BLACK PANTHER: Significant and Entertaining

Except those who’ve been on another planet since its February 16 release in the United States, Americans are engaged in a cultural hullabaloo surrounding the movie Black Panther.  The picture, starring Chadwick Bozeman (Get on Up, 42, Draft Day), Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o (Twelve Years a Slave), and Michael B. Jordan (Creed, Fruitvale Station), set advance box office records for a February release and, by the end of the month, $763 million worldwide and counting, almost $422 million of it in the United States and Canada.

Much commentary about the movie focused on its sociological implications as a film with an overwhelmingly black cast, an African-American director (Ryan Coogler), and a story centered in the mythical African country of Wakanda.  As Time magazine’s cover story put it, “Rather than dodge complicated themes about race and identity, the film grapples head-on with the issues affecting modern day black life.”  That story noted that Black Panther “tackles another important genre,” the superhero film that deals with “issues of being of African descent.”  

The movie strongly appealed to African-Americans and drew critical acclaim because it showed black characters in roles depicting various human dimensions.  It received broad praise as a movie that matters, partly because, as the Time story concluded, “[its lead character] is our best chance for people of every color to see a black hero.” Indeed, whites flocked to the movie, just like blacks, helping it set those box office marks.

We asked ourselves why the movie resonated so well.  We offer three reasons reflecting what we suspect attracted different swaths of moviegoers.

Henry writes:

I confess to being a superhero guy.  I started reading superhero

comics as a kid and kept reading them into adulthood (bet my judicial colleagues didn’t know that!).  Superhero movies come naturally to me.  But this one was different.  For one of the few times, the superhero looked like me and for the first time, almost all the supporting cast did too.  As that Time story noted, “Those of us who are not white have considerably more trouble not only finding representation of ourselves in mass media and other arenas of public life, but also finding representation that indicates our humanity is multifaceted.”

I found immensely satisfying seeing a movie, in a genre in which I’ve reveled so long, depict a world that left no question of my own humanity and celebrated the notion people of African descent can be, and are, good or bad, human or inhuman, smart or not-so-smart, wise or unwise, compassionate or cruel.  Black Panther brought alive my own spirit and helped maintain a faith in humanity that’s been challenged the last few years.

Woodson says:

We could write volumes about how people of African descent have been negatively depicted in film, television, theater, and literature. This depressing trend in American mass media has dismayed African Americans.  The Obama Presidency gave African Americans a sense of vindication that they were the equal of whites, when given the same opportunities.  Black Panther may well show this disgust resides in places other than the African American community.  The general acceptance of, and interest in, the film could demonstrate that significant numbers of white Americans also desire seeing people of color depicted in ways that don’t insult and offend. Many of them also pulled for Barak and Michelle Obama.  They too wanted to take race off the table. In the age of Trump, it’s been put back on the table, to the disappointment of African Americans and those same whites.  I’m convinced Black Panther gives both groups hope for leveling the playing field.  The film satisfies that thirst, at least for an evening.  

By offering a black world brimming with confidence and competence, yet not excessively idealized, Black Panther gives white America a vision of a world different from that espoused by a President who reportedly dismissed the 54 nations of Africa as “shit-hole countries.”  Many white Americans know that’s not real; in fact, it’s demonstrably false.  Barak Obama, after all, was Kenyan and American.  By seeing Black Panther, it’s possible they voted with their feet – and their movie money – against a regime of racial isolation in which all black people lack competence, courage, or humanity.       

   

Rob observes:

I get the sociological stuff.  There haven’t been many movies presenting black people in such a positive light or exploring the themes this movie does so compellingly.  That’s not, however, why I found it a pleasant way to spend a Saturday afternoon between basketball games and work.  It’s just a good film with a great story line, excellent cinematography, solid acting, and riveting action.   

The movie reminded me of my favorite long running, multi-episode

film franchises: James Bond and Star Wars.  I’ve seen every one ever made, including the Star Wars prequels (Episodes I, II, and III) so many don’t like admitting they saw.  Black Panther struck me as 007 meets Luke Skywalker, Auric Goldfinger channels

Emperor Palpatine.  Black Panther came complete with a black female “Q” (Shuri, played by Letita Wright), gadgets and all, a white American CIA agent (isn’t Everett K. Ross really Felix Leiter?), and a battle between warriors about to get pushed into the abyss (Obi-wan Kenobi v. Anakin Skywalker in Revenge of the Sith).  I didn’t see the Bond or Star Wars movies for a sociological message.  I saw them for entertainment, just what I got with Black Panther.

What did you think of Black Panther?