Dash of Mystery to go with Misery

#okoye being an icon

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.

Infinity War Bloopers (x)

(All hail the true GOAT of the MCU)

I LOVE GOATS AND THIS IS ADORABLE AND EVERYONE LOSING IT IS THE BEST FREAKIN’ THING OKAY???

that line from Okoye in Infinity War

holy fuuuuck i want to see M’Baku’s reaction to Wakanda taking part in the Olympics

he would hit. the. fucking. roof. t’challa would start hiding out in shuri’s lab because otherwise M’Baku would be lying in wait for him around every corner, ready to loom over him and bellow about the shame of it, the shame of participating in this disgraceful Western farce run by corrupt bureaucrats and denigrated by colonial governments who force their athletes to cheat, this abomination that achieves naught but squandered resources and the enrichment of the few at the expense of the many.

then when t’challa says that, ‘well, fine, I understand and respect your feelings brother, perhaps the Jabari could stage an act of peaceful protest by refusing to participate? :)’

and fucking smoke issues forth from M’Baku’s nostrils and his eyes turn blood-red and he roars at the top of his lungs that how dare T’Challa try to humiliate his people by suggesting that they not be counted among the top sportsmen in the world, there will be recompense for this insult!!!!!!!

and then he storms off and tells his best warriors to start training right the fuck now before he has them all flayed, and a few months later the Jabari have won gold medals in every event

‘pah. these trinkets mean nothing,’ says M’Baku, wearing seventeen of them

Two badasses with a hidden sense of humor. I love them <3 

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There is a reason this is the last scene in which Okoye appears before the credits roll. It speaks volumes about the power black women possess. Seeing anyone, let alone a black man, submit to a black woman on screen in this way is a rarity.

Gurira thinks the message in that scene is vital for everyone, especially women and girls.

“You expect to use your love for me and our love for each other to actually get me to betray my nation, and I would kill you first. I love that,” she said. “I think women don’t often get to portray that sort of nobility and that sort of integrity, especially [choosing that] over their love.” – Danai Gurira on The Scene™

Black Panther (2018)

Terry Crews just posted his Gal Gadot fan art and I don’t know what to do with this unbelievably awesome man.

[x]

YO LISTEN UP.

This is the kind of shit we need; grown-ass celebrity men who are out there making fanart and showing vulnerability and putting themselves out there and destroying toxic masculinity and replacing it with emotionally intelligent, self-aware, secure masculinity.

Terry Crews is on another level y’all

He also sketched Okoye! His instagram is a blessing!

My prince.

Break time

The amazing concept art of Black Panther by Vance Kovacs, Phillip Boutte Jr.,  Rodney Fuentebella, and Karla Ortiz.

Marvel’s Black Panther: The Art of the Movie

based on this which is based on this

shuri drew this lmao

Black Panther (2018)

Wakandans + dancing;

not to be dramatic, but Okoye telling her bitch ass husband she would end him without hesitation when he tried to manipulate her changed me as a person and cured my depression. 

“would you kill me my love?”

“for wakanda? No question.”

a woman in my theater: “oH I HEARD THAT!!!!”

Listen.  LISTEN.  *cups your face in my hands*  Listen to me.  I have never so perfectly and purely seen a Paladin depicted in a movie as I saw in Okoye.  Lawful good to her core.  Pure, unvarnished loyalty to Wakanda and her people evident in every goddamned motion.  Dignified, graceful, reverent respect for the rules of her country and its greater good.

There is something so beautiful about faith, something that just burns through with a beautiful glow that lights up someone’s eyes and every expression.  There is a confidence and a peace that is both palpable and enviable when faith has been tested and come through intact. You could so hear it in her voice.

Personal shit is great, and I’m glad she was seen in a loving relationship.  The Lone Woman Warrior trope is worn thin, and I’m sure even thinner for black women who are often not allowed to be lovable people on screen.  But the core of the Paladin is ‘there is something greater than I, and I will sacrifice everything for it’, and it was beautiful to not only see that happen on screen but see her proved right, see her win, in one case by not even raising her weapon.  She stood firm in her faith and the narrative said yes, it said this is just, it said your very faith will protect you from harm.  And she’s not seen as hard or cold edged weapon for that.  The imagery around her in that moment is more like a saint or an angel, glowing and reaching out a peaceful hand to a symbol of one of the tribes of her country.  Her country loves her back.

Okoye doesn’t just love her country.  She doesn’t just serve her country.  She doesn’t just believe in her country.  She has unshakable faith in an absolute truth: Wakanda Forever.   She is elevated for her faith as much as her skill.  

It’s fucking breathtaking.  

Okoye is beautiful because Wakanda is beautiful.

It’s impossible to have a character be a shining example of lawful good in a Western society like America, where the law is predicated on destructive, corrupt, exploitative capitalist foundations.