This Viral 'Get Out' Theory Makes Wild Connections to Sigmund Freud and the Coen Brothers

This fan theory is out of control.

May 16, 2018

At this point, it's accepted by many that Get Out is a work of genius based around incredible writing from Jordan Peele. He's already been awarded with an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, but fans aren't ready to stop pointing out potential hidden strokes of brilliance in the film.

This week, a viral thread from Twitter user Kyle A B points out a bunch of possible connections that may have gone over viewers' heads.

It all starts with Stephen Root's Get Out character Jim Hudson and a 1919 essay called The Uncanny from legendary psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud...

So, Freud's essay on the "uncanny" made me think of Jordan Peele & Get Out.

The weird coincidence that the German word for the uncanny or the unsettling is "unheimlich" and our procedure for rescuing the near dead is "the Heimlich."

But, then my thoughts spun out of control: pic.twitter.com/EUZIHrg4j7

— kyle alex brett (@kyalbr) May 15, 2018

In order to keep this thread structured, visualize two branches.

The first branch: Jim Hudson 🌱

The second branch: Georgina. 🌿

And, let's start with the first. But, who the hell is Jim Hudson?

This is Jim Hudson. pic.twitter.com/KY1XhpOp49

— kyle alex brett (@kyalbr) May 15, 2018

In most reviews of Get Out, Hudson's role recedes a bit.

But, he's very interesting to me.

You'll recall that he's the wealthy blind man who places the winning bid on Chris, claiming he couldn't care less about race, he just wants Chris's good eyesight. pic.twitter.com/hsAucrfMxr

— kyle alex brett (@kyalbr) May 15, 2018

In this way, Peele delineates Hudson's racism from Rose's and Jeremy's--siblings who have two figuratively dueling forms of racism:

Jeremy's racism is physical and violent, Rose's (no less dangerous) is pleasant and white womanish.

But, Hudson's racism?

Colorblind. pic.twitter.com/wb73YzcCVf

— kyle alex brett (@kyalbr) May 15, 2018

Then Kyle starts drawing parallels to another movie Root starred in: the Coen brothers' 2000 film O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Now, I don't think Hudson's casting is accidental.

Hudson is played by Stephen Root and Root was memorably in a favorite film of mine: O Brother Where Art Thou (2000).

In that film, a chain gang of men break free from their bondage and go on the lam. pic.twitter.com/5oKkynnHEV

— kyle alex brett (@kyalbr) May 15, 2018

On the road, they encounter Tommy Johnson, a black man who claims he sold his soul to the Devil at midnight in order to be able to play the guitar so beautifully.

In need of funds, the boys go to a radio station. pic.twitter.com/t1eO9wvF92

— kyle alex brett (@kyalbr) May 15, 2018

At the radio station, there is a blind station manager who asks if they're Black. Ulysses (Clooney) says "yep...except our guitar player."

The station manager says he doesn't need blacks. Clooney says kidding. We're white. Except our guitar player.

Root is the blind man. pic.twitter.com/8dzTfIfwJt

— kyle alex brett (@kyalbr) May 15, 2018

The song they subsequently record becomes (unknown to them) a national hit.

So, in Get Out and O Brother, Stephen Root embodies this concept of the colorblind profiting off of black talent.

For Tommy, it is his guitar skills. For Chris, it is his eye for good pictures. pic.twitter.com/12E9DmYTb0

— kyle alex brett (@kyalbr) May 15, 2018

Kyle then ties things back to Freud's ideas and introduces the second branch to his theory: Georgina.

Now, Hudson's lack of eyesight is not something Freud would miss.

In Freud's estimation, to lose one's eyesight was a form of castration and lack eyesight is a form of impotency.

The question, then, is does Peele at all tie Hudson's desire to any phallic, black object?

😐 pic.twitter.com/5nNCmzPh4g

— kyle alex brett (@kyalbr) May 15, 2018

Now, for the second branch, Georgina.

Freud's entire premise behind "unheimlich" is that for something to be creepy, it can't just be new and unfamiliar but has to approach familiarity.

Here's a long quote but these could very well be Betty Gabriel's acting notes. pic.twitter.com/XmUtQteA6P

— kyle alex brett (@kyalbr) May 15, 2018

"...excite in the spectator that automatic, mechanical processes are at work, concealed beneath the ordinary appearance of animation." pic.twitter.com/5SuuMRgA31

— kyle alex brett (@kyalbr) May 15, 2018

As a kid, I used to be terrified of Goosebumps's "Piano Lessons Can Be Murder" and it was because the Santa Claus-esque piano instructor was unheimlich.

That episode plays around Freud's thinking because the instructor (Dr. Shreek) turns out to be an animatron. pic.twitter.com/F8sGajNe0t

— kyle alex brett (@kyalbr) May 15, 2018

Speaking of animatronics, Freud's theories were obviously then introduced into robotics and helped to explain what is now referred to as the

"uncanny valley"

the intense discomfort we feel towards things that appear almost human but not quite. pic.twitter.com/bDH3qbv3ON

— kyle alex brett (@kyalbr) May 15, 2018

At this point, he takes a minute to make a quick aside about scary clowns. Thanks, Kyle.

SIDE NOTE: This is why I think we're a nation terrified of clowns and why evil smiles are so disorientating: our senses are telling us to fucking run while our brain is seeing a pleasant and welcoming gesture. pic.twitter.com/sfvTojFWfX

— kyle alex brett (@kyalbr) May 15, 2018

Okay, here's where he ties everything together and finishes the theory...

Anyway,

So, in Branch 1, colorblindness is a tertiary form of racism not often discussed in the analysis of Get Out.

In addition, Freud could read a castration complex into Hudson's desire for Chris's eyes. pic.twitter.com/IugG1buF1F

— kyle alex brett (@kyalbr) May 15, 2018

And,

in Branch 2, Betty Gabriel nails the portrayal of Georgina because she plays her perfectly in the unheimlich,

the uncanny valley

which (on a chart) could literally be described as

the sunken place. pic.twitter.com/jQirDwwE7i

— kyle alex brett (@kyalbr) May 15, 2018

Bravo.

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