social discourse and the Black Panther (2018)

I've seen most of the Marvel movies to date (with the exception of Guardians of the Galaxy); hence, I am quite attached to the characters from the first three trilogies. It's difficult to be introduced to yet another set of candidate movies, except of course, to those closely linked with the core group... like Doctor Strange.

So when the hype was getting picked up for Black Panther, I was interested but I wasn't enthusiastic. When I sat in the theatre, I thought that I'd be in for another roller coaster ride through New York, with aliens fighting superhumans. But no. The setting was Africa, in a fictitious third world country called Wakanda.

As the movie progressed, I realised why it was such a hit to moviegoers. It's a film with actors mostly having African descent. Many looked like they are already of mixed race, but still, they are still very much dark-skinned. The white males in the movie, Andy Serkis and Martin Freeman, reminded me of the Lord of the Rings, a salute, still, to the diversity of peoples living on Middle Earth. To many people, I think, it's a movie that states that coloured people have the right to have their voices and talents considered too. It's also a film that seems to say out loud what the oppressed have probably been thinking: it is time to take over and claim what is rightfully theirs.

I don't agree with this messaging, if it were intended. I'm a descendant of oppressed people from one of these former colonies. My ancestors and their contemporaries surely suffered under the hands of Caucasian and East Asian conquerors. But if I were in the place of the usurper, if I were to claim today what I think is rightfully mine, I arrived 70 years too late. The issue has become moot and academic. It's the topic of history lessons. There were freedom fighters and politicians who fought for Philippine independence from the string of colonisers. I live in a world that is a product of that struggle and I have every right and every responsibility to make it a better place for the next generation... not to claim what is mine from people who aren't directly responsible for the chaos that resulted in the social constructs called "First World" and "Third World".

Another reason that it's a popular film, I think, is that it shows that Africa is not as underdeveloped as it is portrayed in the West. Wakanda, under the cover of mountains, turned out to be a highly civilised and technologically driven country. It has a vast supply of vibranium, which was the material used to make Captain America's shield. This vibranium is also the basis of the technology built in-country. Greed drew white men to grab this natural resource, the same way that Leopold conquered the Congo to get his hand on the vast deposits of diamonds. But do the Wakandans want revenge? Under the short-sighted usurper king (the antagonist), yes. But to the Black Panther, Wakanda's rightful king, sharing the resource to help the poor was the better choice.

As the movie credits rolled, I was thinking whether I was going to buy the movie's subtle message. After all, the story is nice but I couldn't avoid looking at its context, the circumstances in which the movie was shown. Today's world is filled with disgruntled people who have had enough about being ridiculed because of their race, creed, and/or colour. The producers were banking on that momentum and succeeded in breaking box office records.

In other words, people got played (again).

But that's a cynic's way of looking at it.