Critical Interpretations of "Get Out": Race in the Frightgeist

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

This panel examines the political resonances and critical implications of the 2017 hit film "Get Out." In their four papers, the authors will explore the themes of fugitivity, dystopia, subjectivity, democracy, Black liberation, sovereignty, sacrifice, resistance, and Afro-Futurism, alongside the film's place in the Black cinematic tradition and questions of genre and method. The papers bring the film into conversation with the work of scholars including W.E.B. DuBois, Frantz Fanon, Joel Olson, Cedric Robinson, Fred Moten, Georges Bataille, and Cathy Cohen.

Sub Unit

• DIVISION 41: Politics, Literature, and Film

Cosponsor

• DIVISION 2: Foundations of Political Theory

Individual Presentations

• Zombies and the Sunken Place: Mind Control, Capture, and Black Liberation - Mzilikazi Kone, College of the Desert

• Afro-Futurism, Rural Roma, and the Production of Fugitive Value - Bogdan Popa, University of Cambridge, UK

• On the Altar of White Democracy: Sacrifice and Subjectivity in “Get Out” - Althea Rani Sircar, Macalester College

• From Blackface Minstrelsy to "Get Out": Race, Politics, and Genre-Bending - Jasmine Noelle Yarish

Chair

• Lisa Beard Western Washington University

Discussant

• Kevin M. Bruyneel Babson College