I recently saw Black Panther in the theaters last Sunday and I found it to be an incredible movie, with an amazingly talented cast. However, I have never read the comics, but love Marvel movies and am going to review this movie. I will be focusing on the women of Black Panther and how they were the true starts/heroes of the movie.
While the main character of Black Panther was a man named T’Challa and he was a very likable main character/great human being, I was very impressed with the way the women characters were portrayed in this movie. Yes, like many typical Marvel movies the main character is a man and T’Challa was awesome, however unlike many Marvel movies there were at least more than one prominent woman character that actually did something.
This is uncommon in many Marvel movies, take The Avengers for example; there are all these strong male characters and then there is only one strong female character which is Black Widow. She is never the primary focus and is typically in the background more than the men. What I liked about Black Panther is that the three main women were not in the background and without them, the plot would not be as interesting.
There is Nakia who was T’Challa’s ex and obviously a rekindled love interest for him in the movie, she is a very strong woman that can hold her own weight. She is able to fight, is determined to find T’Challa when he falls off that waterfall during his defeat in a challenge against his cousin, Erik, and she is a true activist.
Then you have Okoye, who is the main warrior of the movie. Her fighting skills are kickass and she is able to fight without a man. On top of that she is smart, funny, and talented/will do anything to protect her country Wakanda, as well as those close to her.
Both those characters I mentioned above are great, however, my all time favorite character is Shuri. Shuri is T’Challa’s little teenage sister and is a genius. The have a typical brother-sister relationship and she is just hilarious. What I love about Shuri and particularly this image, is that she is tech savvy/has a passion for science. These are considered male dominated areas and so she defied that stereotype by showing us that women can be passionate about computers/good at science. She was always the brains behind T’Challa’s missions and constantly helped her brother out, she could also fight too. This picture is of her fighting for her brother and Wakanda, she totally kicks ass and is just a strong female character overall.
In summary, Black Panther was an outstanding movie with even more outstanding strong female characters. This movie combatted stereotypes in many ways and I was happy to see a Marvel movie embrace girl power. Just like this website https://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2018/02/17/ranking-the-ten-best-characters-in-black-panther/#11752d326dad, the women in the film are what really made Black Panther stand out and the fact that people could relate to them. Wakanda Forever!
Shuri was my favorite too. I also enjoyed how the kept the traditional hair styles instead of cganging them to more western ones. I feel that T’Challa’s mother was also important. While not one of the fighters, she plays the important role of advising T’Challa as well as aiding him in his time of need.
That is a great point you made about T’Challa’s mother, she does play an important role in aiding him and shaping him to be the man today, so I’d add her to the list as well. She is a very strong woman and I enjoy how in the film, the positive representation of family relationships.