tanman

To some degree I agree. I don't get how Wonder Woman and Black Panther can be such rallying cries for their respective groups. If anything I think it's funny how people would rally behind comic book movies for something like gender or racial equality. Like I can't believe that it's taken a comic book movie to bring that to the forefront. As progressive as they claim to be Hollywood is really backwards when it comes to that. I think the audience has changed before the old guard in Hollywood has and that's why when they finally made these movies they exploded in popularity. But yeah they are not the first and it's a disservice to those that came before it. Plus is it really healthy to be basing so much hope in a fictional African country?

But on the other hand after watching the movie. I think it is much more than Black Panther in name or character alone. The way how the entire principle cast is black as well as the director, and how much African cultures inspired the look of the country and costumes and characters and the way the movie doesn't shy away from current challenges of the black community I think it was much more significant then I had realized.

Also I thought the Freeman character was a nice flip on the "typical" black side kick character. They should have had another white character who gets killed off early in the movie for no good reason.

Giantrobo

That bolded part is the key. It really is...

Brack

Meteor Man was no supporting character...

Big Boy Laroux

agree - there is quite a difference between a secondary character/sidekick and the main honcho in a movie. Yes, Falcon and War Machine were great, and they contributed to the story - but they were not THE story.

Giantrobo

When you've been able to see 1000's of films and tv shows with White Male Lead heroes, some with minority SIDE KICKS, almost all saving WOMEN IN DISTRESS as "the standard" for the past what? 100 years? .... it's easy to understand why a segment of the population would not get why Wonder Woman and Black Panther are such a big deal because...

YOU DON"T HAVE TOO.

The stage has belonged to the white male lead forever. So in Women Woman we have a strong (literally) female lead NOT in distress to be saved by a man; and in Black Panther, Blacks have a hero is not just some white man's side kick...


Seriously? Why not? Are we going to pretend like Fiction/Science Fiction has never inspired people and situations in real life changes? Real life Science? Real life Politics? Let's tell Gene Roddenberry his Fake ASS Star Trek didn't inspire 1000's of men AND women to go into STEM.

Look, Black folks and Africans are excited because this is a rare case where Africa is represented in a "good way". The left a lot of stereotypes out of BP and gave us a rare look into the world of Afrofuturism


Yes...
I've been trying to say this on dvdtalk for months. It's a big deal for Blacks AND many in African nations have responded positively as well.

REPRESENTATION MATTERS...

Giantrobo

Sigh....Neither was Lara Croft or Blade. But the time and climate was right for Wonder Woman and Black Panther*.

(* Blade has always been a big deal as a Black hero lead in the Black community)

fujishig

I don't think it's just superhero movies, but superheroes are characters that (hopefully) kids can look up to (since we're talking about schoolkids being excited to see the movie). I think you see a similar impact on young girls with Rey in Star Wars (not sure about Finn, though, especially in the last film).

Giantrobo

good point. I think the fact that Wonder Woman, Rey, and Black Panther are all in MAJOR high profile film releases. Not just some low budget small flicks that no-one has heard of.

JimRochester

Absolutely. I understand this is the first modern blockbuster superhero film with an African American lead actor and a black character. It is also based in an African environment which makes it truly unique. It just would have been more technically accurate to say headlining a movie instead of saying he'd never seen one at all before this.

Obi-Wanma

And the fact that they are all PG-13 films and generally family friendly is big.

You can talk about Blade and Sarah Conner all you want, but nobody was taking 8 year old kids to those movies. Positive mainstream role models for young girls and kids of color is huge.

Giantrobo

How old was the kid? Maybe he's not familiar with Blade(before his time?).

And I can totally see Falcon and War Machine not registering because frankly, these characters disappear to some degree surrounded by all the Major Lead White characters.

Giantrobo

God dammit!!! I'm not sure if this is an Onion article, talking about the cinematography/post production/palette choices, or the skin tones of the Black Actors.

“A torture for the eyes”: Chinese moviegoers think Black Panther is just too black

JimRochester

Looked like later teens high school. Falcon was pretty prominent in Winter Soldier, almost to the point of being his partner. Civil War they all kind of got lost in the sauce.

fujishig

Yeah, but they knew what the deal would be in that part of the world. Korea seemed to receive it fine, although they did film an entire scene there.

Giantrobo

Found this by chance after I posted a response to this comment. I guess lotsa folks can't allow for Blacks to be inspired by Science Fiction/Fictional Settings. TIs' jsut too much to wrap their heads around. I mean shit, they're apparently hearing the doubt enough to make a meme.

Giantrobo

Sure. I guess I've NEVER heard a Black person say, that film was too Chinese...

fumanstan

China also didn't like The Last Jedi because the actors weren't beautiful enough

fujishig

Not even for, say Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon or a film like that (maybe that's a bad example because it's mostly action...)?

Giantrobo

Nope.

fujishig

It's interesting because it still won the weekend in China: https://thinkprogress.org/black-pant...-8832e6b4c111/

majorjoe23

Martial arts films have been a big draw for African American audiences going back decades. Wu Tang Clan isn’t some one-off thing.

fujishig

Yeah I was trying to think of some popular Chinese film in the US that doesn't revolve around martial arts and had a tough time of it.

devilshalo

devilshalo

Well, I doubt there was a black audience for Joy Luck Club.

Giantrobo

What few there were still didn't complain about "too much yellow" or "too Chinese" though..