How Hollywood Has Influenced My Passion

Growing up in Mickleton, a small town in South Jersey, I always wanted more for myself. I knew my journey for success was not limited to the tall grass field that surrounded me so I began to explore my options. Therefore, I told my mother, at eleven years old, that I wanted to be a child actor and from there my acting career began. Over the course of my four-year acting career, I was able to earn over $100,000. Yes, the money was great, but after a few years I was I was not as passionate about it as I was before. Even at the end of my acting career, my love for filmmaking and movies did not stop. Horrors, thrillers, and murder mysteries, to this day continue to amaze me. With the release of recent thrillers such as Jordan Peele’s “Get Out” and his newly anticipated monster-thriller “US”, my hunger for these genres only continues to grow. In the movie “Get Out”, written and directed by Jordan Peele, the main character “Chris” is invited to meet his girlfriend Rose’s parents on a weekend getaway somewhere upstate. Chris, however, is nervous to meet her parents due to the stereotypes put on interracial couples. When he arrives, he slowly begins to feel out of place and soon starts to learn that things are not as they seem. The movie then ends with a twist that will leave you speechless. I would like to tell you the ending to Get Out, but I do not want to spoil the movie for people who might have not seen it yet. In essence, “Get Out” succeeds in being a piece that is not only full of twist and psychological turns but a piece that addresses real-world social issues in America such as race. I personally liked this movie because it gives those who are not African American the opportunity to see race from a different perspective. I think this is important as we live in a society with people of different races, religions, traditions, and ethnic backgrounds. Furthermore, Jordan Peele’s second installment in this franchise of socially conscious string of movies is titled “US”. After almost an hour of breaking down the trailer to this movie, and watching numerous conspiracy videos on Youtube, I was able to draw the conclusion that “US” will look to achieve a similar socially conscious goal, self-love within the black community. The message I received from this trailer about loving one’s self I believe goes beyond the movie itself and into real-world issues and for that reason Jordan Peele continues to be one of my favorite directors. Being able to explore fantasies of crime through movies in the horror genre, such as this one, has attributed strongly to my strong fascination with crime and its effects on society.