Marvel’s Cinematic Universe had made a movie Black Panther, one of the most powerful and revolutionary movies in the Universe, and one of the most influential movies of the 21st century to African American people. We see King T’Challa played by the late great Chadwick Boseman, undergo his rightful passage as the new black panther after his father, King T’Chaka dies, he becomes the new ruler of Wakanda. He is at odds when he meets with Killmonger, a former black ops soldiers who comes in Wakanda after he helps Klaue steal artifacts that are from Wakanda, from a London museum, and enters the hidden country to fight T’Challa and take over the throne. Killmonger’s father taught him about Wakanda and all the vibranium they use to provide for themselves. He sees the idea of black liberation, but the real goal of Killmonger is world domination over his oppressors. T’Challa, at first follows the ancestors by hiding in plain sight and worries the outside world using vibranium, Wakanda will be lost. However he sees Killmongers views as valid and he should help people who look like him, who do not have similar resources, and share it the right way. The movie not only shows a visual representation of a black excellence, but it portrays the message of black people who have lost their identity, the bruises of slavery and how African Americans deal with consequences on a daily basis, as director Ryan Coogler uses personal and historical facts making Black Panther and two main characters showing two different points.
Coogler has been open about how his personal life and black history has helped him during the process of making Black Panther. He was raised in Oakland, California and we see this as an opening shot where Killmonger lives. This is the same city that the Black Panther Party was founded as well.Black Power phrase was a declaration that was said by Stokley Carmichael aka Kwame Ture. During the civil right era Black Panther was made in the Marvel comics, at the time he was made, 41% of African Americans were below the poverty line, and Black Panther was a symbol of “afrofuturism- an ethos that fuses African mythologies, technology and science fiction and serves to rebuke conventional depictions of (or, worse, efforts to bring about) a future bereft of black people(Smith, TIME).” Even though it’s fantasy, Chadwick Boseman says it himself that “to have the opportunity to pull from real ideas, real places and real African concepts, and put it inside of this idea of Wakanda—that’s a great opportunity to develop a sense of what that identity is, especially when you’re disconnected from it.” This is mostly what African Americans have a feeling towards, especially since they have a hard time tracking back their roots to Africa.
The messages that are portrayed have two sides as we look at T’Challa and Killmonger. If we take a look at Killmonger, he had little to nothing growing up, he asked himself how there were “two billion people all over the world who look like us whose lives are much harder, and Wakanda has the tools to liberate them all…where was Wakanda?(Serwer, Atlantic).” Wakanda failed to be apart to help black people around the world. What he says is true and hits home to T’Challa. His methods get ahold of him, even with T’Challa pointing out that he has become like his oppressors something Killmonger never wanted to be and leading to his fatal end. As we look at T’Challa he is the opposite of Killmonger, he has everything and only knows Wakanda outside of him being Black Panther and saving others. He listens to ancestors, even his friend Nakia played by Lupita Nyongo, wants him to help the outside because she believes Wakanda has resources to help the outside and stabilize the country, but T’Challa is blinded by tradition and keep Wakanda separated. T’Challa sees Killmonger’s views but wants to do it right as he demolishes isolation and sets up buildings in Oakland. California “to deploy Wakandan capital toward an international social-service project focused on impoverished black neighborhoods—again echoing the legacy of the Black Panther Party(Serwer, Atlantic).”
Finally, this is not just a movie with just messages and historical references, but Black Panther is a movie of inspiration to African American people. There aren’t a lot of black heroes in movies or television. So with a big company like Marvel who portray an African American man as a hero and not being type casted as a junkie or absent father is wonderful. Not only is it a black movie but it is a good movie with black people in it. It celebrates black women as well, the power and the poise that black women have fought side by side with black men too. T’Challa surrounded by his mother Ramonda, sister Shuri, leader of the Dora Milaje, Okoye, and his dear friend Nakia, fighting for the throne, prior they were the ones trying to help save their country for themselves and not letting Killmonger take the seat. This movie made black representation in a lighter note, where people sold out movie theatres to schools for little girls and boys who see an African American onscreen a be the good guy. Black Panther was not a just a movie, but a whole movement for people who are black, portrayed by black excellence.From acting, writing, costume and set design, directing, the comics that made the character, was made and portrayed in this movie by a black King in real life.
R.I.P Chadwick Boseman
By Kennedy Latham
Works Cited
- https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2018/02/black-panther-erik-killmonger/553805/
- https://time.com/black-panther/
