The Black Panther film, directed by Ryan Coogler, portrays themes of colonialism vs. isolationism embedded throughout the entirety of the film. The viewer is able to see the struggle Wakanda faces, while wanting to continue with isolationist national policy in order to avoid any potential conflicts with other nations. The root of this isolationism is to protect the nation of Wakanda and its people, and viewers see this often in T’Challa’s struggle when deciding what the right thing to do is: to protect his nation or protect as many refugees and struggling individuals as possible (Coogler). In all of the nations surrounding Wakanda, themes of colonialism are very real and very present. T’Challa and other Wakandan leaders fear colonialism because of the extremely valuable Vibranium that they possess; they fear being exploited by other nations for their resources and do not want to endanger any of their own citizens (Coogler). The film emphasizes how (an although fictional) nation in Africa is able to thrive and flourish without colonization taking place. Through class readings, we saw how colonization affected Okonkwo and his tribe in Things Fall Apart written by Chinua Achebe. We quickly saw how native tribemates became the subaltern after colonists arrived and began to change their entire lifestyle and culture (Achebe). This was the very concept that King T’Challa and Wakanda worked so hard to avoid.
Another important impact of Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther film was on people of color around the world who were finally being represented in a major film (Coogler). Jack Kirby and Stan Lee, the creators of the original Black Panther comic, explained in a 1990 interview that they decided to create this character for their youth black readers who were hardly ever represented in the media (Mattimore). I would also like to focus my context-research presentation on the historical-context and environment in which the original Black Panther comic was released.
The Black Panther comic was released in 1966, during a time where the civil rights movement was gaining momentum, as well as the Black Power Movement (Mattimore). Stokely Carmichael was a critical leader of the Black Power Movement. He gave a moving speech at the University of California Berkeley, just a few months following the debut of the “Black Panther” (Stokely). Huey Newton and Bobby Seale then named their organization The Black Panther Party. According to the National Museum of African American History and Culture, The Black Panther Party for Self Defense was focused on promoting social change by challenging systemic injustice and the police who enabled it (“The Black Panther”). One of the main ideals of The Black Panther Party was that they did not believe that the decades of oppression against people of color could be fought against only through nonviolent protesting. Hence, the reason they named their party after self defense.
This concept of protesting through means other than only nonviolence was also explored in Coogler’s Black Panther film. Erik Killmonger, King T’Challa’s long-lost cousin, came to Wakanda because he wanted to send Vibranium out to those who needed the tools to defend themselves. He was specifically referring to his Black brothers and sisters all around the world. King T’Challa and Wakanda as a whole philosophically believed that there was no need for unnecessary violence, and as mentioned before, also believed in isolationism. This meant that he was not looking to get involved in international affairs, especially supplying Vibranium to enable violence (Coogler).
Ultimately, Coogler’s Black Panther film had a monumental impact on people of color because it brought to attention issues regarding colonialism and how oftentimes, history can be misconstrued when told from only one perspective. The film illustrated how Wakanda thrived and became a prosperous nation without colonialism, showing that colonialism is not necessary to develop into a flourishing nation (Coogler). The concept of colonialism is often portrayed by White writers who explain colonialism in a positive light and from their perspective only. Typically, these White writers believe that colonialism and assimilation into White cultural aspects will benefit the nation as a whole. However, both the Black Panther film and Achebe’s Things Fall Apart show that this is not the case from the perspective of those undergoing colonialism. Achebe’s Things Fall Apart was an incredibly impactful work of writing because it was written about Africa and actually written by an African individual. This work shed light on a perspective regarding colonialism that was not considered in history textbooks (Achebe). It uncovered how Africans truly felt about colonialism and how it impacted them. Achebe also showed his readers how the policy of colonialism also created “the Ones” and “the Others” as explained by de Beauvoir’s Theory of Otherness. Upon the arrival of their White counterparts, Africans immediately experienced “Othering” in the sense that they were labeled as different. White colonists labeled themselves as “the Ones” and began to use colonialism policy to attempt to culturally assimilate African individuals to resemble Caucasian culture (Beauvoir).
Works Cited:
Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. Penguin Publishing Group, 2019.
Beauvoir, Simone de. “The Second Sex.” The Second Sex, Vintage Classic, 2015.
The Black Panther Party: Challenging Police and Promoting Social Change. (2020, August 23). Retrieved April 01, 2021, from https://nmaahc.si.edu/blog-post/black-panther-party-challenging-police-and-promoting-social-change
Coogler, R., Cole, J. R., Feige, K., Göransson, L., Lamar, K., Berman, D., . . . Kirby, J. (Writers), & Morrison, R. (Director). (n.d.). Black panther [Video file].
Mattimore, R. (2018, February 15). The Real History Behind the Black Panther. Retrieved April 01, 2021, from https://www.history.com/news/the-real-history-behind-the-black-panther
Stokely Carmichael. (n.d.). Retrieved March 31, 2021, from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Stokely-Carmichael
hello, I understand the idea of keeping something valuable away from the public out of the fear of it getting into the wrong hands and messing up peoples lives. In America history there are several different examples of people coming into different countries and exploiting the natives and taking things that do not belong to them. In a way it is like having a complete stranger walking into a person’s home and them wrongfully taking over and taking things that do not belong to them. I do think that Eric was an anti-hero in the movie. He was left alone to struggle as a child and his own family left him behind away from family. He wanted to help people who were struggling and being oppressed but did it in the wrong way. In the end he wanted to save lives. Nice work!