Feb 8, 2020
Knives Out hints at the self-righteous Thrombeys’ racist views of Latino people and immigrants in general well before they target Marta and threaten to have her mother detained. In the film’s early flashbacks, the Thrombeys each referred to Marta’s country of origin as a different place. To one, she was a lovely young woman from Ecuador; to another, Marta hailed from Paraguay. Their cluelessness is played for comedic relief as the film’s tension builds, and Johnson’s message is clear: The Thrombeys’ ignorance is the joke, not Marta’s heritage.
