<i>Black Panther</i> in widescreen: cross-disciplinary perspectives on a pioneering, paradoxical film

Griffin, Rachel Alicia; Rossing, Jonathan P.

doi:10.1080/15358593.2020.1780467

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Critics have understandably examined Erik “Killmonger” Stevens since his character has been recognized as perhaps the most complex in the film. Johnson and Hoerl (2020) comment that “Killmonger’s angry militancy is contrasted with T’Challa’s calm resolve” (p. 273) because, as Griffin and Rossing (2020) argue, Killmonger wants the throne in order to “arm and empower a global Black community” (p. 205). Johnson and Hoerl (2020) further suggest that the contrast between T’Challa and Killmonger “positions the audience to empathize with T’Challa’s commitment to protect his country from anticapitalist, Fanon-inspired politics of Black liberation and to celebrate when he succeeds” (p. 273).…”

Section: The Second Ritual Combat: T’challa Versus Killmongermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1 It has been celebrated for its pan-African cultural aesthetics, while being regarded as “a movie about what it means to be black in both America and Africa—and, more broadly, the world.” 2 The film’s popularity and acclaim, including being the first superhero film to be nominated for Best Picture by the Academy Awards, 3 has attracted the consideration of scholars, with much attention focused on issues related to the portrayal of the African Diaspora and concepts of Afrofuturism. 4 Additionally, Rachel A. Griffin and Jonathan P. Rossing (2020) have asserted that the Walt Disney Company, which acquired Marvel and the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) in 2009, imposed its “branding” and “its rigid commitment to formulaic storytelling” on Black Panther so that it could “withstand risk and failure if the MCU’s first Black superhero film did not fare well at the box office” (p. 209). While on the surface Black Panther may appear constrained by a formulaic narrative framework, a closer examination reveals that it portrays a nuanced version of masculinity that departs from the widely-criticized model of the hyper-masculinized superhero.…”

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confidence: 99%

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“Show Them Who You Are!”: Ritual Combat and Masculine Identities in Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther

Gearhart

2023

The Journal of Men’s Studies

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Societies have relied on different cultural mechanisms to cultivate appropriate and timely models of heroic masculinity, which have included oral tradition, art, epic poetry, and theatre. In contemporary times, cinema has become one of the primary venues to disseminate masculine archetypes throughout a society’s collective conscious. In certain cases, heroic masculinity can be manifested when characters embrace their valor, courage, and physical prowess for the greater good while eschewing the potentially toxic elements of their personalities and powers. In Ryan Coogler’s 2018 film Black Panther, the dichotomy of toxic masculinity and heroic masculinity plays out through a series of ritual combats. Black Panther applies traditional and historically relevant motifs to show how its superhero addresses the question of toxic versus heroic masculinity; and, in the end the film condemns toxic masculinity by portraying a hero who embodies strength, wisdom, and inclusiveness.

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Section: The Second Ritual Combat: T’challa Versus Killmongermentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“Show Them Who You Are!”: Ritual Combat and Masculine Identities in Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther

Gearhart

2023

The Journal of Men’s Studies

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“…Captain America himself was poised between promoting and abandoning USsanctioned international order, but among non-white Marvel superheroes, the tension between neo-and anti-colonialism grows even more explicit. In their Special Issue on the first black superhero movie of the MCU, Black Panther (2018), Rachel Griffin and Jonathan Rossing (Griffin and Rossing 2020) hone in on the conflict between Prince T'Challa (Black Panther) and Erik "Killmonger" Stevens. T'Challa ultimately concedes to facilitating the United States' preservation of international peace, while Erik Stevens plans to arm a "global Black community" (p. 205).…”

Section: Reconceptualizing National Sovereignty: Leng Feng Goes Abroadmentioning

confidence: 99%

When State-Endorsed Cinema Meets Marvel: A Study of Wolf Warrior II’s Global Superhero Vernacular

Kong

2023

Arts

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Chinese state-endorsed films have transformed in the past decade. These films make up the “new mainstream”, a genre defined by its ability to match strides with Hollywood commercial cinema. But, what exactly comprises Hollywood’s impact on official Chinese media? How does it manifest onscreen? Exploring the relationship between state-endorsed blockbusters and Hollywood, this article analyzes a pioneer of the “new mainstream”, Wolf Warrior II (2017). This film stands out as the inaugural collaboration between Chinese media conglomerates and Marvel Cinematic Universe directors. From this collaboration emerges the film’s protagonist, Leng Feng, an ex-soldier who saves civilians from rebel forces in Africa. As Leng enacts justice at home and abroad, however, affective portrayals of his feats foreground ambiguity over coherence and unresolvable impulses over a singular agendum. These melodramatic sites of contradiction, I argue, culminate in the film’s own “global superhero vernacular”. Such a vernacular aligns with transnationally circulating serial franchise logics, pushing the film’s connection with Marvel beyond local–global and state–market binaries. Ultimately, my analysis complicates the smooth thread that links together the superhuman individual, nationalist sovereign power, and international order, thereby re-evaluating state-endorsed cinema’s role within Chinese media cultures and social fields.

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“…However, as Olaoluwa claimed, at least in the instance of Nollywood, this is not entirely the case. The Nigerian film Indian Doctor (2008), one of the typical examples of Indian cultural imperialism germinating in the Nigerian film industry, did not degenerate into a slippery creation of a Westernism perspective like Black Panther (2018) [40], but used the contextual re-invention of Hinduism intexts to reflect on the mutation of Western modernity [39]. Such non-Western cultural imperialism no longer implies any hegemonic overtones.…”

Section: Responses From Developing Countriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Review of the Impact of Cultural Imperialism in the Context of Globalization to the Film Industry

Chen¹,

Shen²

2021

Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research

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Since the 1970s, though, cultural imperialism has been put forward and sparked a series of discussions, yet under the background of globalization, cultural imperialism has exerted more and more significant influence on the film industry of various countries. The impact of Western media flow on the film industry of other countries has long been hard to ignored. As the homogenization of the film industry has become a global problem, this paper further studies the role of cultural imperialism in the global film industry by discussing the origin of cultural imperialism and its development in the context of globalization. Both positive and negative influence of cultural imperialism on the film industry will be addressed. The article will take the response of the film industry in non-Western countries to cultural imperialism as the starting point to explore the possibility of the heterogeneity of the film industry under the influence of cultural imperialism.

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Black Panther in widescreen: cross-disciplinary perspectives on a pioneering, paradoxical film

Cited by 7 publications

References 8 publications

“Show Them Who You Are!”: Ritual Combat and Masculine Identities in Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther

“Show Them Who You Are!”: Ritual Combat and Masculine Identities in Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther

When State-Endorsed Cinema Meets Marvel: A Study of Wolf Warrior II’s Global Superhero Vernacular

Review of the Impact of Cultural Imperialism in the Context of Globalization to the Film Industry

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