Is Get Out a comedy? Universal seems to think so. In the video above, The A.V. Club tracked the timeline of the film’s Golden Globes controversy. Last week, it was reported that Universal would be submitting Get Out for consideration at the Golden Globes in the “Musical Or Comedy” category. Though Jordan Peele’s horror flick does contain some dark humor, it’s more of a horrifying social commentary, not an outright comedy. But Universal thought Get Out would have a better chance winning as a comedy than a drama. That process is called “category fraud.”
Category fraud happens when studios (or labels, in the case of the Grammys) submit work in a category they think they can win, as opposed to the category it actually fits in. It happened in 2016 with The Martian taking the Globe for Best Musical Or Comedy. It happened during the 2006 awards season with Jake Gyllenhaal competing for supporting actor categories for Brokeback Mountain, even though he’s the film’s co-lead. But Get Out’s instance of category fraud has more people upset, with many, including Peele himself, worried that Universal’s move is undercutting the racial commentary of the film. Perhaps now is the time to revisit the Golden Globes’ archaic dual-genre system.