Panel to explore “Get Out” and the horror of racism

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The Department of African American Studies in the College of Humanities and Sciences will host a panel discussion featuring faculty members from across Virginia Commonwealth University on Tuesday about the hit film “Get Out” and the horror of racism.

“Get Out”, written and directed by Jordan Peele, tells the story of a young black photographer who visits the family of his white girlfriend, encountering what he first believes is awkwardness over their interracial relationship only to eventually discover that something much more sinister is occurring.

The panel discussion, which is free and open to the public, will be held from 1:15 to 3 p.m. at The Depot, 814 W. Broad St.

Panelists will include:

“‘Get Out’ is one of the most successful films this year and is headed into the history book,” Cottom said. “The film depicts racism as a horror script, subverting psychological thriller tropes about danger as something ‘out there’ and instead something that is more intimate.”

Cottom hosted a book club around the themes of “Get Out” in the Sociology Department this semester, in which they read "Racecraft: The Soul of Inequality in American Life" by Karen Fields and Barbara Fields.

“I knew faculty in the African American Studies Department would also be doing similar discussions,” she said. “Af-Am, of course, consistently provides these kind of critical learning spaces around issues of race and racism. They do so as a great service to all of us in the College. Chioke I'Anson was already on it. We partnered with colleagues Brandi Summers and Cara Benedetto to bring transdisciplinary faculty expertise to bear on a film that has had students talking all semester.”