Moonlight Themes
Moonlight has themes such as...
- Masculinity
- Identity
Masculinity:
In Moonlight Chiron differs from peers his age. He lacks a father figure, and his mother does drugs and does not provide much support to him. This lack of a father figure in his life may be part of the reason Chiron finds it so difficult to fit in with his peers and is seen as "soft".
Fighting is one way that some characters in this movie display their masculinity and status. The movie starts with Chiron being chased and almost being beaten up by his peers. Chiron also displays performative masculinity in the form of fighting with his friend in front of his peers.
Chiron finds a male role-model in Juan who teaches him things like how to swim and about what it means to be gay.
Identity:
As previously mentioned, Chiron is viewed as fundamentally different from his peers. Without support from his parents and role models in his life he seems lost and struggles with his identity.
From the very start of the movie Chiron is bullied physically and verbally and called slurs. He is not in a space where he would feel comfortable exploring his sexuality or identity. As the movie progresses it seems that his mother's drug addiction intensifies over time which is difficult for Chiron. He also loses Juan who is his only male role model.
I agree that the lack of a father figure might have impacted Chiron to make him more emotional being raised by just his mother, but I do not necessarily think that is what made him 'soft'. I think because of his personality and also the fact of not having the most confidence in himself due to the struggle in trying to find himself in his sexuality. I think that plays a bigger role into why he was different from all of the other kids.
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