Unless you’re currently living under a rock, chances are that you’ve heard about and/or probably seen the latest Marvel movie, Black Panther.
** Potential Spoilers Below **
The release of Black Panther marks for the release of Marvel’s first black superhero! During Black History Month! How beautiful, right? The best part is that Black Panther has a great storyline: it tackles the complexities and intricacies of identity as well as the hard conversations about people who have been separated by distance, have different cultures, and share different histories of oppression, share the same skin that defines their identity.
Blackness for black Americans have not been shaped by the ancestral home of Africa, but rather by the West. The West has defined what it means to black for us through its determination of hierarchy and the way it divides us socially, economically, and culturally. A national identity exists, an identity formed as a consequence of oppression.
The fictional country Wakanda gives us a science-fiction based glimpse of what a society sans invasion or oppression would look like. To the rest of the world in Black Panther, Wakanda is poor and undeveloped. However, it is full of untapped resources and potential, unmarked by the stain of imperialism and is actually the most technologically savvy and advanced country thanks to the precious mineral they have called vibranium.
The conflict comes in from Killmonger, the primary antagonist of the movie, who is driven to expose Wakanda to the world in order to help those who were oppressed just as he was. His motives prove to gain at least ~some~ sympathy from most viewers, because it’s SO real. He believes that he is doing more good (or at least that his overall good will outweigh his overall bad). His father’s murder takes away his opportunity to grow up in Wakanda, his opportunity to find his identity in the thriving country as opposed to having it defined for him (cue that museum scene where he corrects the guide about the origins of African artifacts).
Killmonger’s primary frustration comes from how the leaders, his family, from Wakanda leave him and those like him in the West. He is angry that Wakanda, though having the capacity and the resources to help and intervene when black people faced racism, oppression, enslavement, and overall a lower quality of life, chooses not to act or assist. Killmonger represents an identity of blackness stemming from the direct consequence of the West’s oppression and definition of his identity, of being black. T’Challa represents an identity unaffected by this, and because of their disconnect they clash.
Thus, Black Panther is a film that forces a conversation on what was, what is, and what should be the connection of those who were and are separated, and how we can reconnect.
This conversation taking place in a Marvel movie? During Black History Month? Truly prolific. Black Panther has allowed African Americans to see themselves in a new light, not as slaves, victims, one-dimensional antagonists, or as unintelligent. It celebrates blackness with an all-star primary black cast and a deep storyline. It can truly be considered one of Marvel’s best!