The Sexual Identity and Overall Well Being of Chiron in Moonlight, a Film by Barry Jenkins

The film that is considered in this case is Moonlight directed by Barry Jenkins based on Terry Alwin’s unpublished autobiography. The film follows the storyline of the main character Chiron who is faced with vast challenges growing up. The major social concern, in this case, revolves around his sexual identity and overall wellbeing especially because he is a gay black man. The sexuality is considered a huge issue within the black community, and thus there is a strong focus on establishing a very significant engagement both at school and at home. He is forced to live in denial considering his sexual orientations, which is detrimental to his overall wellbeing. He must be able to overcome all the negativities met towards to be successful.

The life that Chiron lives plays a key role in influencing who he becomes when a grown up. He embraces a phrase, which seeks to acknowledge the fact that every individual can only discover himself or herself, and no one should decide for anyone. Being gay in a commonly known society is not an easy thing to undertake especially for a young man who is taunted by a difficult past both at school and at home. The movie highlights important aspects of black society and their culture as well as their preferences. Being able to stand for what you believe is right is one of the key aspects that have kept Chiron going despite the difficult time. The transformation that he can undertake over the course of the film shows his resilience to succeed even in adversity.

The black characters integrated into the film show an outright hate for gay characters, which makes it very difficult for Chiron to come out and express himself and what he feels deep within regarding his sexual orientation. Chiron, however, is not weakened by the negative attitude towards people of his kind from his community. He is very much determined to succeed. In one of the scenes, Chiron approached Terrel who a bully and had ordered Chiron’s friend to beat him up and smashes a chair over his head. This shows the level that Chiron is willing to go to mark his own identity in a very difficult environment. Sexual identity has remained as a key issue among the black Americans since most of them have been unable to come to term of the existence of gay men in the society.

The movie has been clearly derived from the existing reality on key issues involving sexuality especially of homosexuality among the black community. The overall understanding on the difficulties, which Chiron passes through, explains why it has not been easy for many black individuals to come out openly and declare their gay sexual orientation. Being gay is seen as a very big mistake, which the community cannot forgive an individual for since it is not inscribed anywhere within the African culture, which forms the basis under which community members are engaged. Even though there have been significant developments, it is very clear that homosexuals are highly despised and segregated where they are considered as being outcasts and portray bad image.