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Moonlight, a coming-of age film written and directed by Barry Jenkins, focuses on the life of Chiron Harris as he learns about and attempts to accept his identity and sexuality, set during the height of the crack epidemic in Miami, Florida. Throughout the film, the audience are able to witness the three most defining moments in his life, childhood, adolescence, and adult life. Nicknamed “Little”, Chiron had a rough life during the younger years of his life. His mother was a drug addict and Chiron faced verbal, emotional, and physical forms of bullying for acting against stereotypical ideals of hypermasculinity that are imposed on Black men from a young age. Between struggling to understand his own identity and learning how to be comfortable in his own skin, there have only been a few key people in his life with which Chiron was allowed to be unapologetically himself. Throughout his childhood and adolescent years, Chiron frequented the house of Juan and Teresa, a local couple that accepted the roles and responsibilities of being step-in parents when Chiron’s mother was incapable of doing so. Throughout the movie, viewers are also able to see the dynamic friendship between Chiron and his best friend, Kevin, the only person of his age group that he was capable of being vulnerable with. Under the moonlight, Chiron was able to find himself and he did so with Kevin by his side.

While there are a multitude of themes present within Moonlight, the most prominent are related to identity and sexuality. Throughout the movie, viewers watch as Chiron comes to terms with his own identity, battling between societal expectations of hypermasculinity and his own self-expression. In his youth, Chiron is teased and bullied for his mannerisms, causing him to resort to putting on a tough exterior that lasts until his adulthood. Viewers are also able to watch how Chiron learns about his sexuality beginning as a kid and developing as he grows older. Seeing the ways in which Chiron’s friendship with Kevin develops throughout the years gives viewers an insight into the inner workings of Chiron’s mind. Not only was Chiron afraid of rejection and societal expectations, Chiron was afraid for his own safety when rumors of his sexuality were told. This fear stays with him throughout his adulthood, until he sees Kevin for the first time in years, sharing deep thoughts and tender moments without a care for the outside world.

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Moonlight | Decide for Yourself | Official Clip HD | A24

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The major theory we selected for our project is Erikson’s eight stages of development. The main idea of this theory is that each stage of social development can positively or negatively affect the trajectory of one’s life. Those eight stages of development include: trust vs. mistrust, autonomy vs. shame, initiative vs. guilt, industry vs. inferiority, identity vs. role confusion, intimacy vs. isolation, generativity vs. stagnation, and ego integrity vs. despair. Erik Erikson, a German psychologist, created this theory between the years of 1958 and 1963. The basis of this theory includes many components such as: your earliest stages depend upon your parents (with positive or negative reinforcement) that shapes your attachment style, as you become older those closest to you (such as your peers) begin to shape what/how you think of yourself, and in the final stages of your life you are able to reflect on the entirety of your life and it can make you bitter or bring you comfort.

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MOONLIGHT 2016 - Beach Scene - (Chiron & Kevin)

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Application of Selected Theory to the Main Character

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Application of Selected Theory to the Main Character

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In the film, Moonlight, the audience was able to see three stages of Chiron’s life: childhood, teenage years, and adulthood. In Erikson’s stages of development, that would translate to: industry vs. inferiority, identity vs. role confusion, and intimacy vs. isolation. Chiron experienced the negative side of each stage listed. Erikson would assess Chiron and think he took on the roles of inferiority, role confusion, isolation and suffered an identity crisis due to the trauma inflicted on him in his childhood and teen years. In the beginning of the movie, there was a basic and almost loving dynamic with his mom. Quickly into the movie there was a shift in their dynamic, and the audience learned the shift in their relationship was due to her drug addiction. Her addiction plus his performance of non traditional masculinity caused heavy physical bullying by his peers. According to Erikson, this would have been a major catalyst for an identity crisis/role confusion. Eventually, our main character grew tired of the abuse and retaliated against his bully. He was punished unfairly and sent to a juvenile detention center away from his hometown, Miami to a center in Atlanta.  Since he was separated from his peers for most of his teenage years, Erikson's stage of isolation can be applied to this situation. It became clear Chiron kept his walls up after he was released from juvenile and avoided establishing meaningful and intimate relationships. These three stages of his life tainted by trauma impacted his stages of development negatively.

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Erikson's theory perfectly captures Chiron Harris' character development throughout the film. Given that Chiron is a black queer male in the film we can use Erikson's theory to understand how the trauma from all stages really shaped how he saw himself and how he behaved. This film flows through somewhat chronologically, which allows us to be able to evaluate the trauma at each stage of Chiron's life. By the end of the film the audience has gone on a journey with Chiron that leads to him finally accept himself for who he is. The theme of the film is all about Chiron releasing the pain he had felt in the past to finally live in his truth. Erikson's theory allows us to follow that journey with him with understanding, and the knowledge of why it took so long to let go.

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Erikson's Developmental Theory and Moonlight
Chiron's Childhood:
Negative Experience

Industry vs Inferiority

Virtue: Competence

Maldevelopment: Inertia

Chiron's Adolescence:
Negative Experience

Identity vs Role Confusion

Virtue: Fidelity

Maldevelopment: Repudiation

Chiron's Adulthood:
Negative AND Positive Experience

Intimacy vs Isolation

Virtue: Love

Maldevelopment: Distantiation

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Moonlight | Hello Stranger | Barbara Lewis

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A24. (2016). Moonlight | Decide for Yourself | Official Clip HD | A24 [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVs5f6UMiiE.

Cine Città. (2019). MOONLIGHT 2016 - Beach Scene - (Chiron & Kevin) [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7D0T4ivCsF4.

Jenkins, B. (2016). Moonlight [Drama]. A24,  PASTEL,  Plan B Entertainment.

Movie Boy. (2016).  Moonlight | Hello Stranger | Barbara Lewis. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJAMawhrmPE.

Orenstein, G. A., & Lewis, L. (2021). Erikson's Stages of Psychosocial Development. In StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK556096/