I finally saw Black Panther and honestly, as an African person, it made me very happy and proud to see Africa on the big screen like that.
Although Wakanda is a fictional country in Africa, the movie still represented the motherland very beautifully.
“Where the sunsets are the most beautiful” — this resonated so much with me because it’s true. There’s nothing better than the sun in Africa. Although technically we all have the same sun, the one in Africa is the most beautiful!
And of course, the movie also represented the people beautifully.
Just look at this picture:
This scene, in which we saw every tribe of Wakanda standing on those rocks, made me go, “Yes! This is Africa! Look at all those beautiful people with their beautiful attire! ??”
Talking about the people, I know that we were all drooling over Michael B. Jordan and Chadwick Boseman shirtless, but can we just talk about the women in the movie?
I know that the movie is called Black Panther and technically it’s all about T’Challa becoming king and all, but when I watched this movie I really felt like it was more about the women being in charge and I was really here for it!
“Behind every great man there is a great woman.”
First, we have the best of the best, and my favorite, the genius Shuri (played by Letitia Wright).
She is in charge of everything that has to do with technology and science.
Honestly, if I were a superhero, she’d be the only one I’d trust with creating my costume, my weapons and my spaceship.
She really is the brain of it all and without her, Black Panther wouldn’t be Black Panther.
But she is not just the nerd with the cool inventions; she proved that she can actually fight, too.
And although it seemed like it was a joke, she did want to challenge her own brother, the new King of Wakanda, to a duel. It was seen as a joke, but I’m sure that to her it was very much real and she thought that she was strong and smart enough to actually get him. This proves once again that she is a true hero and that she is so much more than just the little sister of the King.
Then we have the general of the Dora Milaje, Okoye (played by Danai Gurira).
She’s a badass warrior.
She’s very strong and she is clearly in charge when it comes to fights. She’s not here to play, so you better not play with her or you might get your ass kicked.
But did you know that the Dora Milaje were inspired by the Dahomey Amazons?
And then we have Nakia (played by Lupita Nyong’o).
She used to be a Dora, but she doesn’t considers herself as one anymore. As she said in the movie, “I’m not a Dora!”
Nakia, although still a great fighter, just like the other women of this movie, has other goals. She wants to help people outside of Wakanda. She thinks that Wakanda is more than just Wakanda, and she wants to lend a hand to other countries of Africa, as well as other countries around the world.
She is the one who opened T’Challa’s eyes and pushed him to let the world know about the real Wakanda, so that Wakanda can help the world to take care of each other.
“Wakanda will no longer watch from the shadows. We can not. We must not. We will work to be an example of how we, as brothers and sisters on this earth, should treat each other. Now, more than ever, the illusions of division threaten our very existence. We all know the truth: more connects us than separates us. But in times of crisis the wise build bridges, while the foolish build barriers. We must find a way to look after one another, as if we were one single tribe.” — T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman)
All this to say that, women are badasses!
And we need more of them in technology.
More women in the army.
More women leaders.
More women healers.
More women in charge!
Although this movie was about opening people’s eyes about the true beauty of black people and of Africa, in my opinion, it is also about opening people’s eyes to women in general.
Women are more capable than you think.
Women are smarter than you think.
And we need to let our women lead the way if we want to teach the world to be more kind and to be better.
this post originally appeared on Medium and is reprinted here with permission.
images via Black Panther
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