Black Panther Research

GENRE:

Black Panther fits into the genre of SciFi / Afrofuturism. Afrofuturism is a cultural aesthetic that fuses the origins of African traditions and culture with SciFi to create a genre of its own. Its philosophy of history and philosophy of science was first coined by Mark Dery in 1993 and explored its a way through the late 1990s and still continues to rise amongst today's generation. Black Panther was perhaps the first movie to properly put the idea of Afrofuturism on the map as, after the high success of the movie, more people started to look into this genre and understand it. Many have perhaps never even imaging a Marvel movie on the sets in Africa to be released. 

NARRATIVE: 

The narrative of Black Panther is what plays a big of it fitting into the Marvel universe. Black Panther was actually first mentioned way back in July 1996 when the fictional character made his first appearance in the Fantastic Four series in issue number 52 and joined the Avengers in 1968. Many also claim that there were hidden Easter eggs in previous Marvel movies such as Iron Man, wherein one of the scenes, the map of Wakanda can be seen and the material Vabranium is also mentioned. So it's clear that Marvel has been planning on Black Panther's entry into the Marvel universe for decades ago and it's new. 

STARS: 

The film had many reasons behind its success, however, one of the main reasons would probably have to be the cast of the film. As this was the first Marvel movie with a leading black character, minorities around the world (especially the black community) felt empowered and accepted. This was a major milestone for black people who were finding it hard to find representation for themselves in the mainstream media.  This is one of the many reasons Black Panther was significant. Chadwick Boseman's infant added a lot to the film behind the scenes as well as on camera. Chadwick Boseman was born and raised in South Carolina, United States where he grew up experiencing anything a black man of African descent would go through at that time. So not only was he representing what it meant to be a black African on screen, but he was simultaneously representing what it meant to be a black American off-screen.  

AUDIENCE:

The audience of Black Panther perhaps single-handedly played the biggest role in helping the movie reach new levels of success. It is said that 65% of the total audience worldwide were non-white with a leading 37% of black people. Marvel was of course aiming for a hit film but no one had any idea as to how many storms this would create in the mainstream film industry. The very well crafted film by Ryan Coogler placed black people on the map in the film world as well as sparking hope in other minorities across the world to perhaps one day get representation for their own culture considering the seat for minorities has been vacant for a while now in the mainstream media.