Black Panther

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Growing up when I went to the movies I always looked up on the big screen to see predominantly caucasian actors.  Especially with superhero movies, I never witnessed a black superhero.

When Black Panther came out it was a game changer.  For the first time in my life I saw a whole cast of people who looked like me.  Not only that they were portrayed as heroes. Wakanda was shown as a technologically advanced society.  They possessed a power that could save lives, and was sought after by western powers. For the first time I was able to relate to characters, giving me a sense of pride.  Along with the black characters being high in power, women in the society were very important figures. The scientist behind the superhero’s suit was a women, and although her brother was in power, she still had lots of influence.
Black Panther was a step in the right direction, but Hollywood has a long way to go before I consider it inclusive.  When I watched Black Panther I didn’t feel excluded or different because of the color of my skin, and that is something people of all backgrounds should experience.  The Marvel should open up their universe to welcome superheroes from countries around the world. Hollywood also needs to take steps to include people of the LGTBQ+ community.  Our country was built on immigrants, and is filled with people of all kinds of backgrounds. Our movies and television shows should reflect the diversity found in the United States.  So that each time a person walks into a movie they are able to experience what I felt watching Black Panther.

Comments

  1. AnonymousMay 16, 2018 at 6:27 PM

    Great points! I agree that it's a step in the right direction, although there is still a long way to go.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousMay 19, 2018 at 11:08 PM

    Even though I'm not of any African/African-American descent, I too found Black Panther to be one of the most mesmerizing and inspiring films I've seen in a really long time, even without seeing people like me on the big screen. It was amazing to see a film not bombarded with caucasian people, and without your medley of token black or brown characters that were clearly added in to ensure that they're diverse and not racist in any way. I really think Black Panther will go down in history as one of the films that paved the way for plenty of movies filled with people of color to exist and flourish, and inspire people all around the world, no matter their race.

    ReplyDelete

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