For a film so concerned with race as a theme, Black Panther sure made some lazy, accidental racial parallels.

I watched Black Panther again yesterday before seeing Infinity War. All the text was just as great as I remembered, and the MLK vs Malcolm X philosophy between T'Challa and Killmonger was still on point. The more I watched it though, the more I was surprised by the accidental comparisons the film was throwing up in its subtext.

For example, the comparisons between Wakanda and real-world African countries. On the face of it, this is a film about the leader of a central African country who is legally succeeded by a legitimate successor. Yes, the ceremony by which he was replaced is brutal, but that's because it's culturally alien to us. From a Wakandan perspective, this must happen (or at least potentially happen) relatively regularly and be ingrained in their political discourse, so it's normal to them. After being succeeded, the ex-leader teams up with a CIA officer who wants to install a regime more compliant to US foreign policy, and with former powerful figures from his government (some of whom are family members for bonus nepotism points) who steal weaponry for him through corruption. This rag-tag team of insurgents instigate a civil war to depose of the legal King and install themselves back into seats of power, murdering the King during the chaos of war.

How did a film so interested in talking about black representation and the history of imperialism in Africa make that the plot of the film? It's basically a film about American foreign electoral intervention where the heroes are the CIA and their stooges. Freeman's character even gets a big hero moment where he blows up Wakandan citizens who are following the orders of their King and acting to alleviate black suffering around the world. That's not great imagery! You can say "they were attempting to arm people with terrible weapons and create violent revolutionary uprisings around the world", but that just means we get into a situation where the CIA preemptively murdering people to quash revolutions before they happen for the greater good is framed as heroic. Isn't this what Winter Soldier was about, except the exact opposite?

Also, while we're talking about this battle, didn't this central African nation fall into and subsequently rise out of civil war remarkably quickly? Isn't that an anomally for the region? The movie seems to have no comment to make on the matter, nor does it take a moment to show the weight of such a war on the common citizen of Wakanda and how this might impact them most. They even set up such a shot with the earlier scene of T'Challa walking through the Wakandan streets, but for some reason the only people who we see the affected by the civil war are the leaders.

It just surprised me for this much subtext to be fumbled with in a film where the main plot is so laser focussed on real world political parallels of isolationism, imperialism and retribution.

EDIT: if anyone who's downvoting wants to discuss it, I'm happy to argue my case in the comments. Maybe I'm wrong, feel free to try to persuade me. I'm not trying to be a dick about this or yuk anyone's yum, I just think it's an interesting discussion.

EDIT 2: shit, I forgot to even mention the unfortunate parallel that the ex-Wakandan ruler is promising the CIA agent he will install a government which will be more co-operative with foreign countries (specifically America) and share the naturally occurring resources from its land, like oil vibranium. Again, this isn't necessarily intentional by the film, but it could be read in that manner, which isn't an ideal metaphor.

Submitted April 30, 2018 at 08:17AM by spideyismywingman https://ift.tt/2rbdrSb