“A racist fights racism with more racism.” This is how, in short, we can describe what the movie “Black Panther” did, which deals with the story of one of the African superheroes, and is produced by the “Marvel” company, which is responsible for presenting films about its superheroes who appear in its comic stories, who – by some coincidence – always come from white-skinned people, which dominate the starring roles, while the roles of supporting characters are assigned to black-skinned people. Marvel is accused of racism, so what is the solution? The company decided to release its movie “Black Panther” to release the first black superhero. This seems beautiful, but when honesty is absent, the final works come out distorted and mired in the same racism, but in a more different and deeper impact. If you are a follower of Marvel, you know that its superheroes roam the world and fight villains everywhere on Earth, and even in space and parallel worlds. However, our “black” hero never leaves his African town, and villains come to him so that the beautiful white world does not pollute his dark black heroine. All the actors in the work are black, even those with neglected secondary roles, as if it were a closed story about a parallel world in which white and black do not mix. In short: the Black Panther is a great hero in the world of blacks, but he is nothing more than that.
Character details
The company chose to name the film after the character of an African king called “T’Challa,” played by actor Chadwick Boseman. This king has amazing strength and speed thanks to a dose of a magical medicine and an armored robe that covers his entire body. The events of “Black Panther” take place in “Wakanda”, a supposed African country that is the hero’s birthplace. As we know from an introductory animation style, this country was built on a mountain of a metal with unique properties, called “vibranium.” Also participating in “Black Panther” are actress Danai Gurira, who plays the character of T’Challa’s bodyguard, and Angela Bassett, who plays the role of his mother, along with Lutetisha Wright, who steals the spotlight in her scenes from the other actors, through her portrayal of the character of the hero’s sister, who conducts research on weapons. Daniel Kaluuya, the hero of the movie “Get Out of Here,” also plays the role of the internal security official in “Wakanda,” as well as Forest Whitaker, who plays the character of T’Challa’s spiritual guide.
Racism again
Its director, Ryan Coogler – who also participated in writing the script – believed that the blackness of the hero’s skin was enough to prove that the company was not racist, and that there was no need to break any other “rules” of white heroism. There is no need, for example, for the hero “T’Challa” to be surrounded by white supporting actors and have him fight monsters on American soil, for example, as is usual in Hollywood works. But that did not happen. Coogler and his team had a more radical vision. To begin with, the events of “Black Panther” take place in “Wakanda,” the supposed African country that constitutes the hero’s birthplace. Thanks to the metal “Vibranium”, it was able to achieve huge technological leaps, and not with the help of its children or their scientific progress! Despite this technological leap, it is no more advanced than the leaps made by other fictional characters belonging to the white world of the Marvel Universe film production company, such as the characters Tony Stark and Bruce Banner. As for the work team, all its black heroes participated in previous work as drug dealers or gangsters, and here you can ask yourself again: When was the last time you saw an American movie that included so many black actors, none of whom were assigned the role of a gangster or a cocaine addict?
Underdeveloped country
What is most strange is that the same company that previously produced a film like “Captain America” made all the evil enemies from outside the country, while in the movie “Black Panther,” its events quickly included a fierce civil war that produced many evil enemies. In the film, we find the young king facing challenges, but not from the Euro-American world, or even outer space, but from within his kingdom, from rival tribes, and from his evil cousin. These challenges are manifested in the most extreme forms of violence, as there is the villain who is trying to control the kingdom in order to declare war on the rest of the world for the purpose of expansion.
Vicious tournament
What is most racist is that when a movie presents a superhero character, one expects that this hero will have clever and intelligent dialogue sentences on his tongue, that he will have some innovative plans, and that he will come up with actions that make you hardly catch your breath while watching. In short, to perform anything that could cause obsession with him as a hero or a superhero in reality. But the “Black Panther” here seems closer to a “hollow tiger.” With all the abilities that the hero possesses, and which he derives from the tools and machines that his sister invents, and the herbal remedies that his mentor prepares, we find him – and to our surprise – a negative person who chatters a lot about boring matters. We also see him getting too used to losing battles and letting the bad guys run for their lives.
