I attended and watched the movie “Moonlight” directed by Barry Jenkins and listened to the panel after the movie. This film followed the story of a boy named Chiron, who grew up in the ghettos of Miami, through his childhood, teenage years and adulthood. Throughout these three stages of his life he learns how to cope with who he is and how to tell other people as well as himself that he is gay. The purpose of this film was to not only showcase the hardships of growing up and living as an African American but also to showcase the hardships of growing up and living as a gay man in a less than accepting society. This film makes the viewer question how many people are living like this today? How and will Chiron accept himself for who he is? How did living in the ghettos shape his life? Will others accept Chiron? Answering these questions are crucial to not only understanding the movie but also understanding our society today. In modern society, most if not all of the problems showcased in this movie are still present today and I think that’s why this film was made. Barry Jenkins wanted to show the world how hard it is to grow up not only as an African American but also as a gay man.

The narratives and themes posed by “Moonlight” are significant to our understanding of African American History because the problems posed in this movie are parallel to the problems African Americans faced during their time in enslavement. The same themes of trying to figure out who they are, doing anything necessary to survive and being dominated by society are all present in the movie as well as the time of enslavement. During the time of slavery and mainly when slavery was abolished, African Americans did not have anything with them and had to remake themselves while still keeping their African roots. Many tried rebuilding their families and took jobs to gain financial footing. The newly free African Americans had to figure out who they were in this new society. As for the movie, Chiron is constantly trying to figure out who he is because for him, being gay is not accepted in his society so he has to find a new identity. When Chiron was young Juan told him, “”At some point, you gotta decide for yourself who you’re going to be – can’t let nobody make that decision for you.”[1] This quote from Juan to young Chiron was the basis of the rest of the movie and helped Chiron grow and helped the movie develop the theme of discovering who you are.

The theme of survival and being dominated by society can both be seen in the movie and in our study of African American history. During their time of enslavement, African Americans where bought, traded, and forced to work by white slave owners in a white society. Slaves where whipped, beaten and exploited for labor with no remorse from the plantation owners. Because of this, there were fugitive slaves who tried to run away and although few where successful they did anything they could do to survive. As for the movie, Chiron’s society forced him to be scared to be who he was. In high school, Chiron was beaten up for being gay and called derogatory names. Not only was he beaten up, he was beaten up by his best friend Kevin who the day before kissed him on the beach. As he grew up, Chiron had to resort to selling drugs in order to survive, something that is very close to him and he never wanted to do because his mom was addicted to drugs and was never really there for him. Clearly, this movie has a direct parallel between the time of slavery and the society today.

Overall, the program showcased the modern problems in today’s society and showcased the hardships of living in America as a gay African American who is also living in the ghettos and poor. There’s a lot of work to improve society and that starts with accepting people for who they are and giving people less fortunate equal opportunities to succeed.

[1] Moonlight, Directed by Barry Jenkins. (2016; Miami, Fl: A24, DVD)