Valentine’s Day has been claiming hearts Feb. 14 for decades now. We all recognize the familiar marketing shift that occurs when this time of year rolls around: red and pink hearts, chocolate, an assortment of flowers, lingerie sales, etc. Our favorite romantic comedies are on rotation. Writers vigorously work on their best-couple-of-all-time listicals. People promote gifts audiences should get their significant other based on their gender after those same people spent the last year telling us how ridiculous gender-specific items are.
However, none of that is important now because this year, Black Panther is coming out.
Not only is February the month responsible for one of the most romantic days of the year, not only does February live as a consistent reminder of African American and US civil rights history, but February is also going to be the birthplace of celebration as citizens all over the world marvel at one of the most exciting days of the year: Feb. 16…aka the day Black Panther is released.
Whether or not you’ve been keeping up with superhero films, grew up watching movies with primarily black casts or even planned on spending your Valentine’s Day weekend doing something else, one can almost bet that everyone will be going to see this movie.
Though I’m not sure if there will be much, if any, romance in the film, I can’t help but think of all of the iconic black couples and movies that brought us to this place, and whose stories can hopefully tie you over until the release of the film.
From watching Monica and Quincy from Love & Basketball fall in love on the court to analyzing the varied couples in films like The Best Man and Why Did I Get Married?, there are so many funny, yet romantic films bridging the gap this year as we wait for the latest movie to add to our collections.
Pretty much, whether or not you see the film, (you should because we’re all going to) every month afterward should consider itself canceled because February is about to be lit.