Review Of Barry Jenkins 'Moonlight'

Movies and entertainment outlets speak volumes about the current state of a nation’s culture. Cinematic creations in the United States allow small voices to be heard and controversial issues to be addressed. However, a repetitive and monumental issue continues to be addressed, yet continues to persist in our 21st century culture, racial inequalities. Since the inception of the United States, black men and women alike have been disenfranchised at the hands of the “white man” in America. Instead of continuing the conversation today, the issue is continually silenced referencing the successes and achievements of the Civil Rights Movement in the 20th century. Nonetheless, an unfortunate reality looms upon this great land; racially based systems and structures continue to exist in 2015 the in United States. This paper synthesizes three films focused on racial inequalities in different time periods. Separate but Equal (1991), Selma (2015), and Crash (2005) illustrate how influential the Civil War amendments are, while serving as an uncanny reminder of how the racial prejudices during the 20th century continue to exist in our great nation today. Needless to say our nation has made great strides, but still has a long way to go.

The film Moonlight was released October 21, 2016. Moonlight is all African American cast, and was awarded over 25 awards including the Academy Award for best picture. This film is a coming of age story that follows the dramatic ups and downs of the life of Chiron, a young Africa American man growing up in Miami. The plot begins from the time he is in elementary school to the time he reaches adulthood. The plot is structured in three stages of the life of Chiron and touches on the topics of the struggle of dysfunctional households via socialization, sexuality and sexual identity, physical and emotion abuse, and the process of accepting ones self.

“Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins” demonstrates the underlying dynamics between the Jenkins family as the children are all in the young adult stage. The family constellation of the Jenkins household encompasses Papa and Mama Jenkins who are the patriarch and matriarch of the family. This family system also consist of three children Otis, Roscoe, and Betty, and two cousin who are Clyde Stub and Reggie Jenkins. To celebrate this the auspicious occasion of their parent’s 50th wedding anniversary, the entire extended family are coming home. The Jenkin’s family narratives and assumptions has caused contention, resentment, and in some instances warmth that are unveiled by various interactive patterns.

This is a criticism of Moonlight, a film directed by Barry Jenkins. It is a coming-of-age story, telling the journey of a young gay black man named Chiron. Through linear character development the film follows a young Chiron from adolescence into adulthood while growing up with alpha males in Miamis black ghettos. The Story is told in three parts, with a different actor playing the lead role in each section: a young Chiron named “Little”, as a teen named “Chiron”, and an adult named “Black”. Despite a compelling lead performance by Mahershala Ali and Naomie Harris, and its great soundtrack, Moonlight falls flat and never gets out of the shadow of its typical cliche plot, all the while, the film continued to never overcome the obstacle of

Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight depicts the coming-of-age of a young black boy as he struggles with and endures abuse for his sexuality, causing him to hide his internal conflicts. The life of the protagonist, Chiron, is split into his three main stages of life, with each part focusing on the physical and emotional abuse he endures due to his homosexual orientation. When the viewer first meets Chiron, he is running from bullies. As he ages, the bullying follows him, causing him to harden and avoid vulnerability in his adult life. Jenkins uses climactic scenes in Chiron’s life to portray how prejudice against black sexuality forces him to conceal his true identity. In Moonlight, Jenkins’ cinematic style illustrates Chiron’s public and private

The final film by Marlon Riggs, Black is…Black Ain't, is concerned with the state of the African American community. This film essentially asks the question, what does it mean to be black? The director and producer, Marlon Riggs, guides viewers along an “an up-front examination of racism, sexism, and homophobia within the black community itself. Bringing together personal stories, interviews, music, history, and performance, Black Is...Black Ain’t asks African Americans: What is black, black enough, or too black?”1

The United States has long been a country that has accepted that change is a necessity for prosperity and growth. However, each change within the nation's history was hard fought against those who resisted such change either through racism, bigotry, and blatant discrimination. African American cinema is enshrouded in history that depicts these themes of racism, struggle, and deprivation. Yet, this same cinema also shows scenes of hope, artistic spirit, intellectual greatness, and joy. Black actresses, actors, directors, producers, and writers have been fighting for recognition and respect since the great Paul Robeson. The civil rights movement of the 1950's and 60's was fueled by black cinema through films like A Raisin in the Sun.

This paper explains how the movie “The Help” goes into great depth to explore the sociological concepts of self and interaction, deviance, and the reality of segregation that still exist today. This paper provides details in the comparison of benefits for children’s, a friend for the mothers, and a maid to help and serve the community. A dark story that elevated into a powerful transformation. A suspense thriller that obtain emotions core with some political twists. A movie that is incredibly uplifting, and a book that would take your breath leaving your mind in awe. It’s a warm, and funny dialog that is quite believable (Goodreads,2016). But, a shocking police stigma that is brutal both physical and verbal. (Ferris, K., & Stein, J. (2010). A silent retribution that only allowed no action other than for blacks to dedicate their lives to the memory of how a white community in Mississippi town used other forms of violence toward black people. So, taboo and the thought of violating evokes strong feelings of disgust for all the maids. While the other white people stop and stare without any remorse. Public scenes that causes deterrence leaving a fear on blacks to turn the other cheek as if nothing was out of the norm. To place more emphasis on why this movie is one to watch; simply because this movie had won multiple rewards such as the Oscar, and the Golden globe award a year after it was released in 2011(Goodreads, 2016).

Humans are constantly criticized for being “different,” so forming an identity within a judgemental and violent community proves to be mentally exhausting. Moonlight (2016) by renowned director Barry Jenkins, vividly depicts three different stages of the life of a boy named Chiron while he transforms from a young boy to a man who struggles with coping to find who he truly is. Living in a poor crime-ridden neighborhood in Miami, Florida, Chiron goes through many trials and tribulations throughout his life to find who he is in a society that gives no mercy to anyone in it. Throughout this story, Chiron battles with forming an identity for himself as he comes to terms with being a homosexual black male who is trying to conceal the utmost fragility of who he really is. Through clever techniques used within the diegesis and mise-en-scene, Moonlight illustrates the difficulties a low-class homosexual African American man must experience throughout his life to be accepted into society as a result of not always conforming to ideas surrounding gender and race.

Identity is transitional. Not one identity is held constant throughout one’s life. Thus, the intersectionality of one’s identity conveys how complicated humans are. This complex nature of humans is brought to life in the movie Moonlight. Directed by Barry Jenkins, this coming of age film explores the many facets of identity in the main character, Chiron. Chiron is not the only fully thought character; every named character parallels people of all walks of life. Through the intricacies of the characters, stereotypes are presented and shattered. But, the film’s central point is not to counter stereotypes. Moonlight tells a story of reality where stereotypes are rooted in truth. Consequently, Moonlight plays into a majority of stereotypes of class, race, gender, and sexual orientation.

Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight is a masterful queer coming-of-age story told in three parts - Two years after Richard Linklater’s masterpiece Boyhood composed a unique passage of time portraying realistic preciousness of a young man on the journey to manhood, Jenkins continues the coming-of-age instrument further from Linklater. Diving into the brutal conditions of Miami streets, Moonlight shatters the dated template of masculinity with a potent story of closeted homosexuality among black men. The film rises above the wrongful stereotypes associated with sexual orientation and urban environments.

People who show deviance in society are seen a part of the outsider group. Moonlight depicts stereotypes of masculinity, specifically for black men. The film tries to provide a tense mood to the audience, so they may acknowledge the reasons to be empathetic. Sociological empathy can be gained in many ways such as trying on another person’s life and cultivating curiosity about strangers.

Moonlight is an American drama film that chronicles the life of African-American male Chiron, who is being raised by a careless mother in a harsh Miami neighbourhood. Its most prominent themes are love, stereotypes and identity. The filmmakers create meaning from these through combining different elements of aesthetics (the style or look of a motion picture). Aesthetic effect refers to the practise of using different elements of a film (mise-en-scene, sound, cinematography and editing) to generate film form.

Based on Stephen King’s horror novel of the same name, Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining features hallways filled with butchered daughters, and their guts and blood splashed down the hall. Horror and realism fuel Kubrick’s notoriously disturbing films and The Shining stands clear-cut amongst them. Although in the case of this movie, Kubrick shifts emphasis from visual horror to psychological fear and instills mounting dread from the sequence of disturbing events. Kubrick states, “one of the things that horror stories can do is show us the archetypes of the unconscious; we can see the dark side without having to confront it directly.” Never falling flat, The Shining provides a psychological horror masterpiece complete with brilliant acting, tight camera angles, haunting score, and unanswered questions.

There’s no absolute goodness or evilness. We are in an inner battle where our id and superego are constantly fighting to take the upper hand. While kindness and being ‘perfect’ is generally praised, it’s probably counterproductive to always suppress your basic feelings and desires. It’s imperative to acknowledge yourself as a combination of good and evil. Otherwise you will fall in deep self-blame and struggle when you discover your evil side which is the polar opposite to the idealistic image you set for yourself. And this could lead to serious consequences as is in the case of Lina, where she nearly collapses and begins to hallucinate when she can’t properly balance the two personalities inside of her. She wants to yield to the