👀 We all know the truth: more connects us than separates us.
#51 | Wakanda Forever 🙅🏿♀️
As soon as Marvel’s Black Panther hit screens in 2017, it became a cultural phenomenon. Its historic box office success and Oscar recognition made waves across social and traditional media.
More than anything else, this superhero movie sparked discussions about the importance of representation in something grand that also, groundbreakingly, celebrated Black culture.
Wondering why I’m bringing this up now? 5 years later? Not really an obscure nugget, is it?
The official trailer teaser of Wakanda Forever is making the same ripples, more so than its predecessor. It seems like another love letter to black culture with the audacious and poignant Wakanda, a vision of Africa created by Jack Kirby and Octavia Butler.
All this made me very nostalgic, and today’s Just One Thing just had to be about what made Black Panther one of the best MCU movies, if not the BEST.
The costuming that was a celebration of African history merged with contemporary design movements. #WakandaHereToSlay
Black women’s hair is political. Black women’s hair is symbolic. And the movie just gets it right (with the men too).
Music from Kendrick Lamar and Ludwig Goransson only lifted the movie up.
The rift between T’Challa Vs Killmonger was so representative of familiar ideological debates #WhatBlackPantherMeansToMe
A shift toward stories that centre Black narratives as Black narratives.
The creation of a world where these conversations were imagined outside the white gaze.
A refreshing, if not perfect, reprieve from misogynistic media
And now, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is set to slay our screens with one of the most emotional chapters in MCU history. The tragic loss of Chadwick Boseman, aka King T’Challa, masterfully woven into the trailer, only reminds us of what a tremendous loss it is. But that’s Just One Thing for another day.
Yours,
Nikita – Nakia – Nikita – Nakia (don’t burst my bubble I am mourning my king)