Street Peeper Zimbabwe Street Peeper April 2018 | Page 13

Black Panther is in many ways a love letter to black culture. Africa
has traditionally been an unsophisticated bit player in American
media, often portrayed as backward, savage, and chaotic in every-
thing from news coverage to films. It’s a portrayal that has left
little room for other interpretations, which is why Black Pan-
ther’s vision of Wakanda as a bustling metropolis of vibranium-
powered futuristic skyscrapers, racing trains, and soaring space-
ships feels so refreshing. film drew on a team of designers and stylists to showcase a very
specific, beautiful black aesthetic. In an interviewwith the New
York Times, Camille Friend, who oversaw the various hair designs
of what she calls “a totally Afrocentric, natural hair movie,” said
the entire production was considered against a backdrop of a big-
ger black cultural moment: “We’re in a moment when people are
feeling empowered about being black,” she says. “The hair helps
communicate that.”
Marvel movies often take place in grand, imaginative locales,
like Thor’s Asgard or Guardians of the Galaxy’s far-flung planets.
But nothing has been quite as audacious and poignant as Wa-
kanda, a vision of Africa that feels indebted to both Jack Kirby and
Octavia Butler, home to a thriving black population that repre-
sents our collective ingenuity and beauty. As a testament to black
empowerment, Black Panther is an important artifact, but it’s also,
quite simply, a big draw for black moviegoers starved for this sort
of vision. Told from a posture of power and pride, Black Panther is in many
ways a most necessary antidote for the black American experi-
ence in 2018, an elixir that provides escape into a world where
black Americans can imagine these conversations outside of the
white gaze. As black America feels under assault everywhere from
Charlottesville to the White House, it’s invaluable to be reminded
that we still have the ability to soar and take action like T’Challa
or Nakia or Okoye, to be strong black bodies of justice. The value
of that reminder is not just timely — it’s timeless.
It’s not just Wakanda’s skyline that makes an impact, though; the