In the Name of Moonlight

*Warning to readers: Moonlight (2016) spoilers below

As an aspiring Film and Media Studies major, I have always had a passion for film and have made it my goal to keep up to date with the all of the Academy Award nominated films each year. The film that captivated me most to me this past year was Moonlight, directed by Barry Jenkins, which not only moved me due to its amazing writing and camera work, but mainly due to its intimate themes of struggling with identity in an unforgiving and isolating world. The film, inspired by the short story In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue by Tarell Alvin McCraney, tells the story of Chiron and his struggles of growing up as an African American gay man in a rough Miami neighborhood that is divided by class and race. While not superficially present, the parallels between Chiron and Caliban from Shakespeare's The Tempest do not go unnoticed.

Shown in three distinct chapters of his life, Chiron is labeled as an outsider as he deviates from the masculine norms of society and dons names given to him by others throughout his childhood and adolescence. As a young boy, he is bullied and given the name Little for his shy and passive personality and size. As a teenager, he is given the nickname Black by his closest friend and first love, Kevin, as an extension of the kind of tough-boy attitude he should be exerting. It becomes evident that through his differences, he comes classified as "Other” and language becomes a force through which to bind his identity. His quiet disposition and sexuality automatically label him as substandard and beneath others. Likewise, Caliban’s native characteristics become cause for Prospero to deem him as brutish and unfit to be in society. Such classification consequently becomes a way in which oppressors in a social hierarchy diminish the worth of individuals by deeming them inferior due to deviations from norms.

A very crucial scene in Moonlight, and one that I am very fond of, is presented in the first chapter of the film. In the scene, Chiron sits by the seaside with Juan, his mentor and father figure, and listens to him tell a story in which an elderly woman sees young Juan running around under the moonlight.

Juan: [The woman] said ... "In moonlight, black boys look blue. You're blue. That's what I'm gonna call you: Blue."

Chiron: Is your name Blue?

Juan: Nah. At some point, you gotta decide for yourself who you're going to be. Can't let anybody make that decision for you.

It is these words that Chiron takes to heart in his quest for self-acceptance. He questions the labels placed on him and attempts to fight his abusers, such as the bullies and his emotionally abusive mother, but ultimately becomes unable to battle the constant deprecation from those around him and to come to terms with himself in a harsh world that chastises him for his differences. We see this explicitly in the final chapter of the film in which we see Chiron as an older man in his late thirties. To the surprise of the viewer, Chiron becomes virtually unrecognizable. He is no longer the shy, scrawny kid who loves to dance; he is now a drug dealer living in Atlanta, is muscular with a tough body build, wears a grill, and officially adopts the name "Black." In every way it seems, he has transformed.

While it seems that he has finally been able to create an identity for himself, the sad reality remains that he has accepted his community's codes of masculinity and has accepted an identity that isn't truly his, but is one society that believes he should express. His identity becomes a disguise as he accepts that his deviation from masculinity has made him inferior. Caliban doesn't stray far from this daunting transformation. While actively in opposition against Prospero in much of the play, seen through his cursing, stating his legitimate claim to the island, and plotting to overthrow him from power, he willingly asks for Prospero's forgiveness at the end and accepts his unjust behavior towards him.

"Ay, that I will. And I’ll be wise hereafter

And seek for grace." -Caliban Act 5, Scene 1

Despite his attempts to resist Prospero's control, he proves unsuccessful in acknowledging his own worth outside of the identity that has been placed onto him. He consequently accepts Prosper's power over him and accepts that he has been an inferior and lesser being. By constantly being called "slave" and belittled, and constantly being called inferior and further showing the superiority of being masculine in Chiron's case, both characters become unable to escape the prison that such oppressors make for them. The derogatory language and constant displays of majority superiority allow such characters to fall prey to social oppression and become ways that they accept the belief that their differences make them inferior.

Rousseau quotes Ovid in his First Discourse: “Here I am a barbarian, because here they do not understand me.” I find this quote applicable to many things I read and see now and I find it especially applicable here. The quote reflects a constant theme we see in which the flawed human disposition deems those different from the majority to be inferior. Chiron and Caliban's differences allow them to be labeled for their "otherness," which brings the burden of oppression and powerlessness. While Chiron gets a moment of self-actualization as he rekindles with his young love Kevin at the end, both characters share the struggle of maintaining their identity in a cruel world that is determined to not accept them.