chris Washington and Rose Armitage are the main characters in the movie. Chris is a black photographer and is also Rose’s boyfriend. The film begins with the two heading out to visit Rose’s parents. Chris is very reluctant and is worried that Rose has not told her parents that she is dating a black man. They hit a deer on their way, and there is an incident where the police officer insists on checking Chris’ ID even though he was not driving. They arrive at the estate where the Armitage family lives. Rose’s mother is a hypnotherapist, and her father is a neurosurgeon.

Chris is generally a likable person, amiable and tries to get along with everyone. When Chris goes checks on the deer after they hit it, it is a reminder of how his mother died from a hit and ran. She did not die immediately but suffered for hours, a fact that still causes Chris a lot of pain. When Missy Armitage hypnotizes him supposedly to cure his smoking addiction, she asks his more about this. Chris begins to notice bizarre things especially about the black housekeeper, Georgina, and Walter, the groundsman. He later realizes that they are victims of body snatching.

During the Armitages’ annual get-together, many of their wealthy friends show up, and Chris realizes that there was something seriously wrong. Many of them tell him how much they admire his physique. They do not realize that their attempts to get into his good graces come off a racist and weird. He tries to connect with the other black people who act very eccentric because they are the victims of mind control and body snatching. Chris’ ability to refrain from engaging I conflict in the racially charged environment shows his restraint. Towards the end, Chris realizes that the visit was designed to manipulate him so that the Armitages could remove his brain for someone else to inhabit his body.

Rose Armitage is Chris’ girlfriend who is white and comes from an upper-class background. She is very manipulative and deceiving. Almost all her actions are designed to endear her to Chris so that he can fall into her family’s trap. The first act is when she intervenes in the altercation between the officer and Chris when the officer asks for his identification. She also tells off her family’s racist comments to appear to defend Chris. Watching the movie, it is difficult to imagine that Rose was part of her family’s scheme all along. She lied to Chris that he is the only black man she has ever dated, but Chris discovers pictures that show that she has dated black men and even a woman before.

Rose is quite heartless and emotionless. This is evident when she speaks on the phone to Rodney who is Chris’ friend. She accuses him of being into her for a long time. This is not true, and it was a ploy to discredit him to Chris. Rose is a sociopath and keeps pursuing Chris with a rifle after the rest of her family is killed. In the end, it is clear that she is the one who choreographed the whole act to get Chris to her home so they could take over his body as she did with other victims before.

Works Cited

Nierenberg, Andrew A. “Get Out.” Psychiatric Annals 48.11 (2018): 500-500.

Holmes, Natasha, and Frances Lang. “One year later to Black and White perspectives on Get Out.” International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies (2018).

Henry Jr, Kevin Lawrence. “A Review of Get Out: On White Terror and the Black Body.” Equity & Excellence in Education50.3 (2017): 333-335.