Brother to Brother

Even though the film Brother to Brother was made and takes place about 75 years after the Harlem Renaissance, many of the themes from that time period in Harlem are still illustrated in the movie. Racial identification, pride, a determination to fight against oppression, and Negro heritage and history are present in Brother to Brother.

In the film, the main character is a black gay boy named Perry. His parents kicked him out of their house when they found out he was gay, and Perry struggles to live openly and freely. He meets Richard Bruce Nugent, a famous gay black poet and writer from the Harlem Renaissance. Nugent befriends Perry, and tells him about his similar struggles for blacks to have their voices be heard as powerful ones. Nugent, along with Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, Aaron Douglas, and Wallace Thurman tried to publish a Zine called “Fire!” that contained pieces on sex, prostitution, drugs, and other sensitive subjects from the view of blacks, a change for the public. However, it was looked down upon by the rest of the black community, called “trash”, thought of as something that brought a bad name to Negroes.  This part of Brother to Brother depicts the theme of racial identification beautifully. It shows how a few revolutionary blacks tried to show the rest of the world what blacks really were, thought, and stood for.

Pride is a reoccurring theme in Brother to Brother.  From the start of the film, we learn that Perry, although discriminated against for being gay, is very proud of who he is. He is open about it, and doesn’t change anything about his life to better fit in anywhere. When Perry meets Nugent, we discover that he is very much the same-a proud, gay black man who is frustrated that he cannot openly voice who he is without being looked down upon for it. When Nugent tells Perry about his younger years in Harlem during the Renaissance, we see that Nugent was also an extremely proud young black man. Along with Hughes, Hurston, Douglas, and Thurman, he wanted more than anything to show the world who he really was.  He had the courage to try to publish his works about his views of the world, with full knowledge of the risks and public view of most Negroes. Nugent shows Perry that he is and has never been alone in his fight, and pride is shared from brother to brother.

Nugent, Hughes and the others have a strong determination to fight against oppression in Brother to Brother. They all are very aware that blacks face serious oppression, but nobody in Harlem has the courage to do anything about it. The five of them have the idea to start a Zine that would change the public’s view of blacks, and move towards and end to the oppression. When Nugent’s Zine isn’t published, and the rest of the black community becomes angry and hateful about “Fire!” he and the rest of his team don’t give up for a second. During the scene when the group of black men and women are burning copies of “Fire!” and shouting at Nugent and the others for creating such “garbage”, Nugent shouts right back at them, trying desperately to convince them that what they were trying to publish was for the good, to show the public that blacks weren’t just dirt, they were better than that. This Zine would bring hope to the Negro community, and maybe put an end to the bitter oppression they all face.

 
Negro heritage and history is the most apparent and focused on theme in Brother to Brother. The entire aspect of Richard Nugent’s flashbacks to the Harlem Renaissance when he is telling Perry about his life is a reference and a tribute to Negro heritage and history. Nugent describes Harlem in the 20’s as a predominantly black city, despite the fact that they were still segregated against. He tells Perry about the many brave and inspirational men and women who had the courage to become something more than a black citizen-they became icons of Harlem, the very roots of the Renaissance. The singers, the swing dancers, the people who ran clubs, provided alcohol, spoke up about their struggles, and like Nugent, wrote and sold poems about their lives. Brother to Brother is all about celebrating the beauty and splendor of the Harlem Renaissance, a key era in black history.