RE: Black Panther Spoiler-Free Review (That is Actually a Spoiler Review but Only if You've Watched It #killmongerhadapoint)
I can't believe I have not seen the movie yet. But damn, you have made a literary criticism out of the film. And that makes me excited about it. What you said about what Africa would have been without colonisation mirrors the purpose of the film, as suggested by Lupita Nyong'o in an interview.
But I must confess, I would celebrate the film for its aesthetic and cinematic qualities, but I can not for one day wake up to the fact that this film is out to celebrate the Africa that should have been, I rarely can accept this.
In the larger picture, I feel this is merely an act to keep Africa under the gratuitous wings of the white powers. They have been gracious enough to give us a standing ovation, and in return, we are giving them 700 million dollars and a lot of Wakanda loyalty.
Valid point. However, this is a movie just as Star Trek is a TV show.
Do you know why cell phones exist today? Because kids that grew up watching Star Trek in the 60s saw the tricorder devices they used in Star Trek and grew up to be engineers.
Now how long do you think it will be before some black child that watched that movie and grew up wanting to be Shuri, becomes an engineer and builds something amazing? I want to live to see that day.
"They" are capitalists. They follow the money. Before, they always said that all black movies wouldn't sell, wouldn't make money overseas so why bother making a good one, a big one, a full-fledged maximum effort one?
Black Panther has proved that theory wrong. There will be more movies like this, more opportunities for black actors, black directors, black producers, black CHARACTERS. Imagine a movie about Hannibal or Queen Amina or Mansa Musa or Kosoko of Lagos or the Dahomey Amazons done with this kind of cast, this kind of quality. That is the door that Black Panther has opened.
Also, Them INCLUDES Lupita Nyong'o and Ryan Coogler and Daniel Kaluuya. I am entirely okay with them getting a share of that $700 million. Yes, I am entirely okay with that and I have watched the movie twice in cinema to prove it.