AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
Black Panther is here and you all should just get in line because it’s about to get loud in here.
AUTHOR’S NOTE: I’M GOING TO DO THIS ENTIRE POST IN ALL CAPS SO IF THAT’S A PROBLEM, I’M NOT SORRY. NOT EVEN A LITTLE BIT.
THE FIRST BLACK PANTHER TRAILER HAS DROPPED AND BLACK TWITTER HAS COLLECTIVELY OFFERED THEIR EDGES, WIGS, AND SOULS TO GOD. IF YOU HAVE NOT YET BEEN CLEANSED IN THE WATERS OF WAKANDA GO NOW, AND COME BACK WHEN YOU’VE BEEN MADE WHOLE.
MY FIRST AND PREVAILING INSTINCT IS TO MAKE THIS A POST OF GIBBERISH. OF JUST RANDOM, CAPS LOCK, CRUISE CONTROL SCREAMING BECAUSE THAT’S HOW I FEEL. BUT Y’ALL DESERVE MORE OF ME THAN THAT SO I’M GOING TO TRY REALLY HARD TO EXPLAIN WHY I’M SCREAMING. WHY THIS TRAILER IS MAKING ME THE MAJORITY OF BLACK TWITTER AND BEYOND LOSE THEIR COLLECTIVE SHIT.
WHEN HAS YOUR FAVE EVER???
COMIC BOOK MOVIES ARE EN VOGUE. THEY MAKE ALL THE COINS AT THE BOX OFFICE EVEN WHEN THEY’RE AWFUL.
MAKE A COMIC BOOK MOVIE AND YOU MAKE MONEY. PROBLEM IS, THESE COMIC BOOK MOVIES ARE CONSISTENTLY, DAMN NEAR EXCLUSIVELY WHITE. BROWN FOLK, WHEN THEY SHOW UP, ARE TOKENS. SINGULAR, ONE NOTE CHARACTERS THAT INTRODUCED, SIDELINED, FRIDGED, COMEDIC RELIEF’D, AND OTHERWISE FORGOTTEN. THEY’RE SET PIECES, PART OF THE SCENERY, OR ALLOWED ONE BRIEF, GLIMMERING MOMENT OF AWESOME BEFORE THE REAL STARS OF THE FILM TAKE BACK CONTROL.
I DON’T REMEMBER WHAT I WAS EXPECTING WITH BLACK PANTHER. I DO REMEMBER CHADWICK BOSEMAN STEALING THE HELL OUT OF ‘CIVIL WAR’ AND BASICALLY MAKING IT ‘BLACK PANTHER: ORIGINS’. BUT BEYOND THAT, I DON’T KNOW WHAT I WANTED THE BLACK PANTHER MOVIE TO BE. I WAS JUST WAITING AND SEEING AND HOPING IT DOESN’T DISAPPOINT, KNOWING THE COLLECTIVE HOPES OF BLACK MOVIEGOERS RIDE ON THIS FILM THE SAME WAY THE HOPES OF WOMEN RODE ON WONDER WOMEN — EVEN THOUGH THEIR WHITE, MALE COUNTERPARTS ARE ALLOWED TO FAIL, AND FAIL, AND FAIL WITH NO REPERCUSSION.
TWICE AS HARD, HALF THE RECOGNITION AND ALL THAT.
BUT WHEN THAT TRAILER HIT.
LORDY.
I WAS NOT EXPECTING THIS.
THIS MOVIE IS BLACK AS H*CK. FILLED WITH VISUALS THAT SCREAM BLACK, BLACKITY, AFRICAN BLACK IN WAYS BLACK IN A GENRE FILM ARE NEVER SHOWN.
WAKANDA IS ‘EL DORADO’, CONTAINING TECH COLONIZERS AND CORPORATIONS DROOL OVER. WHEN HAS ANYTHING BLACK, ANYTHING IN AFRICA BEEN PORTRAYED AS SOMETHING DESIRABLE? ENVIABLE? OUTSIDE OF RESOURCE THEFT OR WILD EXOTIFICATION? WAKANDA IS RICH, CAPABLE, AND SELF-SUFFICIENT. IT IS THE IDEAL.
AND IT EXEMPLIFIES THIS IDEAL WHILE REMAINING BLACK AS H*CK. WAKANDA COMPROMISES NOTHING. THIS IS NOT A TYLER PERRY MOVIE. IN THE VISUALS THIS TRAILER EMPLOYS, YOU SHALL FIND NO RESPECTABILITY POLITICS HERE. IT IS BLACK. AFRICAN BLACK. UNAPOLOGETICALLY BLACK. THIS IS REPRESENTATION ON STEROIDS. REPRESENTATION TRYING TO MAKE UP FOR A GENRE’S WORTH OF NEGLECT. AND I LIVE.
LITERALLY WHEN??
IN ADDITION TO BE THE CURE FOR WHAT AILS DIVERSITY IN GENRE FILMS, THIS MOVIE IS FEMALE AS H*CK. FOR A MOVIE CALLED BLACK PANTHER, OSTENSIBLY FOCUSING ON THE STORY OF T’CHALLA KING OF WAKANDA, THIS TRAILER SPENDS A GOOD CHUNK OF IT’S TIME ON WOMEN.
AND.
NOT.
JUST.
ONE.
THIS TRAILER IS STUFFED WITH WOMEN, DIFFERENT WOMEN, BLACK WOMEN. THAT MEANS EVERYTHING. WOMEN IN MARVEL MOVIES END UP BEING THE TOKEN CHICKS. THERE’S ALMOST NEVER MORE THAN TWO AT A TIME.
AVENGERS. GUARDIANS. THOR. CAPTAIN AMERICA. HULK. TWO OR FEWER EVERY TIME. THEY’RE NEARLY NEVER ON SCREEN TOGETHER AND IF THERE ARE TWO, ONLY ONE FIGHTS.
IN THE TRAILER THERE ARE LIKE 7+ WOMEN, ALL READY, WILLING, AND EMINENTLY CAPABLE OF GIVING YOU THAT WORK.
AND THEY’RE ALL DARK SKINNED, NATURAL HAIRED, BLACK WOMEN. IN A MOVIE CASTING CULTURE THAT ALLOWED ZOE SALDANA TO BE CAST AS NINA SIMONE. IN A MOVIE CULTURE THAT ALLOWED A STORY ABOUT MAGIC IN HARLEM TO BE POPULATED SOLELY BY WHITE PEOPLE. IN A MOVIE CULTURE THAT FAVORS LIGHT SKIN AND STRAIGHT HAIR, BASICALLY PROXIMITY TO WHITENESS, AS THE PREVAILING STANDARD OF BLACK DESIRABILITY,
WE GET THIS.
AND THIS.
AND THIS.
I’M IN TEARS, Y’ALL. WHAT EVERYONE FELT WATCHING WONDER WOMAN, WHAT I FAILED TO FEEL BECAUSE I JUST COULDN’T QUITE GET THERE, I FEEL FOR THIS. GAL GADOT AS DIANA CANNOT BE THE REPRESENTATION I SEEK, SHE GETS CLOSE BUT MISSES THE MARK. I SEE WHITE WOMEN IN THESE KINDS OF ROLES — BLACK WIDOW, SCARLET WITCH, JEAN GREY, ROGUE, THE TWO SECONDS PEPPER WAS ‘EXTREMIS’D’ — ALL THE TIME. BLACK WOMEN THOUGH???
….UH….STORM???
(UGH, STORM.)
THIS TRAILER TAKES THAT DUBIOUS TRADITION AND BREAKS IT OVER ITS KNEE. WITH ALL THESE CAPABLE WOMEN, THIS MOVIE HAS DONE MORE FOR WOMEN IN ITS TRAILER THAN ALL OF THE PREVIOUS MARVEL MOVIES COMBINED.
YEAH, I SAID IT. @ JOSS WHEDON.
WHEN???
BLACK PANTHER WILL BREAK BOX OFFICE RECORDS. WE’RE GONNA TAKE OUR KIDS TO SEE IT ELEVENTY MILLION TIMES. WE’RE GOING TO BE TALKING ABOUT IT ON TWITTER (#BLACKPANTHERSOLIT), TUMBLR, INSTAGRAM, TELEPATHY. WE’RE GOING TO BE AT THE THEATERS IN FULL COSTUME. I’M SORRY, THAT’S JUST HOW THE WORLD IS NOW POST BLACK PANTHER TRAILER.
THIS MOVIE WILL SHAKE THE FOUNDATIONS OF CINEMA AS Y’ALL KNOW IT. WITH OUR POWER, WITH OUR UNENDING DESIRE TO SEE OURSELVES IN PLACES AND ROLES LONG DENIED FINALLY BEARING FRUIT, Y’ALL GONE LEARN TO NEVER AGAIN LET US GO 20 YEARS OF COMIC BOOK MOVIES (LITERALLY 20, BLADE CAME OUT IN ’98) WITHOUT BLACK AND BROWN STUFFED CASTS.
I’M READY. I WAS BORN READY. I STAY READY.
BLACK PANTHER IS ABOUT TO BE LIT.
