What is the Sunken Place?
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Highlights
- Jordan Peele’s concept of the Sunken Place in his film “Get Out” is a visually astonishing and terrifying portrayal of complete and utter isolation, invoking relatable fears of emptiness and darkness.
- The Sunken Place is not reliant on jump scares or creepy characters but traps viewers in the unknown, allowing them to experience fear as a feeling instead of a reaction.
- In the film, the Sunken Place is used as an evil hypnotic trick by the Armitage family to transfer someone’s consciousness into the body of a Black person, supporting the belief that White people must control Black individuals for societal “protection” and personal gain.
Jordan Peele has proved himself as a unique, innovative horror film director since his debut film in 2016, Get Out. In his movies since then, he’s showcased intensely terrifying things and places, such as the underground civilization in Us, and the monstrous alien in Nope.
But it has been hard to top perhaps his scariest concept, the Sunken Place, which came from his debut film. The empty void that is the Sunken Place is not only visually astonishing, but it invokes such fear into viewers who look at it as someone may look at aimlessly floating through space: complete and utter isolation.
The Sunken Place, like Peele’s other horror tactics, doesn’t rely on jump scares or creepy-looking characters. Rather, it traps the viewer in the unknown, making them experience fear in its natural state as a feeling instead of a reaction. It’s such a more relatable fear because not everyone has seen a ghost, or been chased by a guy with a machete, but everyone has felt completely alone and in a place of empty darkness.
What is the Sunken Place?
In the film, the main character Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) accompanies his girlfriend Rose Armitage to her parents’ secluded home for the first time. After getting acquainted with her parents, he learns that her mother, Missy, is a hypnosis therapist. Missy notices that Chris is a smoker, and tells him she has the ability to make him quit.
One night after sneaking a cigarette outside, Chris is met by Missy when he returns inside who offers him her hypnotic treatment. Initially reluctant, Chris agrees out of curiosity. Missy sits him down and begins stirring her tea, making a oscillating sound with the spoon grazing the rim of the cup over and over again. At the same time, she is digging into Chris’ past, particularly his darkest memory: the death of his mother.
As she continues to stir, Chris slowly becomes paralyzed, stuck in his seat and uncontrollably crying as he relives his devastating childhood. Just as he realizes he can’t move, Missy taps the spoon on the cup which sends Chris into a dark and empty void, the Sunken Place. The best way to describe it is Chris is sinking into his own mind. His body feels like it is falling without ever reaching a ground surface. But as he looks up, he can see through his eyes still in the outside world, but the image grows smaller and smaller. He has zero control over his body at this point and can only observe what his eyes can see. That is, until Missy closes his eyelids. Then Chris is emerged in utter darkness without the slightest clue of how to get out.
What is the Sunken Place Used For?
Initially, it appears that the Sunken Place is simply a therapeutic method that allows for the unconscious part of a person’s mind to alter certain habits or mental illnesses. This seems evident to Chris because once he wakes up after being in the Sunken Place, he no longer has the urge to smoke.
However, it’s soon revealed that the Sunken Place is an evil hypnotic trick the Armitage family uses to essentially transfer someone else’s consciousness into another body, specifically, into the body of a Black person. This is where Jordan Peele’s creativity and cultural theme come into play. The Armitages, and their wealthy White friends, believe the bodies of Black people are far superior to that of White people. Not only that, but they think Black people are a danger to society and the only way they can “protect” the world is by having White people control them, quite literally.
Not only do the Armitages see it as necessary for the progression of White culture, but it’s also a tool for them to use for various physical disabilities in their own bodies, whether it’s a disability or them actually dying. Chris, for instance, is sold to the famous White photographer Jim Hudson, who had to retire because he became blind. So their plan with Chris is to transfer Jim into Chris’ body so that he may be a photographer once again. While Jim would have complete motor function control of Chris’ body, Chris would be stuck in the Sunken Place, observing the remainder of Jim’s life through his own eyes.
Which Characters Are Stuck in the Sunken Place?
Throughout the film, Chris goes back and forth being stuck in the Sunken Place. Ultimately, though, he gets out. However, there are other characters that are stuck in the Sunken Place, before Chris even came into the picture. One character stuck in the Sunken Place, who was kidnapped in the very opening of the film, is Andre King. After being taken, Missy trapped him the Sunken Place and transferred her friend into his body who was close to death.
Two other major characters stuck in the Sunken Place were the people inhabited by Rose’s grandparents, Georgina and Walter. Once they grew too old and close to death, they were transferred into two people’s bodies — both of which Rose had dated and brought to the house, just like Chris — where they served as caretakers for the house; Georgina as the maid and Walter as the groundskeeper. Chris managed to kill Georgina who was attacking him and snap Walter out of it by using his camera flash. Once Walter came to, though, he decided to end his life himself.
While Chris managed to get out and also free Georgina and Walter’s original consciousnesses, Andre left the house still trapped, and he wasn’t seen again in the film. Presumably, he stayed trapped for the rest of his life.
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