Get Out - A Film That Does Not Fall on Deaf Ears

Jordan Peele's directorial debut has rightfully been one of the most talked about films this year. It most certainly caught me by surprise as a fantastic original piece but also in the ways it instills distress through sound.

"Show, don't tell" is a common mantra that some filmmakers live by, where images are what drive the story rather than an explanation of sorts. What said mantra fails to recognise, however, is sound. Sound has been one of the most vital elements in film history, from the screeches of strings in Bernard Herrmann's score for Psycho to the iconic sound of a lightsaber opening, a story can be told from sound and score alone. One can regard Peele's use of a music stinger in parts of Get Out as being cheap yet it ultimately serves to heighten our senses at parts where we find ourselves most uncomfortable. The music stinger in this sense is not equivalent to a jump scare as it is not a short term emotion, yet one that is stretched out across the film where we create an association with Chris' curiosity being attached to a scare of sorts from the film - the same is achieved in Lynch's Mulholland Drive where we are given a jump scare when going around a corner early on in the film, only to have the camera throughout the film continuously going around corners to create distress through association.

The sequence where Chris is put in a trance is also masterfully done by Peele with regards to sound. As the sound of the tea spoon repeated, I could physically feel my body tense up and become agitated with the sound - which is precisely what Peele is wanting you to do. I am still unsure if the sound of the tea spoon gradually rises or if my constant focus on it and its making me agitated only makes me think that the sound is increases. Such paranoia only does the film a great service as it ultimately feeds into this narrative that nothing is what it seems and that there is a general apprehension both for Chris himself towards others and for others towards Chris.

Of course, blocking out sound is also a crucial plot point for the film. Had Chris not have thought of planting the cotton into his ears, he would've had been put into the trance and undergone the procedure, thus the film ending right then and there for us and for Chris' individuality. Again, this is Peele's doing to emphasise the vividness of sound as well as its import for both the plot and plot as a whole for any cinematic narrative. From having "Run Rabbit Run" play to Walter's change in tone, the sound and score reveals to us things that image could never fulfil. Peele displays then not only an eye for detail but an ear for definition, allowing definitions and messages to be conveyed purely through sound.

4/4/3

11/13

~Iman Bahmanabadi