Peele has identified an allusion to The Shining in Get Out. That statement offers a verifiable example; comparisons with other spaces and doubles require their own arguments and attention to differences.
A maze reference takes on new context
In a 2017 interview with Yohana Desta published by Vanity Fair, Jordan Peele said that the mention of a hedge maze in the opening of Get Out alluded to The Shining. His comment refers to a specific line spoken by the character played by Lakeith Stanfield. It does not mean that the entire sequence reproduces the spatial arrangement of Kubrick's film.
The character walks through a residential area where he has trouble finding his way. The threat appears in a setting that might seem peaceful and orderly from the outside. The contrast between that appearance and the vulnerability of the person moving through it changes the meaning of the reference. A physical maze isn't necessary for the journey to become an experience of exposure and lost security.
In The Shining, the Overlook Hotel creates disorientation through spaces that can be traversed and partially recognized. In Get Out, an opening can build tension with a street and a car. The allusion connects one experience of being lost with another, but their visible conditions are different. Recognizing the connection shouldn't keep us from describing what makes Peele's scene work on its own.
That difference offers a useful way to study influence: start with the element the author identifies and observe what role it takes on in another context. The recognition may enrich the experience of viewers who know The Shining, but the threat in Get Out doesn't depend on every viewer catching the allusion. The scene must also work through its actions, distances, and withheld information.
Courtesy can conceal threats with different origins
Chris's arrival at the Armitage house creates unease through seemingly friendly conversations. Comments about his body, identity, and relationship with Rose turn him into an object of scrutiny. Hospitality doesn't undo that categorization; it can be the means by which it's imposed. Viewers should pay attention to what happens within the cordial exchange, rather than wait only for an outright break with social norms.
The Overlook also offers forms of welcome and service that become unsettling, but the two works' mechanisms shouldn't be equated. Jack's relationship with the hotel develops alongside his family authority and desire for recognition. Chris arrives as a guest among people who interpret and exploit his racial difference. These spaces can seem civilized while unequally distributing the power to make decisions and leave.
The comparison becomes more precise when we ask who has to maintain appearances. Chris has reason to temper his responses to situations that make him uncomfortable. In several scenes in The Shining, the threat comes from someone demanding obedience within a family relationship. Tension doesn't always come from what a building conceals; it can also come from the cost of defying those in control.
Camera movements can follow that negotiation, though no camera move by itself proves influence. Following someone can limit what we know; watching them from another position can reveal that they're being observed. To compare Peele and Kubrick, it matters how the gaze is distributed. The geometric similarity of two hallways tells us less than the difference between moving through them freely and being watched.
Doubles and humor: resemblance also creates differences
Us pits a family against figures who mirror their appearance and undermine their sense of security. The duplication affects bodies, relationships, and the possibility of recognition. Comparing it with doubles and masks in Kubrick can help describe that estrangement, as long as it's presented as a critical reading rather than a claim of origin that resemblance alone could establish.
The apparitions of the girls before Danny concentrate a threat in an image and its relationship to other visions. In Us, the doubles play an extended role in family actions and conflicts. Visual repetition becomes more than an intrusion to look at; it becomes a problem of living together, pursuit, and replacement. Sharing a figure of duplication doesn't mean sharing the same narrative structure.
Humor introduces another difference. In Get Out, Rod offers a perspective that can seem exaggerated before taking on a different weight in the story. His remarks offer a chance to breathe, but also challenge reassuring interpretations. The comedy is tied to a trusting relationship with Chris. It isn't reduced to an outside comment that suspends the consequences of what's happening.
In Kubrick, dark humor and irony can arise from an institution that keeps speaking normally while bringing about a catastrophe, or from courtesy that accompanies a threat. Comparing those uses with Peele's requires us to consider who gets to laugh and at what. One joke can bring us closer to a vulnerable character; another can expose us to the cruelty of whoever controls the scene.
The acknowledged reference, the comparison of spaces, and the study of doubles provide different kinds of evidence. Criteria for evaluating an interpretation help keep them separate. Peele's films can engage in a dialogue with Kubrick while also organizing different social conflicts, emotional alliances, and forms of response. Comparison is more useful when it explains these operations than when it turns every resemblance into a matter of dependence.
References: Yohana Desta, “In Jordan Peele’s Gripping Get Out, ‘Humanity Is the Monster,’” Vanity Fair, February 17, 2017. Films compared: Stanley Kubrick, The Shining (1980); Jordan Peele, Get Out (2017) and Us (2019).
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