Category: Uncategorized

forevanssake:

I saw Black Panther again last night and again I had instant chills in the scene where the Dora Milaje take on the Golden Jaguar and I think I finally realized that in my twenty-three years of movie watching (and being a bit of an action movie junkie) I’ve never seen a group of women fight before.

Frequently, we see the Black Widow/Atomic Blonde archetype: a woman takes on a fight solo, typically opposite a male (or maybe a very pretty female). Either way, the dynamic is often sexualized. And the throughline is that these women are just “so strong” they’d never let anyone else “help them” do their job. My wonderings ask if maybe because these action!female movies are more than occasionally directed by men *clears throat disapprovingly*, perhaps the idea of a whole woman army never even occurred to them.

And maybe you say, “But Wonder Woman!” and to that, I shrug in your direction without looking up from my drink. Yes, that was an example of a woman army. But the difference is that Themyscira was exclusively women. Wakanda is not, but still it was women who governed their army and guarded their king.

Black Panther depicts women as warriors, full stop. Not seductive, not sexual in any way. All of the immediate surrounding characters supporting the film’s male lead are women; recognized first for their bravery, their wisdom, their creativity, or their strength. And they’re never once juxtaposed agaisnt each other.

Seeing women be tactical, fierce and together is a new leaf we’ve turned and there’s no going back.