Jordan Peele

Jordan Peele is changing the way we think of horror movies. The first movie that he directed, Get Out, had a budget of 4.5 million dollars and has made over 255 million in the box office. Get Out is the story of a black man going to meet his girlfriend’s white family for the first time. The movie shines a light on the subtle racism that happens all the time when white people are trying to show that they are not racist. The movie had great reviews, won an academy award for best original screenplay and was one of the first mainstream horror movies that stared a black protagonist.
Jordan Peele has recently come out with a new horror movie titled Us. This movie is about a Black family that is on vacation. Us made a shocking 70 million dollars in the box office in its opening weekend. That’s the most money that an original horror film has ever made on opening weekend. The movie watchers of the world showed Jordan Peele and the entertainment industry as a whole that there is a huge market for horror movies with black people staring in them, not just being extras that die in the first seen. Jordan Peele has directed two of the most successful horror films ever and it doesn’t seem like he is slowing down any time soon. In an interview asking him if he is going to stop casting black people as the leads in his movies his response was “I don’t see myself casting a white dude as the lead in my movie. Not that I don’t like white dudes—but I’ve seen that movie.”

2 Replies to “Jordan Peele”

  1. I really enjoyed reading your post because I believe these movies are helping to promote more diversity in the film industry which we desperately need. Also I took a second to think about how many movies have a black protagonist and quite typically most lead characters are played by white actors, and I believe that Jordan Peele makes a good point about casting more people of color. In one aspect I also believe that his movies, such as Get Out and Us have very important messages. When I watched Get Out I really got the message that he was trying to send about how it feels to be a black man in America and the anxiety that people of color experience. Also the privilege that the girlfriend in Get Out has when she is talking to the police officer, but possibly if she had not been there the lead, Chris, might have had a problem. I believe that Jordan Peele has done an outstanding job with his movies, and bringing awareness to the public on important social issues in our society.

  2. This is a really great post. I think what Jordan Peele is doing amazing. In the past most horror film main lead actors have been white. Jordan Peele casting black people as the main lead is a way to get black culture in the spotlight of the big screen. As said by Eliza, a lot of the time black people have just been extras in the movie. They were not really getting big roles and screen time. They were not getting big supporting roles. The progression of black people and their presence in the film industry is taking off. They are starting to be casted more, getting more independent films and things of the sort. Both of the movies, have an amazing plot line and really do dive into a lot of racial issues we have going on in real life. The view on subtle racism in Get Out is great. It really strengthens the notion that black is beautiful. It even strongly hints at the idea that maybe some white people want to be black. It has many more ideas and notions that enforced throughout the movie and his other movies. Jordan peele is doing big things for the black media community.

Leave a Reply