Walter, Jessica (2020):
"Beyond Shame in Barry Jenkins's Moonlight (2016)." Eds. Clausberg, Philipp; kentwell, forrest; Licznerski, Alexander; Luebeck, Simon; Reintjes, Janis; Schmieder, Katja; Schumacher, Marie; Spieler, Sophie; Trautmann, Denise; Valle, Josef; Weber, Lena. aspeers 13: 9-22.
Journal Article
Abstract

Shame is frequently racialized, gendered, and sexualized. The 2016 film Moonlight, directed by Barry Jenkins, is a cultural touchstone in these terms. Through its success at the 89th Academy Awards, it brought to mainstream audiences a complex depiction of black, queer masculinities that move beyond shame. Moonlight follows a black man through three episodes in his life as he seeks to find agency in hypermasculine spaces wherein his potential queerness and aversion to dominance and aggression leads to isolation and shame. Through the lens of queer temporalities, I show how conventional queer narratives are subverted in Moonlight through opportunities of intimacy. I offer an analysis of the film’s depiction of queerness as an unfixed category and show how the aesthetics underscore the idea of indeterminacy.