29 looking like an extra from a British costume drama.
The invitation to the Black Panther premiere read “Royal attire requested.” Yet no one showed up to the Dolby Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard on Jan. And, more important, that making movies about black lives is part of showing that they matter. Black Panther is poised to prove to Hollywood that African-American narratives have the power to generate profits from all audiences. This rapidly expanding reckoning-one that reflects the importance of representation in our culture-is long overdue. 16, comes as the entertainment industry is wrestling with its toxic treatment of women and persons of color. Hollywood has never produced a blockbuster this splendidly black. (Marvel is owned by Disney.) It may be the first megabudget movie-not just about superheroes, but about anyone-to have an African-American director and a predominantly black cast. “I looked at him like, ‘Just watch the movie!’”īlack Panther is the 18th movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a franchise that has made $13.5 billion at the global box office over the past 10 years. Marvel Black Panther features tense action sequences: “There was a point during the movie when my brother turned to me and said, ‘What’s gonna happen?’” Boseman says. When it doesn’t happen, we are all the poorer for it.
Relating to characters onscreen is necessary not merely for us to feel seen and understood, but also for others who need to see and understand us.
Those of us who are not white have considerably more trouble not only finding representation of ourselves in mass media and other arenas of public life, but also finding representation that indicates that our humanity is multifaceted. Now, after a brief respite, you again have a President. The world shows you that your possibilities are boundless. Every day, the culture reflects not only you but nearly infinite versions of you-executives, poets, garbage collectors, soldiers, nurses and so on. If you are reading this and you are white, seeing people who look like you in mass media probably isn’t something you think about often.
That’s one reason I grew up knowing I could be the same. That movie, the 1980 Star Wars sequel The Empire Strikes Back, introduced Calrissian as a complicated human being who still did the right thing. Lando Calrissian, played by Billy Dee Williams, didn’t have any superpowers, but he ran his own city. The first movie I remember seeing in a theater had a black hero. Marvel’s new movie marks a major milestone
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