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Summary: "Black Panther" continues to find success in the box office becoming the first movie since "Avatar" to hold the number one spot for five consecutive weeks. the movie in total is aproaching $1.2 billion dollars and is expected to surpass both the "Avengers" in highest grossed superhero movie domestically as well as being the highest grossing solo superhero movie of all time above "Iron Man 3".
Analysis: Representation in media is crucial for how one perceives themselves in relation to the world. Movies such as "Black Panther", "Moana", and "Call Me by Your Name" are some recent portrayals of minorites by major producing companies that bring light to stories that are often times overlooked or made into secondary plots of other movies. "Black Panther" derives success from it's portrayal of an African superhero, but also with his supporting cast of female heros. The portrayal of women being fierce worriors as well as extremely intelligent inventors adds depth to a genre that is not known for inclusivity.
Questions:
1)Why do you think "Black Panther" has been so successful?
2)Why do you believe representation in the media is important?
3)What further steps do you believe media should take to further integrate different minorities into films?
10 comments:
I think you make a great point here. First off, Black Panther was very hyped up since whenever its trailer was released, and the soundtrack was received positively by many people so I think that was a major factor in the box office collections. However, I also agree that its portrayal of African Americans in a stronger light, and also the "Wakanda" country being so advanced in the movie, have all been important to the movie's popularity. I think that representation in the media is becoming important in this era because the media is such a widely known industry, and it is a way for a lot of people to form opinions about society. I think that the industry could really have more minorities playing major roles, and having minorities in more superhero movies is probably the best way. These movies are watched by all ages, so having minorities play important roles in these types of movies would make a bigger impact on society.
I think Black Panther has been so successful because it’s something new, different, and long-desired. Additionally, aside from having racial minorities play the big roles in the movie, it’s a very good movie. Everything was well planned out and the action in it was amazing. Representation in the media is important because currently, movie producers and actors are not representative of the population and people watching those films. Additionally, there is clearly a lot of ignorance and lack of awareness about minority groups in our society and it is therefore even MORE important to have media representation. It would serve to “normalize” differences and to hopefully end the negative stigma surrounding minority groups. Overall, I think the media is on the right path to representation. I just hope they continue to do so because people clearly love it. Also, I think its important to portray minority groups as normal people and not to overdramatize specific aspects of their culture. For example, while Black Panther was great, they should do more films were black actors are just that, black actors and not necessarily “warriors” all the time.
I think that, yes the diversity and the inclusivity of this movie is the cornerstone to its success. I think these things are what initially drew people to the movie, and it is part of what makes the movie so good, but I think the reason it has been able to stay on top of the charts for five weeks is because on top of all of that, all the diversity and the new characters and the amazing role models, it is simply an amazing superhero movie. And of course, it is a huge step forward for Hollywood that such an amazing superhero movie, with such a good plot and character development, can be filled with so much diversity, so many strong minority actors, and headed by an inspiring African-American director.
I think Black Panther has been so successful because of everything you said. Representation in minorities, fierce women, women in tech industry, etc. I think representation is very important because we don't always have films that are almost all minorities, most of our films are white-americas so it is a very important quality for Hollywood to have and to keep improving.
I completely agree with what you said and several comments above. I think that the movie has been so successful because of the diversity. Like Lydia said, I think the movie in general is outstanding. There are so many components to this movie that are great, including the plot, acting and music. Representation in the media key because it helps bring attention to important topics in the public. It gets society involved and it raises conversation.
I agree with many comments, I think this movie has been successful because it represents a minority being the hero of the story. Although it is done more and more now, we don't see many minorities being portrayed as the hero and the main character of movies. People naturally gravitate towards action/superhero movies and this one was particularly popular due to the fact that it is so unique. Movies have done a great job lately bringing up topics that we don't talk about enough. They make these topics public and easier to talk about. Media plays a huge part of opening up conversations and bringing everyone together.
I agree with how the reason why the movie was so successful was because of how they portrayed an African American hero along with strong women warriors. Representation in the media is important because that is where people engage their opinions and thoughts. Also like Julia said, the media brings people together. I think that in this generation, media has played a huge role in confronting many issues, and shines the light on those that have been discriminated. By creating more movies with minorities as main characters would definitely bring a positive impact on the perception of them and have huge influence on society.
If were being honest here, the actual movie itself was nothing really new or special. Giant explosions and special effects and crazy guns are nothing new to the Marvel world of movies. Of course, the movie was still beautiful and humorous. But the main reason why this film was such a success is because it is so iconic. They are Marvel's first ever African American superheroes, and to be honest, they are extremely badass. Diddy has a term for this kind of icon: "Black excellence." Finally young African Americans have a superhero(s) to look up to instead of your average Nordic Thor kind of guy. It's a huge step forward in the film industry, and a huge confidence boost for everyone. Anyone can be anyone. I think that's the message, and it's a great one because people should be free and be themselves. Wakanda Forever.
Most representation of black people is either as slaves or criminals. We are not used to seeing movies that are based off of our accomplishments or excellence. This is why movies like Hidden figures and Black Panther got a lot of hype. I disagree that this movie is not different than other superhero movies because it was. In the movie there is no clear "villain" that everyone is rooting against.
I think, as Claire suggested, Black Panther has been successful because it is a film that focuses on black people and their accomplishments as opposed to their history of oppression. While I think those movies that tell the stories of oppressed communities are empowering as well, I think Black Panther helps to redefine the way many audiences around the world view a group that isn’t always represented in media in the best way possible. I really do think representation in the media is important. We’re all active consumers of the media, and growing up in an environment where we (women, POC, and WOC) aren’t accurately represented or represented at all can be dangerous to our developing mindsets. Whether we realize it or not, films guide us – they give us a framework for what is and isn’t acceptable in our society. So to be able to see a world, even if it’s fictional, be created and representative of people’s identities is incredibly empowering. I think, though much of the change comes at the top of the film industry through inclusion riders, for example, we can do our part by supporting films that cast, are produced by, or are directed by women or people of color. Some of these come in the form of small independent films, but I think the simple act of paying attention does wonders.
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