Looking Back at Hollywood’s Reception of Moonlight (2016) Through the Lens of the Black Lives Matter Movement

Barry Jenkins' Moonlight (2016) features a quote that I think best encapsulates the importance of pushing the continuous discussion of issues that Black communities face; "There are Black people everywhere.  You remember that, okay?  No place you can go in the world 'aint Black people."  What seems like an obvious observation from Juan to Little reflects the underrepresentation of Black people and communities in media despite their prevalent existence in American society, leading to a feeling of alienation from one's own humanity.

This is made all the more ironic by the academy's reception and famous fumble of the film, as commented on by Manohla Dargis in the article "'Moonlight,' 'La La Land' and What an Epic Oscars Fail Really Says"; "At the very least, you would think the academy, which has made real if confusing strides towards inclusion, would understand that its well-intended efforts seem a little hollow when a straight, white, male host jokes about no one's seeing a movie from a black director about gay black men."  The dissonance of having a host so out of touch with the very movie they are awarding "Best Picture" is alienating in itself, and invalidates both the people who worked on the film and the Black community with which the film truly resonated.  She stresses that while she is happy that the academy "got it right" this time by awarding Moonlight best picture, that doesn't mean that the fight for better representation is even close to being over with; "I don't want to harsh our mellow, but I also don't want to overpraise the academy for occasionally getting it right when the industry continues to get it so wrong.".  Dargis believes that the lack of development in the film industry to feature more Black voices as well as Damien Chazelle's "Best Director" award for La La Land (2016) "indicates that the academy still remains deeply divided".

Barry Jenkins not receiving the award for best director raises another concern; does the academy have more compassion and reverence for fictional Black characters than the real-life Black Americans?  Quoting an elderly woman, Juan says to Little in the film; "In the moonlight, Black boys look blue.”  This reflects the ambiguity of person that Black people face in a predominantly white culture, and how their identity has become something that other people project onto them and choose for them rather than something they make themselves.  The film winning best picture without winning best director again ironically represents exactly what Jenkins was getting at; Black people are dehumanized through the white gaze and not given enough credit for their active role in society.  The Black Lives Matter movement focuses on this and so much more, as stated on their website, they are “an ideological and political intervention in a world where Black lives are systematically and intentionally targeted for demise.  It is an affirmation of Black folks' humanity, our contributions to this society, and our resilience in the face of deadly oppression.".  This organization began in 2013, however, has only recently become prevalent in the media, catalyzed by the murder of George Floyd by police officer Derek Chauvin in 2020. 

            Clayton Davis discusses how this affected media and cinema in his 2021 article for Variety; "George Floyd, One Year Later: Reflecting on the Impact on Black People, Hollywood, and America".  Despite the widespread revolutionary upheaval of cities across the United States, Davis notes that "Still, cultural contrarians and insecure white counterparts were throwing asterisks on the cinematic year and writing it off as a 'reaction' to Floyd and Black Lives Matter and not a genuine act of progression.".  This take by many white people, especially those in Hollywood, dwarfs the movement of Black Lives Matter by "writing it off" as a trend, which is most likely what it was to them.  Davis comments on this strange temporary performative allyship following Floyd's murder; "Colleagues at work, former classmates, and your white friends were reaching out in Catholicism-like reconciliation to admit privilege, begging to be absolved and 'check-in to see how you're doing with all this'.  It was exhausting."  The phrase "begging to be absolved" rings so unfortunately true because this is what lies behind many facades of support and Instagram infographics, a white need to make this about them somehow.  On her praise of Moonlight, Dargis commented; "...more than one white person also suggested that I love "Moonlight" only because it's a black film.".  Clearly projecting their own performative allyship onto Dargis, this person exemplifies Hollywood's position on Black inclusion even after the events of 2020.  Clayton Davis uses the perfect phrase, "social flash" to describe his interaction with someone from the academy:

"Even awards strategists... were misreading the significance of this social flash and would use the Oscar campaign equivalent of 'look, I have a Black friend'.  To add, the same industry that was patting itself on the back for all the 'opportunities' it was giving POC... said to me there are 'too many Black films'.  The four or five that were ever in serious contention for the Oscars were 'too much' for him to sift through.  Instead, he was yearning for the solace of the movies of the old days that didn't focus on race."

It seems through Davis's personal experience and analysis, that instead of learning from the Black Lives Matter movement and giving Black actors and creators a larger platform in the film industry to utilize their skills, display their talents, and speak about issues affecting their communities, the academy viewed it as an opportunity to boost themselves up by showing how "inclusive" they were, while at the same time viewing Black people and films as "too much". What does this mean for American culture? Davis suggests that the film industry needs to "reckon[ed] with its role that it played (and is still playing) in not just the inequality that Black people face but in its depiction of them.".By featuring Black films as more than an act of performative allyship but as genuine and meaningful pieces of art that need to be appreciated and heard, Black people would be able to start levelling with the white privilege to decide for themselves how they are perceived. The reluctance of the academy to truly change is an echo of the systemic racism Black Americans face from every institution and government in the country, but the resistance to being stomped out and the resilience Black communities are showing despite these hardships is amazing. As Juan says in Moonlight, "At some point, you gotta decide for yourself who you gonna be. Can't let nobody make that decision for you.". This statement remains central to the mission of Black Lives Matter and the attitude we need to take on to fight for more Black representation in Hollywood.

Photo Credit: (Lucy Nicholson/Reuters)