Thor, watching the Dora train: this is very interesting

T’Challa, watching Thor watch the training of the Dora, unsure how to proceed: really? Because Wakanda has a rich history of elite special forces made exclusively of women, and we take great pride in them

Thor: wonderful! But I was referring to their fighting style. It is very different from that of the Valkyries of Asgard, and I wish to learn it, if possible

T’Challa:

Thor: when I was little I wanted to be a Valkyrie

T’Challa, breathing a sigh of relief: I was inconsolable for a week when my mother told me that I wasn’t allowed to join the Dora

T’Challa: I refused to leave my room

Thor: I refused to eat

(Shuri, filming this from behind a pillar: oh god there’s two of them)

Another thing they probably agree on is that their younger siblings should never meet

And that family reunions suck

From what I can see misogynoir in fandom doesn’t always look like tearing Black female characters and fans down. It can also look friendly and benign on the surface.

Like, take some of the additions to the very welcome news that Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson are considering doing a remake of the 1992 hit The Bodyguard together.

One commenter on this post, for instance, thought that Chris must look up to Tessa like a big sister after having worked with her.

Uh, really? Big sister? Chris and Tessa are the same age, both born in 1983, and if you want to split hairs Chris was born in August and Tessa in October of that year. Yet this commenter somehow assigned the elder sister role to Tessa. I wonder why. Could it have anything to do with the fact that Black people tend to be seen as older starting from childhood onward? Also with the fact that Black people are frequently cast as caretakers and supporter for white people?

There’s also the really interesting fact that this commenter’s mind reflexively went to “brother and sister” when faced with the possibility that Chris and Tessa might be playing the leads of this blatantly romantic movie. Where have I heard the implied comparisons to incest before? Oh yeah, in response to every fucking Black/white ship ever. Because SOMETHING about these ships immediately brings some people’s minds to incest, i.e. an abomination. Which is a pretty hypocritical hill to die on, given how much fandom loves its actually incestuous white ships, your Wincests and Joneryses.

Then there was the addition to that same Bodyguard post saying that this was only valid if Tessa was the bodyguard and I’m like… *heavy sigh* Look, I agree there’s a certain girl power appeal in the delicate and petite Tessa being the bodyguard of that hulking humongous hunk Chris. If we were talking about a white woman I’d  love that setup. But the thing is, that commenter is–probably with the best of intentions–perpetuating the idea that a Black woman is automatically a caretaker to a white dude rather than someone who is herself cherished, vulnerable, and protected. What is progressive and empowering for a white cis woman is not necessarily so for other women.

I don’t think the people saying these things were malicious, nor would they think they’re hating Black women. This isn’t a matter of intent or personal morality, though. Sometimes racism, misogyny, and the toxic combination of the two don’t look like hatred, but more like unchecked assumptions to unpack and unlearn.

Gonna bring this essay back every time some dipshit tells me this is a non-issue and that I should stop writing about what I fucking want on my own blog :)

“What is progressive and empowering for a white cis woman is not necessarily so for other women.”

Relegating black women to traditionally masculine roles is also really just reiterating the whole “black women are manly, unlike our delicate, feminine white women” argument that has propped up white women since slavery. @ white cis women: even if it isn’t your intent, our arguments can (and do!) still exist in specific, historically racist contexts.

This reminds me of when Lupita Nyong’o got cast in Black Panther and I saw hella people and outlets saying “But why does she need to play a love interest tho :( “ like there is some huge amount of black love interests in mainstream Hollywood blockbusters. 

OK So.....

I’ve seen a couple posts where some white and non-black users are getting offended when people say, “Erik doesn’t like white women” and complaining about stories with  “*character* x black! reader” (most of this is surrounded around Black Panther, but I’m talking to all fandoms).

First, let’s not beat around the bush. (For those who saw the movie) Erik had an obvious disdain for white people, so him having any kind of relationship with a white person isn’t really believable, but hey believe what you want.

I really want to talk about this ‘issue’ of “character x black!/POC!reader”. Honestly…I laugh every time I see that. It’s really hilarious how some white and non-black users think they have the audacity to be mad at that. Like do you hear yourself????

It’s funny how when Y'all see that tag it’s: “Oh my gaahhh!! They put POC!reader in their tags, they are being prejudiced towards us and they’re excluding us. THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!!!”

Nononono sweetheart, once again this is not about YOU. Us putting that tag is not some symbolic “fuck you” poke. We put that tag in our story to let other POC know: “Hey sis I gotchu, here’s something you can read and feel like you’re included.”

You’re mad because you feel like you can’t relate to a black or POC character, well that’s how we felt when we read a so-called “reader-insert” that’s meant to be ambiguous to the reader but then read, “he ran his fingers through her blonde, silky hair as he gazed into her light green eyes, causing her cheeks to blush pale red.”

As a black woman, I can’t relate to that, but I don’t go on bitchin’ and moanin‘ about it like some of you are doing. Whenever I came across stories like that, I stopped reading and moved on, because 12 times out of 10 if I did say something, I’d be ignored or told “stop complaining” or “STFU and go write it yourself if you want it so bad.”  

If you don’t like a story, here’s a great tip: DON’T READ IT & MOVE TF ON! Don’t go on a writer’s blog talking about how offended you feel about the POC!reader tag or send hate, and be surprised when they tear you a new one or block you.

P.S.: There are plenty of stories out there where you get to be Tony’s or Natasha’s sibling and get to date characters from the Black Panther, Marvel, DC, etc. fandoms. Believe me, I’ve seen and read them, but I haven’t gone to the blogger and bombarded them with hate.  Try It Sometime!

at a United Nations assembly

I'm rewatching BP and

It really kills me that Nakia really offered to show T'Challa just how much trouble she is on com.

With Okoye right there.

LIKE

Okoye:

Sometimes I get upset and then I remember that this photo exists and I feel a little better

They look like a 2000s Wakandan family sitcom.

at least i dont watch anime

The Keeper of Wakandan Lore. #Griot #BlackPanther 

Black Panther (2018)

Shuri by artgerm. Variant cover for Black Panther #1.

1) pigtails aren’t long enough to “pull on” anymore

2) her bangs are more choppy and fun rather than seductively “framing her face”

3) her boobs aren’t half a foot off her ribcage (I’m guessing they made her wear a padded bra in Suicide Squad)

4) Her skimpy clothing looks more like a choice rather than the tired “women’s clothes strategically ripped” trope

5) she’s not wearing a fucking dog collar

it looks like she dressed herself and had fun with it as opposed to it being painfully obvious a man dressed her

6) The camera is centered on her face not her chest.

Basically this, this is the most important part of it. 

Try taking a look at movies such as Black Panther, Wonder Woman or Mad Max: Fury Road. Because all of these movies have women dressed in next to nothing at various times, but at no point does it look objectifying. Heck, in the case of Black Panther I only realized how little skin Nakia’s outfit at T’Challa’s coronation covers when I saw a gif set of the scene here on tumblr, for the 3725381 time. Like it took that long to notice it, because the camera at no point draws attention to her as a sexual object, it focuses on her as a character.

So essentially what we’re seeing in the OP is male gaze vs female gaze. It’s “viewing a female character as mainly an object only there to titillate the male audience” vs “viewing a female character as a person”.

Black Panther movie study

okay but imagine if the adults in their lives hadn’t screwed up so bad and these scenes were just like a normal royal family day for them

Black Panther (2018) | dir. Ryan Coogler

#black panther#i just LOVED KILLMONGER’S TAKEOVER of the nation so intensely?  SO INTENSELY????#for the REALLY DEEP dramatic EMPIRE VIBES that it gave off…ESPECIALLY to an audience#that has been raised on a diet of genre fiction and high fantasy#it was so DEEPLY CLASSICAL in nature???? the young brazen bastard son comes swaggering back into the palace to demand his birthright#he is strong and scarred and full of this terrible unquenchable rage that springs from abandonement and the life of an outsider#and he STANDS OVER THE BODY of his mirror image and screams ‘IS THIS YOUR KING?’ and literally casts him aside#in the eyes of all the council in the eyes of his family and his lover#AND THEN. ONE OF MY FAVORITE HORRIBLE THINGs it is just so DEEPLY CLASSICALLY SHAKESPEAREAN EMPIRE-BUILDING#the old queen mother and the princess are forced to flee the country with a few loyal supporters#the brave general and the army are forced to stay with the new king and uphold the order#BUT… THEREI S WHISPERING. literal actual whispering in the halls of the palace and just the PHRASE#‘whispersi n the halls of the palace’#THESE SCENES. this narrative trope! do you UNDERSTAND how DEEPLY that taps into my fictional foundation - the intrigue and the fear?#this entire movie plucks such ancient and deeply felt threads but the COMMITMENT TO AFROFUTURISM AT THE SAME TIME like#bruh i really liked killmonger’s takeover scenes is what i’m saying @takiki16

To me, the biggest contrast here is T'challa appears as a grown man in his vision, while Erik appears as a child. Both reflect their inner mind, their core emotional state.

As a man, T'challa is emotionally honest about his grief and the fact that he’s not ready to let his dad go. Erik, on the other hand, says he’s accepted his father’s death, that “It’s just life around here”, but his appearance as a boy suggests that it’s a lie told from immaturity, one that comes from the belief that tears are a sign of weakness.

Their reactions after waking up from thier visions further add to this. T'challa is smiling. He’s overjoyed to have seen his father. While he still misses T'chaka, he’s truly at peace with his father’s passing. Erik is in distress when he wakes up, confused, and maybe a bit disoriented. The absence of his father was a huge blow to him, and the flood of memories that the vision brought back were too much for him. They left him emotionally wrecked.

@lj-writes

Good points. I’d argue that for Erik, while being disconnected from the culture and home he knew so little about was a big challenge for him, I think the bigger challenge was not having someone to guide him through all his challenges. If Erik had his father - or any father figure - around to teach him, it wouldn’t have mattered as much what culture he grew up in.

T'challa faced challenges in his life too, though obviously not the same ones. But the biggest difference wasn’t that one was raised as a prince, and one was raised as a pauper, its that one was raised as a son, and the other was raised as an outcast.

Also I think just before N’Jobu died he was talking to “James” about breaking Erik’s mom out of prison? Idk what became of Erik’s mom, either she was in prison a long time or died there as seems to happen to a suspicious number of Black women. So Erik was left entirely alone thanks to T’Chaka and Zuri. He was avenging the orphan he became and could never move on from--his soul was stuck at the point it was wounded and, brilliant and ruthless though he was, he never grew up emotionally. That’s why his vision showed him as he truly was, a boy who was still mourning his father and hurting too much to even admit that he mourned.

To me, the biggest contrast here is T'challa appears as a grown man in his vision, while Erik appears as a child. Both reflect their inner mind, their core emotional state.

As a man, T'challa is emotionally honest about his grief and the fact that he’s not ready to let his dad go. Erik, on the other hand, says he’s accepted his father’s death, that “It’s just life around here”, but his appearance as a boy suggests that it’s a lie told from immaturity, one that comes from the belief that tears are a sign of weakness.

Their reactions after waking up from thier visions further add to this. T'challa is smiling. He’s overjoyed to have seen his father. While he still misses T'chaka, he’s truly at peace with his father’s passing. Erik is in distress when he wakes up, confused, and maybe a bit disoriented. The absence of his father was a huge blow to him, and the flood of memories that the vision brought back were too much for him. They left him emotionally wrecked.