Previous

Get Out takes place primarily at the Armitage family’s secluded estate in upstate New York. Though the movie repeatedly reminds its audience that the Armitage residence is somewhere northwest of Manhattan, the actual residence where the movie was primarily filmed is located in Fairhope, Alabama. The isolation of the house plays a key role in Chris’s entrapment; when he arrives at Rose’s family home, he finds himself cut off from the outside world. The scene where Rose and Chris drive to the estate is one of the longest continuous scenes in the film, reinforcing the feeling of distance between where Chris’s normal life exists and the surreal environment of the Armitage home. The exaggeratedly long driveway leading up to the house also emphasizes the Armitage residence’s distance from civilization. 

 When Chris steps outside at night to smoke, the vast darkness that leads up to the tree line and the eerie silence heighten the tension he’s already feeling. When Walter suddenly, inexplicably appears sprinting toward him in the open yard, it only reinforces the idea that something is very wrong. The setting, in general, creates a sense of vulnerability and claustrophobia. Rose is home and among people who know and love her, but Chris is an interloper who’s fundamentally out of place at the Armitage house. He has nowhere to hide and no one to turn to for help. 

 The house itself—which has by now become one of the most instantly recognizable buildings in the American horror canon—is an imposing but initially normal-looking suburban McMansion. When Rose and Chris arrive, it’s bright daylight outside and the house is lit in warm, soothing tones. The Armitage home is notably not a frightening place; indeed, it’s deceptively comfortable and hospitable-looking. Of course, this is just a mask over its sinister purpose as the headquarters of the Coagula cult. The relative normality and reassurance the setting initially seems to provide is just one facet of the Armitage family’s carefully-set trap for their Black victims. If Rose were bringing partners back to a craggy Gothic mansion, they might start to feel suspicious a lot earlier. The woods that surround the Armitage house also contribute to the movie’s suspense and sense of entrapment. There’s a storied tradition of the woods delineating the edge of civilization in American horror, but this is complicated in Get Out by the fact that what’s happening in Rose’s home is not exactly civilized. While the woods certainly create a barrier between Chris and the world he knows, he’s in the most danger when he’s under the Armitages’ electric lights, standing on the carpeted floors, or walking on the carefully trimmed lawns of their house. 

It’s also worth noting that the affluent and almost entirely white area that Rose is from might itself feel like an unsafe location for Chris. Because of racial profiling by law enforcement and institutionalized racism in general, wealthy and predominantly white areas are far less safe for people of color than they are for their white residents. Chris is very aware of being the only Black person in most of the spaces Rose has brought him into. 

The movie also includes some settings outside of the Armitage estate. The opening scene takes place in a suburban neighborhood at night, where Jeremy abducts Andre Hayworth and stuffs him into his car. The setting establishes early on that areas which might be considered tame and boring for some are quite the opposite for others. Well-manicured white suburbia holds little guarantee of protection for Black men. No one comes out of the surrounding houses to help Andre when Jeremy attacks him, even though he loudly struggles against his captor. It’s one of many places in this movie where young Black men are isolated from everything around them. In every way that matters, systemic racism leaves Andre just as alone and exposed on the lamp-lit streets of anonymous American suburbia as he eventually becomes in the Sunken Place. 

Previous section Symbols

Take a Study Break