Black Panther

‘Black Panther’ was a revolutionary, militant African-American party formed in the mid-60s in the United States, one of its most celebrated founders being Huey P. Newton; that challenged the American imperialist and racist system by standing up militantly for the defense of black population, and striving for a just and socialist society.  The party started in Oakland, California, and its increasing popularity and radical left stance ultimately evoked a most repressive and brutal response by the US government that openly and blatantly killed many party members, Fred Hampton being the most famous victim of FBI killings, who was shot dead while asleep; and incarcerated most of its leadership ensnaring them in false charges with long prison sentences.  Black Panther party was the black left party that was a culmination of black political activism in the 60s spearheaded (though in different directions) by the likes of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcom X.  The case for black freedom, reparations and connections to slavery of modern black conditions most eloquently established by Malcom X who ripped apart all white liberal and rather demeaning narrative of the socio-economic conditions of the black population.  Unlike Martin Luther King Jr. Malcom X did not propose for integration with white society, and beg for voting rights but rather advocated for a separate country within the region of the United States where the black population could live with racial dignity, respect and equality like other African countries.  It was a radical position that ultimately resulted in assassination of Malcom X in 1965.  Malcom X can be roughly thought of as Ambedkar of the United States.  It was with such background that the Black Panther party emerged that shook the foundations of American empire and imperialism.

It is in this context that the movie ‘Black Panther’ becomes rather interesting.  One cannot help but be reminded of the Black Panther party, when a movie of the same name appears.  The character of Black Panther created by Stan Lee first appeared in Fantastic Four comics in 1966; also the year of formation of Black Panther party.  In the raging civil rights era of the 60s, with black population fighting for basic citizenship through voting rights, introduction of a leading black character in the mainstream comics was an unusual and progressive act.  The release of this movie in Obama-Trump era when the black youth has been and is being murdered by the racist police with absolute impunity is significant.  This is the first Hollywood movie with leading and nearly all black cast that unapologetically and unabashedly shows a technically advanced black nation even though fictional.  It touched the nerves of many in the US society and around the world resulting in the film becoming one of the biggest box office successes of all times.

Despite its young 31-year-old black director Ryan Coogler, the film is unable to shake the shackles of white supremacy and a racist Hollywood narrative of the black culture.  To start with, an apparently super advanced black nation of Wakanda still followed the monarchical and hereditary ruling structure rife with archaic and seemingly ‘savage’ traditions which reflects on the inability of Hollywood to imagine a democratic African nation with an egalitarian society, which one might assume an advanced nation’s society might look like (at least in fiction).  It rather sticks to the stereotype of portraying African nations as essentially tribal and primitive no matter how much advancement they have achieved.  The characterization reeks of racism which very much underlies the apparent liberal culture of Hollywood.  It also belies the state of modern day Africa, whose most countries are modern and doing their best, given their history of exploitation and colonialism.  A barrage of twitter pictures had emerged when Trump labelled a few African countries as shithole countries showing how modern some African countries were. 

The director of the film who also made ‘Fruitvale Station’ before Black Panther which is on modern lynching of black youth by police definitely seems to be aware of the political angle of the name black panther as the so-called villain in the movie spends his early life in Oakland, California.  As a child he is told by his father that “we are lost here;” a statement that has profound connotations.  In the movie it appears to refer to Wakanda from where he was sent to the United States as a spy to report upon the conditions of their African brothers and sisters, and is basically a Wakandan; but the statement also immediately reminds of assertions of Malcom X that black population brought as slaves in the United States, was not only uprooted from their homeland in Africa but was also disconnected from their ancestry and lineage, left to languish and suffer in an alien land with no sense of their own history, belongingness or pride of their own race or culture – in essence, lost.

Surprisingly, the villain who grows up in Oakland witnessing the harshest realities of existence of black America ultimately becomes a super-duper killing machine of CIA, and harbors his anger against the young Wakandan king (the black panther) whose father had killed his own father.  However, despite realizations of all injustices and ravages of black life in the country where he grew up and elsewhere in the world, and rightly pointing to white supremacy and colonialism, all his anger is directed against Wakanda, his original homeland.  He seems intent on destroying everything good in Wakanda, and on unleashing a vengeful destruction on the white world through the technology of vibranium in Wakanda.  This character development is important in the sense that it casts the angry black youth of present day America in a very negative light whose sole purpose is to seek revenge from white population rather than seek justice for centuries of atrocities heaped on them.  This fits in with the prevalent racist narrative describing inherent violent nature of black people.  So, a rebellious character emerging from Oakland, very much like Huey Newton of Black Panther party is just plain destructive and violent who must be liquidated not only for the benefit of the world but also for the black community as in the nation of Wakanda.  It is a dismissal of anger in the black community due to gross injustices, murders and other atrocities that have become part of the black life in America.  The infighting of the royal cousins (black panther and the villain) is again a stereotypical portrayal of African tribal societies, this description also extends to native Americans tribes in popular racist narrative. 

The icing on the cake is a white CIA guy who is the “good guy” and acts as part savior by protecting Wakanda nation from its own internal enemies.  This is just diametrically opposite of the truth, even if one casually considers the devastating role of CIA in the African continent.  This subversion of truth even though fictional is utterly repulsive.  The director’s hands seem to be tied and seems forced to include a white savior.  It seems he needed to constrain his message and align it more with mainstream demands of the market.  The black panther in his final appearance in the movie in the United Nations talks about building communities rather than directly calling out the capitalistic-imperialistic nature of exploitation of his brothers and sisters across the globe, especially the US, and directly lifting them up from the ravages of capitalism.  This is nothing like the Black Panther party which directly challenged the capitalist-imperialist power structure of America.  The narrative in the movie is tamed down to the tone of early civil rights movement in America which was more conciliatory and self-accommodating.

A final minor flaw in the movie seems to be that unlike the white superheroes, the enhanced powers of the black panther character was not shown, all action he could do was due to his technical suit, and not due to his superhuman capabilities obtained from the heart shaped flower.

Finally, it may be good to remember the lynching of innocent black people at the hands of police in the very recent past – Terence Crutcher, Philando Castile, Sam Dubose, Keith Lamont Scott, Sandra Bland, Pedro Villanueva, Walter Scott, Akai Gurley, Laquan McDonald, Melissa Ventura, Christian Taylor, Rekia Boyd, Tamir Rice, John Crawford, Mike Brown, Eric Garner.  It is against this present day back drop that Black Panther movie, despite its apparent flaws became a smashing hit and is crucially important in the annals of cinema as it asserts a positive and powerful image of black people and by extension other powerless minorities around the world.