An Analysis Of The Construction Of Chiron’s Homosexual Identity In Moonlight

The film Moonlight,directed by Barry Jenkins,tells a story about Chiron’s three growth experiences from his childhood to adulthood.This film,focusing on marginalized homosexual groups in the United States,uniquely illustrates how an African-American gay at the bottom of American society constructs his homosexual identity.Although heterosexuality which is the mainstream of today’s society always keeps social stability,the analysis of the construction of Chiron’s homosexual identity in Moonlight is instructive for both audiences and homosexual groups.Taking Chiron of Moonlight as the research object,this paper analyzes the external repression on Chiron’s homosexual identity,Chiron’s internal compulsion to his homosexual identity as well as the construction of Chiron’s homosexual identity to argue that Chiron’s homosexual identity is the result of constant games between his internal compulsion and the external repression and his internal compulsion is decisive.The body of this thesis mainly explores Chiron’s construction of his homosexual identity from three chapters.Chapter one reveals the failure of the external repression on Chiron’s homosexual identity and analyzes the external repression on Chiron’s appearance,behavior and his homosexuality.Chapter two illustrates Chiron’s internal compulsion to his homosexual identity makes Chiron’s homosexuality stronger then promotes the construction of Chiron’s homosexual identity.This chapter mainly analyzes Chiron’s confusion,awakening and confirmation of his homosexuality.Chapter three proves that Chiron’s internal compulsion to his homosexual identity is dominant in the construction of his homosexual identity,with focusing on the relation between the external repression and Chiron’s internal compulsion,then analyzes Chiron’s resistance,reconciliation and the dominance of his homosexuality.These three chapters exactly demonstrate that the construction of Chiron’s homosexual identity is the result of constant games between his internal compulsion and the external repression and his internal compulsion is decisive.Based on above-mentioned analysis,this thesis comes to a conclusion that the construction of Chiron’s homosexual identities is the result of constant games between his internal compulsion and the external repression,and his internal compulsion is decisive.