“How ‘Black Panther’ Dissects Tension Between Africans & African-Americans” – Jessica Bennett, Ebony Magazine
The strength of this piece lies in the fact that it addresses a major elephant in the room, one that you may not have realized existed: the recurring tension between African and African-American diaspora communities. The American-ness of the African-American context is often seen as a source of division between African and African-American communities, despite the fact that many of us are treated the same way due to the colour of our skin. While Black Panther is set in a fictional country, the filmmakers brought these real-life themes into the story. Bennett brilliantly explores this by both speaking from her own experience and pulling from the voices of others to provide a balance of opinion.
As an African-American filmgoer, I felt that she was able to provide voice to some of my own experiences of the film, while also forcing me to acknowledge a different perspective. I personally would have wanted to learn a bit more about this idea from an African viewpoint, but this serves as a great starting point that can lead to excellent dialogue within African and African-American communities. Plus, it’s spoiler-free, so you can read it and prepare yourself to experience the film without ruining any of the plot.
“The Men of “Black Panther” Are Black Women’s Thirst Dreams Come True” – Sylvia Obell, BuzzFeed News
The concepts of thirst, desire, and beauty standards are often assumed to lack a political weight and instead are often understood as things that just are. Yet this piece explores how the film creates a very specific space for black women — who themselves are often hypersexualized — to express these feelings and emotions. Obell is herself no stranger to Tweeting her thirst about the cast, and she delves further into exploring why this is so significant.
I am no stranger to many of the feelings that this particular piece discusses, and while watching, I very much appreciated the fact that all of the men in the film had worked out quite vigorously. This piece provided some context for the experience that could just as easily be overlooked or written off as “women’s emotions.” Like the former piece, I think this serves as a great starting point for opening up conversations about how we start to fancy which bodies, and what we do while using this pop culture zeitgeist as a place to begin. Plus, many of the Tweets featured are hilarious and written by some pretty funny women, which is always a bonus.
