Jordan Peele

Jordan Peele presenting a Key and Peele sketchWikimedia Commons

2017 marked a massive cultural shift in America. The #metoo movement took storm, Trump’s inauguration drastically divided the American people, the Las Vegas shooting was the deadliest in American history, and Jordan Peele’s Get Out broke the box office altering American cinema forever. 

Jordan Peele, born in 1979 in New York City, began as a comedian before he transitioned into filmmaking. For two years he majored in Puppetry at Sarah Lawrence to learn how inanimate objects can be conjured into consciousness. After dropping out, he decided to pursue a career in comedy. He started with an improv troupe–Amsterdam-based Boom Chicago–and later joined The Second City in Chicago, where he met his future half of Key and Peele: Keegan-Michael Key [1]. The two shared brilliant chemistry and in 2012, Comedy Central greenlit hosting their own comedy show. But in 2015, during the show’s Golden Age, the two mutually departed to follow different creative paths.

Two years later, Peele wrote, directed, and produced Get Out. It received critical acclaim, scoring 98% on Rotten Tomatoes, grossing $255 million globally, while illuminating issues of black trauma exacerbated by centuries of systemic racism that premiered in front of mainstream audiences. For his work, the Academy awarded him Best Screenplay, making him the first Black recipient of the award. Additionally, in 2022 the British Film Institute (BFI) released their decennial Sight & Sound list, ranking the top 250 films of all time with Get Out placed at 95 [2]. 

Peele’s extensive background in dark comedy–featured in Key & Peele skits like “Aerobics Meltdown”[3] and “Baby Forest”[4]–was fundamental in blending social satire with psychological horror which allowed average American audiences to digest the powerful ideas conveyed of racial injustice in America. The comedic element is necessary for softening the audience’s preconceived opinions of horror, compelling them to shift from comfortable to jarred quite seamlessly. 

The film introduces the “sunken place,” in which the spoon clinks against a teacup and swirls around the porcelain symbol of high class. The victim of hypnosis sinks deeper into an empty space, where the only source of light is their visual perception far out of reach. But, there is no mode of return; they are forever victims to the locals–the white residents of Upstate, New York–utterly dispossessing the victims’ agency. Once their autonomy is abandoned, the locals replace the individuals’ consciousnesses with their own when their own bodies are too decayed to continue life.

Get Out fundamentally subverted supernatural horror tropes, replacing its content with the prevalent issue of racial injustice. Furthermore, the idea that racism doesn’t appear as hostile and violent is reintroduced through nuance as subliminally lingering in spaces where politeness is a semblance of equality. The satirical tone critiques privileged liberal spaces who attempt to uphold the idea of progressive identity, but fail in recognizing the systemic powers that impede equal opportunity.

Founded in 2012, Peele birthed Monkeypaw Productions–a production company that strongly advocates for independent filmmaking and marginalized stories like Monkey Man, BlackKKKlansmen, and Candyman. This company uses the medium of film to champion voices that modern society should be confronted by through the highest technical quality cinema offers. 

Jordan Peele has quickly become one of the hottest directors in Hollywood, directing films like Us, Nope, and most notably Get Out where he subverts genres of horror and sci-fi to be a vehicle for social commentary on the Black struggle in America. He strives to provide a platform for the unrecognized voices and stories that are a key pillar of American existence.