Analyzing Intertextual Relations Between Jordan Peele’s Get Out and Shakespeare’s Othello

Dr. Abdelkader Ben Rhit

Dr. Abdelkader Ben Rhit Gabes University

Keywords: Shakespeare, Othello, Jordan Peele, Get Out, Bazerman, Intertextuality, Race, Genre.

Abstract

This paper explores the intertextual elements between Jordan Peele’s Get Out and Shakespeare’s Othello. The researcher applies Bazerman’s model of intertextuality to examine the similarities and differences between Peele’s movie and Shakespeare’s play. In comparing Get Out to Othello, the paper argues that, not only do both texts centre on an accomplished Black man who is forced to confront the racist assumptions of white society, but it also explores how that white society mobilises stereotypes in order to manipulate and nullify Black agency. From the intertextuality perspective, the paper argues that there are noticeable narrative and thematic parallels in Get Out film and Othello. Although the selected texts differ in their genre, the geography and period of time where and when they were produced, they manifest similar events and themes. The American movie Get Out surfaces such themes of racial stereotyping and treachery much like how Othello exposes these themes. The main objective of this paper is to demonstrate how Peele recontextualises and reconfigures the racial dynamics of Shakespeare’s Othello in the so-called “post-racial” America and how he positions himself in relation to these racial issues. An intertextual reading of the two selected texts will widen the scope of understanding each of these aspects and reveal how intertextuality works between these two literary pieces.

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Author Biography

Dr. Abdelkader Ben Rhit, Gabes University

Dr. Abdelkader Ben Rhit is an Assistant Professor of English Language and Literature at the Higher Institute of Languages, University of Gabes, where he teaches British and American Literature, and culture studies. He holds a Ph.D. in English Language and Literature from the University of Manouba, Tunisia. He has taught English Language and Literature in Oman and Tunisia and Arabic at the University of Georgia, USA. Abdelkader Ben Rhit has published research papers in international peer-reviewed journals on Trauma, Resilience and Resistance in Ben Okri’s The Famished Road Trilogy, Chronotopes of Trauma and the Problematics of Race in Toni Morrison’s novels, The Symbolic and the Imaginary: A Comparative Study between Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and E.M. Forster’s A Passage to India. He has participated in and presented papers at national and international conferences on Ben Okri, Chinua Achebe, and Jhumpa Lahiri. His main research interests are in Postcolonial African literature in English and Indian diasporic literature.

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