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“‘Black Panther’ Is Not the Movie We Deserve” by Christopher Lebron- Rachel De León

Posted by Rachel De Leon on

Throughout Christopher Lebron’s article, “‘Black Panther’ Is Not the Movie We Deserve,” he demonstrates a new point of view towards a recent Marvel movie. For children, tenagers,and even some adults,they could ave viewed this movie as a good movie as if it did what it was supposed to do. However, Christopher lebron shows that the image people recieve was incorrect. The movie was basically about racism and the different circumstances the writer and the director, Ryan Coogler, portrayed the topic. For example, in the article, it states that “The abundant evidence of his efficacy does not establish Killmonger as a hero or villain so much as a receptacle for tropes of inner-city gangsterism.” The movie, “Black Panther,” traces previous history and uses it as an example of how the movie is supposed to be. Throughput history, slavery, racism, and discrimination has came across in the lives of African Americans. Killmonger could not be demonstrated as a hero or a villain in the eyes of other white supremacy. In addition, Christopher Lebron uses the example of “The ultimate evil in the show’s first and only season is Willis Stryker (Eric Laray Harvey), another black man whom Luke Cage must defeat,” to illustrate the image various people have about White Americans towards African Americans. Luke Cage is a white man who is portrayed as the hero, while Willis Stryker is a black man who is portrayed as the villain. Even if racism is not as visible as before, it still exists, especially on popular films that most people have an interest in viewing.

 

Throughout the article, Christopher Lebron’s point of view actually surprised me because I specifically have not seen the movie but, most of my friends did. They viewed it as a great movie as if there was no issue to be addressed, when in reality there is. Racism should not be demonstrated as often as it typically is especially throughout movies, shows, and our president’s actions/ words. Most people watch these sort of things and might even receive the idea that if they were to be racist, it would not be addressed. Donald Trump has shown implication of this topic. He has used snaky comments on other races, and has supported racism in some occasions (even if he “doesn’t notice” it). While I was reading this article, I agreed with Christopher Lebron’s point of view towards this issue.

 

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Rachel De Leon

https://engl21001.commons.gc.cuny.edu/author/racheldeleon/

Comments ( 4 )

  1. Jeffery Rivas
    I would like to know more about what you found interesting/surprising from the text. I get that you are talking about racism, but support it with evidence from the text to make it stronger. Also, at the end explain why you agree with Christopher Lebron’s point of view towards this issue. I like your explanation in the first paragraph saying how whites are portrayed as the hero while blacks are seen as the villain.
  2. Tyara De Jesus
    I recommend this movie to you, I watched it and I too enjoyed the movie. I feel like since we watch movies and we search for entertainment rather than lessons it clouds our ability to look at contradictions. Christopher's perspective changed mine. He took his time analyzing certain scenes we see as nothing out of the ordinary. I completely agree with Christopher when he says this movies represents black men so wrongly. In this movie you have a "leader" who murdered his own brother, and that the son of that same brother was murdered by the leaders son. I feel it is all about perspective. You can say Killmongers acts were extreme but he was an orphan, and he experienced the African Americans in his community falling, and no one in Wakanda helped. I simply saw this movie like any other, with a happy ending, but now I see this movie did not do its best to shed light on the beauty of the African American community.
  3. Jamirka De León
    Rachel, I think that you did a decent job at summarizing Christopher Lebron's article and getting straight to the point on what it conveyed. I specifically like how in the end you connected it back to the present and the President's prejudice against multiple groups of people. I'm not going to lie, I didn't think of it like that because I was so shocked and focused on how a movie I thought was so great and socially innovative could have such a great flaw. After reading the article I went back and looked at some scenes from the movie and I was so shocked as to what I had been blind to before. I agree with Tyara, you should watch the movie so you can get a better sense as to what Lebron was talking about.
  4. Edward Mendoza
    Your comment was very through and I like how you used quotes to point to where you got your evidence for your reasoning. Also, you made very good points and connected those points to your explanations very well. While I do disagree, your points are very strong and I do see where you are coming from with your writing. I also like how you connected this to modern times with representations like Donald Trump and showed how the way of thinking supposedly supported by the movie black panther has a negative effect on the public.

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