{"id":272,"date":"2019-04-08T14:17:43","date_gmt":"2019-04-08T18:17:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/aas303\/?p=272"},"modified":"2019-04-08T14:17:43","modified_gmt":"2019-04-08T18:17:43","slug":"imagining-a-new-world-black-panther-film-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/commons.princeton.edu\/aas303\/2019\/04\/08\/imagining-a-new-world-black-panther-film-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Imagining a new world: Black Panther Film Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

Black Panther<\/em> is a 2018 American superhero film produced by Marvel Studios and directed by Ryan Coogler. With a running time of 134 minutes, this film explores power struggles in Wakanda \u2013 a fictional, advanced African kingdom that has developed technology by using the fictional metal Vibranium while keeping their resources hidden from the rest of the world.<\/p>\n

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At the beginning of the film, Wakanda\u2019s King T\u2019Chaka, the original Black Panther, dies during a terrorist attack, opening the door to the rise of T\u2019Chaka\u2019s son, T\u2019Challa, to the throne. At his coronation ceremony, T\u2019Challa successfully overcomes a challenge presented by M\u2019Baku \u2013 the leader of the Jabari Tribe. In consequence, T\u2019Challa becomes Wakanda\u2019s King and the Black Panther. In one of his first rulings, T\u2019Challa decides to seek to bring Wakandan enemy Ulysses Klaue to justice, organizing a capture mission that takes place in South Korea. With the help of the head of Wakanda\u2019s armed forces Okoye and his ex-lover and Wakandan spy Nakia, T\u2019Challa captures Klaue, giving him to American intelligence operative Everett Ross. Eric Stevens \u2013 the son of T\u2019Chaka\u2019s brother, Njobu, and a U.S. black ops soldier that goes by \u201cKillmonger\u201d \u2013 helps Klaue to escape, later killing him and bringing him to the Wakandan border. As he is allowed in, Killmonger challenges and defeats T\u2019Challa in ritual combat. While everyone thinks T\u2019Challa is dead, Killmonger takes power and prepares to share Wakanda\u2019s vibranium-powered weapons with marginalized people around the world, seeking the violent overthrow of powerful governments. T\u2019Challa, who wants to keep Wakanda\u2019s vibranium hidden from the rest of the world, is rescued by the Jabari, and healed by Nakia, Ross, his sister Shuri, and his mother Ramonda. T\u2019Challa returns to fight Killmonger, causing a battle between Okoye\u2019s army and W\u2019Kabi\u2019s army. With the help of M\u2019Baku and the Jabari, T\u2019Challa and Okoye\u2019s army win. Killmonger commits suicide. The movie ends with the creation of a Wakandan outreach center in Oakland, CA and with T\u2019Challa\u2019s appearance at the United Nations to reveal Wakanda\u2019s power.<\/p>\n

Overall, this film makes us think about competing notions of racial consciousness and Black internationalism. Primarily, it showcases the differences between Africans and African Americans. While T\u2019Challa wants Wakanda to remain isolated from the world, US-raised Killmonger seeks the international unity of all people of African descent. Clearly, one of the factors creating such a competing notion could be the varying ways in which each character was raised; T\u2019Challa was raised as a member of the Wakanda kinship and Killmonger was raised in a poor community in Oakland, California. As well, these two characters differ in regards to their support for the potential emergence of international Black revolution. While Killmonger strongly believes in overthrowing governmental structures around the world to empower historically marginalized people, T\u2019Challa takes a more cautious approach, eventually utilizing the United Nations as a forum to establish avenues of international cooperation with other countries. This difference in perspective is also perceived through a generational lens, with the elder leaders supporting caution while younger leaders like W\u2019Baka support a more revolutionary approach.<\/p>\n

Significantly, through the characterization of T\u2019Challa as the hero and Killmonger as the villain, it appears that the film takes a stance on several issues, especially in regards to global Black solidarity. Primarily, the film sends a clear message against the kind of Africa-led-global-revolution that Killmonger wants. Instead, it argues for international cooperation between people of African descent around the world. Most importantly, through the utilization of the United Nations, the film\u2019s message is not one against the global status quo. In fact, as I read it, the film asserts the role of predominantly western institutions in the construction of global Black solidarity. In doing so, the film also stood against T\u2019Challa\u2019s initial isolationist perspective, which was not only criticized by Killmonger but by other key characters that surrounded T\u2019Challa. For instance, for a long time, T\u2019Challa\u2019s ex-lover Nakia has advocated for the end of Wakanda\u2019s self-imposed isolation. She thought that Wakanda could use its resources to help African descendants around the world. Therefore, in general, the film takes a moderate approach to questions about Black internationalism.<\/p>\n

Finally, through the conceptualization of the powerful Wakanda, Black Panther<\/em> provides an imaginative, alternative history of the African continent and its descendants. Particularly, the film accentuates Wakanda\u2019s historical efforts to protect itself by maintaining its power and resources hidden from the rest of the world, leading audience members to ask two important questions. First, what would be Africa\u2019s reality today had it not been colonized and exploited by Imperial super-powers? Second, can a Black State only operate successful if clandestine?<\/p>\n

Ultimately, history has shown us the inability of global super-powers to respect the sovereignty of Black and Brown countries. Imagining the film\u2019s continuation, it is likely that now that Wakanda\u2019s power has been exposed to the rest of the world, the international community will demand the redistribution of the country\u2019s vibranium. Or, perhaps, an anti-Wakanda international front will be formed to extract the Black country\u2019s wealth and natural resources. If not, can we imagine a world where global white supremacy allows a Blackity-black state like Wakanda to become the World\u2019s super-power?<\/p>\n

Wakanda, Forever!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Black Panther is a 2018 American superhero film produced by Marvel Studios and directed by Ryan Coogler. With a running time of 134 minutes, this film explores power struggles in Wakanda \u2013 a fictional, advanced African kingdom that has developed technology by using the fictional metal Vibranium while keeping their resources hidden from the rest<\/p>\n

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