Nobody ever denied the Marvel Cinematic Universe's influence over the masses, and one could look no further than the box office to understand that. Eighteen films in a franchise, though, and you'd be remiss if you thought superhero fatigue would've settled in by now.
Enter 2018, and this most recent "superhero flick" prioritizes political intrigue, race relations, and moral ambiguity in Ryan Coogler's Black Panther film, the highest-grossing film of 2018, seventh in the United States, and twentieth of all time.
The biggest debut by an African American director boasts a predominantly black cast, the best reviews (beating out both Nolan's The Dark Knight and Iron Man) for a superhero movie, and yet still garners the question: What makes Black Panther so engaging to audiences? First, let's start with
1. The Director
Ryan Coogler is a well-renowned film director, similar in vein to Quentin Tarantino only in the fact that both produce, comparatively to other high-demand filmmakers, very few but powerfully-influential works.
His first feature film, Fruitvale Station, gathered acclaim and the majority of audience/grand jury awards in 2013's Sundance Film Festival, a feat he built upon when co-writing and directing Creed, the seventh installment in the Rocky film franchise, and from both films a collaboration with actor Michael B/ Jordan further flourished.
The fact that Black Panther's director who, since the age of twenty-one served as a counselor for the incarcerated youth in San Francisco's Juvenile Hall, has very much so lived out the same life he so often realizes in his films, only further adds to why Marvel's latest feature film rings truer to its audiences.
Coogler is a founding member and avid supporter of Blackout For Human Rights, a campaign designed for the specific purpose of addressing racial and human rights violations in America.
Not simply a film director making a "quick buck" or even just passionate about filmmaking as an art form, Coogler has time and again used his cinematic voice to convey the thoughts and feelings of people of color across the silver screen for all to see. Secondly, we must consider
2. The Ethnocentric Emphasis
While many filmgoers are no stranger to race relations being confronted in a film, this was a case wherein a major company, Disney/Marvel, took it upon themselves to challenge the status quo for mainstream audiences.
This wasn't BET(Black Entertainment Television), a rap video, or a stand-up comedy routine, all of which are tried-and-true methods for people of color to communicate to a wider audience; this was Marvel, the biggest name in movies today, and they were making a move.
For a time, myself included, there was fear the message would become misconstrued or miss the mark entirely, what with impeding studio interference already having plagued prior Marvel movies.
Luckily, the black representation allowed for a rare opportunity for young black children to have a superhero they could not only empathize with, but physically resembled family they already idolized.
This in no way takes away from the many fan-favorite white superheroes, but does provide a comic book character for a subdivision of audiences marginalized on a national and even global scale.
Linking back to Coogler, the director set his sights on the advanced sciences, heightened technologies, and rich cultures envisioned within Wakanda's waterfalls and warring tribes, in contrast to other films centered around black pain and suffering.
The piece handles the racial identity of itself was dignity and pride, a welcome step forward in cinema that highlights the positive blackness can offer. Last, one cannot disregard the impact that came from
3. The Control of Characters
Think back to any Marvel movie, and you can name the Chosen One protagonist, Supportive Sidekick, and Snarky, Smarmy Love Interest-type caricatures with ease, but Coogler's sense of pride and admiration for blackness with a focus on the ethnocentric vision for Wakanda brings the people of his fictional place to life.
All these fully-realized characters make for an exciting, engaging film phenomenon where, as critics have pointed out, even central antagonist Killmonger (Erik Stevens, portrayed by Michael B. Jordan) is cast in a sympathetic light.
It is not hero v. villain(again), but a dueling of two ideologies colliding in a struggle that transgresses the physical combat and becomes a philosophically-intriguing debate that, by the film's conclusion, makes for two sides forever changed.
No one character is painted in a negative fashion, or without redeemable qualities, and again creates persons both for and against immigration, in favor of and against union between "people that look like us across the globe"(black) and "colonizers" (white).
Black Panther is a monumental movie with ties to other racially-motivated pieces, a la A Raisin in the Sun, that posits African-Americans in a heroic scene. It is personal favorite of mine, and hopefully, this helps you understand exactly.
