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I think that this video does a great job of explaining the impact of this movie and why representation matters. It is a series of interviews with Koreans about their thoughts about the movie, what their perceptions were of blacks were before and how it has changed since seeing the movie.
One of the most interesting series of comments come when asked their thoughts about the scenes filmed in Korea. As an American, I never gave any thought about the Korean gatekeeper, but hearing what the reaction was among native speakers made me realize that something that was meaningless to me was really important for another group. There isn't much that I think that Coogler got wrong with this movie but I now realize that he missed an opportunity with that role.
Oh, that was priceless, Shelly. Thanks for posting that. Also, I got some good laughs from the video about how Koreans felt about the Korean that was spoken in the movie. Especially, by the woman(who I think that you refer to as the gatekeeper) who was suppose to have been Korean in the movie. And I guess one of the reasons why I appreciated that part of the video so much was because one of my pet peeves is when talking to outsourced customer service representatives who are overseas... it really irks me when the American corporations who are saving so much money by decimating American jobs, can't put a little bit of that money into teaching overseas customer service reps better/more discernable English accents so that their American customers can understand what these reps are saying.
I was mildly surprised, but I guess it's the result of the passing generation. I'd have expected Korean audiences to sympathize with the anti-colonialism sentiment of the movie, but this is a younger generation.
That's also reflected in the expressed opinions that only with this movie are some of them seeing American blacks as "hip and cool," which is paradoxical because South Koreans have always been excellent in duplicating American black music and dance.
Yeah, but you also have to remember that one woman at around the 5:43 mark said that, "Black people are always cast as gangsters or hip hop artists, and in Korea, we refer to them 'black brother,' which is racist." Therefore, even though Koreans may duplicate American black music and dance, it also sounds like blacks in the Korean media are stereotyped by this, along with gangster roles in movies.
The African diaspora was central to the main villain's motivation, though. The plot wouldn't make sense as written in the Ozarks or Russia.
Exactly. I think that this is an issue that is difficult for non blacks to understand because it is a within culture issue that is between American Blacks, and African and other Black (mostly Caribbean) immigrant groups. I am not sure if other immigrant groups face the same issues but there has been a rift between black immigrants and black Americans in the sense that at times both groups look down on each other, an issue that may not be apparent to White America since both groups are lumped together in most people opinions.
This tension is alluded to throughout the movie. Some of the questions that were raised were "is it a duty to help those that are like us? Are all Black people really the same people? These are not questions with easy answers both within the fictional world of Wakanda and in the real world.
Yea. It's a fun movie. People like fun. Therefore it is successful. It should be. History is full of simple movies that did quite well.
I think these deep analyses are a product of race fetish akin to NBC commentators salivating over black bobsled athletes. Our society is looking for anything regarding African-Americans to celebrate and so we go over the top.
I grew up in a majority African-American city. Black culture is neither unappealing nor exotic to me. It produces everything from the exceptional to the mundane to the bad.
I am glad you liked the movie. So did I. However, I am of the opinion that thinking too much about what it means is a pretentious exercise in faux-intellectualism.
Yeah, but you also have to remember that one woman at around the 5:43 mark said that, "Black people are always cast as gangsters or hip hop artists, and in Korea, we refer to them 'black brother,' which is racist." Therefore, even though Koreans may duplicate American black music and dance, it also sounds like blacks in the Korean media are stereotyped by this, along with gangster roles in movies.
As I said, a younger generation than I experienced when I was briefly there.
I am comparing a comic book of the 1960s to its movie rendition of 2018.
They are the same character.
Or did you think this movie was just conjured up yesterday?
Right.... Same character, but you don't see a difference between a comic book from the 1960s that sold around 300,000 copies to a movie that cost $200 million dollars to produce and is part of $14 billion dollar entertainment juggernaut which dominants the motion picture industry at this time and which has been seen by hundreds of millions of people all over the world?
Roots was a historical account of a black family in America.
Black Panther is a comic book adapted to the screen.
One is historical truth while the other is fantasy.
They both deal with black people but you could said that about thousands of disparate things.
My bad because I used the erroneous word "connection" that you introduced into the conversation in post #366, when in actuality, I only made a "comparison" of Black Panther to the huge success of Roots and both their focuses on primarily characters of African descent and the conversation that they both sparked about race, Africa, oppression, and politics by a lot of people in my post #365.
Last edited by William Taylor; 03-08-2018 at 08:51 PM..
Funny, until I came here and saw this discussion, I did not see the movie as a Black culture thing. I just thought it was a reasonably good Marvel comic book movie where the majority of the characters happened to be black. I did not think anything of it form a cultural perspective. In fact, if someone asked me to describe the movie, I doubt I ever would have gotten around to mentioning that the actors are mostly Black. It just did not seem relevant to me when I watched it. Now I can see why some people see it that way, but I prefer to just look at it as a comic book movie that wa pretty good.
And that's probably because you aren't black.
Angela Bassett On Black Panther's Message For African-Americans | PeopleTV
Actually one of the impressive things about this movie is that it works both as a good comic book movie and as a deep social commentary that can serve as a launching point for a deeper conversation. I don't there is anything wrong with not caring about the commentary, but I don't think it is fair or wise to dismiss that it can exist within the entertainment.
For those that don't think there is a deeper meaning embedded in the film, take a look at this video of Coogler breaking down the casino fight scene. It is amazing to hear how things we don't even think about like costume color choice or fighting style was made to make a specific statement,
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Also, I got some good laughs from the video about how Koreans felt about the Korean that was spoken in the movie. Especially, by the woman(who I think that you refer to as the gatekeeper) who was suppose to have been Korean in the movie. 
And I guess one of the reasons why I appreciated that part of the video so much was because one of my pet peeves is when talking to outsourced customer service representatives who are overseas... it really irks me when the American corporations who are saving so much money by decimating American jobs, can't put a little bit of that money into teaching overseas customer service reps better/more discernable English accents so that their American customers can understand what these reps are saying. 
