Moonlight: Mediums That Helped Bring the Story to Life

In this essay I will be analysing how a South African point of view can be said to add and to enhance the main theme of my chosen film, MOONLIGHT. I will also be discussing the symbolic treatment of the narrative, performance, medium, and the scenographic element to support my argument. Moonlight follows Chiron, an African American living in a rough neighbourhood of Miami. Bullied at an early age and seemingly outcast, Chiron knows he doesn’t fit in because of his sexuality. He hardly speaks to anyone, has no group of friends, and has a deteriorating home life when his mother descends into drug use. Chiron finds refuge in a drug dealer named Juan, who has profound and lasting effects on the trajectory of his life. The most dominant theme in this film is homosexuality. This film evokes clichés of African masculinity only to destroy them. The film shows that an African identity is more complicated than has been pictured in films of the past. It shows the black male identity and its interactions with sexual identity. The film takes a form similar to a trilogy so as to explore the trail of a man from a neglected childhood, through an angry adolescence, to self-realization and fulfilment in adulthood. This particular story of Chiron's sexuality is also seen as a story of race in a ‘post Obama’ era. This specifically deals with theme of recuperating identity, particularly in terms of blackness. How we relate to this film from a South African point of view is because as much as society is trying to embrace homosexuality, it is still somehow seen as taboo. During apartheid, homosexuality was a crime that was punishable for up to seven years in prison. On paper, this country is haven for the LGBTQ+ community because of the now legalized same-sex marriage policy. The truth is that there’s a stark contrast between the written policies and lived experiences.

Narrative

The focus of ‘Moonlight’ rests mostly on the main character himself, Chiron. In all three chapters of the movie; Chiron, Little, and Black asks himself “Who am I?” He has internal conflict as he tries to deny his true nature as he grows up, he keeps his head down—but his eyes forward. As he slowly tries to figure out who he is and where he belongs while also trying to protect himself against breaking any rules, which nonetheless proves to be a course of action that only prolongs deep self-inflicted pain. Thankfully, he runs into two people; Kevin and Juan, who influence him to look at life in a different angle and approach it differently. Juan acts as more of a father figure and doesn’t allow him to refer to himself as a “faggot” while Kevin is the one friend he has who would do anything to keep people from finding out his true nature. At first, their two perspectives seem to be at odds. Juan appears to say it’s okay to be who you are and Kevin appears to say it’s not okay, keep it a secret but they both come from a standpoint of protection and defending yourself against people’s attacks and insults. Their actions may come from two totally opposite directions but the end results are the same, teaching Chiron a different way of protecting himself. Juan selling Chiron’s mother drugs in order to take care of him is an act driven by his protection of him and Kevin punching him I the face and stay down is an action brought about by him protecting himself so that no one finds out he’s gay and so he stays on good terms with the other kids. The way that South Africans can relate to the concept of this film is because homosexuality is still seen as taboo in certain aspects whether it be in churches, workplaces, school or any public space. As much as it has been legalized post the apartheid era, society seems to contradict itself when it comes to it. We see it happening on social media when gay couples are insulted for putting themselves out in the open to the world only to end up getting homophobic comments about their relationship and because of who they are.

Performance

The film starts by establishing Juan’s character which shows that he is important and plays a role in pushing the narrative forward. It then show’s Little running away from a group of bullies who want to beat him. He runs into an abandoned and hides there for a little while until he is found by Juan. He then takes him to get food and afterward s takes him home to his girlfriend Teresa as he wouldn’t talk to him. Juan returns him home the following day only for him to get grounded by his drug addict mother for making her worry about him all night. Juan and Chiron keep spending time together as he is now a father figure to him and we never get to hear about his father. One night, Juan sees Paula, Chiron’s mother smoking crack with one of his customers. He scolds her for being a drug addict and neglecting her son but she rebukes him for selling her drugs in the first place and they argue about Chiron’s upbringing. She then claims that she knows why Chiron gets beaten up by his peers and says it’s because of the way he walks before going home and lashing out on him. The following day, he walks over to Juan and Teresa’s house and admits that he hates his mom and also asks what the word “faggot” means. Juan tells him that it’s a word used to make gay people feel bad and tells him that it’s okay to be gay and he shouldn’t allow people to make fun of him. He then asks Juan if he sold drugs to his mom and leaves shortly after seeing him looking distraught and apologetic for his actions.

Chiron is now a teenager and juggles ditching a bully named Terrell and spending time with Teresa who has been living alone since Juan passed away. Paula lets her drug addiction and prostitution get the better of her and takes money from Chiron which he got from Teresa. One night, Chiron dreams about Kevin having sex with a girl in Teresa’s backyard and a few nights after that, Kevin bumps into him at the beach near his house and they smoke weed together. They both discuss their ambitions and eventually kiss, with Kevin masturbating Chiron. This is where we fully grasp the fact that they are both gay. The following day at school, Terrell manipulates Kevin into taking part in a hazing ritual and he reluctantly punches Chiron a few times while telling him to stay down because if he gets up he’s going to have to punch him. After that, we see Terrell and his friends beating him up until he is saved by the security guard. The social worker at school urges him to reveal the identities of the boys who beat him up but he denies saying that it won’t solve anything but only because he didn’t want to get Kevin into trouble. The following morning, he gets to school angry and hit Terrell with a chair and he’s then arrested for assault and sent to juvenile.

Now as an adult, Black is released from prison and deals drugs. He receives frequent calls from Paula asking him to come and see her and one night he receives one from Kevin. He visits his mom and she apologises to him about everything until they eventually reconcile. Soon after that, we see him drive to Miami to reunite with Kevin who now works at a diner. While talking, Kevin tells him about his ex-girlfriend and the son that they have together and how his role as a father fulfils him. Chiron also tells him about his drug dealing and Kevin seems to be shocked to hear that as he never expected it. Chiron then asks why Kevin called him and he says there’s a song on the jukebox that reminded him of Chiron then he proceeds to play it. After making Chiron dinner, they go to Kevin’s apartment. Kevin talks about how happy and content he is about his life although it didn’t turn out the way he expected. Chiron then breaks down and confesses that he’s never been intimate with anyone since their intimate moment years ago at the beach and his arrest. Kevin comforts him and they hug. In a flashback, we see Little standing at the beach in the moonlight.

Lighting:

From the opening of the scene, as Chiron approaches the diner, lighting is at play. Laxton placed lights within a tree to cast dappled shadows on the character as he walked beneath, creating entirely new visual interest from the very first second. Outside the diner, the bulbs were changed to give a more blue hue. Inside, much of the lighting is practical and natural, coming from golden, warm hanging lamps and overhead lighting. The long camera take at the early part of the scene, which incorporates wide, slow pans, was somewhat restrictive as far as lighting was concerned, so practical lighting was key. Laxton says some LED lights were used to lend some softness to the actors' faces. Laxton points out that the colour and quality of a scene's lighting can help an audience connect with what is on screen, especially if it is familiar. Many cinematographers play it safe in exposing dark skin tones, especially in harsh light; Laxton built his look around pulling rich, beautiful colour from the actors’ faces while still executing one of the boldest lighting designs. To capture Miami, Laxton knew he’d want the actors’ skin to have a big shine, so the audience could feel the sun beating down on them. Building off this, he decided he would really push the contrast ratio in virtually every scene, using a single source lighting scheme with no fill light, so the light would fall off into shadows and sculpt the characters’ faces. Working with a colourist during preproduction gave Laxton the confidence of how far he could push the contrast on set and still make sure there was detail and rich colour, especially on the cast’s dark skin tones when their faces were in shadows. They decided to create a nice thick colour by pulling information out of the mid-tones, add blue to the blacks, and tease out the highlights so there’s white glint that’s on top of the image. They made sure that light falls off into shadows, modelling the characters’ faces, but that there is still so much detail.

Camera

Close ups were used in order to bring the viewer into the conversation, so it feels as though the character is speaking to the audience as well as their counterpart. Laxton also points out that movement, lens choice, and shot choice all influence emotion and perspective in a scene. How far or close the camera is, or how slowly or quickly the camera follows a character, changes the tone of a shot. The most impactful moments are when characters look directly into the lens, confronting the audience in emotional moments. The eye contact is placed here at a key moment, to convey the profound connection between two characters meeting again after several years apart.

Aesthetics

Within its first few minutes, ‘Moonlight’ establishes not just character and environment. It also introduces the relationship between them as one of the main themes of the film. The conflict, between who we are and what our environment forces us to be, rules the life of our protagonist: named ‘Little’ in the first section of the film, ‘Chiron’ in the second, ‘Black’ in the last. It opens with a car pulling up in a sun-drenched residential neighbourhood. We watch as Juan, a drug dealer, checks in on one of his minions. A typical scene of street ‘business’ unfolds, and it’s only as Juan is departing that Little enters the scene: pursued by bullies, he dashes by - and the style of the film abruptly changes. To open the film not with Little, but with the tough neighbourhood he struggles with, from the start establishes the power of this environment over the film's characters. In the opening scene, as the gang of boys race past, the scene is abruptly cut. The fluidity is replaced by jerky, handheld camerawork, evoking anxiety and panic as it chases after Little. The cinematography now represents his world: one of fear and persecution. He spends the rest of the film trying to fit into it, hiding his true (gay) self, aware that someone will always sniff it out and attack him. We watch him hide inside an abandoned apartment; the camera focuses on his fearful facial expression, then follows his POV as he fearfully peers outside at his oppressors. It then pulls back into a long shot, isolating Little as he retreats into himself, curling into a foetal ball.

From a South African point of view, the way we can relate to this film is because everyone of us wants to feel like they belong to a specific social group or certain place. We all want to feel accepted by society for who or what we are even though we might be uncomfortable with that at first. We want to be accepted by others before we can fully accept ourselves. This film shows us the journey of Chiron as he grows up without a father and his mother as a drug addict and later a prostitute. According to the recent statistics, South Africa has one of the highest rates of absent fathers in the sub-Saharan Africa with over 60% of kids being fatherless. The way we can also relate to this is because recently there have been news people being killed for being gay, although homosexuality ha been legalized after apartheid. Before then, same sex marriages were banned and being gay was a crime you could be jailed up to seven years for. A staggering four out of ten LGBT South Africans know of someone who has been murdered 'for being or suspected of being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. Black members of this community are twice as likely (49%) as white respondents (26%) to know of someone who was murdered on these grounds. The risks are particularly high for black LGBT people, especially in rural areas. The research, drawing on a range of sources, is contained in the latest monthly edition of Fast Facts released today by the Centre for Risk Analysis at the South African Institute of Race Relations (IRR) and it shows that only half of black LGBT people are completely open about their sexuality. IRR analyst and author of the report, Gerbrandt van Heerden, writes: 'Black LGBT people are more likely to be victims of physical violence than those in the other race groups – this could possibly add to the reluctance by many to reveal their sexuality.'