Black Panther’s cultural context plays a huge role in the movie’s success due to its portrayal of
African Americans within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. To highlight how this takes place, we must delve into the history of comic book movies and dissect the issues regarding how representation is portrayed within the MCU.
History of Comic Book Movies
In recent years, movies based on their comic book originators have begun to reproduce like crazy with works such as Marvel’s Avenger movies as well as DC’s own achievements with Batman, Superman and The Justice League. Whereas in the 1900s these films were not as mainstream, as they were often seen as childish for their fantasy take on life. The first comic book-based movie can be argued by many, but it is agreed that the Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941) was one of the first created in this genre. The picture was based on ‘Captain Marvel’ by Bill Parker & C.C Beck which starred in Whizz Comics #2 published by Fawcett Comics before being bought by DC comics. The 12 chapters the movie was split up into captivated the audience leaving them on edge due to the cliffhangers. We could relate this to how Marvel formulated Avengers: Infinity War with its huge ending linking into Avengers: Endgame making people curious and waiting in suspense, especially me. The Adventures of Captain Marvel was the start of something huge. Despite the poor yet fascinating effects which were seen as amazing in that Era as well as its clunky camera movement, it contributed to the increase in superhero films as well as the formula they followed.
From then on, you had often creations of comic book-based movies as such as Batman in 1943, Batman & Robin in 1949 and Superman in 1949. All these movies were 15-chapter serials that followed the same format as each other. Though contributing to the comic book movie genre, the movies were not gaining popularity. The constant use of multiple episodes bored the public as they would not understand what was going on in theatres if they were not there to see the previous releases. As the movies were post-war, they were not well received with the audiences as they were seen as aimed towards children and its use of propaganda in some movies such as Batman with anti-Japanese comments. People were tired of hearing about the war and now of cliché superhero tropes.
As years of repetitive hero films went by, a breakthrough finally happened. In 1978 the release of Superman forever changed the way superhero movies were perceived in the film industry. Superman’s special effects were supported by its $55 million USD budget (highest of any movie at that time) and astonished viewers who considered it innovative. One of DC’s most popular characters, Superman, grasped fans worldwide and so inspired more releases of the hit movie. Of course, this did not go well as the later films started to decline in quality, therefore plunging superhero films back into obscurity.
After that, DC started to populate the film industry with its constant releases which led to mainstream consumption in the late 90s. Though previously failed with its release of the 1990 Captain America, Marvel started to gather recognition. With their release of Blade in 1998, Marvel was finally able to influence the film market with franchises such as Spider-Man and the x-men films (which are personally my favourite out of their movies). This paved the foundation for them to finally create Iron Man in 2008, which kickstarted the Marvel Cinematic Universe which is one of the most popular superhero franchises in the world.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe – What is it?
First, it is important for those not as knowledgeable of the film series to have some small idea of what the Marvel Cinematic Universe is. The Marvel Cinematic Universe (or often referred to as the MCU) is a large vast range of superhero movies that all take place in the same timeline. The MCU all connect to tell a linked storyline with its characters and history whether it's through multiple realities or character standalone films.
Iron Man (2008) is the first entry into the MCU featuring the award-winning Robert Downey Jr playing as the film’s main character Tony Stark. Iron Man is an egocentric, arrogant multi-billionaire who is also a genius inventor. His vibrant charm plays into his character’s personality and development further down the movies such as Iron Man 2 & 3. The movie was so successful that it achieved a box office of $585.5 Million USD which was Marvel’s highest at the time. It even received a score of 94% on Rotten Tomatoes – which is now the 3rd highest rated movie in the MCU. Iron Man triggered a large amount of 23+ films being produced into what we now know as the MCU.
Marvel grossing more than $23 billion worldwide has undoubtedly made it one of the richest as well as successful franchises ever. This is all down to the MCU and its vast number of storylines and characters. This links heavily with how Marvel has now even ventured into the streaming market with their phenomenally successful shows such as WandaVision and the Loki series which both contributed to what many are calling the most phenomenal crossover events in media history. The MCU’s large universe would be too hard to navigate without its use of phases. So, the films are divided to display what movies are connected to each other in distinct sections (phases) that eventually all link together. The MCU has just left Phase 3 which was huge as it saw the audience leaving much-loved characters such as Iron Man, Captain America and others. It has now entered Phase 4 which is heavily influenced by the multiverse aspect of Marvel Comics, with releases such as Spider-Man: No Way Home, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and more. Marvel has only scratched the surface with its display of the MCU. With the future releases of many shows and movies we can only see more of this franchise growing as it will follow different storylines as well as characters.
MCU – Issues with Representations
In recent years, the rise of Superhero movies has increased rapidly with companies producing them such as Disney as well as Warner Bros Studio. Often dominated by the classic white, male protagonist, these films have paved an influential path within our lives with their realistic portrayal of characters. Marvel’s success in using the practical narrative to relate to the audience despite its magical setting has allowed for its huge popularity. Though at the same time, this turns away a lot of people with the franchise’s lack of diversity on screen. People complain about how Marvel fail at representation with their portrayal of women, people of colour, disabilities, LGBTQ+ aspects and more.
Those who have analysed the franchise have found this to be true with the little exposure of women within the MCU. An example is the main Avenger cast as only one female was present whereas there were 5 men. Obviously with new characters and storylines introduced we’ve seen an increase in female exposure but also the sexualisation of them, with their costumes and how they’re treated by co-workers. The same logic can be applied to other issues of representation like disabilities of characters. The Daredevil series on Netflix by Marvel is most known for its blind protagonist as well as his amazing combat abilities despite this. Though the show combats disabilities very personally, Marvel still lacks hugely with its portrayal of it in the MCU. For example, many were angry over how the MCU introduced Hawkeye without his hearing disability. This diverted from the comics and was viewed by fans as concealing the character’s impairment, therefore silencing not only his difficulties but those who are in similar conditions. This exclusion is a huge problem by Marvel as many view it as them silencing serious problems instead of trying to expose and bring light to them.
Only within recent years has Marvel started to delve into diverse cultural aspects of characters with modern movies such as Shangi-Chi and of course Black Panther. Shangi-chi plays the part of Asian representation as its sole bearer. The use of an Asian dominated cast highlights the lack of representation within the MCU throughout the years. The film switches from English speaking to the character’s native Chinese language to portray the difference and uses references from Asian culture to represent its cast.
Finally talking about our main topic, Black Panther. Marvel has largely lacked representation of those who aren’t Caucasian, despite its huge quantity of movies. As said previously of how diversity has started to increase, this is so for Black Panther and why it made such a huge impact with its release. Black Panther challenged this repetitive ‘White Saviour’ trope by including an African American protagonist. Not only does the movie contain a predominantly black cast, but it isn’t afraid to talk about African American history as well as the struggles those of colour have had to face due to oppression and other factors. Instead of following the conventional ‘American city’ the superhero must save, the film takes place in a fictional African country Wakanda. With America’s conventional portrayal of Africa as being a poor, filth-infested and undeveloped place, this was shattered by the film’s display of an advanced colony that is technologically superior to any other country. This was something new that appealed to the public. It appealed to those in society who were often underrepresented by Hollywood. Normally, only being portrayed in an offensive or undermining way, it highlighted their importance not only in this fictional universe but also our own. Therefore, Black Panther has not been seen as ‘another Superhero film’ but as something much more. It’s a key part of black pop culture and empowerment.
Though the film’s appearance has allowed pride in the black community, it should not only be popular only for its representation of African Americans as it’s a piece of media that should have already existed long ago. The fact it has taken until 2018 to portray a group of people in the media is something Marvel should be ashamed of. The film deserves its reputation as an outstanding piece of work, but Marvel shouldn’t be worshipped for its release as it only makes up a fraction of how limited the diversity is in their franchise. Hopefully, Black Panther should pave the foundation for more exposure of people of colour within the media and represent them in a way they will not be silenced or ignored.
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