Moonlight Film Trip - Homework

SUMMARY: 
For me, from seeing the poster you can infer the story will be looking at the lives of the three faces merged together in different lighting, as conventionally the main characters are placed on the front of the poster. However, after viewing it ,self I can say, 'Moonlight' centres Black maleness/masculinity, but more specifically Black male sexuality as well as Black male intimacy and youth. Moonlight raises the question of Black male performativity; what Black men need to do to be considered a Black man, who decides these rules, and how, so often, exploring and discovering your sexuality – outside of heteronormative (straight) norms – is seen as a denial of your Black masculinity. 

• Chiron is a character of few words. Why is this?

When Juan introduces himself by helping Chiron out of the house and find his home the audience is shown the characterisation of Chiron among adults as the interactions made have been with children all of which he spoke very little. When Juan took Chiron to eat, asking his name, home address and parents Little is reluctant to answer, So Juan pulls the food Little is eating leading to him slouching his shoulders and further silencing himself by not making eye contact. Juan sees this and pushes the food back to Chiron which he quickly starts eating again, this scene is their to reinforce Chiron's own shyness but also shows the audience you can't get through to Chiron through punishment, which ,maybe be due to the verbal abuse shown by his mum and one can infer it has happened multiple times. Chiron when travelling around in the trains always holds his hands around him, when the camera itself has a medium shot Chiron becomes small again in the shot representing his inability to act in the world. Chapter 3 he is full of confidence and stereotypical masculine traits but when he meets Kevin he breakdowns and returns to the quiet Chiron from Chapter 1, which even Kevin notices stating that he would only "speak 3 words at a time". 

• Did anything about the Miami setting surprise you compared to pop culture 

The setting of Miami held a lot of realism and the image of Miami in pop culture is minimal, except that there were less people who were Latinx, except for Juan, which I thought there would be more of, though the small amount of people shown throughout the move wasn't a lot which really represents the exclusion of others in Chirons life. The use of vivid colour was a continuous theme of the movie, the cinematographer was able to cater to black skin which is rarely seen in movies, where the lights bounces off or mixes with the skin tone, these of a reflector on the skin was able to achieve the look and the saturation of the whole scenes allowed the filmmaker to make specific colours such as the blue doors in Chiron's school when he returns to attack his bully 

• What is the significance of Juan?

Ultimately, Juan becomes a sought of role model or father figure for Chiron which he has not received, evident, in the lack of father presence in his house. The trust between "Little" and Juan was embodied during the moments when Juan kept "Little" and Juan was embodied during the moments when Juan kept "Little" afloat in the water almost resembling a baptism. This scene signals the first bonding moment between "Little" and Juan. Here we see Juan assuming a faster role as he reaches "Little" to swim. Juan isn't the only character which adds to Chiron witnessing multiple types of men around him much which he encounters and interacts with,  like Alec Baldwin's Giuseppe's Room. There is the overwhelming and chocking, hetro-patriarchal masculinity of the neighbourhood in which protagonist Chiron resides in, then his own kept and tender masculinity, the archetypal toxic and insecure masculinity of the school bully Terrell, the erratic and performative masculinity of Chiron's close friend and "love interest ", Kevin and finally the more complex, layered and warm masculinity of the fatherly ally, Juan.
Chiron ends up taking the same route of going into the drug business like Juan showing the theme of a cycle and how even if Chiron was trying to be different he would still be pushed into the stereotypical role. 

• Significance of the beach and why have the directors centred the movie so much on it

Water is a running theme of Chiron's life from the film. From the beginning when he is almost "baptised" in the sea by Juan is Little's first contact with water. The camera lens is slightly submerged in the water to give an immersive perspective as if the audience is in the great body of water, which conveys that the two characters are in the middle of the world. The camera bobs through the water alongside the two bodies, occasionally dipping beneath the water, submerging the audience in the scene.

The moment seems to be revelatory for Little, and its significance is echoed in other moments that use water throughout the film. We see when Chiron sees the beach and just hears the waves as states when he cries he feels like drops which maybe why waves and ocean resonate within him. When he sits in Kevin's restaurant, while looking out the door he watches the cars through the door which when listened to closely sounds similar to waves which is why the actors face looked so intently in the direction of the door. I think it also shows he has a part of Juan within him, though the "negative" would be the drugs but the positive is teaching him how to swim as he has never had anyone teach or show consideration to him and from that moment water has remained with him much like Juan.

• Did anything about Chiron surprise you? 

Nothing particularly, except for, the scene where he takes his revenge out upon his bullies as I would have thought it should have been Kevin due to him physically punching Chiron. However, I think due to the personal turmoil he continuously had to face with the bullies it seemed right. Chiron after being called derogatory emasculating words and being told by teachers themselves"If he was a man" was left feeling everything and had a surge of adrenaline to seek revenge on his bully. Which is a pivotal to see him come out of his shell and try to fight back as we have seen multiple times his want and need to retaliate to their mistreatment. However, we see he lost both himself in the end as the colour blue on the flashing lights indicating each chapter shows just red and loses blue which is both himself as he found comfort in areas of blue and has resonance in the word as Juan told him but also trust and friendship in Kevin

• NEAR END:

For me, in the near future, Chiron would of stayed the same as he is so embedded into his shown through the shots being used of Chiron excising with weights and listening to rap music, is him conforming to these Black male stereotypical ideals set for him by society. The ending is left ambiguous, this is due to the movie being an Arthouse film, thus the director would want the audience to make their own interpretation of the film. I think, that the relationship that Chiron and Kevin would not have become anymore than the movie let on, just friends. For Kevin, he seemed adamant on not talking about his attack on Chiron in high school while Chiron wanted to let him know of his feelings for him. 
The two would of stayed in the friendship, Kevin still working while Chiron would still be in the 'trapping' lifestyle of his life, due to having such a hard exterior and conformity has become so engrained he would most likely no stop. However, as the movie had a part where it had the adolecant Chiron looking up at the moon, this would indicate as the movie is cyclical that he, like Juan, would go on to find his own 'Little' to try and show the right path and not let hims stray.