Chiron: I cry so much sometimes I turn to drops.
Kevin: And just roll out into the water, right? Roll out into the water just like all the motherfuckers out here trying to drown their sorrows...Sounds like something you wanna do."
For Chiron and his peers, shows of masculinity are vital to survival. In this scene, Kevin and Chiron peel back the facade of masculinity that they have created to survive, letting each other see a vulnerable side. This is also a rare moment of verbosity on Chiron's part, as he is usually tongue-tied. Of course, this scene will end up changing Chiron's life, as it will be the single moment of sexual intimacy to which he will cling well into adulthood. Much like the scene in which Juan teaches Little to swim, this scene near the water is an intimate moment in Chiron's life around which all other experience revolves, a moment of earnestness in a life that demands a forced show of masculinity from him. The boys' language around water and melting into water themselves also plays into the film's use of water as symbolism around freedom and vulnerability in the face of a hyper-masculine environment.
You're my only, and I'm your only.
Even as her addiction consumes her, Paula clings to the sense of purpose her role as Chiron's mother gives her. Often, Paula is threatened by Teresa and Juan's influence on Chiron's life, which seems to operate inversely to her own influence on his life; as Juan provides Paula with drugs, she becomes less able to be a mother to Chiron, making space for Juan and Teresa to step in as his surrogate parents. Even in a comatose, drug-addled state, Paula instinctively fights for her son to see her as the only real family in his life, a reality that haunts Chiron into adulthood, when he finally takes steps to reconcile with his mother. Of course, this scene with Paula also follows Chiron's night on the beach with Kevin, and therefore works as an eerie reminder that Chiron can trust no one, foreshadowing the coming scenes where he will be beaten by his lover, Kevin.
Am I a faggot?
Little asks this question of Juan and Teresa at the dinner table, a rare and heartbreaking moment in which he breaks his usual silence. Clearly having heard this word from the boys at school, Little, at the age of nine, does not yet understand what makes him different from his peers. Encapsulated in this quote are the cultural forces that would have Little choose an identity almost from birth. Juan accounts for this phenomenon when he explains to Little the origins of his former nickname, Blue. "At some point, you gotta decide for yourself who you gonna be." When Little is called a "faggot" by his peers, however, he realizes that society wants to tell him who he will be. Ultimately, this ties into the film's overarching themes about cyclical identity and fatalism.
I messed up. I fucked it all up, I know that. But your heart ain't gotta be black like mine, baby.
When Paula and Black reconcile late in the film, the tables have turned. Whereas Paula has largely recovered from the crack addiction that ruined her life as a mother, Chiron has taken after Juan and become a drug lord. When Paula voices this concern, she is not only referring to his actual nickname at this point in his life, "Black," as she may or may not be aware of it. Indeed, she is also working within the motifs of blue and black that permeate the film's ideas about identity, performed toughness, and what it means to ruin or redeem oneself. By now, Black has chosen a life of drugs and crime, decorating his car and even his teeth in an effort to appear tough and impenetrable. When Paula mentions her "black" heart, however, Black's very identity is at stake, as he has, in a way, chosen a life of blackness in every sense of the word, performed and genuine. His ability to love is likewise at stake here, as Paula was only able to get ahold of her love for her son late in life, a sad reality that could very well happen for Black as well.
I knew you wasn't soft.
Whether a man is "soft" or "hard" is a question that permeates the hyper-masculine world of Moonlight. Kevin delivers this line after forcing Little to wrestle with him while the other boys in their class play ball nearby, therein proving to them that Little is not to be messed with. Decades later, when Black and Kevin meet up at the diner, Kevin asks Black if he's supposed to be "hard" now, referring to Black's new gangster persona. Here, "soft" means weak, and "hard" means tough, but these words also draw attention to the film's overarching themes of masculinity and performativity. Whether or not one engages in sex with other men is almost irrelevant as long as one performs extreme masculinity and strength. This is clear in Kevin when he beats Chiron at Terrel's request, and we are left with the question of whether Chiron will likewise succumb to cultural expectations of male performativity. Our question is answered, of course, when Chiron gets revenge on Terrel and goes to juvenile prison, laying the groundwork for him to transform into a "hard" gangster.
Let me tell you something, man. There are black people everywhere. Remember that, okay? No place you can go in the world ain't got no black people. We was the first on this planet.
In Moonlight, Director Barry Jenkins is interested in the vulnerability and beauty of the black body. When Juan delivers this speech to Little, he is not only attempting to instill pride in Little for his black skin but also pointing to the primacy of the black experience in the world at large. Moonlight is unique in that it lacks white characters, a rarity in American film history. Even so, whiteness is lurking at the edges of the frame; the Miami crack epidemic that provides the film's setting, of course, disproportionately affected black populations in places like Liberty City. Here, Juan implicitly confronts the extreme challenges of living as a black man in Miami at this time by asserting that the black experience is actually timeless, surviving long before and long after the chaos of his and Little's world.
'Running around, catching a lot of light. In the moonlight, black boys look blue. You blue, that's what I'm gonna call you: Blue.'
Juan tells the story of an old woman in Cuba, his home, describing the iridescent quality of black skin in moonlight. In this very scene, where Juan teaches Little to swim and talks to him about identity and survival, we see both man and child under the moonlight for ourselves. Later, we see the moonlight on Kevin and Chiron's skin, echoing this moment with Juan. The role of nicknames and self-definition in shaping one's own identity likewise echoes from this scene to the one with Kevin and Chiron. Here, Juan explains the origins of a nickname that he no longer encourages; later, Chiron will ask Kevin why he has given him the nickname "Black." Throughout the film, the reflectivity of skin in light, and the vulnerability of that skin as a barrier between one's public and private personas, will play a huge role in the notion of identity and one shapes it oneself or it is foisted upon one by others. Here, the two notions are literally joined in Juan's account of moonlight on black skin.
Who is you?
Both Paula and Kevin voice this question at various times, a case for the primacy of identity as a theme in Moonlight. Paula is the first to ask "Who is you?" when Juan returns Little to her the first time Little seeks refuge at Juan and Teresa's house. She gives no time for Juan to answer, however. This contrasts with the second time this question is voiced, when Kevin earnestly asks Black "Who is you?" in the diner, noting Black's transformation from sensitive adolescent to hardened drug lord. The question of identity and how it is shaped or chosen is central to Moonlight, as Chiron's identity is both defined for him, for better or worse, and something he ultimately shapes himself.
You're the only man that's ever touched me. The only one. I haven't really touched anyone since.
As the final line of the film, this moment is a sucker punch to the gut for an audience that has watched Chiron attempt to find love and comfort. Until this line, we are unsure of whether Chiron has ever found happiness again in the decade since his teenage tryst with Kevin on the beach. By the final shot of the film, we finally understand that the forces working against Chiron acting on his feelings towards other men have prevented him from ever finding the solace he once found in Kevin. A devastating realization, this quote could be read as evidence that the societal forces that shape Chiron into a hyper-masculine version of himself have destroyed his true, inner self. On the other hand, it could also be a tribute to the love shared by Kevin and Chiron on the beach that night as teenagers.
Don't give me that 'you gotta be gettin' it from somebody shit,' nigger. I'm getting it from you.
In the space of just a few words, Paula cuts to the heart of the film's themes of cyclical identities and naturalism. Although Juan steps in to act as Little's father figure, he also sells crack to Little's mother, complicating any black-and-white evaluation of his impact on Little's life. Here, Paula draws attention to Juan's shaky moral compass, as he ultimately seems to put money and his business above Chiron's life, feeding the crack addiction of Chiron's only family member. Later, as Chiron transforms into a drug lord himself, taking after Juan, Jenkins dares us to decide whether Juan actually ruined or saved Chiron's life.
