This Marvel movie provided twists which differentiate it from other movies. By casting a predominantly black cast, they are going against Hollywood norm where diversity is lacking in the roles of main characters. They also chose to portray woman as strong and independent characters that were able to lead their own lives. Similarly, they portrayed the villain as a complex character who’s anger and desire for revenge stems from his father’s death at the hands of the protagonist’s father. This illustrates the difficulty in labeling things as good or evil since reality cannot be as easily defined as those two categories, and is instead a mixture of the two. These additions to the movie allowed me to appreciate it as more than just another superhero movie.

Black Panther will always have a special place in my heart and that’s why I was so excited to go and see the Flora Friday Film when this was showing. This film does more than just fit into the Marvel Universe but it also goes on to do what is not typically done in Hollywood for black people. For starters, this movie had a predominantly black cast, multiple strong (dark skinned!) black female leads also portraying roles uncommon for black women in Hollywood and the most obvious: there was a black superhero and villain! Hollywood really lacks representation of people of color overall but especially in movies that could be viewed by kids/adolescents. It’s so important for kids to see people that look like them doing big things and in roles they may aspire to be in one day and I think that Black Panther does a great job of this!

I was given the chance to rewatch black panther. I don’t regret watching the movie and I made sure to take focus on what I could have missed. I ended up just enjoying the movie and didn’t notice anything, except something I’ll mention later.

The movie takes a really nice stance on international politics and outreach. Should we be ignorant to the issues of the rest of the world. Should we do something about it, or keep to ourselves. Wakanda is at a crossroads.

To what I missed, for all the good parts the movie has, there is some really bad CGI work in this movie. I could notice the artificial-ness whenever it came to something natural (typically sunset) and the final fight scene with the vibranium trains. Super green-screeny, which sucks. Movie was still great though.

Growing up as a black girl, I have not seen much representation for myself in the media. This is why I feel like this movie is so important, and can have such a large impact on young black kids everywhere. Black Panther is the Marvel’s first black superhero, and the first non-white superhero headlining his own movie, period. It is humbling to see that there is a thirst for representation, and that people can support diversity in huge films like Black Panther. This was huge for the black community, and for the future of film and media as a whole. Growing up, I remember always wishing to see characters that resembled my family and I on TV. Its super cool that I now have the opportunity to witness that on such a huge platform. Black Panther is also an amazing movie because it brings up societal issues like systematic oppression and the unequal allocation of resources in society.

Furthermore, I LOVED Lupita in this movie. She is an amazing actress and an inspiration to many many young girls out there.

I went and saw Marvel’s Black Panther at Rose for the third time in a while to prepare for end-game. I am a Marvel Fan and loved the changes they did to heros on-screen and how they still keep some of the same aspects as their comic-version. I loved the sound and music, along with them keeping the classic black panther costume while adding things to it. However, I dislike how some people read into the movie and what they connected with it. There’s signs and messages in the movie that are super apperant and connectable but some people go deeper and try to connect with something that isn’t there. I still love the movie and Black Panther’s appearance in endgame, but I do not think it deserves a 10/10 rating.

Black Panther is one of the best marvel movies I have seen (haven’t watched Endgame yet). It brings up topics about race and gender equality. This has been discussed many times in relation to this movie. And certainly the writers did a great job making it seamless in the movie. The movie also made me think about what if there was a something like vibranium hidden in a city and what decision do its leader have to make to share or not to share this great resource. Which on one hand can make life better while on the other destroy everything.

In the movie, “Black Panther”, one of the key themes is the battle for power. This is and has been a common occurrence throughout history. There are always individuals who are not satisfied with their current status and desire more power. This always ends with people competing against each other. In some instances it can become extremely violent. This was the case in Black Panther where two of the main characters fought in order to become the next ruler.

I recently attended a Friday Movie session featuring Black Panther. As a huge MCU fan, I was excited to watch Black Panther again and analyze it a little more. Black Panther is more than just your typical Marvel movie. As one of the first American movies to feature a cast of mainly people-of-color, Black Panther broke societal norms and passed boundaries. One of the major points that I like about Black Panther is that it empowers women, showing that women can also be heroes and protect their country. I really enjoyed watching Black Panther again, and I look forward to watching it again before watching Endgame.

When I first saw black panther, I was a little bit disappointed because it had been so hyped up as this absolutely incredible movie. I thought and do think that it’s a great movie, well made and with a good plot, but I don’t think i really appreciated it till the second time I watched it, here at rose. One of my common complaints about movies is they either make the antagonist too one dimensionally evil, or they give them better reasoning than the hero themselves. (Looking at DC movies). I think this is a rare example of a movie where it’s incredibly important that the villain have a point, and a good one. Killmonger was bloodthirsty, but it’s not like he hadn’t been wronged. He wanted to fight a fight that needs to be fought. He just wasn’t willing to sacrifice the vengeance he wanted for the sake of a more peaceful, and slower, solution. That’s why I’m really glad I saw this another time, I got to appreciate Killmonger’s motivations more and see how masterfully Marvel managed to pair up these opposing forces.

When watching the fabulous movie black panther in the dining room what stuck the most was how important a father’s role can be in shaping a man’s identity. T’Challa the main hero of the film i.e Black Panther grew up for most of his life under the guidance of his father so in fact he was able to develop good morals and become a well respected man through what he learnt from his father. However, as a counterexample, Killmonger grew up for most of his life without his father so there was no real guidance or support to tell him that his actions towards Wakanda were wrong. This notion of how important fathers can be in shaping a person’s life is what I have strongly taken from this film as I have had friends too who have grown up without much of a fatherly presence which has affected their morals deeply.

Easily one of my favorite Film Fridays was in March when I watched Black Panther.  I had never seen the movie before, but heard great things about it, so I was excited to watch it and see if it lived up to the hype.  It definitely did!!  I really enjoyed the attention to detail throughout the entire movie.  It was clear that the producers did a lot of research on traditional African style and incorporated that in all of the Wakandan outfits.  It gave the movie a lot more depth and impact, especially for viewers who may have grown up with those traditions.  I think the biggest thing this movie accomplished overall is positive representation of African culture and multidimensional black role models.  Shuri was one of my favorite characters because she often provided comedic relief, but she was incredibly intelligent and heavily involved in STEM efforts in Wakanda; this is great representation for young girls who are also interested in technology.  I definitely recommend this movie and can’t wait to see other Marvel movies in the future.

Not long ago, I was able to watch the movie Black Panther for the second time. This is a fantastic movie that has far too much to talk about with just a single blog post. However, one thing that stood out to me was the women. This movie has several great female characters. Furthermore, the women in the film often take on roles that typically are not portrayed by women. This is particularly true for  the Dora Milaje–a group of female warriors led by Okoye. Seeing women holding such a position was certainly surprising the first time I saw the film, as it is so uncommon to show something like that. Yet it was extremely satisfying to see women in such a role. Okoye in particular was an amazing character. In fact, she was probably one of my favorite characters in the entire movie.

After the movie was over, one of the things that was discussed was the great female characters in the film. However, there was one female character that I love who was not mentioned: Shuri, T’Challa’s sister. As a woman who is planning on going into engineering–a typically male-dominated field–it was incredibly inspiring to see that the most technologically innovative person in Wakanda was a woman. Furthermore, she was not portrayed as someone who just locks herself away to do research. Instead, she is actively shown interacting with the other characters, and she is shown to be someone who enjoys having fun (and pulling pranks on her brother), in addition to doing research. Overall, Shuri is portrayed as a excellent female character involved in a STEM-related field.

With this being the about the fourth time I have seen Black Panther, I find more to appreciate with each iteration of viewing. From the costume and set design to the absolute, pure, unadulterated awesomeness. My favorite part of the movie though is the juxtaposition in the viewpoints of Killmonger and T’Challa. One has to wonder how Killmonger would have changed his position being raised in Wakanda. Growing up in the U.S, and seeing first-hand the struggles of black Americans and then walking into a country like Wakanda where prosperity and the external struggles of the U.S don’t exist (i.e. system oppression and racism) and knowing that that this would have been an option, I feel as though his anger was comprehensible. Do I agree with the idea of using violence and using force to overturn years upon years of systems that have made a level playing field impossible? Well, no. However, I do believe that KIllmonger’s radical action was needed to potentially cause change towards a less conservative foreign policy position on Wakanda’s part. It is worth mentioning, Nakia had the same general idea as Killmonger, to redistribute Wakanda’s resources to those who may need it.

As has been said many times, Black Panther was a path breaking movie in many ways. Not only did it create an amazing super-hero and story in the avengers universe, it also affected things beyond cinema. Being the first movie with a black super-hero, I have always appreciated the movie in a special manner. The movie, along with a black super-hero, depicted an African nation as the most prosperous and powerful nation in the world. This change of orientation has always caught my eye no matter how many times I have watched the movie before. The movie also paved way for other movies which portrayed other racial and ethnic minorities in a positive light, with lead actors and protagonists being Indian and Asian. I happened to watch this movie with my roommate, who I originally watched the movie with at the cinemas, thus making the re-watch of this epic movie even more fun!

Since the Spiderman trilogy that featured Tobey Maguire, I have always been a fan of superhero movies. However, based on societal reactions, Black Panther is more than just an ordinary Marvel superhero movie. The iconic main cast comprised of people of color broke social boundaries within an American society that generally features a white male as the lead character. The movie showcased the power of diversity of thought and community, portraying the African continent and unique cultures and peoples within it in such a beautiful way. Wakanda may be a fictitious country, but the producers crafted the story in a manner that made Wakanda and its residents feel real and raw. Also, the film empowered women and placed the spotlight on them as fierce warriors and capable protectors of Wakanda. Black Panther strayed from the traditional course of the classic Marvel movies that we all know, and it was refreshing to see.

Beyond the political and social implications of the movie, I enjoyed the constant action, realistic animations, and poignant storyline in which the villain genuinely wanted the best for all people. Although Black Panther is a Marvel movie, I felt that the characters were not one-dimensional and had expressive backgrounds and traits. By the film’s end, T’Challa even takes Killmonger’s perspectives into consideration by implementing a policy of openness with the rest of the world instead of hiding Wakanda’s resources. I was pleasantly surprised when the cast made a visit to South Korea, my birth country, as well.

The experience of watching Black Panther the second time is quite different from watching it the first time on a flight. The perseverance of the main character definitely exhibits throughout the movie; however, the women who support the main character play a great role in the movie. The power of female warriors and the intelligence of the sister establish equality of women and men in different industries.

Black Panther is one of those movies that you can watch countless times and never get tired of. My favorite part of the movie  is the fact that the king’s warriors are females who are respected and even feared. They are strong powerful women who can hold their own against any adversary. I have never seen a movie that has not just one strong female character but many working together and in harmony. It is amazing that this movie includes that because it normalizes the idea that women can be fighters and powerful warriors that can compete equally with men. It expands the image of what a woman can be. Moreover the fact that there were strong male characters who coexisted and worked quite well with the strong female characters was even better. It teaches young girls and boys that it is not just boys who are the warriors and it is not just one female who can be a warrior. When I was younger I was taught these lessons from the Power Rangers TV series, but I believe that Blank Panther does a much better job of really making the female warriors equal to the male warriors. This mentality should be normalized and by including it in films like Black Panther I think it definitely will be with time in future generations.

I had the privilege of seeing the movie Black Panther on International Women’s Day.  It was a great opportunity for everyone to see women of color portrayed as such strong leaders.  Black Panther was the first super hero movie to be culturally sensitive, and star a cast of African American men and women.  The movie had a great cast, and had tons of action.  Watching the movie gave me the opportunity to avoid studying for a night and just relax.   The discussion after the movie was a great finishing touch.  I really enjoyed hearing the opinions of my fellow scholars and their thoughts on the film.

The movie was a great opportunity to relax after a long week and enjoy time with friends. Beyond the entertainment of the movie, I thoroughly enjoyed the cultural commentary that the movie brought forth and the discussion that followed the film. Black Panther showed the systematic inequality that occurs in our society today while exploring the power of an all black cast and showing the importance of culture and community. I also enjoyed the fact that the film incorporated strong female leads who were empowered in the Wakanda society. I highly recommend this movie!

On March 8th, I saw the movie Black Panthers with the other Rose Scholars. Although the movie has been out for over a year and has gained worldwide popularity, I, unfortunately, hadn’t seen the movie until just now. Even though I hadn’t seen the movie itself, I was aware that the movie was acclaimed for breaking boundaries with his portrayal of empowered African American and female characters. And after seeing this movie, I can conclude that the reviews were not wrong and it personally lived up to the hype. And, after being late for an entire year, I can finally say that I have watched Black Panther.

The movie itself didn’t disappoint in any way; the actors/actresses, the cinematography, the music, and the effects all pushed cinematics to its full potential. But the movie had several important themes that allowed me to reflect on societal standards and the transfer of power on a large scale. The thing that got my attention the most was the difference in ideologies of T’Challa and Killmonger, and how their upbrings developed these specific ways of solving injustice. Killmonger grew up in a society where minorities are constantly underrepresented and mistreated, whereas T’Challa grew up as royalty and lived in a society where Vibranium gives them power. I was empathetic towards Killmonger’s agenda for a little because, although his methods of resolving those mistreatments were a little extreme, his cause wanted to end the injustice that African Americans and other minorities have faced for hundreds of years. T’Challa cannot understand this the same way as Killmonger because he hadn’t grown up like this. But Killmonger’s strategy is not the right one because he wants to empower minorities by bringing down the ones in power, whereas T’Challa wanted to empower by minorities by bringing them up. It poses the question of whether the injustice of racial issues should be dealt with an extreme way such as Killmonger’s way, or a more uplifting way like T’Challa.

I went to the Black Panther movie event because I enjoyed the movie the first time I watched it and wanted to see it again. Throughout watching the movie, I was again, astonished by the soundtrack and the costume design. The bright colors brought joy to the scenes and contrasted from the more serious scenes which typically had darker colors. In the beginning of the movie, we see T’Challa stepping into his place as King and we see his hesitation and vulnerability as he is about to fill his father’s shoes. The first time he enters the ancestral plane and sees his father, he tells him that he’s not ready for him to be gone, not ready to be King. He wants his father to be proud of him and proud of what he will do with Wakanda. In this part, T’Challa sees his father in the brightest of lights.

However, after learning about his father leaving the boy and not taking him back to Wakanda, his viewpoints change about his father. While he still loves him, he questions the choices he has made and doesn’t want to make the same mistakes he did. This shows that his role model isn’t 100% correct in every way. It shows that we can learn from our role models from the greatest things they have done and also learn from their mistakes and become a better version of them.

After watching Black Panther I was curious to learn more about the fictional country of Wakanda. It is secretly located on the east side of Sub-Saharan Africa. First, it was a regular place but everything changes when a gigantic meteorite made of the fictional material vibranium.  Because of its ability to absorb, store, and release kinetic energy, it was kept secret by T’Chaka, the king at that time and father of T’Chala, to keep its existence secret. He was afraid that humanity would use it for evil purposes such as creating weapons of mass destruction. Which got me thinking what if vibranium was a real.

Personally, I believe that humans would use it with good and bad intention. We would use it to create spaceships that would allow humans to explore the majority of our solar system, renewable energy would be highly efficient and climate change would not be a problem, and so much more. Yet, humans would also use it to make bombs that would make current nuclear weapons look like firecrackers, impenetrable armor for infantry, and the list goes on. In addition, history would be vastly different since Africa would have probably been the continent to conquer most of the world rather than European countries. As an engineering student vibranium would be a dream come true, but it is probably for the best that it only exists on the Marvel universe.

I enjoyed watching Blank Panther for the second time, because now as a person interested in technology, I was able to understand the implications and struggles that T’Challa goes through in terms of bringing forth the Wakandan technology. This is because often times, when there are technologies that can be dispersed to help communities, there can be a lot of resistance in doing so. This is of particular interest to me since currently I am working on a project that analyzes how medical doctor ratings influence patient outcomes. In this sense, when doctors refuse to use technologies, this increases their likelihood of receiving negative feedback from patients and subsequently losing money. There are many reasons why technology(similar to the Wakandan technology) are not welcomes by people. A main reason in the face of human-robot interaction is the fear that these technological systems will question the impact that doctors can have which makes them very inclined to reject their use. However, if people like T’Challa do not fight for these technologies to be used to help people, will we reach a limiting point to which we can cure diseases? I think it is interesting to evaluate the opportunity cost of using human labor instead of technology due to lack of policies/legislation because in some sense, we could have been more technologically progressive in the health care fields had there not been this resistance. However, this brings in the question of how we can continually introduce technologies to supplement and not substitute physicians work in order for medical technologies to be really purposeful in our society? We need to have a willpower to fight against obstacles that may be preventing health care systems from being as technologically progressive as they can be, but how must we do so in a way that keeps all stakeholders(people, physicians, insurers) satisfied? While currently there are not tangible solutions to these areas, I am looking forward to joining the healthcare industry at some point and analyze how we can further penetrate technologies into the field. Similar to T’Challa, I would be excited to be able to think about the ways in which I can design technologies for social and health impact.

Last Friday I was able to watch Black Panther for probably the 4th time. Although I had seen it before, watching it again showed me how I had missed a few things that the movie highlights. I had first been captivated by the portrayal of strong women who don’t need a man but can also choose to have one by their side and support him. This time however, I was captivated by the topic of global responsibility and intervention. The movie takes on the idea that if we have good things that can help the world, we should share them. Throughout the movie the debate of whether Wakanda should give back to the world given that they have so many resources is highly present, and I believe it is one that is very prevalent today with how the U.S, and other countries intervene. There is great importance in how a country intervenes, T’Challa chose to do so by providing education and resources which is the right way to do it. This idea can be applied to how the U.S chooses to intervene today. We are all aware that U.S foreign policy is perhaps the worst part of this country. The U.S claims to fight for peace and freedom, to want to help the people of the countries in which it intervenes but we end up making things worse. Most of the time we choose to intervene because we can get something out of it. This can be seen with the immense attempts of trying to invade Venezuela, not because they want to help the people there, but because they want Venezuela’s oil. The same type of intervention has been seen with the middle east. If we truly wanted to help the world, we would intervene in Colombia, where countless of human rights violations have taken place, or in Ecuador where countless of unconstitutional crimes have been committed in the past 2 years but we haven’t because we have puppets in power there. It is also important to note that this has been going on throughout many years. This didn’t just start with Trump, it started long before and has continued with Bush, Clinton, and yes, even Obama. Black Panther highlights how things should be done. We shouldn’t be trying to cause national chaos that ends up in us putting a puppet in power, we should provide education and TRUE resources, not claim that we want to provide humanitarian aid and it be arms and weapons to start a war. This movie gives us many lessons, but I believe that this is perhaps the most important one because it is a worldwide issue that can affect us all if we continue to intervene for our own benefit.

Last Friday, I attended Rose House’s showing of the the film Black Panther. Generally I have a distaste for superhero movies and action movies in general because they tend to follow the same formula and it’s definitely grown old, at least for me. However, this film was definitely an exception to that rule. I definitely enjoyed watching it for a variety of different reasons.

The first reason is that it tackles a lot of themes that are increasingly pertinent today, especially in this pre-election political climate. We discussed a lot of these themes together as a group after the movie—for example we discussed the implications of colonialism/imperialism in the 21st century, global responsibility to help marginalized communities, and the role of violence in politics. All of these things are incredibly important, and deserve to be discussed. For a want of time and space, I’ll leave them for another Scholar to talk about though—I’d like to talk about diversity representation in popular media.

As a queer person, I grew up keenly aware of the fact that the vast majority of characters in popular media were straight, white, and cisgendered. Needless to say, I’m a very big proponent of LGBTQ+ representation of popular media, because I feel that it’s incredibly important to grow up with positive role models on the big screen who are like you. Because of this perspective, one of my favorite things about this film was the sheer number of strong black characters, especially strong black women like Nakia and Okoye. In general, I’d happily watch a lot more “superhero” movies if they were all as written as intelligently and if they all had such a diverse cast and crew as this one.

The Oscar-winning film Black Panther (2018) exists, and the world is a better place for it. Black Panther has something for everyone and all of it is beautiful.

Do you love innovative fashion, bright colors, and appreciate thoughtful wardrobe curation by a team of researchers who worked with African designers to dress everyone in genuine articles? Watch Black Panther.

Do you love three-dimensional, empowered female characters who earn respect in their own right irrespective of their age, and without being gratuitously sexualized? Watch Black Panther.

Do you love watching truly, unapologetically empowering black stories being told by empowered and brilliant and creative black people, complete with historical nuance, toxic hoteperie and misogynoir, and pleasantly lacking in gratuitous black tragedy scenes and white saviors/devils? Watch Black Panther.

Do you love a classic hero story with well-developed villains, cutting-edge technology, explosive car chases that destroy half a metropolitan area, and giant armored rhinos? Watch Black Panther.

Do you have a crush on Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o from Queen of Katwe (2016), Letitia Wright from the “Black Museum” episode of Black Mirror (2011), or John Watson from BBC’s Sherlock (2010)? Watch Black Panther.

Do you need something with an amazing soundtrack, bright colors, and a happy ending to keep you company while you eat yakisoba alone in your room on a Saturday night? Watch Black Panther.

I have to stop myself here because of the limitations of the recommended post length, but if you ever want to rant about a life-altering piece of cinematic art, watch Black Panther… and come talk to me about it.

I particularly enjoyed Black Panther, as behind all the Marvel cinematic spectacles, foreign policy questions were at the center of the film’s plot. To sum up: Wakanda is a technologically sophisticated country that has pursued a grand strategy of isolationism. It purposefully shields knowledge about its power and capabilities from the outside world, exploiting stereotypes and prejudices about sub-Saharan Africa to sustain its subterfuge. At the start of the film, many of Wakanda’s power brokers are fine with this, though some have their doubts.

By the end, T’Challa enacts a new policy of openness and engagement with the rest of the world. Whether Wakandan society could handle the stresses of economic openness would be an open question. The international system, however, would probably welcome this shift. It is possible that, with quality leadership, Wakanda could pull off such a shift in its grand strategy.

I found this relation to current social issues on immigration appealing as I was watched the movie. Having immigrant parents myself, it was interesting to see the concept of anti-immigration being portrayed on screen.

Black Panther is by far one of my favorite Marvel movies. The soundtrack, the costumes, and the plot are all amazing. Unlike the typical superhero movies, the villain, Killmonger, was very much humanized, so the audience could to some degree agree and sympathize with his actions. I first watched this movie opening day, and the discussion around it was very much solely about the plot, soundtrack, and costumes. This time, I was able to hear other people’s analysis of the movies and it brought to my attention very valid and interesting points I would have never considered on my own. For example, someone brought up the fact that the two female characters, Nakia and Okoye, were very empowering because they didn’t fit the usual mold of being the side kick or the damsel in distress of their significant others. Nakia chose to leave Wakanda and go on missions to help those in need instead of staying by T’Challa’s side. Okoye, too, didn’t let love get in her way of her loyalty to her beliefs and her country. During the brief civil war, her husband asked if she would kill him because they were leading opposing sides, and she abruptly replied “For Wakanda, yes.” This harsh reality made him see how damaging the civil war was to the country and led him to surrender. Up until another Rose Scholar brought this up, I had no idea how empowering this moment was. It was so atypical and for once, didn’t show women to be emotional and vulnerable.

I loved watching this movie again and am glad I was able to hear about its positive influence on the black community.

Black Panther was a great film. I personally love superhero movies and this one had a fun story, was a great origin story, and a necessary supporting film to understand the Marvel Universe. However, behind the funny jokes, thrilling visuals, and intense action sequences I could not overlook the fact that vibranium could solve so many of the world’s problems. For those unfamiliar with vibranium, it apparently is a dream element that arrived on the Earth from a meteorite that has universal applications. While I understand that Wakanda wanted to remain a secretive and isolated nation, due to the irreparable damage from colonialism, it seems overly selfish to keep such a world-changing discovery hidden away. For those that did not see Captain America: The First Avenger, it was believed that all the vibranium in the world was in Captain America’s shield, all we all see how powerful of a weapon it is. Now in Black Panther, we see that they have built an entire civilization using it, imbuing all their technology with this indestructible and versatile element. So, while I loved this film, upon rewatching it this revelation eats at me, forcing me to ask the question whether it was fair for Wakanda to hide their secrets from the world for all this time.

I thought Black Panther was very good for a superhero movie. I don’t like superhero movies, but of the few I’ve seen, Black Panther was one of the best. The interesting talking point for everyone after the movie was whether they sided with the good guy, T’Challa, or the bad guy, whose name is literally Killmonger. A lot of people seemed to think that Killmonger’s fiery brand of black nationalism was the just side, while T’Challa’s rather bland but virtuous goal of saving the world was wrong. Black people have been grievously wronged in the past and continue to be mistreated today, but that obviously does not justify Killmonger’s goal of starting a global terrorist plot. My ancestors were immigrants to the US, and they were discriminated against by WASPs, but that doesn’t make me want to start arming the Irish Republican Army. That’s obviously insane. The fact that people will side with a demagogue like Killmonger because they are so pent up with hatred is a serious problem that his supporters should reconsider.

I normally wait nearly a week to write my blog posts. This is in part procrastination, but I do think letting things sink in generally helps me write more thoughtful blog posts. However, Black Panther has inspired in me such a deluge of thoughts I’d be worried about delaying much. A lot of my thoughts reflect what Jake already posted, so I won’t repeat him here. We had a long conversation after the movie and it gave me even more to ponder.

So as for my personal thoughts on this movie, I think I simultaneously adore and hate it. I have some problems with the plot and character arcs – and I think T’challa is both weakly written and acted. All of those are quibbles compared to what else I have to say. The visuals are also notably spectacular and the integration of African cultural symbolism is incredible, and so visually novel that if nothing else the film is a gluttonous feast for the eyes. But, as I said, this is really just minor stuff, and only scratches the surface. And before I continue, if you love this movie, by all means, love it. It’s tragic that a film like this is so rare, and if you find role models or representation or anything positive in this movie, I in no way intend to suggest you should stop loving those things.

So I think my real thoughts begin here. I want to turn away from the movie just briefly; If there is any figure from history that I admire, it’s the African revolutionary Thomas Sankara. I could write multiple blog posts about this figure, and what I love about him, and what problems I do have, but I want specifically to turn our attention to the following quote:

“Those who come with wheat, millet, milk or corn are not helping… Those who really want to help us can give us ploughs, fertilizers, tractors, watering cans, drills and dams… That is how we define food aid.”

If there is a central question in Black Panther, it’s the role of developed nations in providing aid to the rest of the world. Wakanda has the technology to potentially free and liberate a lot of people – notably for this movie, black people – who are marginalized or often worse globally. Killmonger believes in a violent outreach – arm the downtrodden, give them the means of their liberation, and maybe some collateral along the way. If it weren’t for this last point, personally, I really feel for Killmonger’s position on this.

Wakanda itself has a pretty flat isolationist stance – The political situation in Wakanda is a frustrating thing to see on screen. As Jake mentioned, it’s a monarchy, which, honestly, I think hurts this movie (again, more on that later). The rhetoric Wakanda uses of “we have to keep what we have safe” or “we can’t get involved or cause their wars” is very American, which is somewhat frustrating narratively. As GRF Lory mentioned, Wakanda represents an idea of an African country which never experienced colonization. I love that idea, but I think shoving this pretty flat American rhetoric into their government undermines this (not to mention the thought that it seems as if Wakanda stood idly by while things like the slave trade, and other awful historical events happened). Wakanda conceptually seems to fall flat. Let’s turn our attention to yet another Sankara quote:

“Imperialism is a system of exploitation that occurs not only in the brutal form of those who come with guns to conquer territory. Imperialism often occurs in more subtle forms, a loan, food aid, blackmail . We are fighting this system that allows a handful of men on earth to rule all of humanity.”

His stance on isolationism is much more interesting than the American rhetoric, and much more African as well. He believed in Burkina Faso becoming self sufficient in order to remove it from the global imperial game. Wakanda could have been this, but it wasn’t. And I think the film weakens its political bite in other ways as well, which we’ll return to.

I feel like I’m being overly negative, maybe – To the film’s credit, it has at least inspired me to think through it with a fine-tuned comb. I want to turn to one other idea before my final thoughts, and that’s mentioning what I raised just after the movie – knowing that the movie was directed by an African american, and has a huge black voice behind it, definitely changes the way the movie seems. As I said then, if it had been a white director, portraying a highly advanced African nation as riding rhinos and using spears and shields would seem pretty problematic, to say the least. Instead, with this knowledge, it comes off as highly genuine and seems to me to be an instance of “reclamation”. This coding, such as showing all of the black kids playing basketball, and the vernacular of Killmonger, could easily I think come off as overly stereotypical and ripe with issues in another context – but not so here. It’s very interesting to me to see how much that kind of context effects the movie, and it pretty firmly demonstrates the inability to separate art and artist.

Speaking of Killmonger, let’s talk about my favourite character. If he weren’t so clearly misogynistic and willing to be just a little too cavalier with who gets the vibranium weapons (perhaps one could unpack the idea that Captain America’s shield is also made of vibranium – there might be something there), I would argue that not only is he well motivated, but he’s almost completely right. Wakanda DOES seem to owe their privilege of advanced technology to the downtrodden globally, in my opinion. But the film again seems to back off a little too far here. Too much of this very real and raw political motivation gets covered up under the emotions of his dead father and that personal connection, which personally I think makes this political message much weaker. My biggest problem with the film’s focus on monarchy is that it covers up far too much of the political message and turns it into family drama. As I mentioned before, the political coding of Wakanda’s isolationism is pretty uninspired and borrowed from classic and even watered down American rhetoric.

In light of the above, I feel as though this movie doesn’t quite bite hard enough. I said at first I both love and hate this movie, and that was deliberately provocative. This movie is both brilliantly and sadly the closest thing that exists to seeing Malcom X don power armor and beat up colonial apologists. Brilliantly in that it does actually bite, from time to time. The quote I chose to title this post with is easily the best part of the movie – it completely and fully establishes Killmonger’s position politically, and really hits in the gut. Sadly, because this film doesn’t quite swing hard enough. Killmonger’s dying words hit hard, but the rest of the film in my opinion is pretty soft. This is perhaps fine – a very real argument could be made that the place to tackle these complex issues isn’t in fact a superhero movie – but I’m still left wanting.

One of my favourite films of all time, Blazing Saddles, literally changed the way I thought about race in America. While utterly hilarious, it challenged me to look inward and realize things about myself and my relationship to race and the privilege I have, and how the words we use to discuss this distort our perspective of it. Truly, it made me uncomfortable, but it feeds you that medicine with the sugar of its raucous humor. I feel Black Panther could have been similar, where the sugar is instead spectacular action and heroic moments, and leaves you better able to understand the struggle of a marginalized group for it. But I am not left challenged. Perhaps I’m selfish to want to be challenged from a movie in this way, when there are other ways to learn from authors about their experience as marginalized and how to empathize with that. Perhaps this isn’t intending to be that movie – perhaps this movie isn’t trying to necessarily demonstrate any really difficult reality about race to privileged people, and force a deeper level of empathy. But my worry is that even if it were trying it simply couldn’t – being made by Disney, the movie had to be pretty broadly appealing. It may never have been able to be Malcom X donning power armor and beating up colonial and imperial apologists, while deeply and empathetically connecting us to the reality of race in America and abroad. Perhaps the film never wanted to be this. Perhaps it never should be this. But at any rate, that it has inspired so much thought for me (more than I have even included), I must say the film is truly excellent in that regard.

This week I watched Black Panther: I had seen it once before but I talked to people about it after my initial viewing, and I wanted to approach it with a more analytical bent this time around. It’d be much too hard to go over the whole movie so I want to mention a few specific things I found interesting.

It surprised me when Shuri says to Agent Ross “Don’t scare me like that, colonizer!”. I’ve thought about it, and I’m not sure at all why the line was put in the movie. The whole point of Wakanda is that it’s never been colonized before: Wakandan’s don’t have any experience with this. This fact alone makes it odd that Shuri would call Agent Ross a colonizer. But what’s even odder is that the whole point of the movie, and the point of Killmonger’s anger, is that Wakanda idly watched as the slave trade flourished and the countries around them were colonized. So Shuri isn’t referencing the colonization of her own country, but it would be exceedingly odd of her to mention the colonization of other African countries since she and her government deliberately allowed this to happen.

Something else that surprised me was the fact that Wakanda has a monarchy; in particular, a hereditary monarchy. The point of Wakanda is that it’s a vision of an advanced African country that was never colonized. Given this, it seems odd that Wakanda would still be a monarchy: even more, a hereditary monarchy. Every other technologically advanced country made the transition to some sort of democratic/representative government, and the country at the apex of technological innovation is in a veritable political backwater, clinging to a form of government that was considered outmoded for a century at least by the rest of the world? Now, an objection can be raised here that a hereditary monarchy was necessary for the movie, since the reason Killmonger could come to power was because he had a claim to the throne. I would disagree: I think the movie would have been better if Killmonger had risen to power with support from the country: he already had some in the movie, and having more would have lended additional complexity.

I should probably preface this with the fact that this was about my fifth time watching the movie “Black Panther.” I think that alone speaks volumes about how much I enjoy the movie. It was very well done and there are layers of depth to the numerous themes it touches upon, as well as to how it relates to the current political climate. That being said, each time I watch it I notice something different, and I want to delve a bit into what I found myself thinking this time around.

I know that during the after film discussion the topic of foreign aid was brought up, but we didn’t really touch upon immigration policy, which was, in my opinion, one of the more controversial themes brought up. While there was more clear resolution about what the film makers (and I believe the general public, as well) think about helping out other people and other countries, very few conclusions were drawn about immigration policy. There was one line in the movie about how immigrants “bring their culture and problems with them.” This was something I found curious. There was no resolution to that specific ‘problem’ expressed towards the beginning of the film. However, I think the script writers and directors did a fabulous job of depicting the problem, and showing the complications of these types of policies, through the topic of identity.

One of the more relatable things in the film for me, as an immigrant to the United States, is the theme of identity, which I have constantly struggled with. In the movie we see a boy that was abandoned in the only country he had ever known, with nobody left to look after him, and the only people who knew of his existence decided not to take him back to their country. He then grows up feeling out of place, the cause of which I was inclined to conclude was the oppressive environment he grew up in. He sought out the country from whence his father emigrated for a sense of identity and belonging, and found only that he was not wanted there, just as he was not cared for in America. What happens to children with these types of backgrounds in our current immigration policies? This isn’t a farfetched scenario. This is a very similar story to that of other, real children.

…On a lighter note, I recently watched a comedy skit by Trevor Noah in which he was jesting about the accents in this movie. As an African himself, he found them to be a bit unrealistic. I hadn’t really noticed how embellished certain words or accents were until I rewatched it tonight, having heard that perspective. What I didn’t know, that came up in the discussion after the movie, was that the dialect spoken in the movie is a real African dialect. I guess you could say I might consider researching the movies I watch just a little more.