Moonlight Summary + Review

Moonlight is a film that follows Chiron, a black gay man, through his life. The movie follows him as a child, adolescent, and then as an adult. As a child, Chiron is bullied by the other children and is neglected by his drug addict mother, living in a dangerous area of Miami. He is shy and withdrawn with his only friend being a boy named Kevin. Juan, a drug dealer, and his girlfriend Teresa offer Chiron a safe haven away from home. Chiron has a falling out with Juan once he learns he sold his mother drugs. As a teenager, Chiron is still being bullied. Juan has passed away, but Chiron still visits Teresa. He shares a romantic moment with Kevin, but things take a turn for the worse as Kevin is manipulated into beating Chiron up by he high school bully. Chiron goes to juvie in result of an act of retaliation against the bully. As an adult, Chiron sells drugs and lives alone. He receives a call from Kevin who apologizes for what he did when he was younger and tells him to come visit. On his way to visit, Chiron sees his mother and forgives her. Then, Chiron and Kevin reconnect.

I think this movie was excellent. The story was put together very well with the three different stages. The cinematography was also very good. The movie was powerful, emotional, and the acting was great. This movie was a very important step in media history. The cast was all black and told the story of a black man, which is one of the most underrepresented intersections. The story touches upon the intersection of being black and a man and how those two identities affect each other. The movie explores additional topics like masculinity and vulnerability. I think this would be a good movie to show when teaching about intersectionality, gender stereotypes, sexuality, toxic masculinity, POC LGBT, black history month, or unheard voices in the LGBT community. I would rate this movie a 10 out of 10.

Resources:
https://www.hrc.org/resources/being-african-american-lgbtq-an-introduction

https://www.unitedphilforum.org/sites/default/files/Young%20Black%20Men%20%26%20Masculinity%20%5BABFE%5D.pdf

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/576c2d15ebbd1aee23f3443f/t/58063e61ebbd1ad192b8b000/1476804202694/032916_ACTM_Educator_Guide.pdf

https://www.npr.org/2017/11/25/564887796/for-lgbtq-people-of-color-discrimination-compounds

https://www.montclair.edu/media/montclairedu/centerforstudentinvolvement/lgbtcenter/FAQ-POC.pdf

https://lgbtcampus.memberclicks.net/assets/tqsoc%20support%202016.pdf

https://www.glsen.org/sites/default/files/BlackHeroes_13_1.pdf

https://www.glaad.org/publications/blackhistorymonthkit

http://www.nea.org/tools/lessons/black-history-month.htm

https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/collections/teaching-content/black-history-month/