Moonlight and Boyz N the Hood are a must watch movies which depict the issue of identity in sexuality in various life events. Based on the themes of these two films, there are multiple indicators of life stressors, alongside with the risk factors and protective factors. Both are films that widely portray and reflect on the critical human life experiences. The essay will focus on the main characters from the two movies who are Chiron in the Moonlight, and Tre in Boyz N the Hood. The essence of the cultivation of poverty, race, violence, drugs among other real-life issues affecting the two characters will be discussed comprehensively. The society is expected to participate in the child's development stages to bring about the best possible outcome for a better community.
Moonlight is in a set up in Miami which has a drug epidemic. Chiron lives with her mother Paula who is a drug addict. He suffers the rage of having to offer her with the money to purchase some drugs whenever he gets home. His set up and upbringing makes him become a drug dealer, following Juan’s strides. Similarly, in the Boyz N The Hood, Tre’s family reside in the neighborhoods where he is enslaved to high-risk forces of alcoholism and illegal drug smuggling which impacts on his development as a young boy. He has a father figure as his role model and takes responsibility for his actions, so he does not succumb to drugs and tries to stay out of trouble.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Chiron’s life is chaotic in the youth, adolescence, and adulthood life stages in different ways. He is provoked by fellow students who bully him at school, not forgetting the fury of her mother back at home. He, however, becomes thuggish after he’s a grown man. Comparably, in Boyz N The Hoods Tre is susceptible to violence based on the outer world. Tre stays with Reva, her divorced mother who always look for means to ensure that he learns from his father about being a responsible man. He is subjected to various social circumstances like black people police brutality, who harass and treat him and his friends as less human monsters. He has the aggrieved cultivation of violence in the environment where he is brought up although he comes out as a reliable and different man from his life experiences.
Chiron is insulted as a young black boy who grew up in Miami, and other people take him as different from others. Jenkins movie is about the thought of growing up and overcoming the odds and standing out in the hurting circumstances. It is more of a good film that focuses on the inducement of soul-searching and empathy on race and sexuality. Juan tries to encourage the young Chiron to have a different perspective on the world regardless of how it sees him because its opinions do not count even if he is a black American. Similarly, there's the essence of race in the Boyz N The Hood film. It is a black American film on the life of Tre as a black boy who grew up from the middle-class family in the ghetto. He suffers the wrath of the police as he is part of the minority group of black people and is treated harshly through power abuse by the officers.
In contrast, there is an issue of homosexuality in the Moonlight whereas the question of sexuality in the Boyz N The Hood is more on sexuality on a male-female relationship. There is a performance of the adherence of the stereotypical nature in the society on belonging to a specific gender. Both authors represent that having the sense of independence and the right to choose a life of one’s self is what makes a man. In the Moonlight, the struggle for identity in the theme of being gay is a heating debate. Kevin and Chiron are both masculine but dating although Chiron has lived in the closet from a young age with the gay identity. Juan comprehends that Chiron needs to be given the space to be himself, without coddling or coercing to make him open up his intense feelings. In The Boyz N The Hood, the issue of sexuality brings out the theme of the power and influence of men in the black community. Tre dates Brandi, who gives up her body for sex with Tre to reveal how women lack voices and are merely reduced to their sexuality in their society.
There are various stressors and coping mechanism factors in the Moonlight. Chiron’s maladaptive behavior is the difficulty to come out as a gay member of the black community due to people’s judgment and prejudice. Juan, his father figure makes cognitive and behavioral efforts to manage the stressors of Chiron in response to his social life on the matter of identity which is a definite protective factor. Chiron risk factor is that he suffers the wrath of his mother’s brutality and her hustle for drugs which involves being forced to offer her money for the same. Juan gives him his space to deal with his inner feelings, without having to pressurize him on his life struggles. He supports him by training him how to swim which is an adaptive factor and offers him a place to stay which could help him deal with his issues at home, in school, and in the community.
Tre is raised in a dangerous environment, where his adaptive behavior is his significant efforts to escape the ghetto. Tre’s maladaptive behavior that could lead to his downfall is engaging in sex with his girlfriend at a tender age which could cause him his chances to join college. He is an ambitious young man whose coping mechanism is his hope to enter college through his enthusiastic knowledge skills to change his status. His risk factor is the issue of racism in his area of residence. Irrespective of the blacks’ feminism in the film, Reva, who is Tre’s mother is one among many women who depicts her strong character of a more significant foundation for women. She’s on her way to obtain master’s degree and acts as a great mother by letting Tre live with his father to acquire the basics of masculinity. She is, however, a significant role-model for her son Tre, because she shows the importance of learning and obtaining papers which is a protective factor.
The two films talk about the problem of being black and poor and the challenges associated with the effect. In both movies, Tre and Chiron experience various and almost similar challenges which they must overcome to improve their lives. They both face discrimination as people of color, are brought up in violence and drug-associated community. The society should play a role in the education, morality, security and the social welfare of the human race.
