This week we're going to discuss the story "The G.R.I.E.F." and the film
Moonlight. Both texts deal with homosexuality and homophobia in the African American community. Some questions to consider:
- When homosexuality is suspected of a man, why is violence--from either side--so often the answer?
- What connections can you make between rap and homosexuality?
- What does it mean to be "soft" or "hard"?
- Why is homosexuality viewed as a threat in both of these dramatized communities?
Last week, Rachael shared an article w/ us about a boy in the Bronx who killed one of his classmates who had apparently been bullying him. It seems that homosexuality is a part of this story too. Can we make connections between these texts and this recent real-life experience? Like Rachael asks, what can be done? Here is another article rounding out the one that she links to:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/27/nyregion/high-school-stabbing-bronx.html?action=click&contentCollection=N.Y.%20%2F%20Region&module=RelatedCoverage®ion=EndOfArticle&pgtype=article
In Moonlight, Chiron was seen as a homophobic teen who was being bullied just like the kid that was seen as being homophobic in the Bronx article. However, Chiron took out his anger by taking a chair and hitting the kid that bullied him. The kid from the Bronx article took it to an extreme level of taking a knife then killing one kid and leaving the other wounded. Neither of these outcomes should've never happened. To be "soft" my interpretation of it is weak, being picked on easily and won't have any retaliation. On the other hand "hard" might mean you are the one who starts the fights or bullies someone. To be honest the parents need to be on top on their children; talk to them about school and what is going on. Schools need to have some type of convention with their students; sort of like a group convention or something to make sure that the school is also on top of their students and know what is going on.
ReplyDeleteWhen Homosexuality is suspected of a man violence is most of the time the answer because a man has always been viewed as being Masculine and Strong. like prof talbird mentioned in class you cant tell if someone is gay all the time. they are men who dress more feminine and then you have gay men/ who appear masculine and dress like a man. you cant always determine what someones sexual orientation is just by looking at them. being gay in the latino community but even more so the African american community is hard to accept. because of the culture and religion they believe in, but its ironic to me because gay females are more accepted than if it were Men. soft means that your weak or pussy you aren't as intimidating to others and hard means that you are intimidating and you are well respected, your viewed as being tough. the connection between rap and homosexuality is that you rarely ever hear a rapper speak on the subject. all you hear is " straight rap " i dont think homosexuality will be fully accepted in rap because the masculine aspects of hip-hop create unique challenges for gay artists.
ReplyDeleteI think in both the film and the story, there is a dichotomy between "hard" and "soft." The problem I see w/ that is that if you have only two choices then there is no place for people in-between. And if we're honest, I think we'll realize that there are a bunch of different ways of being. This may be similar to the way women have been oppressed by patriarchy for centuries, what has sometimes been called the virgin/whore dichotomy (i.e. women have two choices, to either be "pure" or to be a "slut."). Both choices are no choice really.
ReplyDeleteBullying occurs when someone decides they can take advantage of another person. Like we see in Moonlight, Chiron is seen being bullied starting at a young age because he's both gay and "soft". He's seen as an easy target because he never fights back, and just doesn't establish himself as someone to not be trifled with.
ReplyDeleteI think that the way Chiron transitions into a drug dealer after he's arrested is very interesting. If we saw him without seeing his childhood, nobody would suspect that he was gay. It just goes to show that anybody can be gay, and they could show absolutely no signs of it. Chiron ends up trapping, and we can see how he was influenced by Juan(ornament in the car, how he dresses). Ultimately he builds up an image of being hard, while on the inside he just wants someone to love him.
When homosexuality is suspected of a man violence tends to be the answer most of the time because like rachael said they are expected to be masculine and feminine is a form of weakness also some males were taught not to express there feelings which is why sometimes they replace it with violence. To be soft kind of mean weakness, easily hurt, having feelings( because people act like thats not normal) and to be hard is the opposite, also the risk taker one who is capable of hurting anyone and not caring.
ReplyDeleteviolence tend to be the answer because men want to show that they are masculine. to make a clear statement that they are not gay.in there mind if they hang with someone that's gay others are going to assume that they are. People say the company you keep says a lot about who you, which is not always true. Men are so afraid of that being the case that have to emphasize it every chance they get by saying "no homo"
ReplyDeleteHomosexuality and homophobia are two dufferent terms which have be seen different in different conditions. Sometimes it causes murder and violence which looks like an allien behavior in 21st century.In African and American culture it is common to give love with their buds but its leads to be a physically and mentally abuse by addict them in an unsecure enviornment.
ReplyDeletei think moonlight was a good movie but i think it is overrated because i didn't really like the end but regardless its good that it touched on the case of bullying because, it is something that still goes on. when people call someone soft its probably because you are easily intimidated and i think that bullies don't just bully people because of what they are most times its because they know they can intimidate you or they know you are scared of them
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the article and watching movie moonlight I kind of realized that bulling can be a serious matter in our society. It can lead to next level of crime. As we saw in moonlight that when Chiron was being bullied every time so he couldn't control his anger and hit the kid with chair. If these cases are not solve kids in school can murder another kid or even suicide themselves. I guess person who cannot defend themselves is knows as soft and people who take anger out or take revenge is known to be hard. I don't think homosexuality is thread to community.
ReplyDeleteWhen homosexuality is suspected of a man violence tends to be the answer because there is a social structured within the community that makes it not acceptable depending on how personal the act of homosexuality is within the community, and as seen in the film it is a African community where they show respect and admiration within there peers when you perform acts of intimacy with women. The connection I could make between rap and homosexuality is that raps displays a form of being masculine, which then could apply to being "hard" which represents your persona and character of a man, where you want to be seen as a person who stays strong at all time and not someone who is described as being soft which leads to the more feminine side to there perspective. Where you might get picked on and characterized as being a homosexual. Homosexuality is viewed as a threat in both communities because if you are a homosexual you are basically described as an outcast or an inferior person to the community making you seem less of a person
ReplyDeleteI suppose the scene - where they are forced to fight at school and he beats up the kid he was at the beach with - should have upset me more. The reason it didn't is because this is pretty much the scene in another movie where there is a gay rapper and they are caught being affectionate in the recording studio and he feels forced to defend his manhood and beat him up for trying something like that on him in front of his boys. Insecurity is at the heart of this violence. If you are unsafe in your own skin or unsure of yourself then you'll feel the need to defend your weakness or shortcoming. If you were secure in yourself, you wouldn't feel the need to defend yourself from false accusations. Is it hard to teach that to a kid? I genuinely don't know and I would have loved to have known this when I was s kid.
ReplyDeleteChiron was weak and confused when he was young because of his broken family. In the eyes of a homophobia gays are weak, disgusting and a threat to the society. Thus, any man that has a weak personality will get bullied from the group of people that are tougher because the weak are the easy target especially in Chiron’s community. We can see throughout the movie that Chiron learned how to survive. Chiron was gay and soft since he was a child even his mother called him a “faggot”, but when he grew up he become strong, masculine, an ideal man in his community. He hid his feelings and desire from everyone he knew. At the end, he open himself to Kevin that he is gay. Chiron felt safe with Kevin because Kevin is also a gay.
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