Interesting week. We try and talk about Black Panther, and have some trouble, which leads us into slightly uncomfortable, but quite interesting commentary about race. Tony shares his recent gaming success stories, we catch up on some media, and we create the coolest team of Scripture-driven villains ever. Enjoy!
What are your thoughts on Star Trek Discovery as of what has aired at the time of this question being asked? –Craig
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Finished listening to the episode and thought I should post some BP thoughts here.
(SPOILERS)
This was the central and interesting conflict in the movie to me:
If an African country escaped the effects of colonialism and slavery and had power equal to or even surpassing those colonial powers, what could it do to mitigate the effects of colonialism/slavery.
The isolationist policy and failure to help the Africans of the diaspora was (I thought) clearly shown as wrong. That T’Challa was going to have problems with that policy was indicated pretty early on when he sees his father in the dream sequence and his father thinks that T’Challa being a good man will be in conflict with him leading the country. His father thinks that as ruler T’Challa will to have to do bad things–like abandon the Africans of the diaspora as he, T’Chaka, did. Or that failing to do that will make him a bad ruler, endangering Wakanda. I thought the movie gave pretty strong moral weight to the other side of that argument–in Erik and in Erik’s father, but was also showing the price of colonialism in them (the choice of violent resistance). And that’s why Erik’s death was so tragic–the idea that the only way to be free in the context of colonialism is to die. Of course, T’Challa is going to try to negotiate a middle way and the movie ended on the more hopeful note of that possibility.
I thought a very interesting metaphor that the movie made use of was the remote controlled tech of the cars/planes. Sort of action at a distance–without danger or getting one’s hands dirty–and in the long run that wasn’t going to fly (so to speak).
So while I broadly agree with that analysis I think one of the interesting aspects in it is that it takes the approach of Africa being a single entity rather than many unique and individualistic countries (many of which are then even further subdivided by ethnic groups that predate the founding of those countries).
I’ve been lucky enough to work briefly in Africa and with a number of colleagues who are either from Africa or of African descent. From what I’ve been told the tendency to think of Africa by those descended from the diaspora more as a whole is pretty common due to not knowing much about there ancestry. Those who know where there families came from or were themselves born in Africa tend to see the nationalistic boundaries much more in the same way that I (as a Brit) see Europe.
So in that sense I think there’s a lot of depth regarding the actions of Wakanda. Yes the rulers acted to protect themselves but did so in a way that is entirely consistent with thinking like an individual nation. Could Wakanda have achieved what Erik desired? Yes. Were they wrong to be isolationist? Maybe but it’s that moral quandary that makes the movie and its central conflict stand above most typical superhero plots.
(Obviously I am aware that my perspective here is as a white European and like William would really enjoy being able to hear the opinions of both African and African-American audiences)
This was an interesting article that reflected some of what I think you’re pointing to Craig (Pan-African identity vs. African Nationalism): http://roape.net/2018/02/26/pan-african-panther/.
Fritz Fanon also outlined this conflict in “The Wretched of the Earth” (1961): “The efforts of the native to rehabilitate himself and to escape from the claws of colonialism are logically inscribed from the same point of view as that of colonialism. The native intellectual who has gone far beyond the domains of Western culture and who has got into his head to proclaim the existence of another culture never does so in the name of Angola or of Dahomey. The culture which is affirmed is African culture….Colonialism did not dream of wasting its time in denying the existence of one national culture after another. Therefore the reply of the colonized peoples will be straight away continental in its breadth.”
Thanks for the link, interesting read and touched on some points that I would have never been in a position to pick up on or articulate.
Reminded of this ’cause I just watched an interview with Ta Nehisi Coates at SXSW:
His memoir is really, really good. I highly recommend it. Also, his graphic novel of Black Panther–also great.
And Tony & William, if you’re looking for a good book about race and feminism–Have you read any bell hooks?
I haven’t, no.
“Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center” is one I’d recommend. https://diyworkshop.noblogs.org/files/2015/10/Bell_Hooks_Feminist_Theory_from_Margin_to_CenteBookZZ.org_.pdf
And before I forget – yes, I am getting married on the 7th April so less than 3 weeks until the big day.
Congratulations, Good Sir!
Congratulations Craig!
Congratulations, Craig!
Tony and William – your idea about the ten commandment vigilantes has some logical gaps it’ll need to overcome. If ones job is to punish people for not keeping the sabbath holy, then how would that person observe the occurrence of these acts without working themselves (and thus having to punish themselves)?
There’s only one mall that Tony’s not allowed? Huh, I would have expected there to be more.
500 years: Nah, I don’t believe you. I can’t be THAT FAR behind in listening.
Tomb Raider: We saw it and I was disappointed. Felt like a B-movie with an A-movie budget.
Black Panther: I hear what William was saying and felt something similar after first seeing it. I agree that it’s a problem but Tony’s suggestion to just hangout with more black people isn’t realistic for two reasons. One, I’m not a very social person; so adding any people to my social circle is difficult. Two, while I vaguley know a (very) few black people, I don’t know how I could just start hanging out with them.
As for the movie itself, I’ve only seen it once so far but I loved it. Especially how all the women owned every scene they were in. Also, I didn’t find Killmonger’s motivations to be cloudy but pretty well-defined and I loved how neither the hero or the villain were wanting the wrong thing, so one could easily cheer for either side. It’s just the methods Killmonger chose to use were wrong.
Afrofuturist sci-fi: Well Tony, you say there’s a lot of stuff out there and should be reading more of it, so what would you recommend?
Ant Man & Wasp: We enjoyed the Ant-Man film and are looking forward to seeing this sequel but we only hope/expect it to be fun and don’t have any expectations that it might be good. And as William mentioned the bit from the trailer about abandoning their base; I have to bring up Dr. Pym’s “keychain” from the first Ant Man. If mass is conserved that thing would weight roughly 33-42 tons; yet he walks around with it with no issues. Additionally he’s able to un-shrink it and drive it out the side of the company building. How on earth did all the fuel and oils in a tank’s engine stay in their proper places while it was shrunk down to keychain size?
Mass Effect Andromeda: Apex Mission app, I tried this out (on an Android phone) and it kind of sucked. I found the app wasn’t very stable and frequently had problems logging into EA’s server.
Congrats to Craig on his upcoming nuptials.
ST:D – My thoughts are simple; I refuse to watch it until such time CBS releases it on a service that I subscribe to. I saw trailers for it and it looked alright, but nothing that would convince me to part with more money.
Frankenstein Chronicles: Watched one and it’s fun to see Sean Bean not die but I’m not feeling a great desire to continue it.
A good article about race that I read today.
(“Dear White America”) https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/12/24/dear-white-america/?mtrref=www.nytimes.com&assetType=opinion