Black Panther is a film directed by Ryan Coogler. Even though the film was created from a fictional character of the Marvel Comics, the movie still had a huge impact on African American history.
The film is about a Prince who takes over his nation after the tragic death of his father. T’Challa returns home to be crowned King of the Wakanda nation. He is faced with many opposing tribes that didn’t want him as King, as they claimed he wasn’t ready for that position of power. Wakanda is a nation that didn’t accept help from any other country nor did they meddle in any other countries affairs. The main theme of the movie was the challenging power structures. T’Challa faces a lot of hate for his position, specifically his fight with Killmonger. Killmonger uses his royal bloodline to challenge the new King. He ends up winning and being crowned King of Wakanda. As King he attempts to topple the Western dominated world order and the structures that oppress black people worldwide. Though overthrowing powers is always a controversial topic in history, it is always an important of a successful society.
I wanted to connect the movie Black Panther with the successful party called the Black Panther Party. The Black Panther Party was founded in 1966 in Oakland, California by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale. The main purpose of the party was to patrol African American neighborhoods to protect residents from acts of police brutality. The Black Panther Party came into the national spotlight in May of 1967, when a small group of it’s members marched as a protests against the pending Mulford Act. The party viewed the legislation as a political plot to oppose the organization’s effort to fight police brutality in the Oakland community. The Black Panther character was born in the Civil Rights era, and he reflected the politics of that time. The character symbolized courage, challenge, grace, and rites of passage. The Black Panther is a character that matters the most in the film industry because he is the best chance for people of every color to see a black hero. That in itself is its own kind of power.
Sources:
“Black Panther Party.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 9 Feb. 2021, www.britannica.com/topic/Black-Panther-Party.
Cawthon, Cliff. “Black Panther: The Marvel Film’s Meaning Runs Deep.” March 7, 2018 | Real Change, Real Change, 16 Mar. 2018, www.realchangenews.org/news/2018/03/07/black-panther-marvel-films-meaning-runs-deep.
Smith , Jamil. “How Marvel’s Black Panther Marks a Major Milestone.” Time, Time, time.com/black-panther/.
Hi, being a black girl watching this movie was so inspiring. It had so much history that I had to learn on my own because schools do not always talk about some of the culture, history and things black people went through. I am not saying all schools but the two schools I went to they did not talk about it in a positive light. I think that it gives a brief history to young people and opens up the topic to be talked about. In school I believe that the topic of the BP was a terrible group that killed attacked so many people. I learned on my own that they were protecting black people since the police were not doing it. It is nice to see them prorated in a positive light in the movie. Nice work