Black Panther Second Watch

I'm seeing quite a few viewpoints that say Black Panther is not very revolutionary.

I'm writing this spurred by reading the article 'Black Panther' Is Not The Movie We Deserve - and not wholly disagreeing with it.

There will be spoilers.

If you missed the first review, it's over here.


Killmonger is placed in the position as the film's villain because

• He knows that Wakanda is safe while the other 90% of black people on planet earth are suffering from antiblackness and wonders why they don't help.
• As well as why no one came back to help him after T'Chaka killed his brother, N'Jobu - Killmonger's father.
• So he goes to Wakanda to challenge T'Challa for the throne to take their powerful weapons and send them to his allies to plan a revolution against oppressors.

The thing that gets slightly glanced over is where he mentions that he will also take out the children of the oppressors and basically colonize the world like Europeans have done, which - on top of some of the murder - is the only legitimately wrong thing he's about.

But that's so minorly stated and not reinforced. The entire movie is saying that Killmonger is wrong for legitimately being pissed about being orphaned and why there is no help for any other black people from his hyper-competent lineage.

Killmonger's motive is "White Supremacy fucking blows and I'm going to do something about it with my lineage and knowledge," and the movie wants you to root for T'Challa to stop him. 

I can't speak for Africans who live on the continent or have direct connections to their culture. I'm African American, I don't know a thing about where my blood comes from besides some of it more than likely being from slave rape.

The author sees the film as this direct quote from the article;

in a world marked by racism, a man of African nobility must fight his own blood relative whose goal is the global liberation of blacks. [...] As the movie uplifts the African noble at the expense of the black American man, every crass principle of modern black respectability politics is upheld.  

I can absolutely see that - A man from a fake African country strikes down a black man from a very real, very entrenched in white supremacy country called the United States because he saw suffering and decided to take action, partially through harmful means such as joining the military and continuing killing the 'enemies' the US made, and partially through a legitimate claim to the throne of Wakanda.

The movie subsists enough on the delight of Afrofuturism and the competent, funny, and engaging supporting cast.

The conflict of  "How do I right a wrong and move my country forward in the world." Is a good one, but not when the opposition is someone trying to fight and end the greatest evil the world has ever known.