Tag: black panther

aryainwinterfell:

The Jabari tribe is known for worshipping the gorilla god Hanuman; in the original comics, M’Baku was actually introduced as “Man-Ape,” a name abandoned by the film adaptation for obvious reasons. But by contextualizing the Jabari religion, Duke found an elegant way to sidestep negative or racist perceptions: “They haven’t been affected by colonialism and all the narratives that are associated with developing a sense of inferiority and people comparing them to animals,” he says. “To them, this is just who they pray to, and they find their strength and agency in this religion. So being a bit gorilla-influenced was a sense of pride for them.”

He also came up with certain ape-inspired characteristics for the film, including a scene in which the Jabari men grunt at an outsider who speaks without permission—a threatening cue for that person to shut up. To find M’Baku’s voice, he researched and imitated Nigerian accents, further separating the character from the South African-inspired T’Challa. It’s just one of many ways the Jabari differ from the city-based Wakandans, who largely worship the panther god Bast.

“The panther is sleek, the panther is sneaky, the panther is covert—meanwhile, the gorilla will show up and bang on his chest and make noises to warn you about what is about to happen if you continue to cross the line,” Duke says. “We don’t hide, we don’t sneak. We come through the front door.” – Winston Duke, Vanity Fair

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.

squeezemetillipop:

Every time they mention how Black Panther lack diversity.

Tell them:

Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Angela Basset, Forest Whitker is African American.

Danai is a Zimbabwean-American

Lupita Nyongo is a Kenyan-Mexican

Martin Freeman, Daniel Kaluuya and Andy Serkis are English.

Florence Kasumba is Ugandan-German.

Letitia Wright is Guyanese.

Black Panther is an extremely diverse movie with people from all over the world. Die mad about it.