Moonlight 01.13.17 (starring Mahershala Ali,Naomi Harris and Janelle Monáe )
dontdiedontkillanyon
New member
Exploring black masculinity in Boyz n the Hood and Moonlight
John Singleton and Barry Jenkins’ films understand what it means to grow up young, black and American.
WORDS
KAMBOLE CAMPBELL
"You gotta show them you ain’t soft.” These words, spoken to Moonlight’s protagonist, Chiron, as a young child, reverberate throughout Barry Jenkins’ film – a quiet masterpiece told as a triptych of vignettes about Chiron growing up poor, gay and black in America. Jenkins’ and screenwriter Tarell Alvin’s experiences of growing up in Miami are crucial in creating a nuanced, palpably real portrayal of the social tensions that thrive in poor black neighbourhoods. Their real-life experiences with people make it onto the screen, turning the picture into a reflection of their childhood in a manner that evokes John Singleton’s seminal 1991 film Boyz n the Hood.
In the opening scene of Moonlight, we’re introduced to a drug dealer named Juan (Mahershala Ali) and his corner boy, with Jenkins drawing on personal experience to set up clichés only to immediately subvert them. Juan, despite his harmful profession, is a kind and surprisingly tolerant man who all but takes Chiron under his wing, nicknaming him ‘Little’, teaching him how to swim, and attempting to instil in him the film’s most important life lesson: “Never let someone else tell you who you supposed to be.”
Both Moonlight and Boyz n the Hood prominently incorporate black music, not just as reference points for the eras they respectively portray, but as thematic hooks too. Most notable is the relationship between both films and hip-hop. Generally, hip-hop is a platform for real stories that might otherwise be ignored, to be told – which is essentially the same thing that John Singleton and Jenkins accomplish with their films. The close relationship to this genre of music makes perfect sense. To this day hip-hop music maintains a complex relationship with homosexuality and images of masculinity, which are only now beginning to be challenged by mainstream acts like Young Thug.
But 20 years ago, when Boyz n the Hood was released, gangsta rap was still very prominent and hardly known for its tolerance. Gangsta rap remains an outlet for anger and frustration, its violent braggadocio evolving from a refusal to be trodden underfoot (see: ‘Straight Outta Compton’, ‘Fuk Tha Police’, pretty much any NWA song). Yet this also extends into a refusal to appear vulnerable, ‘feminine’ or just plain weird. Boyz n the Hood (especially in the casting of Ice Cube as Doughboy) has a closer association with the gritty, disturbing realism of gangsta rap, but also includes the popular black genres that preceded hip-hop, with funk, soul and disco punctuating several significant moments of the film.
Moonlight confronts the issue of masculinity head on through its choice of music. Jenkins uses chopped and screwed music – a remix in which the tempo of a song is slowed down that originated in southern hip-hop. This idea is also applied to Nicholas Brittell’s fantastic score. The recurring theme heard early on in the film has its high notes suppressed, slowed down, going from a regular speed and pitch during Chiron’s childhood, to a much lower pitch and slower speed as the story unfolds.
While the connection between ‘Little’ and Chiron is absolutely clear, the character we meet in the film’s third act is decidedly not someone we recognise straight away. ‘Black’ (Trevante Rhodes) is wholly a product of his environment, opting to mimic acts of masculinity that he’s witnessed throughout his life rather than act on his own impulses. In this segment of the film, ’Black’ plays chop and screw versions of R&B songs, one of which is Jidenna’s ‘Classic Man’, a nod at how Chiron acts as a ‘classic’ (heterosexual) man.
Of course, ‘Black’ is fronting, just how Kevin taught him. In Boyz n the Hood, no one illustrates this kind of posturing – and where it gets you – better than Doughboy. During a scene where a night out turns sour, he says: “This is why fools get shot all the time – trying to show how hard they is.” Both films are make sure to show where this masculine one-upmanship leads. In a particularly painful moment in Moonlight, Kevin attempts to prove his masculinity by beating Chiron, who is targeted for his perceived lack of traditional masculinity by his peers. Here, Jenkins shows the lengths that some young black men have to go to in order to hide any perceived vulnerability.
A lot of characters in Moonlight assume that masculinity means asserting dominance. Kevin is the first example of this, playing up to an image of a heterosexuality that practically comes across as parody. A similarly humorous sequence occurs in Boyz n the Hood, when Tre (Cuba Gooding Jr) tries to impress his dad with a phony story about a sexual conquest. Kevin attempts to keep up appearances are desperate, especially during a scene on a beach with Chiron. Following the near-admission that he cries, he backtracks and responds: “Nah. I wish I did.” It’s almost comical that even in a scene as intimate as this, Kevin feels the need to maintain his hyper-masculine facade.
Moonlight and Boyz n the Hood may be vastly different in style and tone, but there’s enough thematic semblance for these films to be considered companion pieces of sorts. They are personal, unique and honest explorations of the connection between the hostile environments that young African-American men are met with, and how they respond. In response to the question of what ‘makes a man’, both Jenkins and Singleton provide a similar answer: it’s not about adhering to or performing specific gender stereotypes, but rather a feeling of independence, and the right to choose a life for one’s self.
PUBLISHED 14 FEB 2017
http://lwlies.com/articles/black-masculinity-boyz-n-the-hood-moonlight/
John Singleton and Barry Jenkins’ films understand what it means to grow up young, black and American.
WORDS
KAMBOLE CAMPBELL
"You gotta show them you ain’t soft.” These words, spoken to Moonlight’s protagonist, Chiron, as a young child, reverberate throughout Barry Jenkins’ film – a quiet masterpiece told as a triptych of vignettes about Chiron growing up poor, gay and black in America. Jenkins’ and screenwriter Tarell Alvin’s experiences of growing up in Miami are crucial in creating a nuanced, palpably real portrayal of the social tensions that thrive in poor black neighbourhoods. Their real-life experiences with people make it onto the screen, turning the picture into a reflection of their childhood in a manner that evokes John Singleton’s seminal 1991 film Boyz n the Hood.
In the opening scene of Moonlight, we’re introduced to a drug dealer named Juan (Mahershala Ali) and his corner boy, with Jenkins drawing on personal experience to set up clichés only to immediately subvert them. Juan, despite his harmful profession, is a kind and surprisingly tolerant man who all but takes Chiron under his wing, nicknaming him ‘Little’, teaching him how to swim, and attempting to instil in him the film’s most important life lesson: “Never let someone else tell you who you supposed to be.”
Both Moonlight and Boyz n the Hood prominently incorporate black music, not just as reference points for the eras they respectively portray, but as thematic hooks too. Most notable is the relationship between both films and hip-hop. Generally, hip-hop is a platform for real stories that might otherwise be ignored, to be told – which is essentially the same thing that John Singleton and Jenkins accomplish with their films. The close relationship to this genre of music makes perfect sense. To this day hip-hop music maintains a complex relationship with homosexuality and images of masculinity, which are only now beginning to be challenged by mainstream acts like Young Thug.
But 20 years ago, when Boyz n the Hood was released, gangsta rap was still very prominent and hardly known for its tolerance. Gangsta rap remains an outlet for anger and frustration, its violent braggadocio evolving from a refusal to be trodden underfoot (see: ‘Straight Outta Compton’, ‘Fuk Tha Police’, pretty much any NWA song). Yet this also extends into a refusal to appear vulnerable, ‘feminine’ or just plain weird. Boyz n the Hood (especially in the casting of Ice Cube as Doughboy) has a closer association with the gritty, disturbing realism of gangsta rap, but also includes the popular black genres that preceded hip-hop, with funk, soul and disco punctuating several significant moments of the film.
Moonlight confronts the issue of masculinity head on through its choice of music. Jenkins uses chopped and screwed music – a remix in which the tempo of a song is slowed down that originated in southern hip-hop. This idea is also applied to Nicholas Brittell’s fantastic score. The recurring theme heard early on in the film has its high notes suppressed, slowed down, going from a regular speed and pitch during Chiron’s childhood, to a much lower pitch and slower speed as the story unfolds.
While the connection between ‘Little’ and Chiron is absolutely clear, the character we meet in the film’s third act is decidedly not someone we recognise straight away. ‘Black’ (Trevante Rhodes) is wholly a product of his environment, opting to mimic acts of masculinity that he’s witnessed throughout his life rather than act on his own impulses. In this segment of the film, ’Black’ plays chop and screw versions of R&B songs, one of which is Jidenna’s ‘Classic Man’, a nod at how Chiron acts as a ‘classic’ (heterosexual) man.
Of course, ‘Black’ is fronting, just how Kevin taught him. In Boyz n the Hood, no one illustrates this kind of posturing – and where it gets you – better than Doughboy. During a scene where a night out turns sour, he says: “This is why fools get shot all the time – trying to show how hard they is.” Both films are make sure to show where this masculine one-upmanship leads. In a particularly painful moment in Moonlight, Kevin attempts to prove his masculinity by beating Chiron, who is targeted for his perceived lack of traditional masculinity by his peers. Here, Jenkins shows the lengths that some young black men have to go to in order to hide any perceived vulnerability.
A lot of characters in Moonlight assume that masculinity means asserting dominance. Kevin is the first example of this, playing up to an image of a heterosexuality that practically comes across as parody. A similarly humorous sequence occurs in Boyz n the Hood, when Tre (Cuba Gooding Jr) tries to impress his dad with a phony story about a sexual conquest. Kevin attempts to keep up appearances are desperate, especially during a scene on a beach with Chiron. Following the near-admission that he cries, he backtracks and responds: “Nah. I wish I did.” It’s almost comical that even in a scene as intimate as this, Kevin feels the need to maintain his hyper-masculine facade.
Moonlight and Boyz n the Hood may be vastly different in style and tone, but there’s enough thematic semblance for these films to be considered companion pieces of sorts. They are personal, unique and honest explorations of the connection between the hostile environments that young African-American men are met with, and how they respond. In response to the question of what ‘makes a man’, both Jenkins and Singleton provide a similar answer: it’s not about adhering to or performing specific gender stereotypes, but rather a feeling of independence, and the right to choose a life for one’s self.
PUBLISHED 14 FEB 2017
http://lwlies.com/articles/black-masculinity-boyz-n-the-hood-moonlight/
blue_london
New member
fortyacres;c-9633937 said:
Great review
vageneral08
New member
Don't compare this shit to boyz n da hood that's a classic nigga
PanchoYoSancho
New member
This shit just won Best Picture, but if it wasnt for the gay storyline, it wouldn't have even been nominated.
Not homophobia, just an observation.
Not homophobia, just an observation.
PanchoYoSancho;c-9662973 said:
Thats like saying Hidden Figures was only nominated for the racism storyline.... Arrival was only nominated for the alien parts... Hell & High Water was only nominated for the bank robberies... Lion was only nominated because it was a true story... Ect
Let Moonlight be great
StoneColdMikey
New member
DOnt forget lala land winning because it's a Hollywood musical damn near autowin
fortyacres
Moderator
Black Excellence.
PanchoYoSancho
New member
TheGOAT;c-9662980 said:
Hidden Figures was a historically factual and important story that needed to be told. Racism wasn't a storyline, it was a reality.
There's been a lot of movies like Moonlight without the gay storyline and most of them got little to no attention. This movie got the attention because the gay storyline appealed to a white audience. Not saying it didnt deserve what it got, but so did other better movies.
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StoneColdMikey
New member
PanchoYoSancho;c-9662991 said:
You could say the same about every single Slave/Jim crow era movie we seen.
StoneColdMikey
New member
Niggas say black lives matter, but only for black heterosexual men.
I remember over a decade ago... another gay themed movie was favourite for the Best Picture award at the Oscars and surprisingly a movie about race beat it (Brokeback Mountain & Crash) ... but the major players in the gay cowboy flick were White
I think there’s discussions to be had on why Moonlight had such a universal affection from (White) audiences when similar movies about 'coming of age' involving Black men have been made numerous times but without the main protagonist being gay...
John Singleton has been mentioned in this thread and I saw Babyboy last month. A classic coming of age Black movie if you ask me. No recognition though
I think there’s discussions to be had on why Moonlight had such a universal affection from (White) audiences when similar movies about 'coming of age' involving Black men have been made numerous times but without the main protagonist being gay...
John Singleton has been mentioned in this thread and I saw Babyboy last month. A classic coming of age Black movie if you ask me. No recognition though
Swiffness!
New member
deadeye;c-9618952 said:
None, huh?
Already Home_17;c-9621202 said:
If there wasn't a gay scene, these same fools would complain that the Oscars only reward black actors and filmmakers that focus on negativity, drugs and gangster shit.
If Hidden Figures won, they'd be calling those NASA mathematicians coons.
If Selma won last year, it'd be because "they want us to be peaceful and not fight back".
Etc.
rip.dilla;c-9663021 said:
"Blackbird", a coming of age movie about a gay black man, came out 2 years ago and starred a previous Oscar winner...yet wasnt nominated for anything.
It also has a 29% on Rotten Tomatoes compared to Moonlight's 98%.
Maybe Moonlight won because it was the Best Picture? Regardless of black, white, gay, straight, hood, cowboy......because there are examples to the contrary for anything.
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TheGOAT;c-9663025 said:
I'm saying Babyboy and a host of other movies centalised on a Black male figure... except you assume Moonlight trumps all those films.
I'm reading articles about Moonlight in the papers and it's White people loving it because they perceive Black people 'homophobic' naturally... and homosexuality being a taboo subject
