A short YouTube conversation (podcast-style) featuring Steven Barnes and others discussing Jordan Peele’s films and their impact on Hollywood, representation of Black experiences across genres, and an associated UCLA/online class. The clip frames a pre-Oscar Jordan Peele visit and mentions a time-capsule interview and class interaction.
This movie surpassed my expectations, and that is saying a lot. She can be perfectly entertained just watching the story. But if you want to engage more deeply, if you want to do what Steve did and ask yourself questions, there is a whole course worth of information that you can uncover for yourself if you look for it, but you don't have to.
It is tense. There are moments of horror. There are moments where it's funny. There are moments where it's touching. What we get is we're watching an artist mature right in front of us. He's done three movies that have changed the field in terms of what Hollywood is willing to accept as black films.
You came to the UCLA class. We also have this online class we created for people who aren't UCLA students. Would you be willing to Skype an interview, visit with that class? And he said, yes. And this is a time capsule. So this is Jordan Peele, pre Oscar.
You guys are both really amazing exceptions to this, and there are many other amazing exceptions. But as you know, our culture has kind of expected black people to tell our truths in the form of drama. And to me, that sort of excludes the African American experience from really beautiful genres and genres that make more money than drunk if done right. So that's the problem I'm trying to rectify. The thing that made Get Out get out is that it had no business existing. When I thought of it and when I was making it, it was an idea that was not okay, was not. Was not producible. It broke the rules. And so what I would say to people who are thinking, what's my get out? Is think of what that next thing is. That's what I'm doing. When you're thinking about what project you want to make, that is your get out. Think about what the world's not ready for yet.
