thedeadparrot (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
thedeadparrot) wrote2018-02-18 08:30 am
thedeadparrot) wrote2018-02-18 08:30 am
Black Panther
I went to go see it yesterday and I wasn't sure if I was going to write up my thoughts on it, but it's a rare big budget action movie that takes on more depth and meaning when taken away by the initial thrill and enjoyment of seeing it. I'm sure much smarter and more knowledgeable people have made these points more articulately, but I just want to get some of my thoughts down before I hunt down the thinkpieces.
- Everything about Wakanda was thrilling. A scifi world firmly rooted on Earth. An imagined utopia for sure, but such a beautifully lived in and alive one. Imagined scifi utopias from Western (hell, even many Asian) countries are all about everything being clean and tidy and perfectly arranged. This one was so joyously messy. I loved it.
- And the Jabari's interior design is fucking fantastic, asjjhunter pointed out. The throne room was stunning. I loved that we got a chance to touch on some of Wakanda's complex internal politics as well.
- Talking about it afterwards, T'Challa might be the only MCU superhero with a close, functional sibling relationship. It would have been so easy for Shuri to be just the 'brilliant, quirky, tech-providing girl', but she really got a chance to shine by also being a sister.
- So many ladies! Who also got to be different people with different priorities and have complicated feelings as well! One of my main critiques of MCU up until now was that it seemed like you could either (a) be a lady or (b) be a person of color but not both at the same time. This was so refreshing in that regard. I'm sure the rest of the universe will disappoint with this regard.
- Relatedly, someone had some interesting thoughts about the way toxic masculinity functions in the movie wrt Killmonger.
- I am sure there are many thinkpieces about this already that I need to read, but Killmonger as a dark mirror to T'Challa is great. The trope usually shows how the hero could have become warped by different experiences, and in this case, it's true. But it's not a singular trauma, the way a lot of dark mirror stories usually go. Not just losing their family in a tragic accident, but in fact, being warped by both the horrors of being poor and black in America and that legacy of slavery and white supremacy but also, the horrors of American colonialist ideology and military-industrial complex. As Ross says, "He's doing what we trained him to do."
- That scene where he talks to his father on the ancestral plane, and his father gives him the dream of Wakanda was so so powerful. I don't fully have the cultural context for all the meaning of that scene, but I felt it in my chest. I hope it has that impact on everyone who sees it.
- It was spoiled by the trailers and the fact of Michael B. Jordan, but I love how the movie sets up Claue to be the main villain and then unceremoniously murders him off halfway through.
- Anyway, give me all the good reviews and thinkpieces by black people, please.
- Also, I found a great twitter thread on the real life cultural references in the movie if that would be of interest to anyone.
- Everything about Wakanda was thrilling. A scifi world firmly rooted on Earth. An imagined utopia for sure, but such a beautifully lived in and alive one. Imagined scifi utopias from Western (hell, even many Asian) countries are all about everything being clean and tidy and perfectly arranged. This one was so joyously messy. I loved it.
- And the Jabari's interior design is fucking fantastic, as
jjhunter pointed out. The throne room was stunning. I loved that we got a chance to touch on some of Wakanda's complex internal politics as well.- Talking about it afterwards, T'Challa might be the only MCU superhero with a close, functional sibling relationship. It would have been so easy for Shuri to be just the 'brilliant, quirky, tech-providing girl', but she really got a chance to shine by also being a sister.
- So many ladies! Who also got to be different people with different priorities and have complicated feelings as well! One of my main critiques of MCU up until now was that it seemed like you could either (a) be a lady or (b) be a person of color but not both at the same time. This was so refreshing in that regard. I'm sure the rest of the universe will disappoint with this regard.
- Relatedly, someone had some interesting thoughts about the way toxic masculinity functions in the movie wrt Killmonger.
- I am sure there are many thinkpieces about this already that I need to read, but Killmonger as a dark mirror to T'Challa is great. The trope usually shows how the hero could have become warped by different experiences, and in this case, it's true. But it's not a singular trauma, the way a lot of dark mirror stories usually go. Not just losing their family in a tragic accident, but in fact, being warped by both the horrors of being poor and black in America and that legacy of slavery and white supremacy but also, the horrors of American colonialist ideology and military-industrial complex. As Ross says, "He's doing what we trained him to do."
- That scene where he talks to his father on the ancestral plane, and his father gives him the dream of Wakanda was so so powerful. I don't fully have the cultural context for all the meaning of that scene, but I felt it in my chest. I hope it has that impact on everyone who sees it.
- It was spoiled by the trailers and the fact of Michael B. Jordan, but I love how the movie sets up Claue to be the main villain and then unceremoniously murders him off halfway through.
- Anyway, give me all the good reviews and thinkpieces by black people, please.
- Also, I found a great twitter thread on the real life cultural references in the movie if that would be of interest to anyone.