y’all notice how black panther quietly but fervently rejects western assumptions about women in non-western countries by not only displaying Wakandan women in a variety of influential positions but by making clear that only outsiders question them
women are shown in all levels of Wakandan society – Ramonda as a trusted advisor for her son, Shuri as the country’s leading innovator, Okoye and the Dora as respected warriors, Nakia as a spy and philosophical compass, unnamed women who serve as tribal representatives and spiritual leaders. it is not at any point suggested that their gender is a barrier to achieving anything in Wakanda.
there’s a moment during T’Challa’s crowning that’s small but very good, when M’baku questions letting a child handle the country’s technological advancement. he specifically calls her a child, not a girl, questioning her youth and perceived lack of respect for tradition but not her gender, which flies in direct defiance of many western assumptions about how masculine non-western men like M’baku treat women and girls.
that moment, as far as I recall, the most any Wakandan man ever directly disrespects a woman. a lot has been made of how much faith T’challa places in his female relatives and warriors, so I won’t rehash that, but it’s Good.
Ross briefly insults Okoye with his assumption that she doesn’t speak English, but 1.) the narrative and the audience both understand this to be an ignorant statement on Ross’ part for which he is promptly put in his place by Okoye herself and 2.) Ross immediately learns and does better. when he wakes up in Wakanda his disbelief is only for the level of the technology, not that a teenage girl is the mastermind behind it, and during the final fight he defers to Shuri’s guidance despite his piloting expertise.
a lot of words have already been written about Killmonger’s treatment of black women: the casual murder of his partner, his disregard and abuse of a spiritual leader, the slaughter of a Dora. it’s just one of many parts of his ideology that mark him as fundamentally misunderstanding Wakanda and being an Other in the kingdom.
Wakanda is a futuristic fantasyland that makes absolutely no narrative room for men who don’t respect the authority of women.
In addition to the Killmonger point –
I love how it circles back to the cultural disparity between Wakanda and the Western world. It demonstrates how similar ideologies – the drive for resource sharing and international responsibly – can appear so vastly different (ie Killmonger and Nakia). It speaks to the cultural environment in which they existed. I believe Killmonger to be a reflection of the internalised toxic values Western society presents poor Black boys – essentially following the well trodden path from vulnerability to violence.
On that last comment, the narrative also specifically positions Erik as a tragic character. He is clearly the villain because his values are warped but the tragedy is that he didn’t have to turn out that way. The difference between the three heirs to the throne and how they approach each other (T’Challa, Shuri and Erik) comes down to culture.
I kinda want to laugh at the idea that burning the heart-shaped herb means the plants are gone, like FUCK…have you ever weeded a garden in your LYFE?? You WISH burning plants killed them, holy shit. Those plants’re gonna come back even thicker AND they’ll have extra fertilizer from the ash compost. They’re vibranium plants, those roots run deep.
Attendants: Are you sure? That’s gonna set us back, like, a whole six months…
Erik: YES I’M SURE. I WANT THEM GONE.
Attendants: …We’re just not gonna mention that this won’t actually get rid of them.
Basically, I think the whole nation of Wakanda was like, “We’re gonna humour this guy to achieve our own ends until we can find a way to get rid of him.”
Fic where as part of N’Jadaka’s punishment/rehabilitation/community service hours he’s forced to replant the sacred flower beds while memorizing their spiritual significance in Wakandan culture
“Black Panther opens with a neatly animated intro that tells the history of Wakanda, Vibranium and the five tribes. It’s a good primer for the world of the film, but only later do you realize what was actually being done with that sequence. The intro is narrated by N’Jobu, and later we learn from his son, Erik, that his father used to tell him stories about Wakanda. One of Killmonger’s best lines in the film is “Can you believe that? A kid from Oakland walking around and believing in fairytales,” referencing the stories his father told him about the mystical African country growing up, but at the time we don’t realize that we are literally hearing N’Jobu telling his son one of those fairy tales. At first it seems like a tale being told to T’Challa, but it’s really Erik, instead. I really loved this realization, and it’s something that’s easy to miss your first time through.”
I don’t understand how you can see Killmonger disrespect culture, attack women, basically was trained by military to tear down civilizations, his own father says he is disappointed in what he’s done, move to arm black people outside of Wakanda with high tech weapons (yes cuz giving Leroy and em cannon blasters is gonna help the cause) and y’all still fix ya lips to say he was right lol when Nakia exists. Wild.
I was waiting for someone to say this.
There’s a reason he was the villain. He killed his girlfriend in cold blood. His anger was understandable, true, but his methods abhorrent and destructive. The end result would have been huge amounts of death and chaos. No positive outcome.
[Killmonger was an amazingly written villain and a great, if not perfect, example of how to execute a “tragic backstory villain arc”. Due to his characters anger and Michael’s incredible acting it made Killmonger a character a large amount of people could empathize with. An amazing villain. Truly.]
Nakia LITERALLY was team “let’s stop having Wakanda be an isolationist nation and help the worlds oppressed” from the jump and she doesn’t get enough credit.
“[Okoye] is an extremely proud Wakandan. She’s very proud of her people, her country, and her heritage. She is a traditionalist. She is rooted in what is, what has been done, how we do things as Wakandans. How we have done things, and how that must be preserved. […] She can be serious, but she also has an unexpected sense of humor. She has a heart for her country and for her people.” – Danai Gurira
– “Does anyone challenge the Black Panther” *raises hands* “Will you please wrap this up, this corset is uncomfortable”
– “WHAT ARE THOOOOSEEEEE”
– “You bought me another messed up white boy to fix!”
– “Heeeyy Aunty”
– “Don’t scare me Colonizer!”
– “Are you done?” “Please tell me you are done?”
– “Will you kill me my love?” “For Wakanda…Yes”
– “Bury me in the ocean with my ancestors who jumped from the ships because they knew death was better than bondage”
– “White Wolf”
– T’challa freezing every time he sees Nakia
– Erik Killmonger making it hard for the first in Marvel history to not root for a villain because even his story had meaning.
-Shuri in every single scene. ( I need her to meet Peter so they can be cute scene stealing genius teenagers together)
– Literally. Every. Single. Women. In. This. Film.
Black Panther is literally tied with the Winter Solider for being Marvel’s Cinematic Masterpiece, I really just experienced greatness for the second time in my Marvel history life.
Question of Smoke 