Contesting stereotypes and norms in African-American
popular culture
Representations of race, (homo)sexuality and fluidity within Baldwin’s Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone (1968), Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight (2016) and Frank
Ocean’s “Pyramids” and “Nikes”.
MA Thesis in Literary Studies: Literature, Culture and Society Graduate School for Humanities
Universiteit van Amsterdam By: Stella van Meersbergen
10355987
Supervisor: dr. H.H. (Hanneke) Stuit Second reader: dr. S. (Suze) van der Poll
Table of contents
1. Introduction……….. 3 - 9 2. Fluidity of Identity in James Baldwin’s Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone
(1968)……….10-20 2.1. The general consensus………10-13 2.2. Meeting the norm: Leo and Barbara………..13-14 2.3. Double oppression: Sexuality and race……….14-16 2.4. Heteronormative desire: Leo and Madeleine………16 2.5. Contesting the norm: Leo and Christopher……….. 17-18 2.6. Fluidity as a defense and power mechanism………18-19 3. Appropriation and mimicry within Moonlight (2016)………..21-32
3.1. Imposed identity……….23-26 3.2. Changing identity………26-27 3.3. Black and Blue: Mimicking identity………..27-31 4. Contesting the genre: Fluidity in Frank Ocean’s lyrics and videos……….33-45
4.1. Affirming stereotypes in “Pyramids”………..………..35-38 4.2. Contesting stereotypes in “Nikes”………..……….38-40 5. Conclusion………..42-45 Bibliography
Introduction
In the last five years, African-American literature has been more visible than before, and these narratives are being portrayed in different media. This might be a response to the political issues regarding racial injustice and inequality in the USA which are being high-lighted through news outlets as well as popular culture. Critical African-American writers such as Ta-Nehisi Coates are gaining popularity. Coates even has been compared to Ja-mes Baldwin, whose legacy is central to the African-American literary canon. Even though they discuss various similar racial problems within society in their essays, Baldwin has been known for his fiction which touches upon other subjects as well. In his fiction he often focusses on homosexual or bisexual relationships between biracial characters. As a gay African-American writer he had to endure discrimination within his community as well. One of his least popular novels, Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone (1968) included gay, bisexual and interracial relationships. Nowadays, novels such as Tell Me How Long the
Train’s Been Gone are hard to find within recent African-American literature. Prominent
writers such as Ta-Nehisi Coates focus more on racial inequalities and social injustices in essays, columns or autobiographies instead of writing fiction.
Instead of literature, there have been a lot of other ways in which African-American narratives are being portrayed in the last few years. For example, at the beginning of 2018, Black Panther (2018) was released in cinemas. This film, which is the highest gros-sing film by an African-American director, gained a lot of popularity, especially within the African-American community. Major factors such as racism and sexism are being tackled in this film, but there is one factor which still is not included, homosexuality. A film which does include homosexuality within an African-American narrative is Oscar winner
Moon-light (2016). In 2017, MoonMoon-light won an Academy Award for Best Picture. MoonMoon-light
focu-ses on a homosexual man who struggles with his identity within society and within his Afri-can-American subculture. The script is based on situations the director Barry Jenkins and screenwriter Tarrell Alvin McCraney experienced themselves. This film included an all-black cast and was rewarded with an Academy Award. However, it does not reach the po-pularity of a film such as Black Panther, even though a lot of elements are comparable. It is interesting that the makers of Moonlight use film as a medium to talk about homosexua-lity within African-American culture. Just as happened fifty years ago with Baldwin’s novel on the same subject, which turned out to be one of his least popular ones, Moonlight did not achieve the popular success a film as Black Panther lay claim to. This could be a result of the recent political issues regarding racial injustice in the USA. Films such as Black
Panther show powerful and heroic black characters in contrast to Moonlight, which
focus-ses on a more complex and vulnerable character.
African-American music artists are becoming more popular as well and they often address political and racial arguments within their lyrics. Rapper Kendrick Lamar received the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for his album Damn. He is the first rapper to receive this prize. More recently, hiphop artist Childish Gambino released a new song and accompanying vi-deo “This is America” on May 4, 2018, with highly potent lyrics and imagery addressing multiple political topics. Many important topics are being discussed within hip-hop music and due to its popularity there is a large audience. We can draw a parallel between litera-ture, film and music. In all three genres political and racial issues are being discussed and highly popular, but issues around LGBT issues are often not included. Within the hip-hop and R&B scene there is an exception. Rapper and singer Frank Ocean has openly talked about having feelings for both men and women, and addresses this topic in certain songs as well. Many have praised him for doing this within a subculture which often still shows homophobia. Still, the topic is not completely accepted within this subculture either. Frank Ocean is a major artist but other popular artists within the hip-hop and R&B scene still in-clude homophobia in their lyrics.
It would be important to analyze how in different ways, the same subject is being processed through different forms of media. Analyzing this, it would be significant to re-search how homosexuality is portrayed within African-American popular culture and how it affects the concept of masculinity within African-American literature and culture. Also, it is interesting to see in what way this concept has changed since Baldwin’s work and why it is being processed in different forms of media now.
This thesis focusses on three objects within three different forms of media. The first research object will be James Baldwin’s novel Tell Me How Long The Train’s Been Gone (1968) which I will focus on in chapter two. The second research object I will focus on is the film Moonlight (2016), directed by Barry Jenkins which will be discussed in chapter three. Lastly, in chapter four I will focus on the music and videoclips by hip-hop and R&B artist Frank Ocean. These are three well-known objects. Baldwin can be seen as canoni-cal, Moonlight will be remembered because of its Academy Award and Frank Ocean is one of the most popular artists at the moment. These three works all critically address racism, violence and social injustice. A factor that is included most prominently is sexuality and es-pecially homosexuality within the African-American community. By examining three diffe-rent forms of media all focussing on homosexuality within African-American culture and by authors and artists who are African-American and homosexual or bisexual themselves I
hope I can shed some light on the way these artists compete with the stereotypes that exist within African-American culture and how they use fluid identities to affirm and contest these stereotypes.
To place these works into a broader framework I will focus on a few different theo-ries as discussed above. First and foremost I will look at gender performativity as explai-ned in works by Judith Butler. Besides this, I am going to include the concept of mimicry as introduced by Homi Bhabha in his “Of Mimicry and Man”. Besides these bigger concepts I will focus on articles which shed some light on the current debates surrounding these re-search objects and homosexuality and masculinity within the African-American community to create a broader framework. By applying Butler’s and Bhabha’s theory onto these three case studies as well as taking into account the general discourse on homosexuality within the African-American community I would like to show that through different forms of media, different strategies are being used to deal with the double oppression people of color who do not meet the heteronormative standards endure.
In this thesis I argue that through different forms of media, African-American authors and artists compete with the stereotypical concept of masculinity within African-American literature and culture as well as use their fluid identity as a survival strategy against stereo-typing by their community. I suggest that appropriate way to research this is by looking at popular culture since it often reflects what is happening in specific societies, such as the African-American society. Besides this, popular culture is also performative and can trigger reflection and change. As discussed above, the theory I use to substantiate my argument will primarily be Judith Butler’s performativity as discussed in her book Bodies that Matter (1993) and her article “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenome-nology and Feminist Theory” (1988). Besides Butler I am going to focus on Homi Bhabha’s “Of Mimicry and Man” (1984). I apply their theory onto three different case studies. I will introduce these theories briefly before applying them to my research objects.
Judith Butler focusses on different aspects regarding gender theory in her works. One of the aspects she focusses on is gender performativity. In her book Gender Trouble (1990) she states that throughout the course of a life, one repeats performances of gender that conform to the gender norm of society. Thus, gender is always a doing. (25) An indivi-dual thus switches between performances and acts and in this way taking on other identi-ties conformed to societal norms and constructions.
However, Butler argues that the performativity of gender is not an unconstrained voluntary act. Sexuality cannot be made or unmade and the subject cannot form his or her sexuality as he or she pleases. (Bodies that Matter 94) She argues that there is a
tenden-cy to think that sexuality is constructed or determined and states that this is not the case. In her article “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory” (1988) Butler states: “As a public action and performative act, gen-der is not a radical choice or project that reflects merely individual choice, but neither is it imposed or inscribed upon the individual, as some post-structuralist displacements of the subject would contend.” (525) Even though gender or identity is not completely a choice, it is not something that is completely imposed on the individual by society either. While one cannot escape the fact that some identity is imposed it is still possible, within the cons-traints set by society, to choose one’s own identity.
Butler states: “In the first instance, performativity must be understood not as a sin-gular or deliberate “act”, but, rather, as the reiterative and citational practice by which dis-course often produces the effects that it names.” (Bodies that Matter 2) With this, Butler wants to argue that performativity is not just a one-off phenomenon but that it is repetitive. She argues that performativity is not always a singular act but always a repetition of a norm or a set of norms. It takes repetition to take on an identity. It is not a singular act but has to be repeated in order to work.
In her article“Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomeno-logy and Feminist Theory” she states:
Gender reality is performative which means, quite simply, that it is real only to the extent that it is performed. It seems fair to say that certain kinds of acts
are usually interpreted as expressive or a gender core identity, and that these acts either conform to an expected gender identity or contest that expectation in some way. (527-528) As I will demonstrate in my chapters, most characters from my three objects of study are conforming or contesting expectations from society and their community. As Butler argues in the quote above, many acts are often seen as the conforming or contesting of a certain expected gender identity. In order to take on an identity one must repeat a certain act. As will become clear from my analysis of the research objects, the characters often switch between acts. They conform and contest expectations and stereotypes at the same time and this will show the way in which their identities are fluid.
In this way, one can link the concept of gender performativity to the chosen re-search objects. The creators of these objects all present their own identity to the public and you could see this as a form of performativity. They might repeat the same performan-ce all the time or switch between acts. The identity and characters within their own work also fluctuate throughout. They all contain fluid identities. The same goes for the artists. A writer such as James Baldwin can have a different identity as an author and as a person.
Same goes for filmmakers such as Barry Jenkins. Frank Ocean can perform a different identity with every musical piece or stage performance. I will analyze specific texts and works by these makers in order to discuss issues of homosexuality and race. By doing this I will create insight on the ways in which these objects add to our knowledge about gender performativity.
The second theme I focus on is mimicry as described in Homi Bhabha’s article “Of Mimicry and Man: The Ambivalence of Colonial Discourse”. Bhabha introduces this theory in relation to (post)colonialism. He states that mimicry is one of the most effective strate-gies of colonial power and knowledge. (126). Mimicry repeats and appropriates “the other” by visualizing power while at the same time in-appropriates by posing a threat to discipli-nary powers. Bhabha describes this phenomenon as “almost the same but not quite”. When mimicry takes places, certain aspects of the other are being mimicked but they are never entirely copied. Bhabha states that mimicry repeats, rather than represents. (128). It will become clear that this theory is not only applicable on postcolonial discourses but highly appropriate to gender and race theory as well. In chapter 3 I will elaborate on Bhab-ha’s concept of mimicry while applying it to my research object Moonlight.
Having discussed some major theories, I would like to focus some more on gender and sexuality in combination with race to provide a broader scope on this subject. In the
Anthology Black Queer Studies (2005) several authors shine their light on gender and
race, especially focussing on African-American culture. Cathy J. Cohen argues that queer people of color are often being rejected within their own communities besides being op-pressed in overall society. On top of this, she states that many people of color identify the term “queer” as a term that is rooted in class, race and gender privilege. (38) The term is introduced by mostly white thinkers and authors and does not have roots within the black community.
Cohen states that if we look at the past, heterosexuality, which is seen as the over-all norm, has not always been accessible for people of color. The nation identified sexual restraint, marriage and stability with civilization itself. These beliefs reinforced the racial beliefs about African-Americans. Slaves were often not capable of marrying legally and their sexual lives were not seen as restrained. White supremacists used this to justify the violence and exploitation of black bodies. So, African-Americans who were heterosexual still experienced suppression and found themselves lacking privilege and power. (40) Co-hen suggests that linking identity and behavior solely to power is not as linear and clear as some queer theorists want to argue, especially for people of color. (43) She has some trouble with using the word queer in the context of people of color as well.
In this same book, Roderick A. Ferguson touches on the subject of the exclusion African-American homosexuals experience. He says that individuals who do not experien-ce racial, class and gender oppression and are seen as “virtually normal” apart from their homosexuality are more likely to receive complete equality and liberation through for example legal marriage. For people of color and economically disadvantaged individuals who are homosexual this is much harder and they need a much bigger social change to improve their lives and escape oppression. (58) According to Ferguson this could be seen as a reason of the disavowal of black queers in representations within the African-Ameri-can community, history or studies. (65) The fact that being a person of color is already seen as a disadvantage often leads to communities not accepting another so called disad-vantage such as homosexuality. Ferguson refers to James Baldwin and his viewpoints on Black queerness multiple times. He interprets that there is a standard image of the black man as a protector and defender of his family and his race. In order to be the representati-ve race man, one must be heterosexual and male. (69) This notion is being discussed in many other texts regarding homosexuality and masculinity within African-American culture.
To elaborate on this more, Marlon B. Ross states that People of color often expe-rience oppression, being homosexual does not help. Still, Ross points out the fact that race is always being referred to first. A black homosexual has to deal with his racialized body before dealing with his gendered or homo-sexualized body. Ross states that it is im-possible to say that the attitude against homosexuals is not visible within African-American communities and discourses as well. They have been influenced by the dominant attitudes against homosexuality. (146)
Taking these perspectives into account, it becomes clear that many authors focus on the fact that homosexuality or queerness combined with being a person of color can be seen as a double struggle. People of color usually experience discrimination and oppres-sion already because of their appearance, and being homosexual is still seen as some-thing different and not completely accepted either. It will be valuable to see in what way the three research objects contain representations of black queer men and how they compete with these stereotypical notions.
As someone who is not part of the studied subculture, I can only give an objective outsider’s perspective. Nonetheless I believe that by looking at the three case studies -Tell
Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone, Moonlight and Frank Ocean- and gaining insight in
the overall discussion surrounding the topic might lead to a wider understanding of this to-pic and awareness. Popular culture often reflects what is happening in specific societies
and in combination with academic and newspaper articles these three objects can give some important insights in this matter.
2: Fluidity of identity in James Baldwin’s Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone (1968)
The first work I would like to analyze is James Baldwin’s Tell Me How Long the Train’s
Been Gone. This novel was published in 1968 and is considered to be one of Baldwin’s
least popular novels. The story focuses on Leo Proudhammer, a black bisexual actor who, after fainting on stage, reminisces about his relationships in the present and past and his relationship with his family as a young boy. The novel does not have a typical structure but consists of flashbacks and thoughts from the main character Leo. The novel is written in a non-chronological order. Besides this, the ending is not a traditional closed ending. What is striking about this novel and especially the character Leo Proudhammer is the fact that he has relationships and affairs with multiple characters from various genders and with va-rious cultural backgrounds. Besides sexuality and relationships, Baldwin focuses on politi-cal and societal issues in this novel as well. He tries to incorporate institutional racism within the plot.
To offer some general insights on James Baldwin and this novel I will first look at some secondary material to gather knowledge on the way they have been analyzed befo-re. After that I will look closely at the different relationships the main character Leo Proud-hammer maintains and analyze these relationships by using Judith Butler’s theory on per-formativity, as explained in the introduction. By doing so I would like to argue that the ste-reotypes and identities that are being imposed on James Baldwin’s characters are not as fixed as they seem. Through the different relationships Leo Proudhammer has in the novel I would like to point out the fluidity of identity and sexuality and the way in which performa-tivity plays a part within gender and race theory.
2.1. The general consensus
There are many authors who have written about James Baldwin and his own affiliation with sexuality and homosexuality in particular and many authors identify Baldwin with his characters. By looking at some of these authors I would like to sketch the zeitgeist in which this novel appeared as well as the general consensus on Baldwin and his influence as a writer. For example, Andrew Shin and Barbara Judson write about Baldwin in their “Bene-ath the Black Aesthetic: James Baldwin’s Primer of American Masculinity.” (1998). Accor-ding to the authors, it has become a commonplace to suggest the similarities in the histo-ries of the black and feminist movements of the 1960s and 1970s (247). Even though both parties experienced oppression and discrimination, they also fought against each other.
The authors argue that black nationalism cultivated sexism and feminism sometimes per-petuated racism (248). This is where Baldwin comes in. The authors state that Baldwin’s voice is ahead of its time by addressing both racial as well as gender related issues: “He attempts to create a gay ethic before this was common practice within literature or culture.” (281).
Not everybody agreed with Baldwin’s identity as a black gay public figure. Writer, contemporary and political activist Eldridge Cleaver, for example, characterizes Baldwin’s homosexuality as a death-wish. He argues that Baldwin has rejected his blackness. He saw Baldwin’s homosexuality as a betrayal, because “Baldwin presented a public image of the black man as castrated, the black man as a woman. Cleaver saw no brave new world in Baldwin’s vision, only the resurrected old world in which black men were lynched, their manhood desecrated”. (Shin and Judson 255-256). Cleaver was not the only one who cri-ticized Baldwin for being gay: “many other fellow blacks vilified him for not being black en-ough, with which they meant, not being masculine enough.” (258)
Douglas Field addresses Baldwin’s sexuality as well in ‘Looking for Jimmy Baldwin: Sex, Privacy and Black Nationalist Fervor’. He argues that Baldwin is often seen as the most visible gay African-American since the Harlem Renaissance (457). Still, upon closer examination he finds that Baldwin’s work reveals contradictions and uncertainties. (457). According to Field, Baldwin repudiated the terms gay, homosexual and bisexual and was suspicious of the gay movement. (458). He finds it surprising that Baldwin does not focus on homosexuality in his essays, even though he does write about it continuously in his works of fiction (459). This could of course be a consequence of the 1960s, when Baldwin came under increasing attack by a generation of radical African-American writers. They criticized his fiction for not being politically engaged enough. (460)
Field argues that not just African-Americans attacked his homosexuality, but that magazines such as Time commented on it as well. In an article from 1963 devoted to the writer he is described as “a nervous, slight, almost fragile figure, filled with frets and fears. He is effeminate in manner.” (461) By describing Baldwin as fragile labeling him as effemi-nate, it is suggested that Americans do not see him as threatening but as lovable, because of his lack of masculinity. (461). Field addresses a point Cheryl Clarke made about radical movements, she states: “in order to participate in a movement you had to be black, male, and crucially heterosexual and young. Baldwin was none of this as a middle-aged homos-exual.” (462) The Black Power Movement became synonymous with the pursuit of man-hood. Masculinity was a big deal for African-Americans fighting social justice. In his article
Field argues that black men had to internalize dominant images of masculinity in order to contest the powerlessness or racism. (465).
Many critics argue that Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone can be seen as an autobiographical novel by Baldwin. The narrator, Leo Proudhammer, is a bisexual actor who grew up in Harlem. Some of his friends are affiliated with several Civil Rights Move-ments and he does join sometimes as well. This is similar to Baldwin’s own experience. He grew up in Harlem and was openly homosexual. Some of his friends were part of Civil Rights Movements and he did join occasionally. According to Douglas Field, Tell me How
Long the Train’s Been Gone can be seen as an important work because Leo
Proudham-mer, the narrator, seems intertwined with Baldwin himself. Just like Baldwin, the narrator can be seen as split between his artistic life and his political obligations. (Field 470). This could indeed be important if we would view this novel as an autobiographical novel. However, I would like to view the characters in this novel separately from James Baldwin himself. Even though the similarities between Baldwin and the main character are visible and it can offer some insights or background knowledge, it is not relevant in the context of my argument.
Towards the end of the novel, Leo struggles with the different identities people pro-jected on him. He says: “Some people considered me a faggot, for some I was a hero, for some I was a whore, for some I was a devious cocks-man, for some I was an Uncle Tom.” (Baldwin 382) This quote could be seen as an example of the multiple identities and multiple types of discrimination black homosexuals face. As argued above, James Baldwin himself was often repudiated for the way he presented himself sexually or politically, just like his character Leo Proudhammer. A reason for Leo’s fluid character could be the fact that he did not want to face discrimination for being homosexual on top of being black. Leo Proudhammer says people call him a faggot, which obviously is a swearword for being gay. The fact that he refers to Uncle Tom could suggest a negative way in which black pe-ople are portrayed, since Uncle Tom is a negative stereotype as well. Besides being dis-criminated for being homosexual, the character is used to being stereotyped as a black man as well. As will become clear from the following analysis, however, one’s sexuality or identity is not as fixed as it seems. Baldwin’s character Leo Proudhammer has multiple re-lationships and affairs with characters from different sexualities and genders. He acts diffe-rently around certain people as well.
According to Judith Butler in Bodies that Matter (1993), one of the most important aspects of gender theory is performativity. This is not a singular act but relies on its repeti-tive nature (Butler 2). There is always a social construct or set of norms that plays an
im-portant role within the performativity and the repetition of an act (Butler 13). This does not mean, however, that you should stick to one identity or performance. People often switch between acts (13). This is what happens with the character Leo Proudhammer. In the fol-lowing analysis, I will use Butler’s theory on performativity and show the fluidity of identity in Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone which proves that the stereotypes imposed on people and their identities are often not as fixed as they seem.
2.2. Meeting the norm: Leo and Barbara
I would like to start by pointing out the fluidity in Leo’s character by analyzing the relations-hip Leo shares with the character Barbara. It becomes clear from the start of the novel that Barbara and Leo are partners. They have been together for a long time and love each other a lot. Their relationship could be seen as a traditional stable relationship between a man and a woman. They started as friends until it shifted into a romantic relationship over time. After their first sexual encounter, they discuss Leo’s sexuality: “I laughed. ‘Well, the-re’s a whole lot I don’t know about myself.’ I watched her. ‘Do you know I’m bisexual?’’ (Baldwin 235). The fact that Leo shares such intimate details about his sexuali-ty with Barbara is a sign of trust between the two. Barbara answers:
She looked at me. ‘Why would it bother me, Leo? I’m not in your body. I can’t live your life. I only want to share your life.’ She sat up, and pulled the robe around her. ‘Anyway - what difference would it make if I did mind? It wouldn't change anything. It would just make you not trust me - I’m glad you know you’re bisexual. Many men don’t. (Baldwin 235)
I would like to point out this passage because of the way Barbara talks about Leo’s bis-exuality. She accepts the fact that Leo likes both men and women and comments on it in a very understanding manner. She even points out that she is glad that Leo accepts his bis-exuality because most men do not know that they are bisexual. What this passage could mean is the fact that people’s sexualities are not as fixed as society wants us to believe. The characters in Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone are often open about their sexuality and seem to accept their sexualities as well as the sexuality of their acquaintan-ces. It is interesting to notice that this accepting way of looking at different sexualities is not always visible in media and popular culture. According to Taylor Douglas in “Three Lean Cats in a Hall of Mirrors: James Baldwin, Norman Mailer, and Eldridge Cleaver on Race and Masculinity”, black masculinity is a hot topic within gender and cultural studies.
He argues that there is a high visibility of black masculinity in the media and popular cultu-re. This masculinity is often shown as sexual and potent (98). The relationship Leo has with Barbara is a heterosexual one but still does not mean it is completely meeting the norm. Leo is open about his bisexuality with Barbara and does not hide it when they are together. In the next paragraphs I would like to discuss some other relationships the character Leo has which do not seem as open or clear as his relationship with Barbara.
2.3. Double oppression: sexuality and race
The second relationship I would like to focus on is the relationship Leo has with his friends. Leo Proudhammer is friends with a variety of people from different ethnicities and gender which leads to several situations in which Leo has to adapt to his surroundings. In Tell Me
How Long the Train’s Been Gone, sexuality is often intertwined with race. According to El
Kornegay Jr. in the article “Baldwin on Top: Towards a Hetero-Anomalous Queer Calculus of Black Theology”, sexual discourse trumps racial discourse for Baldwin. He states that sexual discourse leads to love and racial discourse often leads to a form of homophobia (Kornegay Jr. 337). As stated above, in the novel the issues of sexuality and race are often presented side by side. The fact that the character Leo Proudhammer surrounds himself with both black and white characters is sometimes being frowned upon by white as well as black communities throughout the novel. At a certain point Leo shares a car with some of his friends, including Madeleine, a white actress, with whom he has a minor fling. In the following passage it becomes clear that the novel mixes issues on sexuality as well as race issues within one scene:
As the car rushed through the darkness, I felt myself being hurtled into some crucial confrontation; with Madeleine; or with Matthew; or with my past. We were
approaching a bridge which spanned a narrow creek. On the other side of this bridge lived the dark people to whom I belonged. Matthew moved, and touched me, and I wondered what was in his mind. Then I wondered what was in my mind. I held on to Madeleine - but I was terribly aware of her color; for the first time, or so, at
least, I wished to think.’ (Baldwin 162)
It becomes clear that in this scene, Leo is confused about a number of things. He realizes that he is in a car with people who do not share the same skin-color. He wishes to think he never really thought about this before, or at least he did not want to admit it. He mentions “the dark people to whom I belonged”, suggesting that he feels he does not belong with the white people he hangs out with. Besides this issue of race, Leo struggles with intimacy in this scene. Although he is close to Madeleine, the girl he is seeing, he notices Matthew’s
touch and wonders what is on his mind. You could say that in this scene it becomes evi-dent that issues of race and sexuality are intertwined in this novel.
In a big part of the novel, Leo spends his time with his future partner Barbara and her boyfriend Jerry. The town consists of mostly white people and they often get stares when they walk outside on the streets. When this book was published, homosexuality was something that was not commonly accepted, regardless of which community. Leo often walks the streets with Jerry and likes to test the people in the town:
When Jerry and I walked through town together, for example, everyone assumed we were queer - there couldn’t be any other reason for our walking together; and so we sometimes walked with our arms around each other. If Jerry had not been so big and I had not been so bold, we would have paid- more often than we did - a bloody price for this. (Baldwin 118)
The fact that Jerry is a white character and Leo a black character must have been part of the disdain of the people in town. He mentions the fact that Jerry was big, and he was bold, which often was the reason for not being harassed. Besides being black, Leo is also identified as queer and he must face discrimination more often than Jerry, a white straight man. This could be the reason why Jerry is not hesitant to play along with Leo and walk with their arms around each other. He does not face discrimination on the same level.
This is substantiated in an article by Peter Kerry Powers, where he discusses the prejudices and discrimination many black Americans experienced in the twentieth century. He states in his “The Treacherous body: Isolation, Confession and Community in James Baldwin” that like homosexuality, blackness has been construed in popular and political culture as the embodiment of desire and a threat to the social order. (795). In the early 20th century, popular culture justified Jim Crow segregation and violence against blacks by depicting black males as a dangerous sexual threat towards white women. Besides this, during the Cold War, both homosexuals and African-Americans were targeted by FBI ha-rassment and were seen as the embodiment of sabotage (Powers 795). Powers argues that Baldwin had to face censure inside and outside of his racial community because of his sexual preferences, and as a gay man who did not align with whites because of his racial identity. (798) Leo Proudhammer faces this kind of judgement as well in the novel as a black bisexual man, unlike his friend Jerry, who does not endure the racial discrimination and prejudice Leo faces. It becomes clear that Leo surrounds himself by people from diffe-rent backgrounds and encounters diffediffe-rent situations while doing so. He is aware of the fact that society treats him differently as a black man which causes him to adapt to certain
situations. The other prominent interracial relationship Leo has is with Madeleine, a young actress, which I will analyze in the next section.
2.4. Heteronormative desire: Leo and Madeleine
The third relationship I would like to focus on is the relationship with Madeleine, a white actress Leo has a short fling with. By analyzing this relationship I would like to point out the shallow and consumerist nature of some of his relationships. Leo and Madeleine’s onship is short and mostly consists of a sexual relationship rather than a long-term relati-onship. After sleeping over at her house, he does not feel like it was the right thing to do. He feels sexual desire for Madeleine but does not feel love: “Then, as she entered the room, smiling, in a scarlet negligée, and before I had had time to pretend that I was still sleeping, I realized that I had a performance to give. I realized that I rather liked her, and that was certainly a relief, but mainly, I wanted to get that white flesh in my hands again. I simply wanted to fuck her: and this was not because I liked her.” (211) In this passage, Leo realizes that one of the reasons that he desires Madeleine is because of her appearance. The way he describes Madeleine in this scene is very objective and seems to have very little to do with love. He mentions the fact that she is white as well, which clearly could be seen as a factor why he thinks she is desirable.
The fact that this character is named Madeleine could be a coincidence but it could also be a reference to Marcel Proust’s À la recherche du temps perdu (1907 - 1922). In this seven-part novel series, Proust describes a moment in which he dips a madeleine cake in his tea and tastes it, which brings back a flighty memory from his past. When he tries to experience this again with the second and third sip “The potion has lost its magic” (Proust 60). In a similar way, the relationship Leo has with Madeleine is flighty as well. He spends the night with her and desires her mostly for her appearance. He does not even pursue her for a second time because he does not have feelings for her and maybe knows the magic of the moment is lost, just like Proust while tasting the cake a second time. Also both interactions are about consumption, something that does not last after-wards. This relationship is the only relationship in the novel where there is an explicit men-tion of a sexual encounter, leading me to believe it is a more physical relamen-tionship. When Leo is surrounded by some of his other partners he definitely comes across as more affec-tionate, for example with his lover Christopher.
2.5. Contesting the norm: Leo and Christopher
Fourthly, I would like to focus on Leo’s relationship with Christopher. From the beginning of the novel on, Leo thinks back on his relationship with “Black Christopher”. This character is mentioned many times throughout the novel. It becomes evident through different passa-ges that Leo has romantic feelings for Christopher, but contrary to his relationship with women in the novel, there is no explicit mention of sexual interaction. One of the first mo-ments it becomes clear that Leo and Christopher were romantically involved is when Leo reminisces about Christopher: “I wanted to go back to sleep, but he was beginning to intri-gue me, to wake me up. It was his smile. It made his face like a light. And his voice was rough, like a country boys voice, and he was big, and his manner was rough. But his smile was very shy and gentle” (Baldwin 263). In this passage Leo describes Christopher. If you compare this passage to the one in which he thinks about Madeleine, they can be seen as completely different. When thinking about Madeleine he was mostly focussing on his sexual desire for her. While describing Christopher in this scene, Leo uses appreciative and loving words to describe him. The difference between these two characters could be that Leo knows what he likes about Christopher and appreciates him, whereas with regard to Madeleine he does not know why he was with her exactly. It might seem like he had to justify the fact why he was with Madeleine, and with Christopher it seems natural.
There’s another moment in which Christopher speaks to Leo: “Come here, Big Daddy. Looks like you just can’t do right. I ain’t going to let you out of my sight no more. The minute you out of my sight, you got to go and fall flat on your face in front of umpteen million people. Shame on you!” He grabbed me and hugged me and kissed me. ‘I’m glad to see you baby, I missed you’.” (370). This scene struck me because the way Christopher talks to Leo is caring and loving. Using expressions such as ‘big daddy’ and ‘baby’, and the way he cares for his health shows how much these characters care for each other. Even though by this point in the novel Leo is still involved in a relationship with Barbara, it is clear that he and Christopher share a special connection as well and they are not afraid to show affection.
Throughout the novel it becomes clear that Leo desires women as well as men. Even though there are no scenes in which he actually has sexual relationships with men, the affection between them is being described. There are multiple scenes in which he has sexual relationships with women but they are not all based on love. Sexual interaction with women seem to be dominating in the novel. This could be a consequence of the time. The novel has been published in 1968, a time in which homosexual relationships might not have been easily discussed. By focussing on the sexual relationships with women in this
novel the character lives up to the society’s ideal of that time. This scene clearly shows the way in which Leo’s identity is fluid and changes according to the situations he is in.
2.6. Fluidity as a defense and power mechanism
Lastly, I would like to focus on the relationship Leo has with the police to point out the way in which Leo uses his fluid identity as a power mechanism as well as a defense strategy. Even though Leo Proudhammer admits he is bisexual to his close friends, within his own community there is a need to appear heterosexual, this becomes evident in a scene, whe-re his older brother Caleb is often on the stwhe-reets and dealing in shady business, and as a young boy Leo comes along. When they encounter the police, the following comment is being made by Arthur, one of Caleb’s friends: “We walked the length of the block in silen-ce, crossed another avenue, Arthur holding tightly to my hand, and passed two white cops, who looked at us sharply. Arthur muttered under his breath, ‘you white cocksuckers. I wish all of you were dead’”. (Baldwin 49). While this is not a direct example of homophobic be-havior, Arthur uses cocksuckers as an offensive name for the two white cops. Using this as an insult is a sign that homosexuality was not considered normal and was not accepted at the time.
Later on, Leo is being arrested by white cops because he is being affectionate with Barbara on the streets. Barbara is a white woman and interracial relationships were still not completely accepted. Until 1967, interracial relationships were illegal in many states. After being arrested, he is held at the police station and he imagines what he wants to say to the police:
And I didn’t give a shit. All you can do is beat my ass. I knew they were too dumb and too scared to know whether I was bluffing or not. So, fuck you, miserable white mother-fuckers. Fuck you. I stared at the detective who was asking the questions, and I charged my eyes to say, Baby, if my prick was a broomstick, I’d sure make your tonsils know that you had an ass-hole. Believe me. Oh, yes. Now, come on, you faggot, and beat my ass. (Baldwin 220) The fact that he uses language such as ‘faggot’ to insult the police is interesting, since he himself identifies as a bisexual man. This swearword is often used towards gays but also used as an insult pointed at straight men. Also, this quote shows the sexualized violent na-ture of Leo as well. You could see this as a violent type of seduction. He is sexually chal-lenging the policeman and at the same time trying to intimidate him. The violent nature could be seen as fitting into the masculine stereotype, although the sexual aspect of the violence does indicate the power Leo imagines he has over the policeman, since he also
mentions the fact that the police are afraid of him. This might also come from the fact that he is presenting himself as violent and intimidating, and therefore masculine. You could interpret the way he acts around these policemen as a way to defend himself. He is using both his masculinity and his sexuality to defend himself. As a black male he has a disad-vantage in this situation and uses his sexuality as a weapon to turn the odds. In this scene he clearly uses multiple identities and causes the policemen to fear him and as a result they leave him alone.
After analyzing this novel, we could conclude a few things about the characters. As beca-me evident, many critics and scholars criticized Baldwin for not living up to standards. Whereas some people argued he was not acting black enough and did not participate in civil rights movements enough other critics wished he would live up more to society’s standards of a gay man and represent them more elaborately.
While using Judith Butler’s notion of performativity you could argue that individuals do not have a fixed identity, their “act” changes and relies on its repetitive nature. James Baldwin as an author might act differently in the media than he would have done in his personal life. Many critics view Baldwin’s characters as autobiographical and try to hold his sexual or racial identity against him as well as use his identity to analyze his fiction. This is not as simple as it seems. As shown in the analysis of this novel, one’s identity is not as fixed as it may seem and changes in different situations and is influenced by other people as well.
Baldwin’s characters in Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone are fluid and influ-enced by their environment. The main character Leo Proudhammer is openly bisexual and has got relationships with several characters throughout the novel. These characters differ in sexuality, gender and ethnicity. Leo’s character is fluid and changes within different situ-ations. In some situations he tries to live up to society’s standards and social constructs and acts accordingly, for example in his partnership with Barbara and his affair with Made-leine. In another situation, when he is with Christopher, he seems to act more freely. Third-ly, there are situations in which multiple identities congregate in Leo, which makes him hard to pin down and causes some confusion in the other characters, as became visible in his interaction with the policemen.
It is safe to say that Leo’s identity can be seen as fluid and can change depending on the situation. The fact that people behave this way has to do with society’s norms and expectations. Switching between ‘performances’ can be a defense mechanism to avoid discrimination as well as a helpful tool to adapt to certain situations as can be seen in the
scene with the policeman, in which Leo uses his sexuality to gain power over the situation. Besides this, fluidity of identity can be seen as a natural act, Leo’s identities switch swiftly as he interacts with different characters. This change is often influenced by his feelings towards these characters as becomes clear in the analysis of his serious relationships with Barbara and Christopher, compared to the fling he has with Madeleine. It becomes clear through the analysis of these different relationships in Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been
Gone that identity is fluid and not as fixed as it seems.
This theory could be applied on different objects as well. In the following chapter I would like to focus on the film Moonlight (2016), and show the way in which this fluidity of identity is portrayed fifty years later in a different medium.
3: Appropriation and mimicry in Moonlight (2016) “At some point, you gotta decide for yourself who you’re going to be.”
After looking at the way in which Baldwin’s character Leo Proudhammer uses his identity and sexuality in different situations it is time to look at another character in a different me-dium, Chiron Harris. The second object I would like to focus on is Moonlight (2016), a film directed by Barry Jenkins. The film is based on Tarell Alvin McCraney’s semi auto-biograp-hical play In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue. The film won an Oscar for Best Picture in 2017 and is the first film with an all-black cast and the first LGBT film to win this prize. The film takes place in one of the roughest neighborhoods in Miami, Florida and focusses on the three stages in the life of the main character Chiron Harris. Throughout these stages we see the main character struggling with his identity, sexuality and with physical abuse. The film is often being praised for its all black-cast and the way it deals with homosexuali-ty. According to Brandon Harris in his interview with director Barry Jenkins the film is no-thing like the coming-of-age stories he has seen before: “I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that there isn’t a coming-of-age story in the annals of American cinema that’s quite like this one, that involves the specter of homosexuality in a way that’s so tender and so heart-breaking, that suggests the ways in which black men are often taught to harden themsel-ves, both within our communities in order to protect ourselthemsel-ves, but also, to protect oursel-ves from outside, from the forces that seek to oppress us”. (Harris 48).
Harris mentions the fact that black men are often thought to be tough and harden themselves as a means of survival. Throughout the film it becomes clear that the main character is expected to be tough as well. He is often being called out for being too soft or behaving like a woman. Moonlight deals with an African-American homosexual character who is trying to figure out his identity while growing up in a challenging environment. He struggles not only with his sexuality but also race and his abusive environment. These fac-tors all contribute to the way the main character sees himself and turns out when he is ol-der.
The film is divided in three parts which are three stages of Chiron’s life, we see him as a child, a teenager and eventually as an adult. Moonlight can be classified as a coming-of-age film, or in literary terms a bildungsroman. This term stems from 1819 and was intro-duced in Germany. According to Thomas Pfau in The Encyclopedia of Romantic Literature a bildungsroman “is a novel in which the chief character, after a number of false starts or wrong choices, is led to follow the right path and to develop into a mature and
well-balan-ced man”. (Pfau). Besides this, the bildungsroman usually works with a few of the same elements such as a young protagonist from a lower-class background and the protago-nist’s ongoing struggle to form a coherent relationship between the world and his- or herself. If we look at Moonlight, these elements are all included in the film. The main character Chiron is from a lower-class background and he struggles with himself and to fit in with his surroundings. Whether or not he eventually turns into a well-balanced man can be argued in multiple ways. The film does work with a typical three-act-structure which highlights Chiron’s development even more.
In the first part, we see Chiron, who gets called Little, struggling as a young and shy boy in Florida. His father is gone, his mother is addicted to drugs and neglects him and he gets bullied by kids from school. He meets drug dealer Juan, who becomes a father figure to Chiron. Juan’s girlfriend Teresa gives him the motherly love he misses at home. In the second part, Chiron has become a teenager and goes by his name, Chiron. He still gets bullied by the kids in school and it is clear they bully him because of his homosexuality. His mom has become a worse drug addict and Chiron does not get any love at home. After Juan died, he spends a lot of his time at Teresa’s house. He does not have any friends apart from Kevin with whom he develops a romantic relationship. The next day, one of the bullies challenges Kevin to beat Chiron. Kevin is afraid to get bullied himself so he beats Chiron up. The following day, Chiron returns to school and slams the bully with a chair. At the end of this part we see him getting arrested by the police. Part three focusses on Chi-ron as an adult, when he goes by the name Black. He has moved to Atlanta and has star-ted a drug dealing business. His appearance has changed a lot and he seems powered and intimidating. He gets a call from Kevin, who invites him to his restaurant. Chiron deci-des to go and meets Kevin at his restaurant. They talk and it is clear that there is still some unfinished business between the two. At the end of the night they return to Kevin’s house where Chiron admits he has never been with anyone since Kevin. The film ends when the two men embrace.
As mentioned earlier, Moonlight is divided into three parts which are named as fol-lows: i. Little, ii. Chiron, iii. Black. These three parts stand for three parts of Chiron’s life. While he grows up and goes through different stages of his life his appearance and beha-vior change as well. Once again I would like to use Judith Butler’s performativity to point out the fluidity of identity. I would also like to focus on her analysis of subversion and ap-propriation in her chapter “Gender is Burning” from Bodies that Matter. Throughout the film, Chiron changes his appearance and by doing so, I would argue, his identity as well. Since he takes on other people’s appearances as well, I will apply Homi Bhabha’s concept
of mimicry, discussed in his “Of Mimicry and Man” (1984), to the character Chiron. Apply-ing these concepts to Moonlight, I am goApply-ing to use the three parts as shown in the film plus the theories mentioned above to point out that one’s identity is fluid and often a reite-ration, a repeated act, and is influenced by one’s surroundings and societal norms.
3.1. Imposed identity
By analyzing the first part of the film I would like to point out the internal and external influ-ences Juan has had on Chiron and the way in which Chiron’s later identity is formed by his surroundings. In the first scene of the film, we get introduced to Juan, a drug-dealing, tough looking man. He pulls up in his car while discussing business with some other men and clearly shows signs of being in charge. We get the idea that Juan is a typical example of a tough criminal. The second moment we encounter Juan this image changes drasti-cally. Juan discovers a young boy, the main character Chiron, in a crack house. Chiron just escaped his bullies and is trying to hide from them. Juan convinces him to come to his house and makes sure he is safe. At Juan’s house, Chiron meets Teresa, his girlfriend. They feed him and upon asking his name he answers: “My name is Chiron, people call me little.” (00:09.32) Here, it already becomes clear that Chiron has multiple names and per-haps multiple identities, depending on the situation he is in.
Teresa and Juan try to get Chiron to talk and ask him questions about his family. When Juan asks Chiron: “What about your daddy?” (00:09:50), Chiron keeps quiet, insi-nuating he has no idea where his father is. According to Menaka Kannan in “Watching
Moonlight in the Twilight of Obama.”, many people have praised the film for its progressive
treatment of race and sexuality. She does not fully agree since the film does make use of the familiar stereotypes that often surround black communities such as drug trade, violen-ce among black boys and the absenviolen-ce of a father (289-290). The absenviolen-ce of Chiron’s fa-ther indeed is confirming a stereotype often surrounding African-American communities. However, in the film it does play an important role for Chiron’s development. Juan beco-mes a very important character in the film, even though he is only around for the first part. Throughout the film we can see the influence Juan has had on Chiron.
Because Chiron’s father is not around much, Juan decides to take on the role of a father figure in his life. Chiron’s mother is a drug addict and often leaves him by himself. At one point, Juan takes Chiron to the sea and learns him how to swim. Afterwards they have a talk in which Juan explains that he actually is an immigrant from Cuba. He tells Chiron: “Let me tell you something, man. There are black people everywhere. Remember that, OK? No place you can go in the world ain’t got no black people. We was the first on this
planet. I been here a long time. I’m from Cuba. Lot of black folks in Cuba but you wouldn’t know that from being here, though.” (00:19:32) At this point he tries to make Chiron accept his identity as a black male. Kannan discusses the way in which Moonlight deals with diffe-rent identities, she states: “Moonlight openly and unabashedly embraces its diverse array of blacknesses.” (290). Besides being a film focussing on different sexualities the film fo-cusses on the differences in race as well.
Another example of the way the film focusses on black identity is a story Juan tells Chiron to help him understand that you can choose who you can be yourself. When Juan was a little boy he had an encounter with an old lady, which he quotes: “She say, ‘Look at you’ and I say ‘Look at you!’ Then she smiled and she say, ‘Running around catching up all this light. In moonlight’ she say, ‘black boys look blue. You blue,’ she say. ‘That’s what I’m gonna call you: Blue’.” (00:20:30) After hearing this Chiron wonders if Juan indeed is Blue and Juan tells him he is not just Blue. He tries to tell Chiron that he has to decide for himself who he is going to be. By doing this, he tries to make Chiron understand that peo-ple will try and force identities on you but in the end it is your own choice.
In her chapter ‘Gender is Burning: Questions of Appropriation and Subversion’ Butler says the following:
The force of repetition in language may be the paradoxical condition by which a agency-not linked to a fiction of the ego as a master of circumstances- is derived
from the impossibility of choice. (Butler 124)
Here, Butler argues that the power the repetition of language holds is based on the absen-ce of choiabsen-ce. Identities are often imposed on subjects. If someone is called a name this name becomes part of one’s identity through repetition. Later on, she states:
Identifying with a gender under contemporary regimes of power involves with a set of norms that are and are not realizable, and whose power and status precede the
identifications by which they are insistently approximated. This “being a man” and “being a woman” are internally unstable affairs. They are always beset by ambivalence precisely because there is a cost in every identification, the loss of some other set of identifications, the forcible approximation of a norm one never chooses, a norm that chooses us, but which we occupy, reverse, presignify to the extent that the norm fails to determine us
completely. (Butler 127)
In this passage, Butler states that identifying with a gender comes with a set of societal norms. By identifying with something you lose other identifications. She states that the norm chooses us but we are able to alter these norms and prevent the norms from deter-mining us completely. Coming back to the scene between Juan and Chiron described abo-ve, I think Butler’s theory is highly applicable. Society or people will impose identities on
you by for example naming a person. But, in the end, the power to alter or change this identity lies with the person itself. Chiron is used to go by the name ‘Little’ because people call him Little. Later on in the film we will see Chiron changing his name a number of times and taking control over his own identity. Butler argues that your identity can not be deter-mined by others completely but nonetheless it is hard to evade as well. The fact that Juan tells Chiron that he has to decide for himself who he is going to be instead of letting others decide it for him can be seen as somewhat straightforward if we take into account Butler’s argument.
Chiron also gets sexual identities imposed on him by his close surroundings. At one point, Chiron and his mother get into a fight. We see his mother screaming something at Chiron which upsets him and leads him to Juan and Teresa. After he cools down, they have an emotional encounter when Chiron asks Juan what the word faggot means:
Chiron: “What’s a faggot?”
Juan: “A faggot is, uh, a word used to make gay people feel bad.” Chiron: “Am I a faggot?”
Juan: “No, no. You can be gay, but you don’t got to let nobody call you no faggot.” Chiron: “How do I know?”
Juan: “You just do, I think . . . . Hey, you don’t got to know right now, alright? Not yet.” (00:33:30)
Once again, Juan is comforting Chiron and telling him he has to make up his own mind about his identity. Because we see Chiron’s mother shouting something towards him right before the scene between Juan and Chiron takes place we can assume his mom called him a faggot. This is the first moment in the film that Chiron openly talks about his sexuali-ty and his struggles with it. This is an important point for Chiron’s development. He feels accepted by Juan and Teresa, whereas his mom is showing homophobic tendencies. Whi-le in a fight with Juan, Chiron’s Mom Paula tells him her son is different: “Don’t you see the way he walks?” (00:29:10) referring to the stereotypical view of homosexuals as not port-raying themselves “manly” enough. The word ‘faggot’ is imposed on Chiron by his mother.
A last scene within the narrative of ‘little’ I would like to discuss is the childhood friendship with Kevin. After being bullied during a game, Kevin tells Chiron: “Show these niggas that you aint soft.” (00:15:20) They playfully fight each other and you can see the
brotherly bond these two boys share. The fact that Kevin tells Chiron to be less soft brings me back to the argument of Harris who mentioned the pressure black men feel to harden themselves and not come across as too soft. This moment with Kevin will be important la-ter on in Chiron’s life as well. Throughout the first part ‘i. little’, it becomes clear that Chiron is a shy, troubled young boy. He does not receive love at home and finds affection else-where. He relies heavily on the identities other people impose on him and tries to survive within his challenging environment. In Juan he finds a father figure who tries to guide him and learn to accept himself and in Kevin he finds a friend who accepts him for who he is. 3.2. Changing identity
In the second part of the film, named ‘ii. Chiron’, we see a teenage Chiron. He walks down the street looking extremely shy and self-conscious with his shoulders bent and his head hanging low. While at school he is being bullied once again,. One of his classmates makes fun of him and says: “That woman forgot to change her tampon” (00:36:28) insinuating Chiron comes across as female and making fun of him. Later on, he encounters Kevin who brags about having sex with a woman. Chiron tries to be interested in the story and talks along and agrees to keep it a secret. He does not want to come across as not interested in women and puts on a heterosexual demeanor. The next day he encounters his bullies again and they threaten to hurt him: “I aint with that gay shit but if you fuck with me I’ll crack your ass.” (00:47:26) This scene is reminiscent of the scene I described in the pre-vious chapter in which Leo Proudhammer, Baldwin’s character in Tell Me How Long the
Train’s Been Gone tries to intimidate a police officer by using his sexuality. The bully does
the same in this scene, even though he tries to come across as an extremely manly hete-rosexual, he threatens Chiron with sexualized violence.
The next scene I would like to discuss is the first scene in which Chiron physically accepts his sexuality and has his first homosexual encounter. He is bonding with his friend Kevin on the beach, who calls him Black. Chiron wonders why he always calls him ‘Black’ and Kevin explains that it is his nickname for Chiron. Chiron asks him: “What kinda dude goes around giving other dudes nicknames?” (00:50:28) According to Kennan, this scene confirms Chiron’s need to be named and directed by other people. I do not agree with this completely. Chiron adapts to situations and the people he encounters but this does not mean he does not feel confident enough to name himself. He brushed of his nickname Litt-le once he got older and now just goes by his name, Chiron. After sharing their thoughts and feelings the two boys talk about crying. They seem to be very open with each other and do not hold back their feelings. At a certain point, Kevin kisses Chiron and they
enga-ge in sexual contact after. It is being shown in a delicate manner and it is clear that the two boys have feelings for each other. Later on when he is an adult, Chiron will admit that this was his first sexual encounter with a man and that he has not touched anybody since. You could say this is a defining moment for his identity. In this scene he seems most himself and in touch with his sexuality, whereas in other scenes and with other people surrounding him he seems uncomfortable and nervous, trying to hide away his personality.
The next day at school, the bullies challenge Kevin to beat Chiron. He accepts the challenge because he does not want to be a target himself. Kevin beats Chiron and wat-ches afterwards while the bullies finish the beating. Afterwards Chiron is talking to officials from his school who tell him he should act like a man and admit who beat him. He stays quiet and decides to take revenge the next day. He washes his face in ice water and his face has got a blank stare. The following day, he throws a chair at one of the bullies which results in Chiron being arrested by the police. This moment will define the rest of his adult life and a major change in the way he portrays himself.
3.3. Black and Blue: Mimicking identity
For the analysis of the third part of the film, iii. Black, I would like to focus on the way Chi-ron mimics other identities and the way in which his identity has changed over time and argue that his identity is indeed fluid and influenced by his environment. I am going to use Homi Bhabha’s concept of mimicry to support my argument as well as Butler’s theories on performativity. I will apply both theories and try to link them together as well to substantiate my argument.
In the third part, Chiron is an adult living in Atlanta, who goes by the name Black. He looks tough and muscled, wears a grill on his teeth and lots of golden jewelry. He strongly reminds the viewer of Juan, the father figure who passed away years ago. In the screenshots below, I will point out the resemblance between Juan and Chiron as an adult. Juan is introduced while he arrives in his car, looking tough, and meeting up with some drug dealers who work for him. If you look closely you can see a golden crown on his dashboard.
Years later, after Juan has died and Chiron is an adult we see him arriving in his car, looking tough. He wears a golden grill on his teeth and heading towards a group of drug dealers who he manages. His whole appearance reminds one of the opening scene in which we get introduced to Juan. Another important detail in this scene is the golden crown we saw on Juan’s dashboard. It is present on Chiron’s dashboard as well, and it is
filmed quite prominently. This leads me to believe that the emphasis is put on this crown to show the presence of Juan in Chiron’s adult life.
Figure 1: Juan, Moonlight (2016) (00:00:42)
Figure 3: Crown, Moonlight (2016) (01:07:10)
It is important to point out the extent to which Chiron mimics Juan. I would like to use Homi Bhabha’s theory of mimicry to support my claim that Chiron copies or borrows from Juan’s identity. Bhabha says that mimicry means almost the same but not quite (126) by which he means that in order to be effective, mimicry should be open to keep on producing its diffe-rence. Mimicry does not mean to fully take over an identity but taking over some parts. Ac-cording to Bhabha mimicry appropriates the other while visualizing power. (126). Chiron takes over some of Juan’s characteristics. He mimics his appearance and he even follows him on the same career path. Chiron takes over some of Juan’s characteristics which gi-ves him power within his community. As a drug dealer he has to come off as powerful and by mimicking Juan he does. Still, he keeps parts of his own identity and does not copy Juan completely, as will be made clear in the next paragraphs.
Secondly, we could say that his new nickname, Black, is derived from Juan’s as well since he went by the nickname Blue. The fact that Juan was named Blue and Chiron goes by Black could be a reference to the saying ‘black and blue’, which means being in physical or emotional pain. Chiron struggles with abuse, bullying and sadness throughout the film. By mimicking Juan he literally becomes Black and Blue. I also want to argue that the other dimension of this nickname does lie in Chiron’s sexuality. Kevin, his childhood friend and first romantic partner gave him this nickname, causing me to believe he has not let go of his sexual identity.
