Stereotypes In Moonlight And Freedom Writers

Black cinema over the past years has been undermined and limited to certain expectations. In most films directors fail to produce realistic scenarios that the audience can relate to. Hollywood directors, instead of capturing the true essence of what it is to be Black, demonstrate what they believe the audience will be most interested in. They favor entertainment and amusement resulting in degrading stereotypes that promote racism and homophobic attitudes. Independent Black films seem to be more capable of depicting a more accurate and honest portrayal of the Black experience. Films made from the perspective of African Americans also has a significant influence on how the film is made and its various features. An example of a Black independent film is Moonlight.
Moonlight brings to light a coming of age story of a gay Black boy, but does not rely on the stereotypical expectations of young Black teens.
The filmmaker offers a new and realistic insight on the Black community, with an emphasis on the queer community. In contrast, the film Freedom Writers also attempts to show the struggles of growing up in a community where there is violence and in which the director does include stereotypical views of Black men and women. These two films focus on the coming of age, but approach this topic differently. Unlike Freedom Writers, a Black filmmaker created Moonlight who showed the world a different perspective on the life of a gay Black boy that is usually not intended by other Hollywood filmmakers. One film depicts the hardships through the eyes of a Black filmmaker and another through the eyes of white filmmaker. Moonlight and Freedom Writers bring about issues of identity, sexuality, family, and masculinity, while also taking different approaches to these issues possibly due to the filmmakers’ experience with the actual Black
community.
Moonlight is an independent film produced by a Black filmmaker named Barry Jenkins. It is about a troubling adolescence and later on young adulthood. Chiron, the main character, grows up being bullied because of his size and lack of interest to play in rough sports that boys his age enjoy playing. He is neglected by his crack addict mother Paula and seeks guidance from Juan and his partner Teresa. Juan ends up being the drug dealer that provides Chiron’s mother with drugs and dies soon after. Chiron continues receiving support from Teresa and from his friend Kevin, with whom he experienced his first sexual encounter. He eventually changes his physique and becomes a drug dealer like Juan. In the end the film ends with his reencounter with Kevin. The film is partly based on the director’s actual life and reflects his struggle with having a mother addicted to drugs. Consequentially he was able to create a film that showed realistic problems faced by young Black boys struggling with their sexual identity, without exaggerating the typical scenarios used in Hollywood films.
The film diverges from the stereotypes that one would expect from this type of film, making it unique. Although there are scenes of drug dealing and some violence, the film manages to swerve all the attention to Chiron, the main character. The focus of the story is not on the two times a gun was showed nor is it on the selling of drugs. The film dives in deeper in the actual Black culture rather than using criminalization and gang violence to capture people’s attention. The award winning film challenges those generic expectations by portraying the protagonist as a small, nonviolent, timid, gay boy who is constantly being bullied. This counteracts films that purposely expose Black boys as the ones doing the bullying and engaging in gang activity. Stephen Ginn emphasizes in his “Diffuse Review” in The Lancet that unlike most films “Moonlight touches on themes generally ignored in mainstream cinema: homosexuality and masculinity, alienation and incarceration” (688). Throughout the film what is important is the struggle of a Black teen to acknowledge his sexual preferences while having no parents to support him. He finds a support system in Juan and his girlfriend Teresa as he continues being bullied. Chiron eventually defends himself resulting in incarceration and ends up becoming a drug dealer like Juan was. He went from being a skinny fragile boy to the complete opposite. With this new masculine appearance he hides the fact that he is gay and masks his true self so that no one belittles him ever again. This shows the importance that masculinity has on how a man is treated. Unfortunately, society has built a false criterion that Black men should follow and when done otherwise, they are alienated like Chiron was as a child. Moonlight brings focus on these issues of generic expectations.
The film presents Chiron in three different stages of his life as “Little”, “Chiron”, and “Black” by his friend Kevin. These names correlate with both his racial and sexual identity. This shows how Black boys are judged by the color of their skin as well as by their sexual orientation. Chiron was experiencing very distinct moments in his life in each of the three stages and the different actors were able to depict that extraordinarily well. Jenkins made sure each actor created their own persona of Chiron without depending on the other actors that also played the same role but at different periods of his life. As a child he was shown as a fragile and vulnerable boy hence his nickname “Little”. During this time in his life he was beginning to discover things about himself that he did not understand. In an impacting scene, Chiron asks Juan what the word “faggot” meant. Juan takes the role of a father figure and explains to him in such an accepting and understanding way. This shows that society has not provided the accurate words to express what Chiron was feeling and experiencing. The struggle of fitting in was evident and as a by-product he was bullied. This particular film shows the true difficulties boys face in deciding which route to take in their lives without involving the idea that at a young age Black boys are immediately associated in criminal acts. Chiron later becomes a teen struggling to find himself. He continues to be bullied by those who suspect his sexual orientation. During this time his friend Kevin had a huge impact in his life. Chiron experiences his first and only sexual encounter with Kevin, who a few days later was pressured to physically hurt him. This was Chiron’s breaking point and thus decided to take matters into his own hands, which led to the dramatic change in him. Kevin hid his gay identity and went to the extent of hitting Chiron in order to protect the false macho image he created for himself. This shows the detrimental affect that society’s idealistic norms have on young Black boys. They are forced to mask their true identity in order to be accepted in society. Chiron eventually changes his appearance so that his masculinity is what people most notice. This is seen toward the end of the film, where he is shown wearing chains, a muscle shirt, and is physically built. Both Kevin and Chiron conform to the generic expectations of society sacrificing the freedom to express themselves.