“Get Out” Executive Producer Couper Samuelson held a discussion with students during the second installment of Cinema Sundays this year following a screening in Ahmanson Lecture Hall on Sunday.
The horror film follows an interracial couple, as Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) meets his white girlfriend’s family and discovers their secrets.
The film was unique in that it displayed a deeper message while also being a thriller, Annie Wendorf ’19 said.
“It was such a better experience to watch it a second time,” Wendorf said. “Everything that was lost on me the first time from being scared became clearer, and I also found it so much funnier this time. The second time I watched it was so different from the first time. It was so good.”
Samuelson said he was grateful the film was received well publicly.
“It’s rare with scary movies that the audience gets everything the filmmakers try to go for,” Samuelson said. “Usually, we believe that scary movies get no respect, so it’s really gratifying when the movie came out that people began to relate to it really closely. It’s great to have a movie that is actually computed appropriately.”
Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Janine Jones spoke about accurate representation of the film’s perception of racism.
“I find that in these conversations about race, you’re either a racist or you are fully ‘woke,’ and it’s the wrong dichotomy,” Jones said, “We have such a continuum of racists and everything else. I saw that in numerous places in the film, and I thought it was really interesting.”
Cinema Sundays began Oct. 1 with a screening of “Safety Last!.” Suzanne Lloyd, main character Harold Lloyd’s granddaughter, and pianist and composer Michael D. Mortilla led the discussion afterwards.
Head of Performing Arts and Cinema Studies teacher Ted Walch said he created Cinema Sundays to help unite the neighborhood.
“I wanted something that would bring the community together,” Walch said. “Neighbors, alumni, parents and kids come. It gets interesting guests here, and they seem to have fun.”
