Movies are meant to entertain and sometimes teach a lesson and Black Panther did not just do both, at least in my estimation, it did both very well. By far the best marvel(action/comic) movie I have seen in the past 3 years; it is funny, has a nice storyline to it, touches on the ills in society, especially those perpetrated against ‘blacks’ and other minorities. It has a civil rights message to it. It’s message to Africans in the diaspora and at home is subtle but very powerful.
As I watched the movie, I learnt some lessons; it felt like the movie was talking to Africa and especially her leaders. Oh wait a minute!! you mean you haven’t seen it yet? Don’t worry, this is not a spoiler; I am going to be generic as possible and not give anything away.
A call to ‘better the lot’ of our people##
“In the abundance of water, the fool is thirsty” so the popular African proverb goes. Africa is one of the richest continents if not the richest in terms mineral or natural resources and yet abject poverty permeates the continent. It is baffling why one can be so rich yet so poor. The movie calls on African countries and for that matter their leaders to tap into the mineral wealth of their countries in other to better the lot of their people. In order to achieve this, I believe African leaders must do away with greed and selfishness and put the betterment of their people first as opposed to their parochial interests and personal aggrandizement. Secondly, African parliaments must do away with all those bad colonial mining laws. Can you believe that most African countries retain less than 10% of the wealth from mining? These big Western mining firms take about 90% of the wealth of Africa to their nations. Our parliaments must enact laws to ensure that about 60% of the money from mining in Africa is retained in Africa. Thirdly, just like Wakanda sent some of its sons to learn from the western world, our leaders must invest in some bright students to go and learn new technologies in the western universities in order to come back and help Africa with the new expertise.
A reason to come back home##
The movie thought a powerful lesson on how Africans in the diasporas (African Americans) feel about their ‘Motherland’ a.k.a the continent of Africa. On the one hand, they see this beautiful continent of Africa, where their ancestors were carried into slavery from. They believe Africa has a great potential. They would love to return to the continent sometime; they would like to live with their own kind, where they won’t be judged by the color of their skin.
On the other hand they feel betrayed and let down especially when history told them that their ancestors weren’t captured and carried away into slavery but that they were sold to the white man by their own people. They feel betrayed by the fact the whole of Africa did nothing whilst their forefathers suffered severely under slavery in the Americas. Most African Americans I have met in the USA would like to return to live in Africa someday. The problem is that they don’t know what to expect - whether their ‘brothers’ and ‘sisters’ in Africa will accept them or treat them with disdain. Whether there would be well paying jobs in Africa for them to do. And lastly, whether Africa will be developed enough for them to enjoy life here. Clearly tied with the first point above, the Black Panther movie is a call to African leaders to advance the development of Africa to give our brothers in the diaspora a strong reason to come back to the motherland where they will not be looked down on with contempt because they are black.
Development must be self-development##
The 3rd lesson I learnt from the Black Panther movie which African leaders must also learn is that, development must be self development. According to the theory of development, development must be from the self; nobody can develop you for you. Development must be from within. Africa must avoid going to the developed world “with cup in hands” and find solutions to its problems from within. We develop by finding solutions to problems we encounter along the way. One fundamental problems of Africa is trying to build Africa on alien or colonial foundation.
We can’t resolve evil with evil##
It is obvious that so much evil has been perpetrated against Africa by imperial Europe. Talk of Slavery, Colonialism and unfair trade practices. When the western world refers to the world, it refers to America, Europe, Australasia and some parts of Asia; it is as if Africa doesn’t exist-like in the movie, it’s as if Africa is hidden from the rest of the world. This notwithstanding, we must not dwell in the past and seek to find opportunity to repay evil for evil but we must look ahead and find ways to better our lot and our people. To explain this lesson better, consider this Ghanaian proverb: “one does not stand in the colony of ants in order to rid himself of ants”
United we stand, divided we fall##
Last of the lessons African leaders must learn is as stated above. The senseless wars which split families apart must stop. Colonialism has divided Africa into French speaking, English speaking, Portuguese speaking, Belgian and Dutch parts. This development has made it hard for Africa to become united. If Africa will have any chance in this modern world, we must be united.
I have been to the cinema to see many movies but the positive response this movie received was awe inspiring. At the end of the movie, children,teenagers, adults, Black , white and colored all rose from their seats and applauded to the movie. All the cinemas in Cleveland were overbooked for this movie. 10minutes after the movie had ended, people still remained in their seats. Even though it was cold, I put on my African regalia and I was like:
Which country in Africa will be Wakanda? Is it Ghana? Nigeria? Cote d’ voire? South Africa? Botswana? Only time will tell. For now, all I can say is that Wakanda is hidden from the rest of the world. Kudos to Marvel Studios for Black Panther - I give it an A and this is not because I am black.
