Moonlight (Romanski et al., 2016) is a film that explores the life of a young African American man across three life stages; childhood, adolescence and early adulthood. In the film, themes of masculinity, sexuality and race influence the main character, Chiron. Masculinity is linked to being tough, both physically and emotionally, and heteronormativity remains the unspoken, assumed identity of all males. Any diverging from these ideals is then met with sharp resistance from community and even persons who want to navigate those boundaries as well. Chiron experiences these resistances very early on from childhood. As he plays football with friends, he is quickly accused of being weak or soft when he hesitates to play. He even questions his own sexuality in a conversation with a prominent male figure and drug dealer, Juan. As he gets to adolescence, the resistance becomes worse, as he is bullied often from his peers for not being willing to chase women. He eventually develops a romantic intimate relationship with another peer, Kevin, but upon the culture of masculinity, he too resorts to bullying Chiron when they are in front of their peers.

Throughout the film, we see Chiron embrace his sexuality, then depart to embrace the cultural masculinity as he becomes an adult, which influences him to conceal those queer and intimate moments he held in childhood and adolescence. The intersection of racial identity, heteronormativity, masculinity, and socioeconomic status impact each character on a level that results to further marginalization. As counselors and counselor educators, we are obliged to be leaders that acknowledge power, privilege and oppression and more importantly how those three impact out students (Ratts & Greenleaf, 2018). Movies such as these can teach us about how traditionally marginalized populations can further perpetuate oppression and the need for us to dismantle these systems. Given that there is already a use of film in pedagogy, it stands that Moonlight can aid in helping counselors in training explore how they are helping their students and clients understand their own identities. More importantly it can provide help for our counselors can engage in culturally-responsive action.