In Get Out, director Jordan Peele critiques various aspects of white supremacy’s systematic oppression of black people through the process of the Armitage family’s Coagula procedure. The hypnotic nature of this procedure serves as a drug that forces Chris Washington into a paralyzed trance and altered consciousness where he is completely susceptible to the Armitage’s assumed white power and control, the Sunken Place. The Armitages’ utilization of hypnosis, a unique form of drug intended to manipulate those considered to be “others,” represents how white supremacists believe their property of whiteness is threatened by black individuals. 

        Hypnosis, a form of psychological manipulation through repetitive actions, acts as a type of non-pharmaceutical drug in Get Out. This drug is used for the purpose of altering one’s consciousness as a means to perform the Armitage’s exploitive Coagula procedure. Missy Armitage and Chris both technically ‘use’ this drug, however, they utilize it in different ways. Missy uses the hypnosis drug when she stirs the tea around in the cup with a metal spoon, making the noise that eventually sends Chris into a paralyzed trance. Additionally, Chris uses the drug by listening to the stirring noise and Missy’s commands. The use of this hypnosis drug is dual, where Missy ‘uses’ it as a means of exerting her white power over Chris’ docile, black body, while Chris involuntarily ‘uses’ it to descend into an altered state of consciousness. Within this specific state of consciousness, he is utterly susceptible to the manipulation that occurs through the Armitage’s cerebral regime. Not only is he immobilized, but Chris is also physically silenced through this process, which represents one of the many ways white supremacists can marginalize people of color. One may also note how Missy is not affected by using this drug in any way, rather, she is the perpetrator of this psychological abuse. This drug has addictive qualities, just as a pharmaceutical one does, which is another reason the Armitage’s, specifically Missy, use hypnosis whenever the opportunity presents itself. Hypnosis acts as a drug that ultimately leads to the psychological exploitation of black individuals perpetrated by white supremacists.

        The relationship between the teacup, spoon, and Missy’s words can be compared to the relationship between a needle and heroin. Just as a needle is used to inject the drug of heroin into one’s body, the teacup and spoon are the tools used to induce the effects of a certain drug, which is hypnosis in the case of this film. Missy’s teacup with the spoon and plate serves as the Armitage’s physical tool of exerting white supremacists’ assumed control over black individuals’ bodies. In “Whiteness as Property,” Cheryl Harris explains that white supremacy “assumes that Black ancestry in any degree, extending to generations far removed, automatically disqualifies claims to white identity, thereby privileging ‘white’ as unadulterated, exclusive, and rare. Inherent in the concept of ‘being white’ was the right to own or hold whiteness to the exclusion and subordination of Blacks” (1737). This quote demonstrates how the Armitage’s are indeed white supremacists, believing they have the right to subordinate black people because their skin is white. It is only through the continuous circling of the metal spoon in the teacup and Missy’s evocative questions that Chris becomes susceptible to the Armitage’s subordination of his own black body. The act of hypnotizing not only Chris, but all their other victims, serves as a means of preserving the Armitage’s whiteness and the power associated with the color of their skin, or lack thereof.  

        In addition to being a secondary color, green also holds many other meanings when it is placed in certain settings or on specific objects. One may notice the green(ery) or botanical pattern on the chair that Missy sits on while initially hypnotizing Chris. It is important to pay attention to the specific color palette that is used on the fabric of this throne-like chair. Although they appear green in nature, these botanical patterns are not necessarily green themselves in their reproduction on inanimate objects in the Armitage’s household. The large leaves emblazoned on the chair appear tan against its dark green fabric, which physically frames Missy’s face as she is in the process of mentally taking advantage of Chris. In his work titled Green: The History of a Color, Michel Pastoureau states:

       Modernity added to the palette of greens some unsightly, sometimes repulsively ugly tones, but

       meant to be that way--greens that did not fade, did not get dirty, were based in landscape, and          allowed one to hide. Hence their use in clothing for professions that have to do with dirt or                  garbage and especially military uniforms. They are all part of a ‘mustard’ or ‘greenish-yellow                  range.’ The best known example is ‘khaki,’ a shade of the wider palette, somewhere between                brown, yellow, gray, and green. (206-08) 

Pastoureau’s quote reflects a certain way that white supremacist think, which focuses on the concept of cleanliness and secrecy. The chair that Missy sits on while using hypnosis can certainly be considered khaki, representative of her attempt to prevent contamination of her whiteness. The decision to have the chair be of this wide color palette in a sense allows Missy to hide from the perceived contamination of a black body. It also symbolizes her attempt to be rid of the threat that Chris’ black body presents to her whiteness by using hypnosis. In addition, Missy’s profession as a hypnotherapist does deal with forms of dirt in a sense. She, as well as other white supremacists, hold the common belief that black bodies are not only objects, but they are also dirty and impure because of their differing skin color. As a result, Missy uses the drug of hypnosis as a sort of clean up operation against black people by gaining complete authority over Chris, as well as the other black bodies her family has lured into their elaborate scheme. As she sits on her botanical patterned throne, Missy’s whiteness is preserved by this khaki shade, which gives her the power to discriminate and inflict the possible effects of hypnosis on Chris’ body. 

       White supremacists hold the belief that because they are white, they are superior and ‘above’ black people in all aspects of life, perceiving those who come from below to be a threat to whiteness. When Missy commands Chris to sink into the floor in the midst of the hypnosis, Chris does not necessarily fall into the floor, rather, he flows into the Sunken Place. In his work titled Male Fantasies, Klaus Theweleit states, “Everything good comes from the top...And yet not everything that comes from the top is good. On the contrary, anything that flows from above is particularly horrible” (399). In other words, anything that descends or sinks from above is considered terrible. Chris flows to the bottom of the Sunken Place, where he slowly descends into the black abyss that completely silences and separates him from Missy, who embodies white supremacy’s subordinative values and beliefs. In order to see Missy, Chris must stare directly above himself into a television-like rectangle that shows the other drug user moving closer to his temporarily paralyzed body. Having him flow to the bottom of the Sunken Place frames Chris as horrible, as well as framing Missy as being ‘on top’ in the white over black binary opposition. Since Missy is not the one in the Sunken Place, she still remains on top of the binary where she has successfully avoided flowing due to the fact that she is white. The idea of experiencing a fall, or flow, to the bottom of a specific place, is only made possible by using the drug of hypnosis. 

       Chris’ flow into the Sunken Place is both literal and figurative. While he does not actually sink through the floorboards into this alternate setting where he is unable to fend for himself, Chris perceives that he is literally descending there during this altered consciousness produced by hypnosis. This flowing into the Sunken Place is also figurative because he has now ‘sunk’ to the very bottom of the white over black binary. He is trapped under the white supremacist assumed power and gaze where Missy is distancing herself from his body and voice, preventing him from posing any threat to the Armitage’s whiteness. By forcing him into this sort of psychosis induced by hypnosis, Chris can no longer move his body, therefore, removing any physical power he previously held. This is reflective of the white supremacist system in regards to containing the threat of color by degrading and subordinating those who are deemed to possess color. David Batchelor states in his work titled “Chromophobia,” “For Blanc, colour could not simply be ignored or dismissed; it was always there. It had to be contained and subordinated--like a woman. Colour was a permanent internal threat, an ever-present inner other which, if unleashed, would be the ruin of everything, the fall of culture” (23). This fall of culture that Batchelor refers to in his quote is another figurative fall connected to hypnosis. The Armitage’s are certainly aware of the color that exists on black individuals’ skin and viewed it as something that had to be contained to avoid any possible threats against whiteness. In terms of the Coagula procedure, hypnosis acts as a leash that restrains Chris from posing an internal threat, as well as acting as a drug. In order to avoid this fall of white supremacist culture, Missy resorts to using hypnosis on all her victims that Rose must first dupe and then leads into their house.

       The Coagula procedure in the film is an elaborate process, one that has been performed many times before and requires careful planning to ensure nothing goes awry. There are several steps within this process that involve different members of the Armitage family. One of the first ways the Armitage family implements their psychological regime is revealed when Missy initially hypnotizes Chris against his will. Later on in his Male Fantasies, Theweleit states, “Installing dark territories, sources of terror and anxiety, in and on people’s own bodies and the bodies of those they desired, was evidently the prerequisite for subjugating them later with an ideological assault” (415). The Armitage family desires Chris’ body, along with the other black bodies that Rose has lured into this regime in the past, and intend to subjugate him in various ways. This form of desiring black bodies stems from white supremacists’ beliefs that the presence of color needs to be contained and controlled, as explained previously. Missy’s utilization and perpetration of the hypnosis drug serves as the prerequisite to the Coagula procedure that Dean Armitage later performs. Without the use of this drug, Dean would not be able to successfully complete this specific act and demonstration of white supremacist self-assumed power. It is through this hypnosis drug that Missy is able to instill anxiety within Chris’ body about the death of his mother, as depicted through Chris’ scratching of the chair and tears streaming down his face. The Coagula procedure acts as a type of ideological assault that Theweleit mentions, which is based off of white supremacist political values. Ultimately, the subject of the procedure must first be intoxicated by hypnosis before the next step can occur, forcing him or her into an altered consciousness where one is more open to white supremacists’ manipulative suggestions. 

      Drugs, whether they are a pharmaceutical or not, have the ability to intoxicate and force an individual into a trance, especially when they are utilized for controlling purposes. The drug of hypnosis in Get Out reflects how the system of white supremacy has many levels and forms of manipulation, which are all based on preserving an individual’s whiteness and racial purity. Additionally, the Sunken Place that Chris involuntarily flows into highlights the prevalence of racism in American society today, as well as calls attention to the fact that people of color are still silenced and perceived as inferior by white individuals. 

 

Works Cited

Batchelor, David. Chromophobia. Reaktion Books, 2013.

Harris, Cheryl I. “Whiteness as Property.” Harvard Law Review, vol. 106, no. 8, June 1993, pp.   

               1707–1745.

Pastoureau, Michel. Green: The History of a Color. Princeton University Press, 2014.

Peele, Jordan, director. Get Out. Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, 2017.

Theweleit, Klaus. Male Fantasies. Vol. 1, University of Minnesota Press, 1987.