Barry Jenks crilly acclaimed film, ‘Moonlight,’ sisteps stereotyp to tell a different kd of story about Black gay men.
Contents:
- MOONLIGHT IS A BETIFULLY NUANCED GAY G-OF-AGE TALEMOONLIGHT IS A BETIFULLY NUANCED GAY G-OF-AGE TALE
- 'MOONLIGHT' EXPLOR OFTEN UNSEEN GAY, BLACK MALE EXPERIENCE
- ‘MOONLIGHT' IS NOT JT ANOTHER BLACK GAY MOVIE
- IN 'MOONLIGHT,' GROWG UP BLACK, GAY AND POOR IN 1980S MIAMI
MOONLIGHT IS A BETIFULLY NUANCED GAY G-OF-AGE TALEMOONLIGHT IS A BETIFULLY NUANCED GAY G-OF-AGE TALE
* gay movie moonlight *
Like Carol and Brokeback Mounta before , Moonlight nveys the pa of the ntug social stigma around homosexualy, the search for eedom and love, and the nstant stggle to munite and drop personal barriers. Moonlight rembl Brokeback Mounta and Carol s lh stagg, tensely ternal performanc, and treatment of the gay experience a very specific i. '"It's almost taboo to be a black Amerin man who is homosexual, or a black man who is homosexual bee growg up you're told that you have to be that much more imposg, that much bigger, that much better...
"It's kd of oxymoronic to be homosexual and have those same attribut. ""It has universal them about humany, about our universal search for love and also 's reprentg the gay muny a way that I don't thk they generally are reprented, " the actrs said.
Janelle Monae, who plays a surrogate mother figure to Chiron, said she hoped movie-go would "feel more empathetic towards the black, poor gay male experience and that we ntue not to ostracize those who are different om . One of the film’s most memorable scen when a teenage Chiron star at himself his bathroom, his face bloodied om a fight wh homophobic school bulli. When to films about sexualy, Black gay men have had our share of low budget movi wh medcre actg and stereotypil storyl.
'MOONLIGHT' EXPLOR OFTEN UNSEEN GAY, BLACK MALE EXPERIENCE
A gay man’s journey om a prived childhood through rage and towards self-realisatn is a movg, myster dance to the mic of time * gay movie moonlight *
McCraney, a Black gay man, often challeng genr and sexualy his work, and the movie he saw much of himself. It’s hard to ll the ma character the film gay bee he never intified as such; however, most of his timate nnectns the movie were between him and another man. And that do not make a gay or “sissy.
For this reason, Moonlight unrsr the experienc many lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr (LGBT) youth face when creatg their own fay and support system.
Hell, even I remember as a young Black gay man beg ncerned about the negative rpons to my sexualy om my fay and close iends. Often tim when we are troduced to Black gay characters, often volv a bleak story about eher beg HIV-posive, sexually asslted by fay members, or the “down low” boogieman cheatg on his wife. It’s important to realize we have to go beyond the narrativ when talkg about “g of age” movi, and regnize Black gay men have a history of rilience and overg challeng.
‘MOONLIGHT' IS NOT JT ANOTHER BLACK GAY MOVIE
Black gay men are much more than sexual beasts and dysfunctnal dividuals. Black gay men serve the space to be human- on and off screen. This film is not jt another Black gay movie, is lorful, creative, and reflective—and well worth your time.
It tells the story of Chiron, a gay, black boy growg up poor Miami, and follows him through his teenage years to adulthood.
“Beg a black man Amerin is relatively difficult right now, beg a gay man Ameri is credibly difficult and so beg a black, gay man, like I’ve said before, n be perceived as the worst possible thg right now.
IN 'MOONLIGHT,' GROWG UP BLACK, GAY AND POOR IN 1980S MIAMI
They key to playg Chiron, he says, was not to assume a difference between beg gay and beg straight. “One of my bt iends is homosexual so I knew his stggle, but wasn’t about pullg om that.
If you haven't heard, Moonlight is a tly remarkable portrayal of black gay inty. Jim Chuchu, Kenya, 2014Kenyan filmmaker Jim Chuchu and the Nairobi-based Nt Collective's anthology, one of Okayai's Top Films of 2014, picts queer life Kenya through a seri of five black-and-whe vigte is based off of a te story om a larger photo project, also tled Stori of Our Liv, which The Nt Collective archived the ttimoni of persons intifyg as gay, lbian, bisexual, transgenr and tersex om Kenya begng June 2013.