childhood friend Kevin masturbates him on a beach in front of the sea. Again, the ocean represents freedom, in this case, sexual freedom. Chiron can only allow himself to embrace his homosexuality when he is near the water. However, this freedom is still somewhat repressed. The action takes place at night, and so under cover of darkness suggesting that to express their true selves, Kevin and Chiron must do it in secret. It means they are not yet fully able to accept themselves and their sexuality. This is shown in the shot where Kevin masturbates Chiron; the camera is placed behind them, so we only see their backs with Chiron having placed his head on Kevin ' s shoulder. This mirrors Chiron’ s framing throughout the film. There are multiple tracking shots where the spectator is placed behind Chiron- we are not allowed to read his expressions or fully understand him, similarly to how he cannot understand himself.
As a teenager, Chiron is bullied at school, primarily because his peers had assumed that he was gay. Kevin is eventually peer pressured into hitting Chiron, and Chiron was beaten until he can no longer stand. Chiron subsequently hits the bully( Terrel), who orchestrated the attack with a chair resulting in Chiron being sent to a Juvenile Hall. This sequence signifies Chiron’ s transformation from a teenager into the third chaptertitled ' Black '.
Similarly to how African Americans separate themselves from the water in modern-day western society due to a fear of the unknown, in the film ' s final chapter, Chiron moves to Atlanta, a city situated inland, meaning he moves away from the water. As ' Black ' Chiron creates a toughened‘ gangster’ exterior as he makes himself physically big and strong and becomes a drug dealer. Through doing this, he assigns himself to a stereotype of Black men in America as he cannot comprehend the coexistence of his racial identity and his sexual orientation. In America, there is a feeling in Black communities that being gay is‘ something that white people do’( Carbado, 2001p. 250). The idea that being gay is associated with whiteness mirrors how swimming was( and still is) perceived to be a white activity. This rule dictated by society means Chiron is only permitted to embrace one of the two key elements of his character. By moving away from the ocean, he rejects his sexuality. Chiron suppresses the truth about his sexuality to fit into the standards of a society that continuously rejects him, and his connection to the ocean and water begins to fade away. In an interview, Jenkins said, ' growing up in Miami, the ocean has this charge, this energy, something you can feel. Sometimes you can smell it despite the fact it might be two miles away’( Entertainment Weekly, 2017). Chiron can connect to his true self when near the water since the ocean is a central aspect of life in Miami. When Chiron lives near the sea, he seems to partially accept his sexuality despite external factors belittling him for it. At the beginning of the chapter, Chiron has just been released from prison and receives a call from Kevin to visit him in Miami. He does so, and they reconnect, with Kevin inviting Chiron back to his apartment.
In the film’ s penultimate shot, Chiron places his head on Kevin ' s shoulder- mirroring their position when Kevin masturbated Chiron on the beach. This time, however, the spectator is permitted to see the men’ s facial expressions as the camera is placed infront of them. Although there is no water visibly present, the non-diegetic sound of waves can be heard. It is the first time we see adult Chiron as vulnerable, allowing the toughened exterior he manufactured for himself to fall away. Jenkins alignment of this shot with the sound of waves shows that Chiron is finally at peace with his sexuality by returning to Miami.
The film’ s closing shot is of Little looking out to sea, highlighting Chiron’ s lifelong connection to the water and ultimately unites the Black people’ s bodies and water’ s image indefinitely. Before the camera cuts to black, Little turns and looks up out of frame. Although we as spectators are not privy to what he is looking at, Jenkins suggests optimism about his future that was not there before Chiron returned to Miami. The lighting is essential in this shot as it appears to have a blue tint to it, making Little’ s skin glow blue. The film is adapted from Tarell Alvin McCrane ' s unpublished play In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue. The play ' s title links Black people’ s bodies with water since a
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