SCREENPLAY ANALYSIS

This is a subjective reading of the screenplay. Feel free to deviate.

Structural Analysis of Get Out

In GET OUT (2017), the PROTAGONIST Chris Washington is a photographer who is about

to meet girlfriend Rose Armitage’s family for the first time. The PROBLEM is that Rose is white

and Chris is black. Chris’s WEAKNESS is he is afraid. He is afraid he won’t fit in to Rose’s

wealthy and white world. He is afraid he won’t be accepted. And he is too afraid not to go on

this trip. Sadly, this is not the first time this has happened. The GHOST in Chris’s past is his

failure to act when his mother died because he was too afraid to face the truth.

The INCITING INCIDENT occurs when Chris and Rose prepare to meet her parents (pg.

5). Chris meets Rose’s parents and brother, only to eventually discover that the entire

Armitage family (THE ANTAGONISTS) have sinister plans for Chris. The FIRST ACT BREAK occurs

when Chris is hypnotized by Rose’s mom (pg. 37) and Chris’s fear and inaction are crystallized

by the memory of the night his Mom died. His goal is to be a good guest for the next day’s

party and win the approval of Rose’s family. The MIDPOINT occurs when a party guest yells at

Chris to “Get Out!” (pg. 63), and Chris’s new goal is to leave.

Chris convinces Rose they should go. This leads to the SECOND ACT BREAK (Pg. 76)

when Rose reveals she cannot let Chris leave and he becomes the Armitage’s prisoner. In the

third act, Chris must escape, and he does. But his CLIMAX CHOICE occurs when he hits

Georgina, one of the Armitage’s earlier victims, with his getaway car - Chris must decide

whether to run and escape on his own, or risk his own freedom to help Georgina (pg. 95). The

RESOLUTION occurs when a police car arrives (pg. 98). Rose plays victim and cries for help, and

Chris thinks all is lost, but the officer who steps out of the car is his friend, TSA officer Rod.

Chris and Rod drive away, leaving Rose bleeding in the street.