Brother to Brother

        Brother to Brother is a movie written and directed by Rodney Evans that was released in 2004. The movie is about a gay teen, Perry, who is struggling to find a place to fit in a society that rejects him for both being black and gay. He is joined during the movie by an older man who later turns out to be famed Harlem Renaissance poet Bruce Nugent. Together they explore the lives of past black creators and artists through a series of Nugent's flashbacks to the 20s.

         Although the Harlem Renaissance started more than 80 years ago, the themes associated with the Harlem Renaissance are still prevalent in many societies. Brother to Brother is an example of how these themes carry through the generations and can be used to describe people even today. The first person who exemplified this in the movie was Jim, Perry's classmate in his black studies class. Jim expressed anger at racism, one of the Harlem Renaissance themes. As well as being homophobic, Jim passionately expresses discontent with the way the police and government treat black. He argues that racism is still a major problem in the United States, citing the fact that there are many more blacks in jail than any other race and the plethora of police shootings and beatings of black citizens. 

        Another Harlem Renaissance shown in Brother to Brother is that of the desire to redefine the meaning of the term "negro." In this movie, this is shown both in the timeline during the 20s and Perry's present day in 2004. While Nugent, Langston Hughes, Zora Neal Hurston and Wallace Thurman all fight for acceptance into black society during the 20s for their unflinching views on black life, Perry fights for acceptance as a gay and black man. Throughout the movie he is essentially told "you can either be black or gay, but not both." Fighting this is Perry's way of defining the new negro. He wants people, including in the black community, to change their ideas about what a black man is allowed to be. By fighting for acceptance into his own society, Perry demonstrates the Harlem Renaissance theme of desire to reconstruct the meaning of the term "negro."

          The final theme from the Harlem Renaissance this movie shows in modern times is identification with race. This is also shown in then parallels of Nugent's life as a younger man and Perry's life. In Nugent's time, he and all others involved in the controversial magazine Fire strongly identified with the black community. Fire revolved around the contemporary issues in black life at the time, and although they were not accepted by most blacks at the time, the authors of Fire still saw themselves as part of that community. The case is the same for Perry. Because he's gay, many of the blacks in the movie rejected him and claimed that he had no place in black society. Despite his rejection, Perry still identifies with the African race, showing an even stronger commitment to it than those who are easily accepted. 

         Through all of these ways, it is clear that the themes of the Harlem Renaissance transcend generations and remain prevalent even today.