Dispatches from the Fury Road: Wakanda Forever!
In the end it was the kids who got to me.
Like many people I was stunned by the news of Chadwick Boseman’s death over the weekend. I won’t pretend that I knew the man but I had enjoyed his podcast appearances (check out this wonderful interview with Bill Simmons here) and been dazzled by the way he combined grace, power and humour from his time on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (click here) to sitting casually court side at an NBA game. I vaguely recall some scuttlebutt online about Chadwick looking thinner than normal but hadn’t thought much of it as I had no idea what his next role might require physically. To see the news that he was no longer with us was a shock. To discover that he’d been dealing with colon cancer for the last four years while he continued to make art, guest appearances and visit sick children in hospital was not only a testament to the character of the man but also an example to the rest of us that we should still strive to exhibit a level of dignity during these challenging times.
I’d seen Boseman in a few movies including 42 where he portrayed baseball legend Jackie Robinson and James Brown in Get On Up but it was his first appearance as Black Panther in Captain America: Civil War that sent reverberations through my nerdy soul. For friends who only knew Marvel characters through the movies and their ubiquitous influence over popular culture, this was just another superhero to sell toys, fancy dress costumes and overpriced lunch boxes. I was excited because I knew T’Challa was different. Created by the modern myth makers Stan Lee and Jack Kirby back in 1966 and first appearing in Fantastic Four issue 52, Black Panther stood out immediately for a number of reasons. Aesthetically he just looks cool with his costume perfectly sculptured to show off the angular feats of physical prowess all superheroes display with casual ease. He’s also powered by ancient rituals from his homeland Wakanda, a land that is not only wealthy and rich culturally but also technologically advanced. T’Challa is a brilliant scientist who works to keep his physical attributes as sharp as his mind and a hero with access to unlimited wealth and unmatched technology…so he’s essentially a cross between Iron Man and Batman but more! Not only that but T’Challa isn’t haunted by his time as an arms dealer or the deaths of his parents. He is a king with responsibilities who does his best to protect his people and when called upon, the rest of the world.
Watching Boseman become Black Panther reminded me of when I first experienced Christopher Reeve as Superman. Both actors portrayed the inherent goodness in the characters without losing sight of their inner struggles. There is a common fallacy in entertainment that a good person is a less interesting and so we gravitate to the anti-heroes, the compromised men and women that show weakness and poor behaviour in their actions. To be honest, I am bored with this trope. A character that is decent can also be funny, compromised, lost and enraged just like anyone else. Lately I find myself drawn to Reeve’s Superman, Boseman’s Black Panther and Chris Evans’ Captain America. In these awful times where it is difficult to find real men in positions of power to look up to or even aspire to, I prefer to watch good characters who struggle with decisions and actions that could compromise their values but still find a way to arrive at the correct decision. When I check out of the real world to find some emotional solace, I don’t want to spend that time with fictional people who remind me of my everyday experiences.
It is easy to be cynical about the proliferation of superhero movies and especially Marvel as it rolls around in the type of money small nations could only dream about. I’m not a fan of all of their films but when they get it right I do believe they’re providing the type of family entertainment that is lacking in other properties. After seeing the first Black Panther movie, I knew it was going to make all of the money. It wasn’t because I am particularly prescient. It was because I had read an article a few years before that talked about how Jerry Seinfeld and Kevin Hart were on tours throughout the US and the narrative in the media was, “When is Kevin Hart going to crossover to mainstream audiences?” The journalist then pointed out Seinfeld was selling out three to four thousand seated theatres. Hart was selling out 20,000 seat arenas. I had never thought of this before and when I saw Black Panther, with it’s thorough world building, it’s charismatic cast, the popcorn-munching excitement and the underlying cultural message, I knew this was going to be the type of hit that would take the mainstream by surprise.
Directed by the brilliant Ryan Coogler, Black Panther is a celebration of black culture. It never forgets to thrill, but it is more than the typical superhero’s journey. The movie covers vast ground such as the traditions of African society to the arguments that inform current African American politics. It is a story about identity writ large but also reflected in the minutia, between the different types of angry men and the broad range of powerful women. This superhero movie immediately seeped into every day culture and it wasn’t long before basketball players were adopting the Wakandan symbols in their handshakes and warm ups. No longer was Africa being portrayed as unsophisticated but instead we saw a brand new world designed with a futuristic skyline. There are many great performances from Lupita Nyong’o’s determined freedom fighter to Angela Bassett’s majestic royalty, from the simmering charisma of Sterling K Brown to the effortless joy of Letitia Wright. There’s also an electric performance by Michael B Jordan, his Erik Killmonger rippling with a fury that hadn’t been seen before or since in a Marvel movie. And right in the middle of all of this, holding it together, is Chadwick Boseman, the Black Panther. A man who is a king but continues to learn from the people around him. A hero who knows real power lies in knowledge. A legend that knows knowledge can help him grow as a person. In a lesser actor’s hands, T’Challa could have been swamped in his own movie. Boseman holds the rich tapestry together and then some. By the end of the movie he has taken us on a personal journey, where he has learned truths and is a better hero for it. He is the type of leader you wish we had in the real world.
When I watch movies part of the experience I attempt to keep in mind is, “What does this film mean to the intended audience?” I like all types of movies but if a mainstream film has big ideas and is also unashamedly populist, I think there is a worthiness in this intention that we often overlook. One of the biggest joys I’ve experienced is talking to my friends’ kids about a Christopher Nolan movie or the Marvel films, where they’ll let their imaginations run free and share their thoughts and ideas on what it all means. Big ideas are for everyone and are important. They inspire the next generation. You can never underestimate the power of ambitious ideas mixed together with a broader representation on the big and small screens. Look at the effect Dana Scully had on women in the 90s. There are so many women who work in science because of the X-Files character it is now referred to as “The Scully Effect”. Inspiration can be drawn from the smallest of moments, the simplest of decisions and sculpt a person’s life forever. It is too easy to be dismissive, to use your cynicism as an easy way to blunt your experience. At the end of Avengers: Infinity War, I knew those heroes that disappeared would return. I know how stories work. I know how movie contracts work. But my friend’s 12-year-old daughter was devastated and I wasn’t about to ruin her moment. When we spoke a year later, her joy from seeing Avengers Endgame was palpable. I derived much happiness from her grin as she talked about those heroes suddenly reappearing. And who was the first hero to return through those shimmering magical portals? The Wakandan King, T’Challa, the Black Panther, Chadwick Boseman.
To have Boseman gone at such a young age is devastating for his family and his community. LeBron James and Lewis Hamilton both made the Wakandan symbol at their respective sporting events. The outpouring of grief all over the world speaks to the measure of the man. To discover how sick he was while continuing to work is hard to comprehend. To read the tributes from the acting world was amazing. To see the African American community under siege with the Black Lives Matter movement take another hit with the loss of their hero is tragic. I was even surprised by the messages i received from friends here in Australia, grown men and women unafraid to admit their weeping over the news. From here in Sydney I could intellectualise what I was witnessing, an almost conscious step-back that allowed me to feel numb and not overcome with emotion.
Then I started seeing photos of the African American kids and I lost it. Picture after picture of children with their action figures, standing solemnly in their costumes, their arms crossed out of respect for their fallen hero. It was too much. I’m even tearing up as I write this. We all have to learn about death at some point but it feels particularly cruel in this cruelest of years to see these kids have their idol taken from them. They recognised themselves in Boseman’s performance, in his skin colour, in the issues he deals with in the film. They recognise the story that plays out on the silver screen and while they may not be able to articulate the subtleties of the movie, they know it deep in their bones, absorbed from their surroundings, moulding them into their future selves. I feel saddened for their loss.
Yet there is also a strength in the way they stand in their photos. They express a stoicism that often escapes the grown-ups. They know the character that Boseman brought to life, unfettered by misgivings about the world at large and getting to the heart of why kids should look up to T’Challa. Maybe this silly Marvel movie will inspire some young people to seek out their roots or decide to study science or be as smart and tough as the women in the film. As I said earlier, we find inspiration in the unlikeliest of places and if you doubt the power of Black Panther then you haven’t been paying attention. I hate that Chadwick Boseman is gone. I feel nothing but sadness for his loved ones. I’m overwhelmed when I think about the African American kids who have lost their guy. Yet there is some solace in the knowledge that the power of the performance will live on, immortalised on celluloid, forever young. Chadwick Boseman was pitch perfect in his moment and will always be there to inspire future generations of kids. I look forward to seeing the men and women who will grow up to lead the way, inspired by the example of the Black Panther.
Wakanda Forever!
Justin Hamilton
1st of September
Surry Hills