The cultural significance of ‘Black Panther’ does not need further elaboration. It has been visited, revisited and tri-visited. But for me and many other actors of colour, it gave us hope – a hope that the superhero affairs in Hollywood will no longer be belonging to a few, but all of us.
The critical and financial success of ‘Black Panther’ opened up a lot of doors for actors of colour – because we are no longer funnelled into our niche to tell our own stories, and only our own stories. The road to a wider discourse has been carved out by the claws of this Wakanda protector. And at the centre of it, was Chadwick Boseman.
I cannot say I knew a lot about him prior to his first appearance as King T’Challa but because of his appearance in Captain America: Civil War, I started to look at his back catalogue. Only then I found out he had played a number of important African American characters in history. To be honest with you I didn’t gel with the Black Panther right from the start. I thought his inclusion to the MCU was a lip service to diversity, which up to that point was quite lacking. Falcon was relegated as a side kick and if you have actors of colours under thick prosthetic and make up, they are not playing who they are. Then come ‘Black Panther’. ‘Black Panther’ demonstrated that the MCU is not going to play lip services to heroes of colour. The accent they put on was not for a show but for an integrated lore to be built into this ever-expanding universe.
Speaking of accent, I was extremely impressed when Chadwick Boseman and John Kani were the people who canonised Xhosa as the official language for Wakanda, and Chadwick simply learnt it on the spot to deliver his lines. Their insistence to establish an official language for Wakanda made this fictional country even more realistic, and Chadwick Boseman’s decision to speak with an accent to show the pride of this ‘mother tongue’ had created a character with an extended world that are part of this world. It made Wakanda ‘real’.
It was because of this realistic treatment of this fictional country that Wakanda forever became more meaningful. The elaborate way of ‘Black Panther’ to weave the African culture into the movie, e.g. the importance of dancing in the ceremony to distinguish its culture from the Romans, breathed life into this technologically advanced nation with a long colourful cultural history. It lets the culture to completely own the production and blast through the common generic visage of a Hollywood blockbusters.
To a certain degree, in my opinion, ‘Black Panther’ made ‘Shang-chi’ possible. As an Asian Australian actor, I tried very hard to be part of ‘Shang-chi’ because I understood the cultural significance of this production to especially Chinese actors. For me at a point, it was the moment and history I wanted to be part of. I didn’t score a part in the end but this did not eliminate or reduce the importance of ‘Shang-chi’ to me. I am sure when ‘Black Panther’ was being produced, a lot of African American actors or African actors felt the same. And from what I read and what I saw in all those featurettes and documentaries, it seemed that Chadwick Boseman did extend his role as the King of Wakanda with the director Ryan Cooglar in real life to introduce his fictional nation into this world.
His war chants will always be remembered. His growth from a prince of vengeance to a real leader of the nation will also be remembered. His commitment to make ‘Black Panther’ a culturally significance piece of work in the movie history will also be remembered. Chadwick Boseman had achieved a lot not just for him, but also for a lot of people within his short life and career. May peace be with him and his family.
All hail to the real King of Wakanda Chadwick Boseman.
