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PEOPLE & ARTS Wednesday 15 March 2017
In sensation of ‘Get Out,’ hints of a Trump-effect

JAKE COYLE post-racial America, but it
AP Film Writer has struck many as an un-
NEW YORK (AP) — There usually timely film.
have been monster goril- “’Get Out’ shows how the
las and sharp-clawed su- public racism of (the civil
perheroes at the box office rights era) has hidden itself
this month, but the biggest by burrowing like a rav-
beast of them all has been enous tapeworm into the
Jordan Peele’s $4.5 million, bowels of America, grow-
race-exploding thriller “Get ing fatter each year as it
Out.” feeds off good intentions
In just 16 days, Peele’s and bad faith,” Kareem
low-budget self-described Abdul-Jabbar wrote in a
“social horror” film has al- Hollywood Reporter col-
ready crossed the $100 mil- umn that called “Get Out”
lion mark. While “Get Out,” “’Invasion of the Black Body
made by Blumhouse Pro- Snatchers’ for the Trump
ductions and released by era.”
Universal Pictures, doesn’t The comedy website Fun-
match the hefty global to- nyOrDie made even more
tals of “Logan” or “Kong: direct parallels, re-cutting
Skull Island,” few films can the film’s trailer to put Trump
touch its extreme profitabil- — who has defended him-
ity — or its firm grip of the In this Feb. 9, 2017 photo, Jordan Peele poses for a portrait at the SLS Hotel in Los Angeles to pro- self as “the least racist per-
zeitgeist. mote his film, “Get Out.” Associated Press son that you ever met” — in
“’Get Out’ isn’t a Redbox, the father’s role and Ivanka
VOD, iTunes movie,” Peele mer “Key and Peele” star, as an African-American tain and its ability to remain as the daughter. It’s been
said recently on Twitter. “If first led the box office the photographer whose white in the conversation. “You watched by more than 3.6
you don’t see it with the same weekend “Moon- girlfriend (Allison Williams) can’t just put this movie in million.
theater energy, you’ll miss light” won best picture at brings him home to meet a box,” he says.
the full intended experi- the Academy Awards. It her family (Bradley Whit- And audiences for “Get Audiences have recently
ence.” also follows the spectacular ford, Catherine Keener). Out” have been notably been showing a hunger for
And moviegoers have tak- success of the Oscar-nomi- “It’s time to put to bed diverse, with 39 percent films that confront race is-
en the advice. “Get Out” nated “Hidden Figures,” the idea that movies with black, 36 percent white sues head-on. Raoul Peck’s
made $21.1 million in its which has made more than any kind of cast don’t per- and 17 percent Latino on Oscar-nominated James
third weekend, according $160 million since its No. 1 form at the box office. The opening weekend. Baldwin documentary “I
to studio estimates Sunday, wide-release debut in early only thing audiences care In some ways, “Get Out” Am Not Your Negro” has
bringing its total to $111 mil- January. about is whether a movie is — where deep and vio- made $5.8 million since
lion. Whereas most mov- For those who still cling to good or not,” says Paul Der- lent racism is papered over opening last month, an
ies — especially horror films the old stereotype that garabedian, senior media by smiles and protests of exceptional result for any
— drop considerably after films led by black actors analyst for comScore. liberal enlightenment — documentary, particularly
opening weekend, “Get are limited at the box of- The success of “Get Out,” suggests the movie the- a literary-minded one. Ava
Out” has barely slipped. It fice, 2017 is making an al- Dergarabedian says, has ater is already a different Duvernay’s Oscar-nomi-
dropped about 15 percent ready difficult to defend been driven by its qual- place since before Donald nated documentary about
after its first weekend, and notion downright ridiculous. ity (at 99 percent fresh on Trump’s presidency. Peele the historical roots of mass
25 percent after its second. And “Get Out” has done it Rotten Tomatoes, it’s the conceived of his movie incarceration, “The 13th,”
“Get Out,” which is the di- without a big name; it stars best-reviewed film of the years ago as a rebuke to has also been a hit on
rectorial debut of the for- British actor Daniel Kaluuya year), its capacity to enter- the Obama-era idea of a Netflix.q
Funny, first novel about freshman love at Harvard

ANN LEVIN roommates. emails. ment. The thought of ma- provocative ideas about
Associated Press Over the course of the Readers figure out long joring in government is baf- language, literature and
“The Idiot,” Elif Batuman’s novel she will fall helplessly before Selin that the rela- fling to Selin, who knows she culture. The title itself pays
beautifully written first nov- in love with an older boy tionship is doomed. Yet, as will be a writer. “It wasn’t homage to Dostoyevsky’s
el, is a wry, funny coming- named Ivan in her Russian must happen in novels of clear to me what was go- namesake novel, whose
of-age story set at the language class. She will this genre, she endures and ing to happen to them af- main character, like Selin,
dawn of email among a even travel to his native emerges a wiser and more ter college. Were they go- is so good and noble he
group of Harvard brainiacs Hungary to teach English spiritually perfect being. ing to be our rulers?” she might be mistaken for an
too nerdy and self-involved over the summer in the Batuman, a staff writer for wonders. idiot.
to even think about sex, hope of spending time with The New Yorker, has an That deadpan voice, so And while the plot pro-
drugs and drinking, the him. extraordinarily deft touch suited to Harvard Square, ceeds at the stately,
usual pastimes of college Their tortured but chaste re- when it comes to sketching gives way to slapstick hu- sometimes tedious, pace
students. lationship develops largely character. There’s Selin’s mor in the latter part of of the 19th-century nov-
The heroine, Selin Karadag, through the new medium friend Ralph, for instance. the novel, when she meets els Selin is reading for a lit-
is the good-hearted, na- of email. And when she The two met at a summer her hosts in the Hungarian erature course, you won’t
ive yet preternaturally wise isn’t musing about such program for high school countryside. Here Batuman want to miss it — as long as
daughter of Turkish im- things as the difference be- students about the North- captures the antic quality you’re willing to feel empa-
migrants. When the story tween Noam Chomsky’s ern European Renaissance. of Americans abroad in- thy for a bunch of superior
begins, she is shopping view of language and the Ralph is premed but tak- teracting with non-English beings who in one way or
for classes and getting to Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, she ing art history and thinking speaking locals. another are destined to be
know her overachieving agonizes over his cryptic about majoring in govern- The novel fairly brims with our rulers.q