Call Me By Your Name And Moonlight Comparison
I know that part of this paper was intended to compare Moonlight to Brokeback Mountain, but they feel like separate films that are not comparable. The only similarity that I see are that they both examine the balance between hyper masculinity and queerness. After watching Moonlight, I could not help comparing it to a similar movie that depicted queer male relationships like Call Me by Your Name. When discussing Moonlight in comparison to Call Me by Your Name I think the ways they both conjure nostalgia is the largest connection between the two. Both films portray the exciting, butterflies in your stomach nervous feeling that is accompanied by your first sexual experience. Even though I identified more with Moonlight, I felt that Call Me by Your Name deeply conveys the youthfulness and innocence of young love. It depicts the
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awkwardness and nervous excitement that accompanies your first sexual experiences. At the time I could not identify the exact reason that I felt this way but after having a discussion with my friend Ariel, she said something brilliant that I had not previously considered. I was questioning her about which movie she felt conveyed more nostalgia and she said that she felt both conveyed similar levels of nostalgia, but the way they present this nostalgia is different. CMBYN focuses on queer development without trauma while Moonlight focuses on how trauma, specifically parental and societal trauma, shapes queer development of the main character.
Both of us identified more with moonlight even though she is a non-black WOC and I am white. We are both queer with not supportive, abusive parents and come from low income households. Something we have bonded over is our trauma, especially trauma related to our queerness. It makes sense that we both relate more to Moonlight, which shows racial, parental, and societal trauma. Moonlight reflects the experience of trauma that many LGBTQ+ people relate to, unaccepting and abusive parents who may suffer with addiction along with the ways marginalized identities interact with one another. Call Me by Your Name portrays this romanticized experience of queerness that is seemingly traumaless for the main character. His parents are very wealthy, white, and supportive. I think I gravitated more to the nostalgia of Call Me by Your Name because it focuses on this innocent version of queerness that is idealized and unrealistic which a lot of queer people crave but never
obtain. Moonlight is more practical in realistic to me because I cannot imagine modern queerness that is not shaped by some form of trauma.
Regarding the critique that Moonlight underplays Male to Male sexual intimacy, I didn’t get that impression at all. It is often apparent when male sexual intimacy is understated or glossed over to appease straight audiences, but I genuinely do not believe that this movie is guilty of that. MtM sexual intimacy is so much more than anal sex, which many people automatically think of when they are labeling ‘gay sex’. This reminds me of conversations we had in class where we discussed how not all gay men like anal sex or even have anal sex. If the intention of Moonlight is to depict queerness in a way that is new and refreshing, it makes sense that it would also depict sexual intimacy differently. Also, when I think of depictions of anal sex, and this is influenced by gay pornography, I picture roughness. The movie is all about exploring the navigation of masculinity and queerness where we see Chiron/Black attempting to find a balance between the hardness of masculinity and the softness that accompanies his feelings for Kevin. If it was not for these tender and intimate moments the audience would get less of an impression of this contrast.
The criticism that the movie fetishizes its main characters by placing them in a common narrative related to blackness is fair. However, queer development without trauma, not just simplified bulling but actual societal, parental and racial trauma, is a common for LGBTQ+ people. If we are going to fight for more inclusivity in media representation of queerness, part of that fight needs to be for narratives like Moonlight. Queer people of color exist in low income, urban settings. I wish we had more mainstream films that portray the queerness of people of color in different settings, but the way to get this is to support films like Moonlight while simultaneously being critical of them. I though that the depiction of blackness, hypermasculinity and queerness was exquisite. The overlay of classical music over urban blackness was exquisite and is something that is often not associated. I loved seeing how the movie examined masculinity as a performance throughout Chiron/Black’s life, how he was smaller and less masculine early in life and then how he was large and hyper masculine later in life. It also was interesting that the overall message of masculinity, that men must be hypermasculine to succeed in life, was also depicted in the film. Chiron was targeted for being small and passive while Black found financial success in being muscular and intimidating.
The way that Chiron modeled Black after Juan makes sense because Juan was his father figure and represented an idealized masculinity that Chiron was constantly critiqued for not preforming. However, it is interesting how Chiron eventually becomes a drug dealing and perpetuates this cycle of addicted parents and neglected children. One of the most conflicting scenes of Moonlight is when Juan catches Paula, Chiron’s mother, doing drugs and threatens to cut her off, but Paula simply says someone else will supply her if it’s not Juan. I read this scene as Juan feeling conflicted for supplying the mother of someone he really cares for with drugs while understanding that this is likely not the first family that has been affected by his business. I do think it’s interesting that Chiron eventually chose this line of work, but I recognize that the role is an economic opportunity and it’s naïve to think that money doesn’t affect people from low income areas.
The two main women in Moonlight embody the virgin whore dichotomy. Paula, Chiron’s biological mother, is the ‘bad mom’. She uses drugs, is portrayed as having multiple partners, says negative things about Chiron’s sexuality and is generally neglectful. The opposite of Paula is Teresa, Juan’s girlfriend and the surrogate ‘good mom’ to Chiron. Teresa is Chiron’s safety net. She feeds him, affirms his sexuality, gives him a place to sleep and offers him money. I was so excited to see Teresa because she is played by Janelle Monáe, who I love and stan. I always gravitate to feminine characters, especially caregivers, but Teresa is given no real story line throughout the film. She seems to exist only to care for Juan and Chiron. I understand that the movie probably didn’t strongly focus on the women because it was attempting to highlight the relationship between hypermasculinity and queerness.
The conversation in class was interesting to me because people who had similar experience with being abandoned by an addicted parent had a lot less empathy towards Paula than I did. I think if I had watched Moonlight at any point before this semester I would have shared similar feelings. I have done a lot of work to stop being angry at my mother, particularly at her addiction. A lot of this can be credited to the Byron Katie’s The Work that you showed us in your Personality class. I have zero contact with my mother at this point and I initially decided any negative feelings I had toward were just her last bit of power over me, but after doing the work I realized that she had an equally fucked up life that bred her addiction.
For me, the most powerful moment in the entire movie is when little Chiron asked Juan and Teresa “what’s a faggot?”. This was such a short scene yet one that is so impactful because I think it is a common experience for so many queer children. Being young and called a term that you don’t know but can tell that it is derogatory by the way the person says to you. For a lot of LGBTQ+ kids, they are called these terms before they themselves even identify a certain way. I have a memory of being about 6-7 years old and getting called ‘a queer’ by the person who would later sexually assault me. At the time he was doing it to get a rise out of me and I remember being confused but also upset because I could tell that he was calling me a bad word. Now there is a lot of discourse around using the term queer as an inclusive term for LGBTQ+ people, but my experiences only make me more passionate about reclaiming queer as a personal identifier.
Throughout the film there is a focus on community through food. This is first seen when Chiron goes back to Juan and Theresa’s house. Important conversations are often had around the dinner table and quiet Chiron is often prompted to speak in exchange for a meal. This is carried throughout his life and exchanges with Theresa. We also see this happen later when Kevin becomes a cook and offers to make a dinner for Chiron if he ever visits Florida again. When adult Black and Kevin meet up after prison Kevin makes a Cuban meal for Black, which I believe was a nod to Juan, Black is silent at first, but Kevin forces him to speak over a meal. I think the symbolism of sharing a meal with people who care about you is important, especially because it’s likely that Chiron didn’t often experience that growing up. The importance of food to people who come from low socioeconomic households needs to be highlighted as there is a possibility that they struggled with food insecurity.
Kevin’s growth from his teen years into adult hood is so apparent when it comes to his relationship with Chiron. In their teen years, the audience really sees Kevin conforming to peer pressure and the influence of other young men’s masculinity. He encourages Kevin to act more like a man and often puts up fronts to fit in. He even goes as far as hitting his friend. For instance, in the beach scene Kevin cannot even admit that he cries, but Chiron is free with the fact that he cries all the time. Kevin is so influenced by this idealized version of masculinity that he can freely talk about graphic sexual details but unable to admit vulnerability. In adulthood, Kevin has no issue calling out Black for similar fronts that Kevin put up in their youth. Kevin questions what happened to Chiron and calls out his performance of hypermasculinity. It’s interesting to see how their roles eventually switch and seeing a relationship where they can gently poke fun of gender performance.
It is no surprise that Chiron eventually takes on this hypermasculine version of himself that he calls Black. Throughout his young life his is chastised for not being masculine enough. In his childhood he is picked on for not conforming to societal norms, and this bullying only intensifies as he gets older. The scene right after he is hit by Kevin and beaten by the group of boys is one of the most upsetting, but it is only intensified by the conversation with what appears to be an administrative official right after. In this scene the older woman is essentially victim blaming Chiron and chastising him for not retaliating against his attackers. It was hard to watch because she is basically insulting him for being the only person hurt, even though multiple people united against him. I also thought Kevin’s role in this attack perfectly sums up the pressure idealized masculinity places on young boys. We saw Kevin conforming to gender expectations throughout his youth and specifically in his desire to keep his social status in adolescence. It reminds me of the desire for men to create community and have intimate relationships but how they often feel like they cannot do this because it will make them be seen as weaker. Kevin was torn by having a close friendship with an outcast, Chiron, or losing social status.
awkwardness and nervous excitement that accompanies your first sexual experiences. At the time I could not identify the exact reason that I felt this way but after having a discussion with my friend Ariel, she said something brilliant that I had not previously considered. I was questioning her about which movie she felt conveyed more nostalgia and she said that she felt both conveyed similar levels of nostalgia, but the way they present this nostalgia is different. CMBYN focuses on queer development without trauma while Moonlight focuses on how trauma, specifically parental and societal trauma, shapes queer development of the main character.
Both of us identified more with moonlight even though she is a non-black WOC and I am white. We are both queer with not supportive, abusive parents and come from low income households. Something we have bonded over is our trauma, especially trauma related to our queerness. It makes sense that we both relate more to Moonlight, which shows racial, parental, and societal trauma. Moonlight reflects the experience of trauma that many LGBTQ+ people relate to, unaccepting and abusive parents who may suffer with addiction along with the ways marginalized identities interact with one another. Call Me by Your Name portrays this romanticized experience of queerness that is seemingly traumaless for the main character. His parents are very wealthy, white, and supportive. I think I gravitated more to the nostalgia of Call Me by Your Name because it focuses on this innocent version of queerness that is idealized and unrealistic which a lot of queer people crave but never
obtain. Moonlight is more practical in realistic to me because I cannot imagine modern queerness that is not shaped by some form of trauma.
Regarding the critique that Moonlight underplays Male to Male sexual intimacy, I didn’t get that impression at all. It is often apparent when male sexual intimacy is understated or glossed over to appease straight audiences, but I genuinely do not believe that this movie is guilty of that. MtM sexual intimacy is so much more than anal sex, which many people automatically think of when they are labeling ‘gay sex’. This reminds me of conversations we had in class where we discussed how not all gay men like anal sex or even have anal sex. If the intention of Moonlight is to depict queerness in a way that is new and refreshing, it makes sense that it would also depict sexual intimacy differently. Also, when I think of depictions of anal sex, and this is influenced by gay pornography, I picture roughness. The movie is all about exploring the navigation of masculinity and queerness where we see Chiron/Black attempting to find a balance between the hardness of masculinity and the softness that accompanies his feelings for Kevin. If it was not for these tender and intimate moments the audience would get less of an impression of this contrast.
The criticism that the movie fetishizes its main characters by placing them in a common narrative related to blackness is fair. However, queer development without trauma, not just simplified bulling but actual societal, parental and racial trauma, is a common for LGBTQ+ people. If we are going to fight for more inclusivity in media representation of queerness, part of that fight needs to be for narratives like Moonlight. Queer people of color exist in low income, urban settings. I wish we had more mainstream films that portray the queerness of people of color in different settings, but the way to get this is to support films like Moonlight while simultaneously being critical of them. I though that the depiction of blackness, hypermasculinity and queerness was exquisite. The overlay of classical music over urban blackness was exquisite and is something that is often not associated. I loved seeing how the movie examined masculinity as a performance throughout Chiron/Black’s life, how he was smaller and less masculine early in life and then how he was large and hyper masculine later in life. It also was interesting that the overall message of masculinity, that men must be hypermasculine to succeed in life, was also depicted in the film. Chiron was targeted for being small and passive while Black found financial success in being muscular and intimidating.
The way that Chiron modeled Black after Juan makes sense because Juan was his father figure and represented an idealized masculinity that Chiron was constantly critiqued for not preforming. However, it is interesting how Chiron eventually becomes a drug dealing and perpetuates this cycle of addicted parents and neglected children. One of the most conflicting scenes of Moonlight is when Juan catches Paula, Chiron’s mother, doing drugs and threatens to cut her off, but Paula simply says someone else will supply her if it’s not Juan. I read this scene as Juan feeling conflicted for supplying the mother of someone he really cares for with drugs while understanding that this is likely not the first family that has been affected by his business. I do think it’s interesting that Chiron eventually chose this line of work, but I recognize that the role is an economic opportunity and it’s naïve to think that money doesn’t affect people from low income areas.
The two main women in Moonlight embody the virgin whore dichotomy. Paula, Chiron’s biological mother, is the ‘bad mom’. She uses drugs, is portrayed as having multiple partners, says negative things about Chiron’s sexuality and is generally neglectful. The opposite of Paula is Teresa, Juan’s girlfriend and the surrogate ‘good mom’ to Chiron. Teresa is Chiron’s safety net. She feeds him, affirms his sexuality, gives him a place to sleep and offers him money. I was so excited to see Teresa because she is played by Janelle Monáe, who I love and stan. I always gravitate to feminine characters, especially caregivers, but Teresa is given no real story line throughout the film. She seems to exist only to care for Juan and Chiron. I understand that the movie probably didn’t strongly focus on the women because it was attempting to highlight the relationship between hypermasculinity and queerness.
The conversation in class was interesting to me because people who had similar experience with being abandoned by an addicted parent had a lot less empathy towards Paula than I did. I think if I had watched Moonlight at any point before this semester I would have shared similar feelings. I have done a lot of work to stop being angry at my mother, particularly at her addiction. A lot of this can be credited to the Byron Katie’s The Work that you showed us in your Personality class. I have zero contact with my mother at this point and I initially decided any negative feelings I had toward were just her last bit of power over me, but after doing the work I realized that she had an equally fucked up life that bred her addiction.
For me, the most powerful moment in the entire movie is when little Chiron asked Juan and Teresa “what’s a faggot?”. This was such a short scene yet one that is so impactful because I think it is a common experience for so many queer children. Being young and called a term that you don’t know but can tell that it is derogatory by the way the person says to you. For a lot of LGBTQ+ kids, they are called these terms before they themselves even identify a certain way. I have a memory of being about 6-7 years old and getting called ‘a queer’ by the person who would later sexually assault me. At the time he was doing it to get a rise out of me and I remember being confused but also upset because I could tell that he was calling me a bad word. Now there is a lot of discourse around using the term queer as an inclusive term for LGBTQ+ people, but my experiences only make me more passionate about reclaiming queer as a personal identifier.
Throughout the film there is a focus on community through food. This is first seen when Chiron goes back to Juan and Theresa’s house. Important conversations are often had around the dinner table and quiet Chiron is often prompted to speak in exchange for a meal. This is carried throughout his life and exchanges with Theresa. We also see this happen later when Kevin becomes a cook and offers to make a dinner for Chiron if he ever visits Florida again. When adult Black and Kevin meet up after prison Kevin makes a Cuban meal for Black, which I believe was a nod to Juan, Black is silent at first, but Kevin forces him to speak over a meal. I think the symbolism of sharing a meal with people who care about you is important, especially because it’s likely that Chiron didn’t often experience that growing up. The importance of food to people who come from low socioeconomic households needs to be highlighted as there is a possibility that they struggled with food insecurity.
Kevin’s growth from his teen years into adult hood is so apparent when it comes to his relationship with Chiron. In their teen years, the audience really sees Kevin conforming to peer pressure and the influence of other young men’s masculinity. He encourages Kevin to act more like a man and often puts up fronts to fit in. He even goes as far as hitting his friend. For instance, in the beach scene Kevin cannot even admit that he cries, but Chiron is free with the fact that he cries all the time. Kevin is so influenced by this idealized version of masculinity that he can freely talk about graphic sexual details but unable to admit vulnerability. In adulthood, Kevin has no issue calling out Black for similar fronts that Kevin put up in their youth. Kevin questions what happened to Chiron and calls out his performance of hypermasculinity. It’s interesting to see how their roles eventually switch and seeing a relationship where they can gently poke fun of gender performance.
It is no surprise that Chiron eventually takes on this hypermasculine version of himself that he calls Black. Throughout his young life his is chastised for not being masculine enough. In his childhood he is picked on for not conforming to societal norms, and this bullying only intensifies as he gets older. The scene right after he is hit by Kevin and beaten by the group of boys is one of the most upsetting, but it is only intensified by the conversation with what appears to be an administrative official right after. In this scene the older woman is essentially victim blaming Chiron and chastising him for not retaliating against his attackers. It was hard to watch because she is basically insulting him for being the only person hurt, even though multiple people united against him. I also thought Kevin’s role in this attack perfectly sums up the pressure idealized masculinity places on young boys. We saw Kevin conforming to gender expectations throughout his youth and specifically in his desire to keep his social status in adolescence. It reminds me of the desire for men to create community and have intimate relationships but how they often feel like they cannot do this because it will make them be seen as weaker. Kevin was torn by having a close friendship with an outcast, Chiron, or losing social status.