Entertainment

Get Out to compete in comedy categories at Golden Globes

The decision to submit it in the category has been met with mixed feelings.
The decision to submit it in the category has been met with mixed feelings. The decision to submit it in the category has been met with mixed feelings.

Fans of the satire Get Out have expressed confusion and anger after it was revealed the film will compete in the comedy and musical category at the Golden Globes.

The film stars British actor Daniel Kaluuya as a young black man who meets his white girlfriend’s family at their remote estate in the countryside, where things take a sinister turn.

Get Out to compete in comedy categories at Golden Globes
Get Out to compete in comedy categories at Golden Globes
Daniel Kaluuya and Allison Williams in the film (Universal Pictures)

Unlike the Oscars and Baftas, the Golden Globes hand out best picture, best actor and best actress prizes for both dramas and comedies or musicals.

The skewering social commentary, which features a break-out performance from comedian Lil Rel Howery, will have been submitted in the comedy or musical categories for awards nominations, Entertainment Weekly has confirmed, rather than the drama categories, which are typically more crowded with contenders.

But some fans of the film expressed anger at the submission, with one writing on Twitter: “White privilege is watching “Get Out” and thinking it was funny.”

Another wrote: “Miscategorizing Get Out as a comedy is a sorry attempt to deflate its impact as both a formative horror genre film and exacting critique of white supremacy.”

Another said: “The fact that Get Out was nominated for a comedy shows how some ppl didn’t take it seriously and get the point of the film. That movie is a horror film, and the monster was racism.”

Others defended the move, with one person writing: “Get Out actually was a comedy but maybe it was hard for some of y’all to laugh for a reason.

“White people are REALLY insistent today that calling GET OUT a comedy somehow trivializes it. It makes me realizes they didn’t understand it and they also look down on comedy as a genre.”

Another wrote: “FYI #GoldenGlobes don’t just randomly put films into categories. Universal submitted Get Out as a comedy. it’s a social satire, it works.

“I see lots of ppl suggesting the Globes are being shady with this nomination but they really aren’t. it was a strategic move for Get Out.”

Other films to controversially compete in the comedy and musical categories in recent years include The Martian and The Wolf Of Wall Street.

The film’s director Jordan Peele responded to the controversy on Twitter, writing: “‘Get Out’ is a documentary.”

The Golden Globes nominations will be announced on December 11.