Moonlight Theme

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The film Moonlight by Berry Jenkins is considered a “coming-of-age” film with universal themes, but one of the main themes in the film is learning about the struggle to find one’s identity in a hyper-masculine and ultimately homophobic culture. There are two scenes that fit in to this theme. One occurs during the first section of the film, entitled “Little,” and the second occurs in the final section of the film, entitled “Chiron,” although this film follows the same character each section has its own definitive characteristic but both scenes still fully tie into the main theme, albeit in very different ways. The first scene from the section “Little” begins what Juan takes Little to the beach to teach him how to swim. This scene is important …show more content…

Chiron, who is now fully grown, is visiting his old friend and romantic interest from high school. Both are adult now and have lived separate lives with no interaction. In this scene, Chiron and Kevin are eating together in the diner that Kevin works in. The static movement is emphasized by a shot of them sitting on their respective sides of the booth, Chiron on the left and Kevin on the right. Chiron, who’s life has been portrayed for the last hour is still in the position of harmony and rest and although Kevin has played an important role in the film he is situated on the side of adversity and tension. An example of dynamic movement occurs after Kevin has gotten up to help a guest in the dinner. This movement occurs just after the small argument Chiron and Kevin have, when Kevin is making his way back to the table he is moving from left to right, because he is still in the position of tension. This tension can clearly be seen in an important example of camera movement in this scene is after the small argument, and Kevin leaves, the camera zooms in on the door out of the diner and then back to Chiron. This camera movement shows how Chiron considers leaving, thinking it has been too long, and that him and Kevin are too different now, but luckily, he stays, fighting against the small voices of homophobia that have followed him throughout his …show more content…

Another aspect of the lighting is the natural light from the diner covering the other half of the men. Once again, the two men are being separated in a past and present. The diner lighting, which is a harsher tone shows the difficult past of both men, but the blue, romantic, light shows where they are and where they can go. These two men are fighting against what their culture has told them is wrong and they are making their own, unique, place in the

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