An underlying theme in the film Black Panther, is the representation of Black women and their active involvement in the progression of their country and their desires to improve lives beyond their own. The release of this film was an overall representation of Black people that was unlike most media, but it also showcased and celebrated a Black woman, King T’Challa’s 16-year-old sister Shuri, who excelled at STEM and became a valuable piece in finding solutions to problems that many did not know how to handle/solve.
Wakanda, the country in the film Black Panther, revealed a world in which the women were essential to its growth and survival. “. . . Black Panther helps us to envision a technologically and intellectually advanced African nation in Wakanda, one in which Black women play important roles. Princess Shuri, Ramonda, the mother of Shuri and T’Challa, and Okoye, the leader of the Dora Milaje, are the very definition of ‘Black girl magic,’ a term coined by CaShawn Thompson in 2013 ‘to celebrate the beauty, power, and resilience of Black women.’ As with the case of imagined technologies, one can hope that these visions will also become reality for the futures of Black women” (Allen 20). Shuri in particular was a character who emulated the gain in creating a space in STEM for women, especially Black women, to feel safe in. In witnessing such representation in this film, it allows for more Black women to feel inspired and motivated to work in an environment that has proven to be difficult and hindering. “. . . we cannot expect women and underrepresented minorities to remain in work environments where they cannot grow and thrive. We also cannot expect girls to enter fields where they do not see positive role models. It is imperative that we stop the constant drip from the leaky STEM pipeline by working hard to retain women — and especially underrepresented women of color” (Jefferson 37). It is valuable going forward to showcase Black women in valued and respected roles as the immense history of antagonization of their race and gender has caused them to falter within the scope of their self-identity. This issue then affects their willingness to pursue a career that they cannot visualize themselves partaking in.
Black Panther has particularly incentivized more Black women to feel represented and motivated to go on to working in STEM which proves the influential status of the entertainment industry. “The success of American black women is dependent on the information, direction, encouragement, education, influences, and what others can offer (Clewell & de Cohen, 2010; St. John, 2010)” (Grant-Horsey 8). By highlighting the value of Black women in the film through Shuri’s intellectual feats in technology and being vital to her country’s economic progression, her technological prowess became a tool to improve lives beyond her own rather than upgrade weapons to demonstrate power. Having the ability and intelligence to improve her country and well beyond it, Black Panther shows the positives in having more women of color in STEM.
Works Cited:
Allen, Marlene D. “If You Can See It, You Can Be It: Black Panther’s Black Woman Maji.” Journal of Pan African Studies, vol. 11, no. 9, 2018, p. 3. Gale Literature Resource Center, http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=0&sid=3c20728d-a876-4da5-b07a-d63569a5b439%40sessionmgr4006.
Grant-Horsey, Wyn. “American Black Women in STEM Finding Their Voice: An Ethnographic Study.” 2020, p. 161. ProQuest, https://search.proquest.com/openview/63efa646e290289b86b136dbfb63d79e/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=44156.
Jefferson, Erika. “Where Are the Black Women in STEM Leadership.” US Black Engineer and Information Technology, vol. 43, no. 3, 2019, p. 1. JSTOR Journals, http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=0&sid=8867dd6f-25a9-4aa2-85f8-cc5914668c57%40sessionmgr4008.
I agree completely with your observation on the movie Black Panther. I found it amazing as well as inspiring that the main individual who was behind the minds and technology of the country was a young black woman. This movie also gave people a different mindset of Africa. and that there are people that are just as educated if given the right tools and opportunities. I think its important for the world to continue to make movies that highlight the possibilities that smaller third world countries could have.
I liked your point here about making movies that highlight places we perceive as third world countries, thus starting to eliminate the idea we build of a single story. I appreciated learning these nuances throughout the movie after reading this presentation and the comments already posted because it allowed me to know what I was looking for. I do agree that it is not only important to showcase third world countries and allow us to open our minds to that, but also to see what people are doing to progress society in order for us to shape society today into a better one for tomorrow. By understanding how we got to where we are today, we can move forward in a more efficient manner. Would anyone agree or disagree? Did you think that seeing a woman in STEM was a good example of this?
marshall.1093 I agree with your comment 100%, it was an incredible film and really showed the incredible force of a young black women. This movie really touched on race, gender, and cultural issues faced in the world but also showed that no matter the race or gender, you can do great and incredible things.
You write a very intriguing blog post and discuss a critical theme in this week’s film. I really did enjoy reading your post, because you discuss Black women’s representation and roles in the film that I hadn’t yet considered. When I was watching the film–and I noted this in my discussion questions for the week–I noticed that many of the women’s roles were simply to mediate between the men. For a large part of the time, they were tasked with moderating the tension between the men whenever they sought to take violent action like when Nakia stops T’Challa from killing the young militia member in Nigeria, for example. The message that was communicated to, from all of these instances, is that women are the peacemakers, and their role is limited to just this. But your blog post has offered an opposing position in which you argue that “Black Panther” empowers women but in a different light. I definitely do agree. While the film does depict women in a bad light in some instances, they make huge progress by depicting women as intelligent and successful in STEM related areas, an area that has been dominated by men.
I really like how women in black panther have more powerful roles than men in the movie like you highlighted. The black panther would not be the king he is without the support of his female followers, in fact, they even save his life multiple times. This is how women should always be portrayed in movies and always be put into STEM roles to raise awareness.
I love just about every point you brought up in this presentation, especially the quotes and the way you related them back to the content and objective of the movie. My favorite is the Grant-Horsey quote in the last paragraph as I think it wraps up your presentation incredibly and sums up the message of it wholly. Additionally, I completely agree with the quote, every single person, especially women and minorities, *need* to be able to visualize themselves in a career in order to be successful in it, and prior to this movie, many blockbuster films lacked this key quality.
Great blog post. I enjoyed the moment in the film when Shuri is in the position of explaining Wakanda’s technology to an outsider. This is a twist on a situation we normally see in a film where a man has to explain to technology a woman.
Great post! I agree that it was awesome to see the leader of technological advancements being filled by a Black woman. I think for women and minorities in STEM, this kind of representation is crucial and roles like these should be normalized in the mainstream media.
In Black Panther, women show a stronger feeling than men. I think you are right. If there are not so many female supporters, the Panthers cannot be king. Even the Panthers were named by them. I really like your narration of the work Black Panther.
This was the first time I have watched Black Panther, and I have to say it was really amazing! I was very excited to see black women in STEM being successful (or actually one of the best in the world in the film) as well as having a strong black man as the main character. Another part of the movie I thought was important to note was Ayo was the one protecting T’Challa. A woman was protecting a man instead of a man protecting a woman. Overall, this movie completely flipped Hollywood around and it was refreshing to see a new point of view.
This was such a great post as it highlighted how this movie was able to connect to the inclusion of women of color in today’s society. I think that you made so many parallel’s between the movie and about women in society. I really enjoyed that you also talked about how women of color often want a role model to know that breaking down societal norms are possible because others starting paving the way.
You did an excellent job in this context presentation and highlighting an aspect of the movie, namely Black women’s representation in STEM, that I think is an outstanding characteristic of the film that is often overlooked. As you pointed out, the film is really a trailblazer with the idea of establishing a safe space and role models for those who may feel that they will not succeed in such an arena, to look up to and see themselves as. I think the idea of role models is vital for a child to frame their future and their dreams, and seeing the talented and STEM-immersed black women in this film really could be an instrumental inclusion for children viewing the film. This is something that needs to be expanded and adapted to all facets of society, but progress is being made. United Airlines, for example, has recently stated that they intend for 50% of their new trained pilots to be women and minorities (which would include the intersection of black women, of course) and NASA has recently embraced its history of integral black female engineers including Mary Jackson who was featured in the film “Hidden Figures” and after whom the NASA headquarters in Washington D.C. was just named.
That’s awesome to hear about United Airlines! I have also been really pleased with the increased representation and discussion within Hollywood these past few years, particularly with true stories such as “Hidden Figures” – I remember when this movie came out and I thought “how have I never heard about this before? This is incredible!” and I think it goes to show that history has often kept quiet accomplishments of women and minorities, so we are only now hearing of them. I agree that this film does a great job of creating roles models for POC interested in STEM. I hope film continues in this direction. I’ve noticed a few too many “black” roles in film. That is, roles that are specifically designed for a black person to play because there is an important racial aspect to the character. This just perpetuates the idea that skin color determines identity and thus determines what types of roles you can play. I really like seeing stories with black people that aren’t about them being black – that’s true equality.
I think the content of the article is very full and the analysis logic is clear. I really like the author’s understanding of women in vakanda. I also think that women are encouraged to pursue careers in vakanda, and women have a very high status in vakanda. In the movie, vakanda’s top general is a woman and black panther’s sister. She is a very good scientist. At the same time, in vakanda, women can express their views on politics.
I love your viewpoints about the theme of the black panther. Black women are always being underestimated and woman needs to be inspired feel represented as a minority in the whole community. In this film, women are brave and briliant, they grow up and thrive to make the whole organization better.