Yes spoilers following.
As a black immigrant with zero black relatives,
as a computer expert (game developer and computer nerd since 1987)
as a dude who doesn’t watch trailers and doesn’t care about superheroes (not per se but because they bring this weird “not everyone can do the job” vibe to society, which is problematic)
and who just saw Black Panther this morning,
I have feelings.
First, for sure when I was growing up and saw that there was a black superhero called Black Panther (which was my favorite animal, like probably tons of black kids), I loved it. But it annoyed me, the comics were lame as shit. Or I was too young to comprehend them.
Fast forward to now, looking at black families rushing to their seats with super-excited kids, in the world we’re living in… It’s definitely different and much more positive. I love it.
This article covers it all. There’s nothing to go too deep into on the Killmonger/MalcomX angle because as you know, it’s still a movie that is supposed to attract as many people as possible. They probably battled in the editing room for days and weeks. The first cut was over 4 hours I think?
I was shocked and saddened by how Killmonger kills his girlfriend. I believe in a movie with so many strong women front and back of the camera that this scene exists to remind black men that they’re, also, doing bad shit. It wasn’t gratuitous. We can celebrate blackness, enjoy some black entertainment and get some nested comment on Black Love and Relationship (black women sacrificing themselves for ungrateful black men). If it was gratuitous, then it’s a shame and I’ll blame it on the story and the 2-hour or so cut (how will we be able to incorporate her later on? Kill the character).
The sound mix, sparse subwoofer pulses, rich percussions arrangements and raising voices silencing everything were super awesome.
Three things I’m annoyed with:
– Western Technocentrism
It pisses me off to look at skyscrapers and public transportation as the most amazing science-fiction, as “the city of the future”. First of all, that’s the fucking present. And second of all, it doesn’t work well. NYC and Paris have the same issues. Stay stuck in a train between stations for over a hour and see how you like the future. Live with an upstairs neighbor who walks with the delicacy of a buffalo, you’ll see that it’s not the limitless future. That’s the opposite.
Please reimagine the futuristic African rural shit, that could be so much better than what I saw.
Wakanda’s science fictional city should be about amazing living areas that are hiding behind nature and yet super futuristic and blending with African art. It should be about individual vehicles picking you up anywhere, anytime (which is something that is happening right now in the US with Waymo). MAKE ME DREAM WITH INTERESTING, BOLD TAKES INSTEAD OF DOING THE SAME DUMB EUROPEAN TECHNOCENTRISM THAT DOESN’T EVEN WORK WELL UNDER LOAD IN THE REAL WORLD AND WE KNOW IT
– Monarchy
Rituals, tribes, kingdoms… That shit is old. I want NEW shit. Like a leader leading an actual democratic system where everything is voted real fast & real good because the system is liquid. That would make everything so much more interesting. No dumb ass combat with Killmonger. He wouldn’t have been alone. He would have brought a congregation of black men and women who have been left out in the world. They would have put pressure on those lazy ass Wakandians and that would have been so much deeper and interesting and funny. I know, action movie. And superheroes. And fist fights.
– Representation
I have an issue with that because on one hand, it’s great, but on the other hand, we need black kids to be able to do whatever they want, even when there’s no known black folks who did it before. Look at African countries in the winter Olympics. Being determine to do something because it’s just you and this thing and you know that you will do awesome, is the strongest, purest, most unbreakable determination you’ll ever have. It needs to come from yourself. If you have black representation, that’s great. If you have black mentors, that’s a jackpot. If you don’t have none of that, you still have you. You’re enough. You’re the shit. Plan, manage, conquer. I know it feels impossible. But some of us did. Some of us are. Focus.
The problem of representation is that it hides all that you know, elbow grease that is the most absolute necessity. Representation is not an elevator. It’s a poster in the staircase. It’s encouraging and that’s important. We like to forget about the tenacity part and we forget about it all the time.
Anyway, that was fun. Also the red warriors ladies can get in formation at my front door, thank you very much.
