Black Panther (2018), dir Ryan Coogler

In my twitter I have mostly seen negative takes, mostly of the this is US imperialism variety.

This is in that mode, and was one of the more convincing:

Black Panther is a deeply evil film. It dangles the idea of global black liberation in front of you, paints that as villainous, then ends in an orgy of the freest black people to ever walk the earth slaughtering each other to protect whites. That shit turned my stomach.

— L. (@leslieleeiii) February 17, 2018

Yeah there are obvious limits to the radicalism of corporate superhero movies. (And with the movie playing out a cartoon version of Martin vs Malcolm, there’s never any question about its sympathies.) But anti-spectacle lefties tend to underestimate the value of representation.

A reason I warmed to what he was saying is that he also likes Blade

the notion that blade has better politics seems… strained

sorry ur twitter peeps didn’t get the Inglorious Panther they were expecting

the point twitter is trying to make is undercut a bit by the fact that the on-screen characters come to the same conclusion

ie, they realize they're fighting their own community due to manipulation by their new king and immediately stand down.

based on comics from 46 years ago

Which were groundbreaking too. But obv there's an enormous gulf between a comic aimed at a subset of superhero readers -- a niche of a niche -- and a big-bash Hollywood spectacular that has probably already been seen by more people than have read a Black Panther comic in the past 50 years.

I mean, it’s never clearly spelled out but the implication is that Killmonger’s plan isn’t about justice at all, and is purely about revenge and power, is there. And he pretty much acknowledges he doesn’t care how Wakanda or any country ends up, he just wants to destroy the current world

yeah, the multitude of governments he destabilized elsewhere weren't really done in the name of liberation

the more I think about this take the more garbage it is.

bloody revolution isn’t painted as villainous - it’s painted as sympathetic, even justified, and deeply self-destructive

nobody slaughters anyone in the 3rd act bunfight - somehow with all those edged weapons flashing around not a drop of blood is shed, all downed vehicles seem to be piloted by remote, and the fight literally stops short on a sloppy tongue kiss.

If there’s a case to be made that Black Panther is a deeply evil film (and I sympathize with the tweeter’s distress while yes laughing my balls off at the hyperbole) we could look at its explicit valorization of American-style economic and cultural imperialism

lol xpost coulda just said Neanderthal otm

i do think we're obviously meant to sympathize with Killmonger. he was left fatherless in Oakland in a year that was particularly volatile regarding race relations. some of what he says inspires T'Chaka to change his nations non-interventionist politics.

Killmonger's heel turn isn't him wanting to free the oppressed, it's that he let his politics get muddy along the way. he acts more like an autocrat than a liberator, destroying all of the vibranium plant to ensure he'd never be overthrown in a challenge (since now there would be no Black Panther reward).

he also sows division among his own people and inspires the natives into civil war.

*T'Challa

while we’re on the topic of imperialism and revolution, in a weird way I think the museum scene is my favorite thing in this movie

i want to see the welsh exhibit, where all the weapons are made of LEEKS

just got out of this

fucking loved it holy shit

rank it alongside the nolan batmans

i mean it’s no dark knight rises obv

so many performances of nuclear-grade charisma from actors we’d only usually see rationed out to supporting performances here and there

just a delight from start to finish, with a totally compelling central conflict

Flagging whoever mentions Nolan.

they did kinda have incepted dreams

BG otm but also so many worthwhile roles. no one is stock, no one is rote. the care and the *sweat* that went into making each speaking part *worthwhile* for the actor who would play it shames most of the big popcorners of the past idk, 20 years?

Alfred also otm gtfo with nolan

so many great roles for women too, and they play a key role in wrapping up the conflict

yeah the gender politics are as central as the racial, just not stated as explicitly

so the guys at breitbart like this one

i dislike all superhero movies and am only interested in seeing this for kendrick soundtrack in a theater, haven't seen anyone mention it itt. anything?

it's there, but seldom takes center stage

my prediction that it'd barely be in the film was luckily wrong, it's in there! the symphonic score is pretty well-placed, too

so many performances of nuclear-grade charisma from actors we’d only usually see rationed out to supporting performances here and there

Totally otm, loved this.

Also loved hearing a bit of Mozzy's "Sleepwalkin" towards the end. And loved basically everything else

the soundtrack is barely present. Disappointingly so, I thought

I thought this was...fine. It was fun to see all the cast getting stuck into these roles (and I thought Michael B. Jordan's last scene was genuinely moving) but as a film qua film I thought it was just above Marvel standard

the rhinos were a misstep

It made sense as a choice for the soundtrack to be more prominent in the outside world, but give way to the score in isolated Wakanda

rhinos are an hommage to "the travels of babar" iirc

you know what bugged me most about this was it starts a week after the events of civil war but chadwick boseman’s beard is at least a couple of weeks’ worth of growth longer than it was in that movie

unforgivably sloppy imo

it's no batman begins

Good review

after we saw this my wife said that all the way through she was genuinely worried that nakia or okoye would end up dying at some point

once the credits were rolling and they were both still kicking (uh spoilers i guess) she realised that it might have been cuz movies have kinda conditioned audiences to expect horrible things to happen to sidekicks/women/black people

it's no batman begins

also: final fight involves a monorail

once the credits were rolling and they were both still kicking (uh spoilers i guess) she realised that it might have been cuz movies have kinda conditioned audiences to expect horrible things to happen to sidekicks/women/black people

― albondigas con gas (bizarro gazzara), Saturday, February 17, 2018

and it's deeply disappointing that nothing horrible happens to martin freeman. every minute he's given in the third act made me crazy lol. (not his fault - he's great, just the part is completely unnecessary other than as a defensive placement to counter #notallcolonizers)

his presence was legit the worst thing about this movie cuz every time he showed up all i could think was ‘this is what this shithead believes irl’

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B8FVWPpCAAIiWKf?format=jpg&name=medium

jesus

"I really liked hip-hop until the gangsta rap took over. I come from a time when not every rap record was 'nigga' this and 'nigga' that; an earlier socially and morally conscious hip-hop sensibility, when it was, 'Don't call people nigga'."

"But now it's nigga, nigga, nigga, and it's not funny or interesting politically, artistically or socially. I really don't like it.

typical fkn hobbit

haven't seen this yet but was caught by the straight-facedness of this headline

https://shadowandact.com/erik-killmonger-forgotten-wakanda/?utm_content=buffer05587&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

?utm_content=buffer05587&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

oh man now shadowandact.com is going to know we clicked on that link on facebook using a link promoted via the buffer tool :(

we didn't tho

help stet make ad $ again

David Brothers:

The black cast and...ambiance (for lack of a better) is tight. But treating this as a civil rights victory or the first time we’ve been here feels like erasure to me. It’s a Marvel movie with a cool cultural hook after actual decades of lip service. Let it be what it is.

— brothers before others, LLC (@hermanos) February 16, 2018

(part of a small thread)

also, his and Tucker Stone's analysis of Panther's Rage by McGregor & Graham & al got compiled and republished this week :Fear Of A Black Panther

great stuff. thanks for sharing the link.