Moonlight (2016) “How and Why Does Watching This Now Matter?”

Moonlight (2016)“How and Why Does Watching This Now Matter?”

 “Moonlight could’ve come out last year, Moonlight could’ve come out next year. But it came out at this particular moment for america, and this particular moment for all of us. So is that just me? Or that an interesting coincidence.”-“It literally opened in the states under one president, and it’s continued a lot longer after a different president. I think the currency of what the film means for people has completely shifted, so I think in some ways it has been fated that the movie exists in this present moment.” - Barry Jenkin, Director

Releasing in 2016 and winning best motion picture - drama, At the 74th Golden Globe awards, plus nominations in five other categories. There is no doubt that Moonlight matters. However on the notion of the question how and why, statistics show that LGBT people are at higher risk of depression anxiety and suicide. LGB people aged 16 and over are more than twice as likely to currently meet the criteria for an anxiety disorder and twice as likely to commit self self harm. According to a 2014 report on hate violence against LGBTQ and HIV-affected communities, Black survivors of hate violence were 1.3 times more likely to experience police violence than their non-Black counterparts. Black survivors were also twice as likely to experience any physical violence, twice as likely to experience discrimination and 1.4 times more likely to experience threats and intimidation during acts of hate violence.These statistics show how this semi autobiographical story written by Tyrell Alvin McCraney originally titled “In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue”. Has a deep cultural significance and relevance to real world problems. Moonlight shows the real struggle Tyrell (Chiron) has faced growing up. However Moonlight is first and foremost a coming of age story. While it does offer commentary on dire issues an unspoken a minority faces, it does so in a subtle way. There is not stage in the film where it references these statistics/facts, nor does main character Chiron explicitly say that he’s gay. The audience views key points in his life that create a character arc. Similar to the point made by to David Bordwell’s Three Dimensions of film Narrative. For example Bordwell’s example of a ‘statement’ or ‘chronology’ that is non inclusive of any narrative components (shown below)

On July 6, 1947, a flying saucer crashed in Roswell, New Mexico.On July 23, 1947, Marjorie Bordwell gave birth to a son, David.On July 23, 1948, D. W. Griffith died.I believe this added dimension of vague non inclusive storytelling that Moonlight dabbles in with this a fast pace chronological switching of time periods, stitches a narrative together that the characters or ‘Agents’, are bound by make the story continuous and ominous but more importantly allow the audience not to be bullied by the subject matter themselves. The life of Chiron is in in full focus. The three stages separated in the film. Childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. These segments in the film are named ‘Little’ ‘Chiron’ ‘Black’No dates are mentioned, nor any significant details are given to the audience. We are thrown into a new period of his life at a different age with a new lead actor. However the world of Miami Florida is still the same and Chiron's issues are still manifested but in different ways.Chiron’s fatherless upbringing, with his single mum struggling with crack addiction. The continuous bullying and seclusion he’s subjected to which unbenounced to him may be because of his sexuality.While the film was released in the not to distance 2016. Being semi autobiographical based off Tyrells age of 37 we can assume that Moonlights story was based in the 80’s and 90’s. Coming from this comparison, to reiterate the importance of the film we can draw parallels to Tyrells (Chirons) life in Miami, Florida in his childhood, to the social climate we were and are in now. Furthermore we can also look at it’s post release to see the so called ‘currency change’ Jenkin’s has proposed that the films reception has gone under a short period of time. There is no doubt that the film was released during a heated political time for the topics it posses. The Independent article titled “Donald Trump Blames himself for Moonlight/ La La Land Blunder because the oscars were too focused on politics” and Jay-Z’s song titled ‘Moonlight’ featuring lyrics such as “We stuck in La la land” that followed La La Land accidental announcement of winning the 89th Oscars in 2017 are indicative in Moonlights social meaning at the time. After Oscars pre media deemed it being white washed, moonlight became a statement. Not to mention it was only in 2015 the Obergefell v. Hodges civil rights case passed supreme court ruling requiring that all states of america are to offer the same marriage rights to same sex couples as they do to opposite sex couples. Plus in 2013 The Black Lives Matter movement was created from a twitter hashtag and became a campaign topic of America's election.With all this surrounding the film it’s hard to deny Moonlight became the ammo some audiences needed. However as mentioned Moonlights narrative and plot points are subtle. Perhaps it’s through subtly the film accomplished so much political commentary without blatantly being a political film. Allowing it to be so successful while also being the first film with an all-black cast, the first LGBTQ film, and the second lowest-grossing film domestically to win the Oscar for Best Picture.So while Moonlight may have served as a political statement at an award ceremony, and offered evidence to the hardship of mental illness the LGBT community is facing. Its through the powerful character arc and focus on Chiron that we derive meaning from the film. Nowhere in Moonlights storytelling does it aim to be a provocative film. Moonlights success shows how film can have such a wide range of appeal, and achieve the ‘currency change’ Jenkins has suggested, and go under and it’s various interpretations. For myself as a straight man, who wants to own my fandom towards the film, I find inspiration from Jenkins story of his heistance to accept the project. Jenkins being a straight man, had to find a way to take ownership of the creative role despite his lack of direct correlation with the issues it touches on - But after reading and relating to McCarney’s story through living through a similar community.I can self reflect on Chiron’s experience first and foremost as human being or in relation to the human condition rather than a political topic or having to view the film politically at all. In similar way to my main takeaway from Mary Beard’s “Women in power’ when talking about our ideas and images of successful women or women in power, the twists of the topic of exclusion and stigma created from normalised standard offers everyone a chance to reevaluate the norms of our current time. For me this was undoubtedly made possible by Jenkins commitment to the role after feeling a sense of responsibility being able to relate to McCarney’s story as a visual storyteller made him commit past the challenges of the difficult plot structures as he could already invision it through his personal experiences.

References

Campaign, H. (2018). Being African American & LGBTQ: An Introduction | Human Rights Campaign. [online] Human Rights Campaign. Available at: https://www.hrc.org/resources/being-african-american-lgbtq-an-introduction.

Jenkins, B. (2016). Unfinished Business: Masculinity in the Moonlight.

Jenkin, B. and McCarney, T. (2017). Moonlight director Barry Jenkins: ‘I wondered if a straight person could tell this story’.

Jenkins, B. (2016). Moonlight director Barry Jenkins on changing the perception of manhood.

National LGBTI Health Alliance. (n.d.). The Statistics At a Glance: The Mental Health of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex People in Australia - National LGBTI Health Alliance. [online] Available at: https://lgbtihealth.org.au/statistics/.

O'Connor, R. (n.d.). Donald Trump 'blames himself' for Moonlight/La La Land blunder because Oscars were 'focused so hard on politics'. [online] Available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/donald-trump-moonlight-la-la-land-oscars-blame-himself-us-president-focus-hard-politics-jimmy-kimmel-a7603026.html.

Washington Post. (n.d.). [online] Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/made-by-history/wp/2017/08/13/abandoning-the-federal-government-would-be-the-wrong-move-for-black-activists/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.0d54084fc639.

Bordwell, D 2007, "Three Dimensions of Film Narrative", Chapter 3 in Poetics of Cinema, Routledge, New York, pp. 1-27.