History
A major theme in the film is history, both on a broad societal level, and a personal familial level. Throughout the film, the Peazant family struggles to reconcile its members' future aspirations with its attention and reverence to history. Nana Peazant holds the key to the history of the island and Ibo Landing, as the oldest member of the family. This history, however, is being threatened, as members of the family are seeking to move to the mainland and "progress" with the rest of society.Thus, Nana's major concern in the film is that her family members will forget about their own family's history, and that reverence of what came before will erode until the life that she built is forgotten.
The family's personal history is also inextricably linked to a broader American history, in that the wounds of the Peazant family, as well as the points of pride that they have passed down from generation to generation, are linked to their forced migration to America in the slave trade. The curious little oasis that the Gullah people have carved out on the island is a place where African and Caribbean culture can be retained without the intrusion of white American society. The decision to leave Ibo Landing is also the decision of the Peazants to assimilate with white American society, eschewing more direct links to Africa in favor of the culture of their oppressors. Thus, we see that the subject of holding on to history versus moving on from the wounds of the past and creating their own culture hangs in the balance in the film.
Birth and Death
At the beginning of the film, we learn that in Gullah culture, birth and death are not considered so far off from one another, in a spiritual sense. The land of the ancestors is connected with the place that newborn babies come from, and throughout the film, Nana Peazant, the oldest of the Peazant clan, is aligned with Eula's Unborn Child, who has yet to be born. Nana and the Unborn Child each suggest that there is a bridge between the world of the past and the world of the future. The Unborn Child describes the process of birth as a journey, not unlike the journey Nana takes in her decline towards death. In the cosmic wholeness celebrated by the Gullah traditionalists, birth and death are both natural processes that are meant to be respected and recognized for the ways that they create continuity.
Trauma
There are various traumas that characters experience throughout the film. From the start, Eula and Eli have experienced a trauma in that Eula was recently raped. The indignity of the event has scarred them as individuals and as a couple, and they are striving to make things right in spite of the pain they are experiencing. Later, at the final dinner, when the women of the island disparage Yellow Mary, Eula has an angry and emotional outburst about the islanders' relationship to their inherited trauma as the descendants of slaves. Angrily, she lets out all of the frustration and sadness she has been feeling, saying, "We carry too many scars from our past. We wear our scars like armor, for protection... Let’s live our lives without living in the fold of old wounds.” At the center of the struggle taking place within the Peazant family is a dispute about how to deal with trauma, and the attachment to old wounds.
Judgment
The characters in the film might easily be split into categories based on whether or not they are judgmental. While Nana, Mary, and Eula are nonjudgmental people, seeking to take people at face value and integrate them into their lives, Haagar and Viola are far more judgmental, and very critical of people who they deem to be out of step with what they think is right. When Mary first arrives, the women of the island call her names and judge her for having lived a more loose and free-spirited life on the mainland, particularly due to the fact that she has brought along a girlfriend. They pass judgment freely and suggest that she is tarnished because of the events of her life. Nana, on the other hand, even though she is older and more traditional, accepts Mary with open arms and seems to have more sympathy for her. Additionally, when Iona runs away from the boat to be with her Native American lover, her mother Haagar sobs in disapproval, but Nana looks on curiously, interested to know more rather than judge. The impulse to judge or not is a major division within the community, and a central theme of the film.
Magic vs. Reality
The dispute between the more traditional Gullah people and those who want to leave the island is not simply over lifestyle choices, but about belief systems as well. One of the major reasons that the younger residents of the island dismiss Nana is her belief in magic and the spiritual world. She is not a realist in the slightest; she believes in magic and spirits. Eula shares this belief with her, and we learn this when Eula relates the story of the slaves' suicide on Ibo Landing. She describes the incident as a miracle, in which the slaves walked on water. However, as Bilal Muhammad describes the event, no such water-walking took place, and people just drowned. Eula and Nana share a desire and an ability to view things through a magical lens and to understand the world as somehow metaphysical or otherworldly, whereas other characters are rooted in their own perceptions of reality. Thus, central to the conflict at Ibo Landing is the question of whether magic is real.
Matriarchy
The social order on the island is a matriarchy, headed by Nana Peazant and filled out by a community of strong and capable women. Women abound in the film, and they all pay reverence to their matriarch, Nana, even if they sometimes don't agree with her. Though the subject of female leadership and matriarchy is not explicitly discussed, the film's portrayal of a community organized around women centers matriarchy as a major theme.
The Sea
The people leaving Ibo Landing are not only leaving behind traditions and Nana, but also the physical landscape, a stunning seaside community whose coastal character imbues the community with a unique identity. While the term "saltwater Negroes" is used derogatorily, it is also a point of pride for many of the residents, who feel that in their connection to the sea, they are connected to their history, and to the country they came from. Thus, the water is a major theme.
Additionally, the photography of the film orients the viewer in a seaside community. Stunning long shots of the water and the water's edge portray what a beautiful home the Peazants have found, what an idyllic oasis they have created. Throughout the film, we see many shots of various characters walking to the water's edge or wading into the water in their regular clothes; while they have been forced to adopt the costumes and props of society, they still have a strong connection to nature and their saltwater surroundings.
