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

Also just straight up. The characterisations became crystal clear at this point in such an intense and heart-wrenching scene? Amazing writing *and* acting.

“Every character has a specific color — it’s a nice way of giving people their own identity. We use color like comic books do, with each character staying in their lane as far their palette goes: T’Challa is purple, Okoye is red, and Nakia is green.

[Nakia] is the No. 1 warrior in the River tribe and her look was inspired by the Suri tribe in Africa,” says Carter. “Green signifies water, a coastal community, leaves and plants — they live in a lush area, as opposed to the perception that Africa is arid and dry.” - Black Panther costume designer Ruth Carter

“Wakanda is strong enough to help others and protect ourselves at the same time.” Bell Hooks argues that Black Women go beyond just resisting sexism and racism. They reinvent themselves through alternative texts that take control of how audiences look at them. It takes the gaze of Black women and contests and interrogates the vision of their embodiment on multiple levels.

Nakia (the external spy of Wakanda) is a character that does just that, not only taking apart the White saviour trope as a Black African woman saving her people but being beyond a romantic partner as someone who can intellectually think about her own pursuits. She is an intellectual who is aware of African’s colonial history and she is able to think about the security of her people, while thinking about Black people and people at large. Her story pursuits are not stagnant and neither is her story in Black Panther (2018) dir. Ryan Coogler

Black Panther (2018)

If you were not so stubborn, you would make a great queen. 

I would make a great queen because I am so stubborn.

Wakandans + dancing;

Black Panther dir. Ryan Coogler

Black Panther (2018), dir. Ryan Coogler.

They looking like, READ TF OUTTA THEM, they ain’t ready lol

Marvel’s Black Panther: “UN Meet and Greet” Exclusive Deleted Scene (X)

Bonus:

Can you blame him though

Black Panther Fix-It (Part 1)

This has been sitting on my patreon on public for weeks now, and I keep forgetting to crosspost it here.

It’s not a fix-it for Black Panther per se (that movie was the closest thing to perfect I’ve ever seen), but a fix-it for the tragedy that is Erik’s story.

(1.3k words)

N’Jobu returns home not with fanfare and celebration, but quietly. Life in Wakanda is weirdly muffled ever since the attack, the entire country in mourning of those who died defending them. T’Challa doesn’t even realize his uncle is back until Mama takes him aside. He’s not allowed to see his uncle, she says. T’Challa doesn’t understand why, but before he can ask, she takes him to meet his aunt and cousin.

He didn’t even know he had a cousin.

The first thing he notices is how weird they act and speak. Aunt Shaylah flinches at every loud sound, always keeping his cousin within arms reach. Erik, she calls him. N’Jadaka, Mama introduces him. He’s a good head smaller than T’Challa and probably a couple years younger. Neither of them speaks isiXhosa well. T’Challa supposes it’s a good opportunity to practice his English.

N’Jadaka learns quickly. He watches with bright eyes, quiet as T’Challa shows him around the capital. He doesn’t speak up until it’s late, and T’Challa leads him back to the palace.

“Dad always says,” N’Jadaka speaks slowly, stumbling over his words, “That one day he would show me Wakanda. And that the sunsets are what he misses most.”

T’Challa pauses. “We can go up to the cliffs and watch the sun if you want?”

But N’Jadaka just shakes his head and falls quiet.

Keep reading

Nakia, Okoye, Ramonda, and Shuri at T’Challa’s Coronation Ceremony

okay, so everyone has set up the main rivalry in Black Panther as Killmonger vs T’Challa. And obviously that’s the main narrative structure of the story, not arguing with that. But I feel like from a purely character arc standpoint, the actual battle is Killmonger vs Nakia, and she obliterates him.

Erik Stevens is a CIA covert operative; basically, he’s a spy. So is Nakia. And when you look at their various actions through the lens of “who accomplished their mission better?”, it becomes pretty clear that Erik spent 20-some years preparing to destabilize T’Challa’s reign, including having inside knowledge and a birthright on his side…and Nakia spent roughly 36 hours successfully destabilizing his reign, in turn, with nothing but her incredible ability to network disparate resources.

Let’s just review her actions over those 36 hours okay:

- Gets the surviving members of the royal family successfully out of danger within seconds of the coup (aka the only living people with a competing blood claim to the throne aka the greatest threat to his regime)

- Sows enough doubt in the “greatest warrior in the country” about Killmonger’s ability to lead that when the time comes, Okoye and the entire Dora Milaje all defect (eventually saving hundreds of lives)

- Steals a heart-shaped herb from under his nose as he’s identifying it as the most important power resource in the country and trying to prevent it falling into anyone else’s hands, lol too late buddy

- Immediately identifies the person in the country with the best platform to mount a counter-insurgency (M’Baku), identifies what it will take to get him on their side, and casually resolves a centuries-long division in their country while she’s at it

- Correctly predicts Killmonger’s opening move of distributing vibranium to the war dogs, and assists in a comprehensive strategy that shuts it down cold–a strategy they wouldn’t have been able to use if she hadn’t gotten Shuri, Ross, and T’Challa all in one place with the right information at the right time

As soon as T’Challa is back she takes an immediate backseat again (she said it herself, she’s a spy, not the leader of an army), but, seriously, if you have to pinpoint the one person who took down Killmonger, it’s undeniably her. And she did it by clearly demonstrating that her skills as a war dog are miles ahead of his as a CIA agent (due in part, I’m sure, to being trained in a superior country, but also she’s Just That Good).

Yes! Erik’s real misfortune was coming up against a much better and smarter intelligence operative. She also gives the lie to the stereotypical spy narrative (embodied by Erik) that you have to be heartless and violent to achieve your ends. She is the moral center and touchstone of film, so filled with goodness it comes off her like a glow, but she kicks the ruthless Erik’s ass from Wakanda to Kinshasa.

Another thing Nakia was good at was identifying where the necessary resources weren’t, namely in herself. That was why she argued Ramonda out of the idea of taking it herself. It wasn’t self-effacement or modesty, it was a clear-eyed calculation of what it would take to win and the best chance was with M'Baku, not her.

And she did much of this while she thought the man she still loved was dead. She admits as much to Okoye, too. Think of how much sheer fortitude that took, to work through a grief like that to save your country. She is a hero and her heroism is no less amazing for not being flashy or center stage.

It’s also interesting and important to point out that, in moral views, she’s also a counter to Erik Killmonger. They contrast & compliment each other and are very much set up to be mirrors of the same cause. Killmonger believed in Wakanda using its vast & superior resources to liberate oppressed folk around the globe. He hated that a near utopian society existed while so many of their people and ancestors were left to suffer. This is what, in part, made Killmonger such a sympathetic villain. His means were wrong, but his ideas? He had the right ideas….W’kabi thought so too, thus why he took Killmonger’s side. It took Killmonger’s insurrection for T’challa to learn that lesson as well.

But it was a message Nakia had been preaching all along.

Let’s not forget that it was Nakia that first proposed the idea of ending Wakanda’s isolation. She refused to become a queen, she chose to remain a spy, because morally she couldn’t stand by while so many others suffered. In essence, Nakia and Killmonger mirrored each other in moral standing when it came to Wakanda needing to reach out and help their people. However, where Killmonger decided to kill relentlessly and take the throne, then find the solution in arming the oppressed to overthrow nations, Nakia valued life above all. 

And you can say “Killmonger was right bc in the end, T’challa listened to him.” But did he listen to Killmonger, or did he finally listen to Nakia?

Some food for thought.

Iirc, at no point did T'Challa say no to Nakia's suggestions either. During the whole movie he was torn up about what to do - does he keep with tradition and isolationist politics? Does he listen to Nakia? To what he saw himself while outside of Wakanda? Erik Killmonger is the tipping point because Erik forces the decision. And a lot of people would react to that by going on the opposite extreme and close up; yet T'Challa still learned and listened. And I think that's really great.

Black Panther Fix-It (Part 1)

This has been sitting on my patreon on public for weeks now, and I keep forgetting to crosspost it here.

It’s not a fix-it for Black Panther per se (that movie was the closest thing to perfect I’ve ever seen), but a fix-it for the tragedy that is Erik’s story.

(1.3k words)

N’Jobu returns home not with fanfare and celebration, but quietly. Life in Wakanda is weirdly muffled ever since the attack, the entire country in mourning of those who died defending them. T’Challa doesn’t even realize his uncle is back until Mama takes him aside. He’s not allowed to see his uncle, she says. T’Challa doesn’t understand why, but before he can ask, she takes him to meet his aunt and cousin.

He didn’t even know he had a cousin.

The first thing he notices is how weird they act and speak. Aunt Shaylah flinches at every loud sound, always keeping his cousin within arms reach. Erik, she calls him. N’Jadaka, Mama introduces him. He’s a good head smaller than T’Challa and probably a couple years younger. Neither of them speaks isiXhosa well. T’Challa supposes it’s a good opportunity to practice his English.

N’Jadaka learns quickly. He watches with bright eyes, quiet as T’Challa shows him around the capital. He doesn’t speak up until it’s late, and T’Challa leads him back to the palace.

“Dad always says,” N’Jadaka speaks slowly, stumbling over his words, “That one day he would show me Wakanda. And that the sunsets are what he misses most.”

T’Challa pauses. “We can go up to the cliffs and watch the sun if you want?”

But N’Jadaka just shakes his head and falls quiet.

Keep reading