Conclusion
Music is never simply background noise. Soundtracks shape the way audiences interpret characters and relationships, often communicating meanings that remain unspoken within dialogue itself. By examining Call Me by Your Name and Moonlight side by side, this project reveals how music can either reinforce or resist the historical legacy of queer representation shaped by censorship. Although the Hays Code was abolished decades ago, many of the stereotypes, narrative conventions, and coded filmmaking practices it produced still linger within contemporary cinema.
In Call Me By Your Name, music is used to aestheticize and romanticize the relationship between Elio and Oliver, subtly blurring the ethical imbalance between them and reproducing past associations between queerness and predatory behavior. The soundtrack repeatedly positions Elio as the emotional and sexual initiator, which makes Oliver’s role seem much more like a reaction to Elio’s pursuit than anything else. As viewers, we are encouraged to focus more on the enchanting, nostalgic feeling of the film rather than on the responsibility of Oliver to recognize the position of power he holds over Elio as the older participant in the relationship.
In contrast, Moonlight uses music to create a real, emotional, non-glamorous portrayal of queer life. Rather than treating queerness as a starry-eyed fantasy, Moonlight’s soundtrack gives visibility to a Black queer subject whose experience has historically been marginalized within both mainstream and queer cinema. Through orchestral compositions, chopped-and-screwed distortion, hip-hop, and soulful love songs, the film builds an emotional sonic landscape that reflects the instability and complexity of Chiron’s identity. Moonlight is not a spectacle. It doesn’t sensationalize or demonize or obscure queerness. It is completely honest, intimate, and human.
Music is especially influential in the process of shaping public attitudes toward queerness because sound affects audiences on an almost subconscious level, guiding interpretation without always drawing attention to itself. The popularity of Call Me by Your Name reveals the continued cultural desire for queer stories that feel safe or digestible for mainstream audiences. The film’s soft lighting, European setting, classical music, and nostalgic tone package queerness in a way that feels elegant and consumable, particularly for heterosexual audiences who may be more comfortable engaging with queer desire when it is filtered through idealism rather than realism. This reflects a broader trend in mainstream queer cinema, where acceptance is often tied to how palatable queerness can be made, visually and emotionally.
Moonlight carries different sociocultural implications because it refuses to separate queerness from race, poverty, and gender performance. The film challenges dominant cultural narratives about both Blackness and queerness by presenting vulnerability and emotional intimacy within a Black male protagonist, something historically excluded in American film. Through its soundtrack, Moonlight exposes the emotional consequences of environments shaped by homophobia, rigid gender expectations, and racialized performances of masculinity. Rather than presenting queerness as abstract romance, the film grounds it within lived social realities. The film’s success, therefore, represents more than artistic achievement; it signals a cultural shift toward more intersectional and emotionally honest forms of representation.
In Call Me By Your Name, music is used to aestheticize and romanticize the relationship between Elio and Oliver, subtly blurring the ethical imbalance between them and reproducing past associations between queerness and predatory behavior. The soundtrack repeatedly positions Elio as the emotional and sexual initiator, which makes Oliver’s role seem much more like a reaction to Elio’s pursuit than anything else. As viewers, we are encouraged to focus more on the enchanting, nostalgic feeling of the film rather than on the responsibility of Oliver to recognize the position of power he holds over Elio as the older participant in the relationship.
In contrast, Moonlight uses music to create a real, emotional, non-glamorous portrayal of queer life. Rather than treating queerness as a starry-eyed fantasy, Moonlight’s soundtrack gives visibility to a Black queer subject whose experience has historically been marginalized within both mainstream and queer cinema. Through orchestral compositions, chopped-and-screwed distortion, hip-hop, and soulful love songs, the film builds an emotional sonic landscape that reflects the instability and complexity of Chiron’s identity. Moonlight is not a spectacle. It doesn’t sensationalize or demonize or obscure queerness. It is completely honest, intimate, and human.
Music is especially influential in the process of shaping public attitudes toward queerness because sound affects audiences on an almost subconscious level, guiding interpretation without always drawing attention to itself. The popularity of Call Me by Your Name reveals the continued cultural desire for queer stories that feel safe or digestible for mainstream audiences. The film’s soft lighting, European setting, classical music, and nostalgic tone package queerness in a way that feels elegant and consumable, particularly for heterosexual audiences who may be more comfortable engaging with queer desire when it is filtered through idealism rather than realism. This reflects a broader trend in mainstream queer cinema, where acceptance is often tied to how palatable queerness can be made, visually and emotionally.
Moonlight carries different sociocultural implications because it refuses to separate queerness from race, poverty, and gender performance. The film challenges dominant cultural narratives about both Blackness and queerness by presenting vulnerability and emotional intimacy within a Black male protagonist, something historically excluded in American film. Through its soundtrack, Moonlight exposes the emotional consequences of environments shaped by homophobia, rigid gender expectations, and racialized performances of masculinity. Rather than presenting queerness as abstract romance, the film grounds it within lived social realities. The film’s success, therefore, represents more than artistic achievement; it signals a cultural shift toward more intersectional and emotionally honest forms of representation.