Black body representation in Get Out (2017) and Us (2019) by Jordan Peele

Abstract

Black characters soon appeared in Hollywood films such as The Birth of a Nation (1915), Intolerance (1916). They are recognised as criminals, not conceded as human rights. African-American directors created films to change the image of black people. Jordan Peele inherits the efforts of his predecessors and takes the story of black people in cinema to a new level with identity clarification. That is clearly shown in the movies Get Out (2017) and Us (2019). The research aims to identify the black body representation in the above two films by Jordan Peele as an expression of identity. Body denial is the root cause of violence among African Americans. This acts as a form of identity tracing. The research combines the use of cinematic narrative and semiotic approaches with interdisciplinary research methods such as culturology and anthropology. The basic principle of the position of the research is the theory of ethnic identity. The use of comparison, collation, analysis and synthesis will be applied in the process of developing theses.