Harlem Renaissance Themes present in the Film and Now

The film Brother to Brother, follows the troubled life of a young gay black art student named Perry. His parents have kicked him out of his house because of his homosexuality and he is going through hard times.  There are innumerable connections to be made between the contemporary film, Brother to Brother, and the Black community today.

The film obviously demonstrates identification with race, because it is about what life is like for a black man, living in New York City, to be gay. Marcus, Perry’s friend, who is also a poet, identifies with being black when he rejects a white man who tries to relate to his struggles that Marcus talks about in his poetry. The entire film is reflecting on what it was like for blacks to be gay, to be artists, to be musicians. This theme definitely has carried on in the black community until present day. Life for black people is still different than the lives of whites or other races. Blacks most certainly still indentify with their black culture and are still aware of their position in society as a black person. They consider why their life is different than someone else because of their race.

The film also demonstrates anger at racism. When Perry sleeps with Jim, a white student who goes to class with Perry, Jim remarks upon Perry’s “sweet black ass”. Perry is immediately incensed and gets up and leaves Jim in a dramatic way. Later Perry describes the incident to his black friend Marcus; saying that he’s angered by the way that Jim was using him for his black attributes. The way that Perry expresses anger towards Jim’s racism is a theme that is still perpetuated through black culture today. Because racism is still present today, it is not surprising at all that anger at racism is still a present theme.

The most important theme in Brother to Brother is the desire to reconstruct the meaning of “negro”. Perry, and many other gay black characters depicted in the film, is ridiculed by the black community because of their homosexuality. Perry is jumped by a homophobic classmate of his and his friends because of the arguments that Perry and this kid have about homosexuality. Bruce Nugent and his friends are yelled at and spit upon by other members of the black community due to their homosexuality. When Perry’s friend Marcus expresses his anger towards white people, Perry remarks that that anger is the same anger that the black community feels towards him because of his being gay. Basically, the black gay characters in the novel are not respected and receive no acknowledgment for their achievements because of their homosexuality. So these characters wish strongly to reconstruct the meaning of “negro” or more, add on to how other blacks are redefining this word. They want it to include all that is amazing about black culture, but to also include homosexuality. So that the all the music and art and food and dance that is encompassed in black culture can be equally appreciated when created by a gay person. This theme most definitely carries on into the present because homophobia is still very prominent in black culture and there are, of course, still gay members of the black community. And these gay blacks have the same sorts of wishes that Bruce Nugent, and Perry had a long time ago.