In February 2018, Marvel Studios presented Black Panther. This movie tells the story of a hidden kingdom called “Wakanda” which takes place in East Africa. Wakanda consists only of Africans, and contrary to popular belief, the technology is far more advanced in this civilization than anywhere else in the world. The film Black Panther is the most revolutionizing movie of our generation because it changed the way the world could see black people, it showed an excellent representation of strong women in power, and it had a great visual of protagonist versus antagonist.
In the film, Black Panther begins in 1992 in Oakland, California. You can see children playing basketball on the blacktop. You can hear sirens going off in the background, then it pans to the apartment building, or what most people would call “the projects.” This type of opening scene is very typical for black films, or films with a section of black people. In these apartments, there are two men who get a knock on the door. It is the father of one of the men, King T’Chaka. Turns out that the two brothers were sent to America as spies for Wakanda, neither knowing they were both spies. When the king finds out that his son betrayed him, he had him killed and took his other son back to the civilization. They ride off in a massive rocket-like aircraft. Moments later they end up in the beautiful land of Wakanda. The only way to get into the city of Wakanda is through an invisible portal and you can only get through this portal if you have the Wakandan tattoo on your inner bottom lip. All of this is possible with the help of vibranium. Vibranium is a fictional metal found at the beginning which sparked the existence of the Wakandan civilization. Vibranium is hidden from the new world, and sacred to Wakandans. While all of these technological advancements are happening in the small country of Wakanda, the world is still the same as we see it today. To the rest of the world, Wakanda doesn’t exist. When it’s spoken about, it’s deemed unbelievable. No one believes that any country in Africa could be as advances as they were. The son who lived and was taken back to Wakanda was T’Challa, portrayed by Chadwick Boseman, heir to the king after T’Chaka’s tragic death by explosion. T’Challa takes on the role of the Black Panther after his father. He is shown as strong and selfless. This is important because it shows the representation of a black male in power without the struggles brought upon him by the white race. He shows honor to the throne and is against any unnecessary violence. This is also important because people see black men or the black population as violent and hostile, so to see this elegant man of power refraining from any harmful abuse of power is valuable. This movie represented black people in high power and royalty. It showed them as proper people with morals. In other black films, such as any Tyler Perry movies. Even though it could be considered a black film since almost every character is black, it represents them as poor, drug addicts, helpless, and all with family issues. Black Panther shows power within the nation, honor to their ancestors, respect to the people of the civilization, and to family values and towards others who approach them.
How women are represented in any film is crucial. In this film, the women are seen as strong and powerful. Alongside T’Challa, is his general Okoye, portrayed by Danai Gurira. She is an extremely strong and valuable character. She helped in decision making and was always fighting beside T’Challa, never behind him. She was his protector and protector of Wakanda. She was a very traditional fighter. She fought with spears or anything that was lying next to her. You would never catch her with anything automatic in her hand. She is so loyal to her kingdom that when the new king, antagonist Erik Killmonger, portrayed by Michael B. Jordan, strips the crown from T’Challa and is known for being evil, she still stays true to the king. I believe that this is her only weakness. She then realizes that Killmonger is truly evil and has no good morals, she rounds up an army of women to fight against Killmonger and his army. She then comes face-to-face with the man she loves, W’Kabi, portrayed by Daniel Kaluuya, who happens to agree with Killmonger’s views and is against T’Challa. It shows the two of them, she’s holding a spear to his throat, and he starts to smile and tries to sweet talk her. He says, “Aw, you wouldn’t kill me would you?” Okoye responds with “Anything for my Wakanda” I believe this is one of the most important scenes in the film. Typically, it will show a man trying to change a woman’s mind by talking nice to her and giving her gifts knowing the stereotype of women and their “uncontrollable” emotions. However, in this situation, we see that the woman puts her emotions for the man aside for something she sees more valuable than her love for this man. When W’Kabi sees that she won’t budge, he calls off his army and surrenders to Okoye. I think Okoye is a tremendous example of women in power and how they can be seen as strong and powerful without being called out of their name. At the beginning of the movie, T’Challa and Okoye are sent on a mission to rescue captured girls. One of these girls happens to be a spy for Wakanda, Nakia, portrayed by Lupita Nyong'o. She works as a spy and goes around the world on missions for the people of Wakanda. She also happened to be in a romantic involvement with T’Challa previously. Whenever he sees her, he freezes in action and doesn’t know how to put his words together. This shows that even the strongest men can be swayed by only the looks of someone they care for. Nakia travels alongside Okoye and T’Challa when they go on the mission to find Klaw, portrayed by Andy Serkis, the man who stole an amount of their vibranium and was the cause of the explosion that killed the King T’Chaka. When she goes on the mission she is the one who finds information on anyone they need to look out for. She uses her sensuality to get closer to the people she needs to spy on. When Killmonger takes over the throne, she stays loyal to T’Challa and knows that even after he was thrown off the waterfall and deemed dead that he was still alive and could be rescued. She led the queen, Ramonda, portrayed by Angela Bassett, and the princess, Shuri, portrayed by Letitia Wright, to the land of the Jabari. This is where we meet M’Baku, portrayed by Winston Duke, a strong ape-man who happened to pick up T’Challa and preserve him in ice. This is when Nakia gives him the power of the Black Panther so he can go back and fight Killmonger for the throne. Nakia has a strong role, she took over leadership when T’Challa was down and never gave on the search for him. This is important because it shows that women can take on leadership roles under immense pressure. Lastly, the princess, Shuri, is the smartest person in the world. She works in the lab, handles the vibranium, and creates weapons for T’Challa and innovative tools for Wakanda. She is a very witty character, and everyone knows that she is a genius. I think her representation is important because it inspires girls and women like myself to become just like her in the field of science, where women of color are lacking. I became inspired when I saw her role and how easy she made every invention look. She outsmarted many people even T’Challa. So when it was time to fight, she was able to equip everyone in Okoye’s army, including T’Challa and Everett K. Ross, portrayed by Martin Freeman. Ross is a white man who works for the CIA in America who was found in Tokyo by T’Challa and his group. When he was injured he was taken to Wakanda and instantly healed by Shuri. He was amazed and couldn't believe that she single-handedly healed him in only a day.
As I discussed earlier, Erik is seen in the opening scene, long before he adopts the nickname "Killmonger.” Erik is only a kid playing basketball on the blacktop in Oakland, unaware that his father is actually a Wakandan prince.) Erik was left behind with a dead father in Oakland while T’Challa’s father returned to Wakanda. After Klaw is captured in Tokyo, he is then rescued by Killmonger. This is when T’Challa realized that Killmonger has a distinctive necklace. Once T’Challa returns to Wakanda, he tells the others that this villain had a necklace he has seen before. When Erik has crash lands on W'Kabi’s farm, he is taken in as a prisoner to the royal court. He is then questioned on how he made it into the Kingdom, only to reveal that he also had the wakandan marking on his bottom lip and that he is T’Challa’s cousin. Unrecognizable Erik remakes himself into a powerful fighter. He develops his skills as an American black-ops soldier. He is shown with self-inflicted scars on his body representing each one of his kills.2 He then challenges T’Challa for the throne, in which he succeeds by throwing T’Challa off the edge of the waterfall leaving everyone to believe he is dead. (When Erik receives his own Black Panther suit and armor that’s identical to the armor worn by T’Challa, he has the idea of spreading the reclamation around the world and speaks on taking back the world from the dominant white race.2 T’Challa eventually reigns supreme once again and is forced to recapture Killmonger. This fight is a between a man whose ideals connect with his African culture and a man who had this culture ripped away from him. T’Challa is devoted to preserving it while Erik, who spent his growing years raising himself in the shadow of riots and turmoil and has seen firsthand how the history of slavery and oppression has impacted the lives of black Americans.2 T’Challa then takes Killmonger to the top of a tall tower to see is final sunset. He shows remorse and suggests he shouldn’t kill Erik when he speaks about the beauty of the kingdom. However, (Killmonger says, “Bury me in the ocean where my ancestors jumped from ships because they knew death was better than bondage."1 I believe that this example of antagonist versus protagonist is extremely important because of the fact that it is two black men, each of extreme power, fighting against each other rather alongside each other. They fought over their difference of opinions, but in the end were able to come together and see each other’s flaws and mistakes.
Written by Vamien McKalin, “Contrary to what many critics have said, Black Panther isn’t the best Marvel movie, and Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan), unfortunately, isn’t the best Marvel villain. It’s a film that took it’s time to get up to speed, and when it did, it was somewhat satisfying enough.” I find this baffling considering the fact that Black Panther earned a grand 99% on rotten tomatoes and had over $1 billion in box office sales.4 This film should be considered one of the greatest films because it tackled issues such as racism and gender equality. In movies such as Iron Man and Captain America, they don’t have strong female roles and they don’t have strong black characters. Having black characters in this era is extremely important due to the racial tensions taking place in America. This movie is great because it expels confidence amongst young children and even adults who have struggled with racial prejudice their entire lives. This movie is important because it shows that black women can be strong and powerful without being seen as too aggressive. It shows women of color on the big screen for little girls to be inspired by. Killmonger, in my opinion, seems to be the best villain due to the fact that he was at one point successful at defeating the antagonist, taking over the kingdom, and trying to implement his new rule. He showed no remorse for the people who fear their lives and no remorse for the people of high status. I disagree with the entirety of this critic’s review.
After seeing Black Panther, I have never felt so thrilled and inspired to work harder in my life. The way the film was put together was well thought out. I loved seeing strong female characters who weren’t afraid to fight for their kingdom, no matter who gets in the way. The intelligence amongst the entire cast was phenomenal, there was never a dull character. The witty humor along with the intense fight scenes worked well together. Killmonger was an excellent villain who challenged the kingdom and especially T’Challa. In my opinion, The film Black Panther is the most revolutionizing movie of our generation because it changed the way the world could see Black people, it showed an excellent representation of strong women in power, and it had a great visual of protagonist versus antagonist.