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Black Panther and the supposed need for idols

sempel

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I just read a commentary in the newspaper

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/film/the-black-panther-revolution-ishere/article37967876/

The Black Panther revolution is here
To understand the cultural weight of Marvel's latest superhero saga, look at its place in Hollywood's history of representation

In October, 2014, Marvel Studios's surprise hit, Guardians of the Galaxy, was wrapping up its theatrical run with more than US$700-million in worldwide box-office receipts. On the heels of that blockbuster summer, a slate of new films was announced for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Tucked in with the addition of Captain Marvel and Captain America: Civil War was possibly the most unlikely comic-book-to-film adaptation to make the cut: Black Panther.
To truly understand the impact of that announcement, it's necessary to remember where we were at the time as a culture. Black community activism (catalyzed in part by the Black Lives Matter movement) was experiencing a renaissance and bringing with it the potential for global transformation.
Along with it, the conversations on "race" began to swell outside of the borders drawn by a mass media whose body politic, mostly white and male, had years ago announced we were living in a postracial period.
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The conversation on reparations to black Americans, for white America's centuries of subjugation and plunder, surged once again into popular dialogue with The Atlantic's publication of Ta-Nehisi Coates's essay The Case for Reparations. The conversation on police profiling, which barely registered mention in nightly news, became a semi-permanent fixture in the news cycle with waves of protest marches that accompanied the killing of unarmed black people.
And then there was the conversation about representation. In mainstream film, even as years of published studies showed a direct correlation between box-office returns and diversity on both sides of the camera, black representation in Hollywood remained abysmal. Outside of biopics and slavery films (as well as the occasional big-budget film starring Will Smith or Samuel L. Jackson), it seemed there was neither a place for black characters that didn't involve subordination to white leads nor for black creatives to be trusted with studio tent poles.
There was, of course, the exception in 1998, when Wesley Snipes cut a gory swath across theatres as Blade . Although Snipes's fierce charisma and martial-arts prowess made an icon of a once-obscure relic from Marvel Comics'$2 1970s foray into the occult, the Blade franchise ultimately guttered out with 2004's Blade: Trinity. From that point through the announcement of Black Panther, only one superhero film starring a black lead made it to theatres: 2008's Hancock, a deeply flawed film that even Will Smith couldn't save.
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All of this is to say, I was deeply skeptical back in 2014, when Black Panther was announced. And I couldn't have been more wrong.

Black Panther is an all-too-human hero, capable of ripping the wheels off a moving vehicle with little effort, but struggling with the responsibility of ruling the secretive yet technologically advanced kingdom of Wakanda.
Black Panther is, taken at face value, everything that's been absent from the superhero genre.
An all-too-human hero, capable of ripping the wheels off a moving vehicle with little effort, but struggling with the responsibility of ruling the secretive yet technologically advanced kingdom of Wakanda. A tragic villain who, behind the scars covering his body and psyche, carries motives deeper and more virtuous than simple dominion. And, of course, black women. Beautiful, powerful and self-actualized black women. Dark of skin, kinky of hair, capable of kicking ass in heels, yet fully existing outside the needs and failures of the film's male leads.
Speaking with some of Black Panther's biggest boosters in the social-media spheres, the opinion is unanimous. This is the Star Wars of our generation.
"The fact that it's actually happening now is amazing," says Jamie Broadnax, founder of the BlackGirlNerds blog and podcast. In the lead-up to the film's release this weekend, the BlackGirlNerds team created the #WhatBlackPantherMeansToMe social-media hashtag, which became a globally trending conversation.
Broadnax says that a favourite pastime of hers, along with other black comic-book fans on Twitter, had been to imagine a dream casting for a hypothetical Black Panther film. Attending the film's L.A. premiere in January, Broadnax says, was earth-shattering. "Seeing this vast array of the African diaspora represented in just this one film is a great place for other studios to follow Marvel's lead," Broadnax says. "I hope that this will create a space for more stories to be told."

The diaspora Broadnax refers to is more than the broad array of fully fleshed-out black characters featured in the film. Black Panther's cultural subtext, hidden in the folds of Wakanda's Afrofuturistic aesthetic, is where the film truly flourishes. Through a fictional hidden country, technologically ahead of the rest of the world by light years, director Ryan Coogler manages to subvert and mock just about every Hollywood trope about Africa.
For example, in the film, Chief M'Baku (known in the comics as Man-Ape, a problematic and generally reviled character) threatens to mutilate and eat a white foreigner. After a tense beat, he quips, "Just kidding, we're vegetarians." In that moment, his character exudes a humanity that flings Hollywood's trope of the warlord African in the rubbish bin. Another Wakandan's clothing, a simple patterned cloak often worn by herders and nomads, later transforms into a panel within the impenetrable shield wall of a phalanx in formation. During the most spectacular car chase since The Matrix Reloaded, Wakandan General Okoye (played by The Walking Dead's Danai Gurira) scoffs at the "primitive" guns firing on her vibranium-laced and, therefore, bulletproof vehicle. Moments later, she annihilates a truckload of goons by throwing a spear.

But Black Panther is a film that does more than break away from Hollywood's shallow conception of black culture, black people and Africa itself. Through Coogler's vision, supported by co-writer Joe Robert Cole (American Crime Story), cinematographer Rachel Morrison (Mudbound), costume designer Ruth E. Carter (Selma, Marshall) and a diverse production team never before seen on a film of this size, Black Panther expands the popular conception of African cultures with wide-eyed wonder.
The aesthetic alone stole the breath from DJ BenHaMeen, co-host of the popular FanBros podcast and organizer for Crown Wakanda, a Black Panther community screening for the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Brooklyn. "People are buying up more clothing and multiple outfits, just to wear when they see this movie over and over again," BenHaMeen says. "For our event, everyone's coming dressed up in Afrofuturistic clothing. When they actually see people wearing the same clothing in this film, in full pride, that's going to influence young designers to incorporate these fabrics and these designs. They're going to keep pushing that aesthetic."
"I truly believe that Black Panther is a watershed moment for film," says April Reign, senior director of U.S. arts consulting group Fractured Atlas, and the black woman whose #OscarsSoWhite hashtag spurred the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to make fundamental changes in its leadership and nomination processes. "This is a moment when black people, especially African-Americans, are going to be able to celebrate their culture in a way Hollywood hasn't seen before. It shows we are not a monolith."
That message – that black people are as diverse in our cultures, politics and traditions within our communities as the world outside, yet exist within the white imagination as a resource to be mined or a threat to be put down – is one that Black Panther effortlessly communicates with subtext that resonates across the diaspora.

King T'Challa, the film's lead (played by Chadwick Boseman), and would-be usurper, Killmonger (played by the ever-incandescent Michael B. Jordan), both wrestle with the historical weight of what it means for a futuristic country like Wakanda to have stood aside for centuries while other African nations fell to the predation of European colonizers and slavers. One of the film's villains, white South African arms dealer Ulysses Klaue (Andy Serkis), refers to Wakandans as "savages" even as he covets their treasures and weaponizes the technology they created. There are even multiple times when characters in the film deceive each other (and the audience) with "code-switching" – adopting accents, vocal tone and even body posture of the dominant culture to hide the true nature of their own.
There are entire book volumes that could be written about the film's purposeful strides in lighting black skin, showcasing black hair and unapologetically capturing the depth of African languages and traditions. Where black power and authority have been dignified in film through suits, ties and affected Midwestern accents, Ruth E. Carter casts aside these vestiges of Western colonialism, choosing instead to outfit the cast in regal attire influenced by cultures from the Masai of South Sudan to the Zulus of South Africa. In one pivotal scene, King T'Challa addresses the United Nations wearing a natty black suit and, rather than a tie, his outfit is adorned with a decorative sash – even his people's sartorial choices cannot be tamed.
As a black man about to become a father to two black girls, I'm almost envious of my babies. They're going to grow up in a world where films such as Black Panther and Ava DuVernay's forthcoming A Wrinkle in Time have already opened the door to genres of black storytelling that, to date, have largely been absent from the mainstream. This is Black Panther's greatest triumph – if a blockbuster film can turn a hardened cynic like me into a true believer, I can hardly wait to see what a world full of unsung black creatives comes up with next.
Wakanda Forever, indeed.

Andray Domise is a Toronto journalist and communications co-chair of the Black Business and Professionals Association. The BBPA will, with community partners, be hosting more than 300 black youth at a free screening of Black Panther this month.
I've watched superhero movies all my life. I've idolized the characters, good and bad, especially if they have some cool powers. I wanted to be them or be like them, including Blade. Not once have I ever considered the color of the character as having anything to do with anything. So why do I always see a bunch of articles like this that seem to indicate a requirement for idolization is the person is of the same ethnic background? Why is it some people always seem to think that race is the most important thing?
 

Promo

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Superhero movies are what killed Hollywood
There is a reason noone goes to the theatres anymore
Umm. Are you being serious? Are you just expressing your personal opinion?

Superhero movies have been among the highest grossing movies made. They've been doing so well there are close to 10 new movies in various stages of production and several more being planned.

Black Panther has broken box office records and has earned more than $300M in 2 weekends
The Avengers $1.5B #5 highest revenue rank
Age of Ultron: $1.4B #7 highest revenue rank
Iron Man 3: $1.2B #13 highest revenue rank
Captain America: Civil War: $1.1B #15 highest revenue rank

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/world/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/markhu...or-superhero-movies-of-all-time/#1ddd18e913e6
 

sempel

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Umm. Are you being serious? Are you just expressing your personal opinion?

Superhero movies have been among the highest grossing movies made. They've been doing so well there are close to 10 new movies in various stages of production and several more being planned.

Black Panther has broken box office records and has earned more than $300M in 2 weekends
The Avengers $1.5B #5 highest revenue rank
Age of Ultron: $1.4B #7 highest revenue rank
Iron Man 3: $1.2B #13 highest revenue rank
Captain America: Civil War: $1.1B #15 highest revenue rank

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/world/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/markhu...or-superhero-movies-of-all-time/#1ddd18e913e6
Although gross sales are a nice indicator, between inflation and the addition of 3-D, D-Box, etc., the dollar value earned is skewed. The fair comparison which isn't shown is #tickets sold.

I love superhero movies although Iron Man 3 was crap and Age of Ultron was ok. 20 min into Deadpool I turned it off, and although I liked Dr. Strange it didn't do so well.

But back to the topic/question, why is the author of this article hosting a free showing for this movie? Did he do the same for Iron Man or Captain America?
 

blueray

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A lot of no ones in the line ahead of me when I went to see it. Are you sure you are not confusing 'we' with 'me' ?
Well, maybe for that movie. Some movies do very well, but yes, movie attendance has been in a sharp decline for the last 10 years with millennials being the biggest reason as they prefer to watch content on their screens at home. This past summer's box office receipts were the lowest they have been in 25 years. These are just the facts.
 

TeeJay

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Jun 20, 2011
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Attendance last year was the lowest it has been since 1995
If you ever visited a theatre you will see even big name films are playing to empty rooms after opening weekend (or after it gets trashed by cinema slobs)

To be fair the consolidation of theatres also plays a roll in their downfall but all these stupid superhero movies that keep getting churned out appeal only to the geeks and nerds
In old days people took chances and would watch films
These days they see 1 or 2 movies a year (usually the latest blockbuster) and nothing else lasts a week in the theatre
 

TeeJay

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Jun 20, 2011
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Umm. Are you being serious? Are you just expressing your personal opinion?

Superhero movies have been among the highest grossing movies made. They've been doing so well there are close to 10 new movies in various stages of production and several more being planned.

Black Panther has broken box office records and has earned more than $300M in 2 weekends
The Avengers $1.5B #5 highest revenue rank
Age of Ultron: $1.4B #7 highest revenue rank
Iron Man 3: $1.2B #13 highest revenue rank
Captain America: Civil War: $1.1B #15 highest revenue rank
You prob missed the fact they are counting world wide ticket sales & revenue
Even then the numbers pale in comparison to what people used to see
Number of tickets is way down, total dollars per person are way up (don't even get me started on what BS it is to count Super Tickets twice, much less high revenue streams such as DBOX)

Ask yourself; how many times have you gone to the theatre in past 12 months?
In old days people used to go see the same movie multiple times
 

rhuarc29

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I take issue with idols needing to be the same race, gender, sexual orientation, etc., as someone for that someone to idolize them. To me that is all kinds of wrong and I'm perplexed as to why some others see this as a good thing. Thankfully, I think most people can idolize people that they don't superficially identify with, so there's still hope.
 

sempel

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Because 99.9% of super hero's have been white. Please try to name 5 black super hero's for me....you can't because they don't exist and if they do they are just secondary to other WHITE super heros. Black children don't have the same experiences as white children because all super hero's are white, they can identify with them, when they play games with their friends they can be a strong black character instead of aquaman or some other shitty character no one else wanted to be. For example, growing up I always loved Power Rangers. Whenever I played power Rangers with my friends I had to either be the black or the Asian one (I can't remember their PR colours). I always wished there was a brown character that I could idolize but there wasn't...Black Panther is doing for today's black youth what I wish they did for little brown kids in the 90s.

Its hard to understand inequality in media and Hollywood when you're white and see people that look like you as main characters but most people don't experience this privlege.

Also.....just let people enjoy things..
It's this exact type of thinking which I question. I too loved Power Rangers. I liked the Blue one because my favorite color was blue. I won't lie and say I wanted to be yellow or pink because the characters were girls. I don't know if kids can be programmed to ignore the gender of a character or not and back in the day it was less likely. But I've seen little kids nowadays do whatever - I've seen boys dressed as female characters and girls dressed as boy characters. They will certainly put on the costume at the very least. But back to Power Rangers. I could easily have been Red, Black or Green. I was not limited to being certain ones because of how I look.

You are correct - there aren't too many black superhero's although I can name Blade, Storm, and War Machine (at least in the current Marvel Movies). And yes, to your point, the last two are secondary to Wolverine and Iron Man. Don't you think though it's a little narrow-minded to say a black kid can only idolize Storm because she's black and nobody else? If my niece wants to wear a costume of a male character or a character that isn't the same ethnic background as her, that shouldn't happen because she could never wrap her head around the idea that she can't be like them because she's not the same?

You are supposed to idolize attributes, not race, and using race as an excuse is wrong. I like a lot of sports stars, many who are black, and would love to be like them (especially as a child) and I don't recall people having this attitude that I should stick to certain figures because they are like me.
 

wigglee

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Well, maybe for that movie. Some movies do very well, but yes, movie attendance has been in a sharp decline for the last 10 years with millennials being the biggest reason as they prefer to watch content on their screens at home. This past summer's box office receipts were the lowest they have been in 25 years. These are just the facts.
Here's a fact for you ....People have fancy home entertainment systems now and can stream movies in various ways..... that is the only reason theatre attendance is declining
 

sempel

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Here's a fact for you ....People have fancy home entertainment systems now and can stream movies in various ways..... that is the only reason theatre attendance is declining
That's definitely part of it for sure. I hardly go for movies as I can stream through Kodi and some of the movies are still in theater and the quality is good enough. I think the biggest issue though is that when prices are high (regular is $12.50, 3D is $15, IMAX is $18, and D-Box is higher), people are going to be more selective and if they find that most movies they see in theatres are letdowns, they will save their money.

The movies you end up really needing to see in theatre are big budget action movies, Nolan movies, or Sci-Fi/fantasy. Are many people thinking seeing Fifty Shades in theatre is a fun experience? Same thing with comedies - would rather see them alone or with a small group of people that have good senses of humor. Been for a few comedies back in the day and the crowd sometimes laughs at the wrong time or laughs too long so you can't hear the dialogue after a joke.
 

rhuarc29

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Because 99.9% of super hero's have been white. Please try to name 5 black super hero's for me....you can't because they don't exist and if they do they are just secondary to other WHITE super heros. Black children don't have the same experiences as white children because all super hero's are white, they can identify with them, when they play games with their friends they can be a strong black character instead of aquaman or some other shitty character no one else wanted to be. For example, growing up I always loved Power Rangers. Whenever I played power Rangers with my friends I had to either be the black or the Asian one (I can't remember their PR colours). I always wished there was a brown character that I could idolize but there wasn't...Black Panther is doing for today's black youth what I wish they did for little brown kids in the 90s.
As a white guy, I idolized Jackie Chan when I was young. Hell, I still think he's pretty awesome! I also thought Will Smith was great, until my late teens.

So while I think it's great that black people are idolizing the protagonist and some side characters in this movie, it shouldn't be framed as "now black people have people to idolize". That's a horrible way of looking at it. Black people already had people to idolize. You shouldn't idolize people for their skin colour, but for their characters. Thankfully, people of all stripes are idolizing Boseman and crew, so at least some people don't buy into the narrative of having to look like someone to idolize them.
 

curr3n_c1000

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In relations to entertainment media, the majority of idols offered to black people are athletes and rappers. So when you have a new quality offering, this will be the response.

It's like eating the same dinner for years. You get tired of it and anything new will be seen as extremely interesting.
 

Insidious Von

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Black Panther may dominate the box-office until March 23, that's when Wes Anderson's new film comes out.

Isle of Dogs, starring Walter White and Ray Donovan:

 

Insidious Von

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Theaters have to do a better job of selling their cinemas. Most of the time the seating is uncomfortable and what they serve as food is overpriced - to call it garbage is being kind. There's still room for theaters for movie addicts like myself but they have been testing my patience.

This is an important year for the MCU, Black Panther is part of the bookends to keep them relevant. If Venom is anywhere near the quality of Black Panther (MCU first true R rated film) it will extend the life of MCU well into the next decade.

 

sempel

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As a white guy, I idolized Jackie Chan when I was young. Hell, I still think he's pretty awesome! I also thought Will Smith was great, until my late teens.

So while I think it's great that black people are idolizing the protagonist and some side characters in this movie, it shouldn't be framed as "now black people have people to idolize". That's a horrible way of looking at it. Black people already had people to idolize. You shouldn't idolize people for their skin colour, but for their characters. Thankfully, people of all stripes are idolizing Boseman and crew, so at least some people don't buy into the narrative of having to look like someone to idolize them.
Exactly. I think it's ok to make a simple point - Hollywood has become more open and studios are willing to invest in a variety of different characters that are not your stereotypical white guy.

I too enjoyed many action movies which starred Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, and other characters that weren't stereotypical white guys. You wanted to be them because they seemed awesome and martial arts was cool.

I recently watched Luke Cage and I really like the Rock (who's half black). He's been getting a bunch of juicy starring roles and there's something very likeable (and funny) about him (sorry just adding to the list).

Another problem when you have a narrow-minded view like this is you may have a limited number of idols, some of which aren't exactly people you should be idolizing. I don't think much of Snoop Dog. Yes he's entertaining and has talent but also a very checkered past. So you may have some people who'll idolize him instead of others because he's black and they aren't.
 

Halloween Mike

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Personally i think this is ridiculous how much emphasis they put on race surrounding Black Panther. Its what i call reverse racism, where you mention and focus so much on the race that it become about it, and not the core of the character/movie/thing in question.

I find it pretty dumb that colors have to be a thing. My favourite Xmen always have been Storm, because i think controlling weather is freaking insanely cool. It does not matter what her skin color is. When i was younger i was a complete fanboy of Blade, love those movies, again it didn't matter what color the guy was, he was just a bad ass !!!

Some of my favourite historical figures in martial arts are all asian. Ip Man, Masutatsu Oyama, Bruce Lee.

When i was young my favourite power ranger was the Green one, because he had a bad ass DragonZord and his costume was the coolest (with the gold plate). I wouldn't had care what was the color of the dude under the costume.

In Creed i got behind the protagonist, again didn't care what race he was, he was likable and charismatic, thats what matters.

And what about women? One of my favourite character ever is Selene from Underworld, a bad ass vampire death dealer. I am a huge fan and i am not a woman.

Hell if the heroes would need to be exactly like me for me to go behind them, my favourite character would probably be Nacho Libre or something... lol. I don't need them to look like me or behave like me or anything.

Another of my favourite character is a Russian prison fighter (Yuri Boyka) played by an english actor (Scott Adkins). The dude may be white but he is far from being close to me culturaly. I mean im no Russian or englishman, i am a french quebecois...

Anyway i could go on and on like this.

The simple reason there is less black superheroes is because most of these characters have been around since the 40s, in a time where equality was not completely there yet.

The simple solution is to create new ones, not reskin existing ones (i hate that practice) to be interesting new colored superheroes.

As for naming 5 black superheroes... not hard

DC :

Cyborg
Green Lantern John Stewart
Vyxen
Martian Manhunter John Jones when he take human form

3 out of those 4 are major characters and part of the modern Justice League in one incarnation or the other

Marvel :

Blade
Black Panther
Storm
Falcon
Luke Cage

And then you can add the modern portrayal of other characters like current Nick Fury, War Machine, Mr Terrific (Arrow).

In term of latin heroes you can even add Vibe (Cisco Ramon) , Wild Dog (René Ramirez) etc

Obviously the biggest heroes are white but because from the time they come from, and how long they have been around. Its just simple thing in nature. But if they create cool heroes of different look and background in 2018, then in 2118 who knows how big they gonna be?

There is also the cultural aspect. North America is a majorly white continent (minus Mexico) and this is where most heroes come from. Its like watching asian kung fu movies and complaining there is not enough white or black characters... Obviously most characters will be asian, the movies are made there...
 

sempel

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Feb 23, 2017
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In relations to entertainment media, the majority of idols offered to black people are athletes and rappers. So when you have a new quality offering, this will be the response.

It's like eating the same dinner for years. You get tired of it and anything new will be seen as extremely interesting.
Where are all the Asian people saying "Our only idols are martial arts heroes, we need more Asian heroes?" Same thing with EI - as Sugar Sammy says, " Our mainstream media idol is Apu from the Simpsons".
 
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