Entertainment

You Definitely Need To Watch Jordan Peele React To These 'Get Out' Fan Theories

by Parry Ernsberger
Universal Pictures

After months of speculation, assumptions, and straight-up crazy conspiracies, Jordan Peele confirmed (and debunked) some Get Out fan theories in a recent video for Vanity Fair. Peele, who both wrote and directed the modern-day horror film, read from and responded to several theories — which ranged from obvious "Easter eggs" to stoner strokes of genius — submitted by members of Reddit's Official Get Out discussion thread. One of his favorites, though, revolved around Rod the TSA agent — best friend to main character, Chris, and the film's eventual hero.

At the beginning of the film, photographer Chris Washington — who is black — confides in his friend, Rod, about an upcoming trip to meet the family of his white girlfriend, Rose. From there, Reddit user Emb3rSil theorizes that,

"The movie Get Out is an imagined scenario of Rod the TSA agent... about what will happen if Chris meets a white family. This is shown by the increasingly eccentric/unrealistic plot, and Rod becoming/making himself the hero at the end of the story."

Hmm. *strokes imaginary goatee* Seems legit! Straight out of the gate, Rod is super wary of how Chris' visit could potentially go down. Later, after Chris calls Rod from Rose's parents' house to discuss some strange happenings, Rod gets suspicious and discovers information which eventually leads him to save the day. While the insane chain of events that lead up to this point make Emb3rSil's dream-sequence assumption seem pretty plausible, Peele ultimately debunks this theory:

"I love this theory," he says. "It is 100 percent false. Get Out is not some kind of daydream-fantasy of Rod the TSA agent character. It really happened. That f*cked-up brain surgery stuff really did happen."

Points for creativity, at least? A few other fans did get some things right about the film, though, especially in regards to hidden-in-plain-sight symbolism. Peele confirmed, for example, that one of the "really easy" Easter eggs occurred during an airport scene that announced "Flight 237" in the background — an obvious nod, for fans of Stanley Kubrick, to Room 237 in The Shining.

Peele also confirms the intended symbolism in the recurring appearance of a deer. Reddit user gloomy_lunatic writes,

"I'm no movie aficionado, but at the beginning of the movie, [Chris] watches the deer [that he and Rose accidentally hit while driving] struggle and ultimately die. Then later, when [Chris] is strapped in the chair [awaiting his impending doom], the deer [head, nailed to the wall] watches him struggle, but he ultimately lives. This has to mean something, right?"

Ding ding ding! "That's right," Peele said in the video. "There's a whole parallel between the deer and Chris... The whole deer metaphor goes in so many different directions and has many different meanings. The buck [head on the wall] of course, is the animal that Chris uses in the end to kill Dean [Rose's father and] the patriarch of the Armitage family."

And in case your mind wasn't already blown, another (very intricate) fan theory from user post_analytical, draws a direct correlation between Get Out and Spike Jonze's 1999 cult-favorite comedy, Being John Malkovitch. It's a lot to get into, but it essentially theorizes that Get Out is a sequel to Being John Malkovich, wherein "Catherine Keener and her characters are the bridge that connect these two films," both of which take place in the same universe, just 20 years apart. Of this theory, Peele says he'd heard it before, and it's basically true — but judging by how he explains his intention, this is one confirmation best taken with a grain of salt.

Needless to say, if you've only seen the film once, I can personally second Peele's suggestion towards the end of the video that you should check it out again. And if it makes you feel any better, I picked up on approximately none of these theories my first time around.