Black Panther Film Notes II PDF

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Professor Martha Cutter...

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4/23/2019 ENGL 4203W

Black Panther Wakanda as a Black Utopia ● Means “no place” ○ Has an impossibility built into it already ● Is it like the Valentine Farm in Underground Railroad? ● What are the problems with Wakanda? Is it a “utopia”? ○ Killmonger longed to go to Wakanda - idealized it as a promised land of sorts based on his father’s descriptions ○ Only people with royal blood can become the king ○ Don’t accept refugees - they bring their problems with them ■ Even have an invisible wall that keeps people out/them unseen ○ M’Baku’s tribe - shut out and neglected ■ Not a democratic society Is there a deeper meaning? ● Even if there isn’t, having a fun superhero, lighthearted/escapist African American identity/film is valuable in and of itself ○ Not common - either a lack of representation or pessimistic narratives, less uplifting Killmonger ● Destroying the purple flower ○ Trying to contain power, keep it only for himself ● Villain? ○ Shooting his girlfriend like she’s collateral damage ● Scarification ○ One scar for everyone he’s killed but also calls back to tribal traditions ■ Intersection of African and African American identities? ● Anger but also longing to connect to heritage that he was excluded from?...