As a child, I was considered gifted because of my love for books and conditioned to think that obedience equaled safety in America. With every viewing since then, I see both the glaring differences and similarities between my journey and Chiron’s. When I saw Moonlight as a gay, black man at the age of 22, I was shaken to realize that this was the first moment in cinema I had seen a black man reassuring a potentially gay, black male that his existence was not only valid, but also worth taking pride in. Can’t let nobody make that decision for you.” Juan responds, “At some point, you gotta decide for yourself who you gone be. Chiron then asks Juan if Blue is his truer name. During an outing to the beach Juan recalls a woman in Cuba giving him the nickname, Blue. Young Chiron is dealing with the homophobic bullying of his peers, a mother battling drug addiction, and uncertainty about his sexuality, when Juan, a neighborhood drug dealer, decides to become his mentor. Even two years after its release, there is a scene in it that still reaches me. The 2016 film Moonlight is about Chiron - a black boy gradually becoming a man in America’s ghettos - coming to terms with his sexuality in three chapters. Sign up for our newsletter to get submission announcements and stay on top of our best work.
