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Why Was the Black Panther Film So Popular?

Black Panther Film is Marvel fans have long favored the Black Panther comic book superhero, especially those who identify as people of color. However, the Wakandan prince's story broke box office records, took over the Internet,

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Black Panther Film is Marvel fans have long favored the Black Panther comic book superhero, especially those who identify as people of color. However, the Wakandan prince's story broke box office records, took over the Internet, and inspired millions when he appeared as the lead in his movie in 2018. Seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, were nominated for Black Panther, and it took home three of them.

Black Panther received a 96% "fresh" rating on the movie review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes in 2020, two years after its release. What precisely made Black Panther a ground-breaking movie, given all this buzz? After Captain America: The Civil War, Black Panther picks up right where it left. Prince T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) returns to Wakanda after Wakandan King T'Chaka is killed in a terrorist attack and fights in a ritual to become the Black Panther.

When T'Challa becomes king, Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan), a renegade member of the U.S. Black Ops with ties to the royal family, challenges him. Killmonger is well aware of Wakanda's hidden stockpile of vibranium. This rare and nearly unbreakable metal ore has propelled the reclusive nation's technological advancements ahead of all other civilizations. Killmonger is attempting to end Wakanda's isolation. He intends to use vibration to elevate Wakanda to the forefront of a pan-African black revolution.

Black Panther (2018) became one of Marvel’s

Black Panther's cast and costumes, which are race- and gender-conscious, have received a lot of praise. It features Ryan Coogler, the first black director in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, an almost entirely black lead cast, and several black women in strong, interesting roles. Consider the Dora Milaje, a group of female warriors who wield spears and are tasked with defending T'Challa. The general of this intimidating armed force, Okoye (Danai Gurira), and two of its members, Nakia (Lupita Nyong'o), play key roles throughout the movie. Black Panther Film

Black Panther Film

The Dora Milaje wear stacked neck rings similar to those worn by Ndebele women in South Africa. The Maasai and Turkana beadwork on their uniforms reflects Wakanda's syncretic culture. Black Panther won the Oscars for Best Costume Design and Best Production Design thanks to the costume and production work of Ruth E. black women, Carter and Hannah Bachler.

Black Americans are familiar with the central tension beneath Black Panther's stunning visuals. According to Jelani Cobb's article for The New Yorker, this tension is reflected in the term "African-American," with the hyphen "standing in for the brutal history that intervened betweenThe transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans resulted in up to 12 million people being uprooted from their homes and transported to every corner of the Western world. Slavery has left a lasting scar on these enslaved people and their free descendants because it has made them outsiders to their native cultures even though they are genetically related to Africa. In light of this, Black Panther Film

In Black Panther, the question is posed, "What might it look like for black life to be self-determined and independent when left undisturbed?" Who is welcomed into this reimagining? Who is still in the background? T'Challa's Wakanda represents black independence and self-determination in many ways. For many early Black nationalists and pan-Africanists like Marcus Garvey and Malcolm X, it probably would have been the ideal situation. According to Carvell Wallace, who argues this in a piece for The New York Times Magazine, these visionaries are descended from black ancestors who Black Panther Film

Black Panther Film

"have populated the Africa of our imagination with our most yearning attempts at self-realization." Nina Simone is quoted as saying that this tradition of daydreaming was "an attempt to picture a place where there was no fear," in the author's paraphrase. Without the constraints of white colonialism, Wakanda appears fearless; it thrives in seclusion as a center of black advancement. Its culture incorporates elements from all of Africa's civilizations. As a result, black success is exemplified.

Importantly, this paradise can only be preserved by being purposefully isolated; exclusivity is essential to its prosperity. But if all black people cannot enter a utopia like Wakanda, is paradise? Killmonger believes the response is no. Wakanda erects barriers around its wealth and comfort while black people are oppressed worldwide. Killmonger feels that Wakanda owes the diaspora a duty.

He is aware that breaking out of isolation could destabilize Wakanda's fragile society, but he is prepared to pay that price to ensure black liberation on a global scale. He believes the road to liberation will be bloody, violent, and vibranium-paved. Even with futuristic technology, Adam Serwer writes in The Atlantic magazine that Killmonger's radical ideology has real historical roots. It is reminiscent of the "Ten-Point Program" of the Black Panther Party, which outlined a political platform based on Marxism and black nationalism.

The Black Panther Party's rhetoric from the late 1960s, which emphasized the international tenor of liberation and suggested that such a struggle would be armed if necessary, is very similar to Killmonger's call for a violent, global black revolution. Although complicated, the ideological conflict between T'Challa and Killmonger is significant in Black Panther's popularity. These strong characters are described as "two sides of the same coin" in a review on RogerEbert.com, and their journeys "have a way of burrowing into your skin."

Black Panther (2018) became one of Marvel’s

Their complementary paths to self-determination may have unnerved a lot of moviegoers. However, as the movie's conclusion implies, these routes are not always different. Though the movie initially presents them as opposites, homeland, and diaspora, prosperity and liberation might be able to coexist in a black future of self-determination. Black Panther Film

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