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Blog Post 6

Hello everyone, welcome back to blog post this post will be my last and final blog post. Im am sad to part ways with you guys, however, the quarter is coming to an end which means that my blog posts are also coming to an end. This week I have decided to write about Jordan Peele’s film NOPE as I recently was able to sit down my family and have this watch this amazing movie by Jordan Peele. Although I might have talked about NOPE once before, I have had an amazing time watching this movie again with my family and after taking this course I feel like I am able to better understand what is going on in the movie and what Jordan Peele is trying to illustrate in the movie. With this, I was also able to describe some of the scenes in the movie a bit better to them and really show my parents the complexity of this movie. Throughout this blog post I will be discussing some of the scenes that I was able to break down to my parents and describe the themes that Peele was trying to portray to his audience and the primary message of the film. 

The first theme that is evident in the movie is in the first scene where we see a black man on a horse. This scene was important in the film since it resembles blackness in hollywood history. What Jordan Peele was trying to convey with this scene is that Black people have always been in hollywood and in the west although it is not evident due to hollywood hiding this fact. By having this scene in the movie Peele was able let his audience know that Black people should not be forgotten in Hollywood since they have been there since the beginning of Hollywood itself. The next theme is I will be discussing is present in the whole movie. The theme is the toxic allure of hollywood. This theme is evident in the movie since the flying saucer is meant to represent hollywood chewing up individuals and spitting them out. In the movie the flying saucer will suck up anything that looks at it and then chews them up and spits them out. Peele’s primary message here is the Hollywood is toxic and does not care about anything or anyone. Overall, being able to explain this movie to my family and break down scenes for them to better understand the movie and its scenes was a great feeling for me. It allowed me to apply the concepts I learned throughout the class and educate my family on Jordan Peele’s films.

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Blog Post #5

Hello everyone, welcome back to my last and final blog post. I have really enjoyed sharing my thought with you guys on various Black Horror themed movies that I have been discussing in one of my classes here at UCLA. For this blog post I was to talk about how the amazing film writer that Jordan Peele is. Jordan Peele is able to make hidden messages throughout his films due to his ability to provide an interesting story on the surface with layers to ponder underneath. This can be seen in many of the films that he has worked on such as Get Out, Nope, and Candyman. By being able to create hidden messages underneath an interesting story Peele is able to illustrate a certain message to his audience. This can be seen in both Get Out and Candyman. In both of these films Peele was able to portay racism to his audience. He was able to do so by making society and racism seen as a monster. In both movies, Peele allows the audience to understand how impactful racism is on the lives of black people. He does this through the use of microagressions within Get Out that allow the audience to feel how Chris feels and from there can make the connection to how all Black people must feel when they are faced with microagressions throught their everyday lives. In the scene where Rose gets pulled over the cop asked for Chris’s ID however he was not the one driving. This scene represents some of the racism that is brought upon the lives of black people due to society. In Candyman, Peele was able to do a great job at depicting racism more specifically instiutional racism. He was able to do so by depicting society as monstrous. Candyman is seen as an avenging angel who tries to save and protect black people from raical injustice. From this, Peele was really able to have the audience realize how institutional racism and society is a danger to the lives of Black people in the film such as Anthony and his Girlfriend. Peele was also able to show racism by telling the urban legend of Candyman. Candyman was born due to a slave impregnating a white woman. This is because the white woman’s fathe had found out and sent a mob to kill him right away. Since he was unjustly killed and not given a voice he turned into this monster because his soul was not fully let go.

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Blog Post #4

Hello everyone, welcome back to my Blog I hope you all have been enjoying these posts as much as I enjoy writing them. On my last post I discussed both the old and new version of Candyman. However, this week I will be discussing and comparing a little bit of Jordan Peele’s Nope  along with Get Out. When I fist watched both Nope and Get Out I immediately believed that these two movies are nothing alike. However, once I watched both films a second time I was able to notice some simmilatities among both of Jordan Peele’s films. I believe that the reason why the similarities are not that obvious or clear is because Peele’s films are very deep. What I mean by deep is that there is usually a main story in his films and under that are multiple layers of meaning within his films. For example, you might think that Jordan Peele’s Nope is just about a UFO that is eating anything that looks up at it. However, there is more to it Jordan Peele’s primary message in Nope was trying to reimagine Blackness in cinema. This film was a way for Peele to shed light on the fact that in the old West the majority of the population was Black, however, in Hollywood there is no old West movie where there is a Black actor playing a big role. That is why the first scene in the movie has a Black man riding a horse. Similarly, in Get Out, one might think that the story is about a Black man visiting his girlfriends family and realizes that they are crazy and wants to kill him and take his body. However, Peele’s primary message in Get Out was racism and white supremacy. Now knowing this, once you rewatch the film you will realize how great of a job Peele does at incorporating a story within a story. 

One key similarity between the two movies is that they both start black characters. Thsi similarity is a bit obvious but it really shows Jordan Peele’s image as a producer. Peele is all about addressing the issues and pain Black people face in their everyday lives. This is another similarity within the two films. However, Get out focuses solely on racism as the moster where as Nope focuses more on Hollywood being this monster that sucks black people up and spits them out. On top of this, both films are also very complex meaning what you see on the surface is not all that you get. They both have these hidden messages that are very well thought out.

#get out #nope film

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BLOG Post #3

Hello Everyone, I know it’s been a few weeks since I last posted and I am sorry for keeping you guys waiting. I hope you all enjoyed my blog series on the movie GET OUT by Jordan Peele. For this blog post, I decided to get into the spirit of Haloween and discuss the movie Candyman both the (1992) and the (2021) versions. Personally I am all about the original films. I never really like watching sequels or spin offs, however, Jordan Peele and the rest of the crew did an amazing job integrating the old version into the new version so the transition was so seamless. The story for the original Candyman follows a women named Helen who was a University student working on her thesis regarding an urban legend named Candyman. Candyman is similar to bloody marry in the sense that if you say his name 5 time into a mirror he will kreep up on you and kill you with his hook. The reason why Candyman became this urban legend is because years ago a black man fell in love with a white woman and impreganted her which caused her father to send a mob after the black man and ended up chopping his left hand off and replacing it with a hook. Then they also smothered him with honey and fed him to a bee hive. From then on the legend of Candyman came into existence. Due to his unjust killing he turned into Candyman. As Helen and her friend began investigating Candyman she was chosen to be Candyman’s “victim” because she reminded Candyman of the women he impregnated. Candyman wanted Helen to join him and become his victim, however, that does not end up happening. Candyman kidnaps a baby and frames Helen for the doing. Helen stops at nothing to find the baby and return him to his mother. Towards the end of the movie we see Helen rescuing the baby from a bonfire and returning him back to his mother. While being in the bonfire, she stabbed  Candyman with a wooden stick that was on fire which looked like it had killed him. Soon after rescuing the baby Helen died due to her severe burns. Member of Cabrini green went to her burial to pay their respects for saving the baby.

The new Candyman starts off with 2 couples having dinner and and telling the story of Candyman but this time Helen was Candyman and the story was not told correctly. However they did mention the baby and how he was saved from the bonfire. Anthony was intrigued with this story and felt some inspiration since he was an artist and wanted to learn more. He then came up with a painting called “Say my Name” which told the story of Candyman and what would happen if you would say his name 5 times. Once the Art Galley closed a couple was feeling foolish and decided to actually say Candyman’s name 5 times. Once they did so Candyman appeared and killed the couple in the Art Gallery. Anthony finds out what had happened and began to believe in the Candyman even more. He eventually found out that he was the baby that was saved from the fire and was destined to become the next Candyman. The owner of the washer and dryer makes sure that the legend gets passed on to Anthony. The owner of the washer and dryer chops of his hand and then the police show up and kill Anthony. However, since it was an unjust killing he turned into the Candyman. We saw this happen when his wife was put in the back of a police car and then called Candyman 5 times.  

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Blog Post #2

Hello everyone welcome back to my blog on the movie, Get Out, by Jordan Peele, and I hope you guys will enjoy this blog as much as you did my last. In my first blog post we left off at the scene when Rod tried to show the police that Andrew who is a missing guy from Brooklyn is still alive and is being held captured at a while family’s residenc in upstate New York. Chris starts to become suspicious of the whole thing and tells Rose that they should leave and start heading back to their home. While this is happening, their was a silent auction being held and what they were auctioning off was Chris’s body. While Chris was packing his stuff and getting ready to leave he comes across one of Rose’s scrap books in which held a bunch of photos of rose with a bunch of other black men. Chris becomes super suspicous at this point because earlier on in the movie Rose told Chris that he is the only black boyfriend she had. When Chris came across this scrap book he immediately was able to connect the dots and headed straight for the door. As he was trying to leave Rose and her family lock him in the house and Rose’s mother triggers Chris by hitting a spoon on a tea cup which made him knock out. Once awakened, Chris was strapped to a chair in the basement of the estate. This is when Chris finally get to learn what is going. Rose’s grandfather admits that his family transplants people’s brains form one body to another. He explains that this will allow people to keep their mind and just have the preferred athletic body of a black man and imortality because they could just keep switching out bodies once it gets too old. 

From this point on, this is where the action happens all the scenes following are, in my opinion, the funniest as well as toe shrugging scenes in the movie. When It was time for Chris to go into surgery the mother triggers Chris into a deep sleep again. However, Chris had put cotton in his years which blocked him from hearing the noise which would have put him into sleep. When he gets unstrapped from the chair he immediately hits Jeremy who is Rose’s brother on the head. After this, Chris takes the Deer antlers off the whole and charges at Dean with the antlers which kills him. Rose’s mother then tried to stop Chris and she was immediately stabbed and killed. Jeremy then tries again to stop Chris and was not successful. Chris finally makes it into a car in which he accidentally ran over Georgina who was the grandma in a black womens body. Chris feels guilty about his mothers death and goes back to help Georgina to put her in the car. Once Georgina gained consciousness she tried attacking Chris in the car and caused for them to crash. Rose then appears with Walter who is also possessed at the crash scene armed with a gun. Chris immediatly took out his phone and flashes Walter which caused his to snap out of the hypnosis and kill Rose and himself but leabing Chris. Rod then appears and rescues Chris and Rose is still left on the floor. 

All in all, Get Out, wa an amazing movie that did a great job depicting the struggles and the reality Black people face. Stay tuned to my next Blog Post where I will be discussing the major themes present in the movie. 

#Getout #jordan peele

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Blog Post #1

For my very first blog post ever, I decided to focus on the work of Jordan Peele. I believe that one of Jordan Peele’s most iconic work is Get Out which was filmed back in 2017. Get Out is a black horror film that focuses on a young black man named Chris who goes to visit his white girlfriend’s family and while doing so discovers some secrets regarding his girlfriend, Rose, and her family. Before watching this movie I had some expectations regarding black horror and I was totally wrong. Personally, as stupid as it sounds, I thought that black horror just meant that black actors were in a horror film. Little did I know, Black horror is a genre of movies thar depicts the stark and unfortunate reality that Black people face in their everyday lives. With that being said, within the movie, Chris gets ready to visit Rose’s family in upstate New York and is nervous to meeting them since their are a mixed race couple. However, Rose promises Chris that her family is not racist and does not mind that she is with a black guy. Once he met the family, Rose’s parents asked is Chris smokes and he admits that he does smoke. Rose’s mother insists that Chris allows her to hypnotize her in order to cure his smoking addiction. Chris then agrees to do doing so, and while hypnotized he admits to Rose’s mom that he feels responsible for his mothers death. Once Chris became hypnotized he had entered what the mother calls the sunken place. Further, Chris then wakes up and realized that he no longer has the desire to smoke anymore and believes that the hypnosis has cured his addiction. 

With all that said, now this is when I believe the movie gets super interesting. So after he woke up form being hypnotized he meets another black man who is acting very suspicous and out of the ordinary named Andrew. Chris notices Andrew’s strange behavior especially since he was married to a way older white woman. Fast forward a couple of scenes, Chris decided to take a picture of Andrew and send it to his best friend who is a TSA officer and while taking a picture the flash casued Andrew to go crazy and he began to shout “get out” to Chris. Rose’s father assures Chirs that Andrew just had a seizure and that it was nothing more. Chris’s friend Rod recognized Andrew as a missing black guy form Brooklyn. Rod decided to bring this up to the police and his claims were immediately dismissed. I feel like this scene was the turning point of the movie and is what kept me on my toes the whole time I was watching. I hope you guys stay tuned to my next blog post where I breakdown the last part/ending of the movie which I though to be one of the best endings ever.

#Getout