More Than 8 Years Later, I'm Still Happy That Moonlight Beat La La Land At The Oscars (For A Few Reasons)

Aside from “the slap” (you know what slap I'm talking about), there's been no more shocking moment in Oscar history for me than when Faye Dunaway incorrectly announced that La La Land won Best Picture. Minutes later, Jordan Horowitz, who was a producer for La La Land, had to correct the error by saying that Moonlight, in fact, actually won Best Picture.

I vividly remember the wide range of emotions that I went through at that very moment. At first, it felt like one of those dreams where you wake up and still think you’re able to fly, or that a Switch 2 is sitting underneath your bed, only for you to fully realize that it was all just a dream.

Unlike those moments where the realization is really disappointing, this time, it was a moment to rejoice (For me anyway). Much like my colleague, Eric Eisenberg, believed, I also thought that Moonlight deserved to win Best Picture, and I’m still happy that it beat La La Land, even 8 years later. Here’s why.

After What Happened To Brokeback Mountain, I'm Glad That The Academy Has Grown To Recognize The Importance Of Gay Stories

I’ve already written about this, but I’m still upset that Brokeback Mountain didn’t win Best Picture back in 2006, and for a few reasons. But, the main reason (besides it being a far better film than Crash) was because it was a hauntingly beautiful love story, and one that was about a gay relationship, which felt both ahead of its time, but also directly of its time back in 2005.

I was worried that a movie like Moonlight, which was about a Black boy who explores his sexual identity (among other themes) all the way up to adulthood, was the kind of story that the Academy would acknowledge, sure, but would never give the ultimate prize to.

Yes, we had come a long way toward acceptance when it came to LGBTQ+ stories since Brokeback, but for it to beat a thoroughly popular musical like La La Land, with two likeable leads? I honestly didn’t think Moonlight had a chance in Hell. Unlike Crash (which I actually do like, don’t get me wrong), La La Land was a film that was generally seen as worthy of winning Best Picture, and it was the film to beat in 2017 (It had a whopping 11 nominations, after all).

And yet, Moonlight beat it. As an LGBTQ+ ally, I want these stories to win, but I honestly thought that it wouldn’t. Moonlight, like Brokeback Mountain, was a hauntingly beautiful story, and the way it dealt with homosexuality was both bold and yet surprisingly subtle. Showing Chiron in three stages of his life – childhood, teenage years, and adulthood – and learning to understand (and find comfort in) his sexual identity by adulthood truly deserved the award, and it actually won!

Which I found to be wonderful. This is despite the fact that I really love musicals too, which I'll get into next.

I Love Musicals, But Moonlight Just Hits Differently

Ten musicals have won Best Picture, and I want to say that I love most of them, but, do you know the last time that a musical actually won? It was all the way back in 2003 for Chicago. So, by 2017, I think another musical was definitely due.

And, I wouldn't have hated it if La La Land had won. The dance numbers in particular were wonderful, and I liked that the music itself was integrated into the story. So, much like martial arts movies (for example, I think Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon should have won Best Picture), I almost always prefer when genre pictures, like musicals, fantasy, or sci-fi, win the coveted prize over the standard drama, since it's such a rare occasion.

This time, I wanted the drama to beat the musical. Because Moonlight just hits differently.

Essentially a story told in three acts, with each act reflecting the different periods of an impoverished Black person's life, we get to explore the hardships of his existence and the people who make a difference for him, both positive and negative.

Maybe it just hits differently since I'm Black myself, and I teach students who may be going through similar hardships as Chiron. But, whatever the case, I'm glad that the more personal-feeling story beat the one about the two love birds heading in different directions due to their success. It felt like a personal win of sorts.

We Need More Stories About Minority Communities Within Minority Communities, And Moonlight Is That Story

Black stories are important. Gay stories are important. The thing is, the two stories don't necessarily have to be separate. Because there are gay Black people. In fact, there are gay people of every race and nationality. So, for that reason, I think there should be more stories that explore the concept of being a minority within a minority.

While homosexuality isn't widely accepted in any community, the Black community in particular often has major issues with people within the community being gay.

For instance, I've heard Black people tell me that “it's a sin,” to be gay (their pastor told them so), and as a teacher of mostly Black students, I've been informed by some parents that their children will not participate in any writing assignments that contain the word “Pride” in them, since they automatically associate the word “Pride” with “Gay” (even though the assignment was about what gives you pride, though I'm not going to argue with parents. I gave their kids something else to write about).

So, I really do want to see more stories about minority communities within minority communities, since the gay students that I have deserve stories that they can relate to.

Moonlight is that story. I'm glad that there are other LGBTQ+ movies and shows that they can watch (some of them on Netflix), but I'm glad that there's a film that is exclusively about the Black and gay experience, and that it also won Best Picture.

Overall, I Think Moonlight Winning Benefits Both Itself As Well As La La Land

It might sound like I was belittling La La Land by referring to it as the story of “two love birds heading in different directions due to their success,” but I honestly wasn’t. The tale of Sebastian, a talented jazz musician played by Ryan Gosling, and Amelia, an aspiring actress played by the Academy Award-winning Emma Stone, is a good one, and their “what could have been” love story was definitely worthy of winning Best Picture.

Now, if it had won, I don’t think I’d categorize it as one of the greatest movies to win Best Picture. That said, there certainly have been worse films that have won the highest prize, so I wouldn’t have been upset if it had ultimately gotten the gold.

However, I think Moonlight winning Best Picture benefitted both itself and La La Land, because if the latter had won, then it might only be looked upon as the film that beat Moonlight, which I don’t think is fair, since, like I said before, La La Land is a good movie. What I mean is, I don’t think it should be scorned like, say, Crash beating Brokeback Mountain, or a Driving Miss Daisy winning Best Picture, when Do the Right Thing wasn’t even nominated (How?!).

By “losing” to Moonlight, and in such a dramatic fashion, I really do think La La Land has a better chance of being remembered in a positive way than if it had beaten Moonlight. In turn, I think Moonlight is looked upon for its historic win, and remembered as the film that “beat” the more conventional La La Land.