Spoiler Alert: May contain some movie spoilers from the movie “Moonlight.”
Moonlight
On June 10th, I watched the movie “Moonlight,” which is a semi-autobiographical film that surrounds an African-American boy named Chiron. The movie was released in 2016, and gained a lot of attention, acclaim and awards.
The audience is taken on a journey with Chiron, starting from his childhood and how he transitioned to adulthood. The story is dramatic and covers three different time periods of Chiron’s life.
The movie is broken up into three chapters, and it was interesting to find out there were three different actors to play Chiron at different time periods of his life:
i. Little: When Chiron was in elementary school, played by Alex Hibbert.
ii. Chiron: When Chiron was in high school, played by Ashton Sanders.
iii. Black: When Chiron became an adult, played by Trevante Rhodes.
The story begins with Chiron, who goes by the nickname “Little,” and he was on the run from local kids who want to beat him up. While chasing him to an abandoned apartment, the kids were calling Chiron homophobic slurs. When the kids decided to move on, a local drug dealer named Juan takes him in and becomes a Father figure for the young Chiron.
Chiron slowly begins to realize that he is lonely, black and gay growing up in Liberty City, within Miami, FL. Since the story is broken up into three pieces, it easy immerses you into the story and before you know it, you have become emotionally invested in the story and characters.
For instance, it is easy to sympathize with Chiron because of the violent community he was forced to grow up in, his Mother being a drug addict, poverty, bullying and the struggles of what he had to go through for just being himself.
There was a part during the beginning of the movie when Chiron, as “Little” was talking to Juan, and he asked him how will he know if he’s gay or not. Juan said he will just know one day. Chiron was confused because according to the world, he was labeled as being gay. Chiron was being called gay, and he didn’t know the true meaning behind the word.
When Chiron got to high school, he was forced to deal with the bullying on a more everyday basis.
As an adult, Chiron, now known as “Black” became more hardened, and accepted the role of embracing the environment he was from by becoming a local drug dealer. Internally, Chiron was still vulnerable, and he was searching for love and acceptance for being who he is. He was constantly looking for that special human connection, and for somebody to truly understand him.
Moonlight is gritty, in your face, sad, emotional, uncomfortable and could be looked at as visual poetry. You can almost feel how isolated Chiron is throughout the movie because he is misunderstood, and notices he doesn’t fit in with the rest of his peers.
While watching the movie, I instantly connected with Chiron being misunderstood and isolated because when I had to get my right leg amputated at 17 years old, that was exactly how I felt: misunderstood and isolated.
When I was first diagnosed with cancer at 14 years old, I bounced back and returned to high school during my sophomore year. When the cancer came back when I was 17 years old, I had to undergo chemotherapy treatment again, got my right leg amputated and I graduated from high school.
After I got my leg amputated, I was forced to transition to adulthood when I turned 18 years old. There was no option for me to go back to high school like I did when I was first diagnosed at 14 years old. The only choices I had were to go to college, or get a job while still trying to adjust and comprehend that I am now a hip amputee and could only walk with a prosthetic leg.
I hated the fact that my future consisted of being physically disabled for the rest of my life and only being able to walk with a prosthetic leg. I went through a period of feeling sorry for myself because I didn’t have control of my situation and I was insecure because all I wanted was my real leg back.
I also had to deal with people looking at me like something was wrong. It seemed like I would get stares from everybody, which made me feel uncomfortable. Over time, I realized I can’t change that I walk with a limp and decided not to pay attention to the stares.
After doing some research many years after I’ve became a hip amputee. I found out a person living with an above the knee amputation is 10 times harder than somebody living with a below the knee amputation, and being a hip amputee is 100 times harder, according to amputee coalition.
Simple things such as walking, standing, sitting, kneeling and lifting can be difficult for the hip amputee.
In addition to the physical impact of hip amputations, they also have an increased impact on self-image. There is an increased worry and stress as these surgeries start encroaching on that personal area involved in central body functions and gender identity.
Sometimes, the surgery affects bowel, bladder or sexual functions. Most of the time, it does not. But either way, it starts involving the core of the body. No longer does amputation focus solely on the loss of some or all of a limb. The emotional and psychosocial aspects of these amputation levels can be even greater than those for other amputations.
A person with an amputation below the hip and pelvis may not be dealing with body core function and image. It may be difficult for people to understand or connect emotionally with the concerns of a person with a hip amputation.
My struggles are different from Chiron’s, but in a way, they are the same in certain areas because all we wanted was to be accepted as the people we have become after all the isolated pain and suffering we had to endure.
Moonlight was a great movie, and took me by surprise how emotionally invested I was in Chiron’s character because I know how it feels to be isolated and misunderstood.
The INFJ Personality Type
My personality type is “INFJ,” which is also known as the advocate. The advocate is quiet, mystical, and yet very inspiring and tireless idealist.
When INFJ’s find themselves up against conflict and criticism, their sensitivity forces them to do everything they can to evade these seemingly personal attacks, but when the circumstances are unavoidable, they can fight back in highly irrational, unhelpful ways. Like isolate themselves.
INFJ’s indeed share a unique combination of traits: though soft-spoken, they have very strong opinions and will fight tirelessly for an idea they believe in. They are decisive and strong-willed, but will rarely use that energy for personal gain.
INFJ’s will act with creativity, imagination, conviction and sensitivity not to create advantage, but to create balance. Egalitarianism and karma are very attractive ideas to INFJ’s, and they tend to believe that nothing would help the world so much as using love and compassion to soften the hearts of tyrants.
Once I found out that I have the same personality type as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, I immediately knew I was on the right path of being an inspirational speaker. I realized my creativity of connecting my superhero story of being a two-time cancer survivor and hip amputee to my favorite superhero: Cole MacGrath could help people who have been through similar situations.
“Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.”
– Dr. Martin Luther King Jr
Disclaimer…
I don’t own any content and images from the movie “Moonlight.”
No Copyright Intended. All content is copyright to their respective owners. All Rights go to A24, Plan B Entertainment and Pastel Productions.
Bonner, Michael. Moonlight Image. Digital image. Uncut. Uncut, 13 Feb. 2017. Web. 12 June 2017. http://www.uncut.co.uk/blog/the-view-from-here/moonlight-reviewed-99275
Moonlight review content courtesy of What The Flick?! From YouTube.com.
Moonlight - Official Movie Review. Perf. Alonso Duralde, Matt Atchity, Ben Mankiewicz, Christy Lemire. YouTube. What The Flick?!, 20 Oct. 2016. Web. 12 June 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cETglJejIPo&t=1s
I don’t own any content from Amputee Coalition.
No Copyright Intended. All content is copyright to their respective owners. All rights go to Amputee Coalition.
Smith, Doulas D., MD. "Higher Challenges: The Hip Disarticulation and Transpelvic Amputation Levels." Amputation Coalition. N.p., Jan. & feb. 2005. Web. 12 June. 2017. http://www.amputee-coalition.org/resources/higher-challenges/#.WT7zemjys2w
I don’t own any content from 16personalities.com.
No Copyright Intended. All content is copyright to their respective owners. All rights go to 16personalities.com.
16Personalities Article, Title INFJ Personality ("The Advocate"), date accessed June 12, 2017. https://www.16personalities.com/infj-personality
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