Warning: Small spoilers ahead
So unless you live under a rock you know that Black Panther came out February 16 and everyone was pretty excited to see this movie for various reasons. Some people were just excited for a new marvel movie, others wanted to see how this movie would connect to the Infinity War movie coming soon but the most important reason people were so eagerly awaiting for this movie it’s because the cast and production were a majority of Blacks. And let me tell you people were really excited even when the poster came out.
This movie has been out for only four days and people have already watched multiple times setting a box office of roughly $218 million setting the movie as the fifth highest opening weekend in history leaving other Marvel movies like Age of Ultron, Iron Man 3, and Captain America: Civil War behind and eating the dust of King T’Challa. Black Panther is also set as the highest-grossing debut film by a Black director, which is a huge accomplishment not only for Ryan Coogler but for all of the world specially minorities. People are so excited and happy to see themselves represented in a movie that they have gone dressed up in traditional African clothes and people all over america have shown a really strong sense of community in all of the cinemas that it’s overwhelming.
With all of these records Black Panther is setting it is honestly no surprise, people want to see themselves and their cultures represented in movies and Black Panther delivered what the people was asking for. Through the movie we see how the African culture is represented in several forms. We can see the rituals that they make in order to choose the new king, we see the traditional clothing and makeup, we see natural and beautiful hair styles and last but not least we see an African dialect called isiXhosa which is a real dialect that is spoken in African by 15% of the population. While Wakanda is a fiction place they still show so many beautiful aspects of Africa and their unique and lively culture that makes this movie so enjoyable and the ultimate love letter to this country and all the people from African descent.
Black Panther is not only important for these reasons, another aspect of the movie that is making a huge impact worldwide is the role that is played by the women, because honestly the women of Wakanda are the real people who rule this fictional place. Wakanda has an all female warriors and they are all led by Okoye, played by Danai Gurira. Not only is she a fierce warrior but she also has a shaved head with designs (which by the way she completely rocks) and is so committed to her job that she is willing to go to extremes just to protect Wakanda.
Another female character that is becoming everyone’s favorite character from the movie is Princess Shuri. Shuri is the younger sister of King T’Challa aka Black Panther and is played by breakout star Letitia Wright. Shuri sure is a princess but she is far from the typical Disney princess that we know and its no surprise why she is becoming the favorite character from the movie so fast. Shuri might be young but she is the one responsible for most of the technological advances that are made in Wakanda, she also perfected the Black Panther suit and casually saved the life of an FBI agent. Not only is she a super smart persons and helped save Wakanda and the world but she has a great sense of humor and has some of the greatest lines of the whole movie. Shuri is the perfect combination between beauty, brains and sense of humor. Shuri’s character has a huge importance for this era because it shows girls that they too can do whatever they want and I’m sure that so many girls are going to be inspired by her that it would be no surprise that in the future we have more women in STEM fields, she will serve as a positive role model for young girls all around the world and I’m really glad (and also a bit jealous) that they get to grow up with these type of characters.
Lupita Nyong’o plays the role of Nakia, another really important character in this movie that shows how brave and courageous women can be and how we don’t need a man in our lives. Nakia helps save Wakanda along with Shuri and Okoye but she also helps save people who are being kidnapped and the royal family after “things” happen in the movie. The roles of the women in this movie also help represent how women are viewed in some African cultures and they help empower women, specially from minorities.
Black Panther is a revolutionary movie for all of the reasons mentioned above and so many others that you will understand once you see the movie. With the great success that this movie is having I hope that Hollywood can understand that we need to have more movies with minority cast, that people want to see diversity and representation in these movies. We want to be able to connect with the movies and their characters. Thanks to Ryan Coogler for directing this awesome movie and thanks to the talented cast to give amazing performances, if you haven’t seen Black Panther I highly encourage you to go see it, you will not regret it. Wakanda Forever!