The success of Black Panther has been a major cultural phenomenon that has once again proven the power of representation. To many, it’s more than just a superhero movie; it’s a chance to see themselves, their communities and culture—not only represented on screen—but represented in a positive light. However, it could be argued that the movie’s impact goes beyond mere cultural representation. For a great number of people in African-American and African communities, the world of Wakanda not only offers a glimpse of what could have been, but what could be.
What makes Black Panther quite exceptional is that it provides a rarely seen Afro-centric view of African cultures that draws on the concept of Afro-futurism: an art form that fuses fantasy, speculative fiction, and science fiction elements with Black culture. It allows for the subversion of preconceived notions of history and race, through envisioning an often utopic future or place where Black culture and innovation is in full bloom and celebrated.
The power of Afro-futurism lies in its ability to provide a platform to a people whose past has been deliberately rubbed out, and whose voices are continuously marginalized, in order to explore what a space, where they have agency over their own narratives, would look like. It caters to the needs of marginalized people by providing them with an opportunity to see themselves and their potential, despite what the world has labeled them as or reduced them to. So, it’s not too surprising that the creation of a world embedded with Afro-futuristic elements has received such an overwhelmingly positive reaction.
Despite its fictional nature, the nation of Wakanda functions as a place where centuries worth of aspirations and dreams of real people and communities are stored. It acts as a kind of liminal space; a place between the future and the present, that holds several versions of the future lying in flux, waiting to be fully realized. Its appeal is found within its imaginary borders, where people—especially people from marginalized communities—are given the opportunity and space to begin looking beyond the consequences of the past, and instead visualize what their collective future could be.
The staggering amount of positive reactions that Black Panther has managed to garner, highlights how important it is for people from minority communities to be given the chance to take control of their own narratives. Doing so will allow them the opportunity to authentically portray the realities of their communities and showcase how they actually see themselves. It will give them the much-needed space to explore the complexities that exist within their identity and figure out how to address the problematic facets that exist within their communities. But most importantly, I believe that having greater minority representation in media will enable people within minority communities to have a greater control of the evolution of their identity, and that way, they can better map out their future and begin to redefine what is possible for themselves.
Graphic by Manoj Thayalan
