BLACK PANTHER: THE DARK-SKINNED FEMINIST ANATOMY OF A BILLION DOLLAR BLACK SUCCESS

"Marvel’s “Black Panther” continues its record-breaking streak, passing the $1 billion mark at the global box office in just 26 days...

“Black Panther” has grossed $521 million domestically, making it the ninth-highest release of all time. In its fourth weekend, “Black Panther” is heading for a $40 million-plus weekend, which would make it the No. 2 superhero release of all time over “The Dark Knight’s” $535 million."

http://variety.com/2018/film/news/black-panther-billion-global-box-office-1202723326/ 

Black Panther is also doing well in China where it just opened on March 9th. It made 22.7 million dollars in one day, making it the third biggest Marvel movie to open in China. ]

Domestically, BLACK PANTHER'S success jumped out of the gate due in no small part to black people being hungry to see themselves on screen as something other than sidekicks and comic relief. 

Most black folks know this. A lot of non-black folks know it too.

But BLACK PANTHER being presenting black women as true equals in a fictional world with the most natural looking feminism I've ever seen is a huge part of its success as well. 

I went to the theater on opening night with every expectation that we'd see T'Challa's sister Shuri in the lab for only a moment or three just like James Bond's Q, the tech genius in most all Bond movies. And I expected Nakia, T'Challa's girlfriend, would smile, kiss, and send the Black Panther off into battle. 

In other words, I thought the Black Panther's sister and girlfriend would have approximately 5 cute little minutes worth of screen time a piece because men have not done well by us at the movies. 

For Okoye, T'Challa's general, I was hoping for a little bit more on opening night at the movies, maybe one short fight scene. I mostly expected Danai Gurira's charater to stand behind T'Challa and be a yes-woman.   

And I expected the girlish confusion to be presented at almost every step of the way, with a man to clear things up for them same as Chris Pine did almost every step of the way during WONDER WOMAN. (a "girlishness" which was praised by some white male reviewers of the movie and unnoticed by many white female reviewers of the movie.) 

But I did not get any women-business as usual at the movies with BLACK PANTHER.  

In this movie, the women are women (Nakia and Okoye) and the girls are tech saavy genius black girls (Shuri) who do what they are told but step into the fray when duty calls.

Future STEM Researcher

Nakia tells T'Challa Wakanda is wrong for being isolationist at the very beginning of the film. Okoye is more a partner and protector than a sidekick. Both Nakia and Okoye have major conflicts with their love interests. And while Shuri is indeed this movie's Q, Shuri winds up being at Black Panther's side during critical battle scenes.  

Most importantly, when the audience full of little black girls and little black boys sees King T'Challa making decisions they see him consulting with a board or directors, if you will, that is at least half women and includes his mother. Every opinion, male and female, is valued when big decisions are made about what course Wakanda should take.  

By the end of the movie Killmonger and #TeamToxicMasculinity have been defeated and King T'Challa has changed his mind toward what Nakia explained to him in the first few minutes of the film: With great power comes great responsibility a.k.a. The Spiderman Maxim but probably previously attributable to Jesus.

The story line for BLACK PANTHER was so packed with natural feminism --even if the Dora Milaje had not been in the film at all-- that I was shocked to find out that someone like WORLD OF WAKANDA writer Roxane Gay had not written major chunks of the screenplay. 

Apparently it was DIRECTOR/WRITER Ryan Coogler who very deliberately focused on having strong black female characters from the start.

Another major factor in BLACK PANTHER'S domestic success after (Massive Marvel Marketing, story line, controversial villain) is the presentation of dark-skinned women as heroes. 

The success of HIDDEN FIGURES and GIRLS TRIP and almost all of Tyler Perry's less than stellar movies should tell anybody in white Hollywood how hungry all shades of black women are to see themselves in any capacity.

But BLACK PANTHER gave us strong feminist black women, women whose racial identity you never had to look up on google to be sure she was black.  

ILLUSION OF INCLUSION: Paler than pale, bi-racial looking women
who may or may not identify as black, who don't have afro hair 

That is, the paper bag test was not used for hiring black women this time out. In BLACK PANTHER, a black director who has a black wife that cannot pass a paper bag test in the dark, chose black women actresses that are the same shade as the black male actors for a major change.   

Ryan Coogler and Zinzi Evans

With one possible exception, every big budget movie that has presented black women that are easily identified as black has earned far more money than expected. I expect our track record at the movies is going to have more and more impact. 

Maybe Lupita N'yongo thinks the same thing. 

She bought the rights to Chimamanda Adichie's  book AMERICANAH not long after she starred in 12 YEARS A SLAVE. Striking while the iron is hot, thanks to BLACK PANTHER, she's recently announced that she's again moving forward on that movie project.  

After the success of HIDDEN FIGURES, GIRLS TRIP, and now BLACK PANTHER I have every expectation that N'yongo will get all the money and encouragement she needs to get AMERICANAH the level of attention it deserves. I, for one, cannot wait to see how African women tell the story of a college aged black woman blogger from Africa moving to the United States.

Instagram: @mamaayi1/Instagram 

BLACK PANTHER should be a major stepping stone toward our diversity becoming a lot more diverse than it has been and also getting more black women's stories to the public.