Black Panther!

This afternoon, Fiona, KC, Lissa and I went to see the Black Panther movie.  We were supposed to go weeks ago but Lissa had the flu and wouldn't be able to come and then KC got sick right after she got well. Fi showed remarkable restraint waiting till they were both well so we could all have the time together.  

It was an amazing movie.  Much has been written about the fantastic costumes, the scenery the respectful representation of a number of African nations in the creation of the fictional country of Wakanda. All of that is true, but that isn't what this post is about.

This is about the importance of all kids being able to have larger than life super heroes to identify with and admire.  All 3 of my kids talked at considerable length on the way to the theater about how *finally* there was a real super hero movie for black people.  They spoke of how rarely you see a movie with a primarily black cast (and while we certainly have seen dramas with mostly black casts I think the whole superhero genre is so important to kids that this was their primary focus)  This is not to say that there haven't been occasional black characters in highly popular movies as well.  For instance, the new Star Wars has Finn.  That was great for KC who wanted to be him for Halloween before the movie was even out in theaters.  But it sort of left Lissa in the dust.  She is a very literal child and if a character is not black, she feels silly being her.  Black Elsa and a black Rey were not her cups of tea.  

This movie had so many cool characters that they could choose from--it wasn't just one or even two. And the characters had well drawn personalities.  There was nothing cliche about them.  Lissa was very drawn to the younger techie sister for instance. Young, smart and sassy, I won't be surprised if that is her choice for Halloween! Fiona was fascinated by the female warriors. KC of course is all about the Black Panther specifically and the way the movie fits into the jigsaw puzzle of other Marvel movies.  For him that is important too--that the Black Panthers story makes sense and has a place in among all the other super heroes.

We also had an interesting conversation on the character of Killmonger and how he planned to use Wakanda's wealth to further black power in a military manner.  Now we have Wrinkle in Time to look forward to--and we want to buy a door mat that says "Welcome to Wakanda!"

**disclaimer, I wrote this 2 weeks ago and somehow forgot to hit publish!