i went to sleep thinking about “black panther”.
like,
i fell asleep watching most of the interviews from it.
the soundtrack was lightly playing within the background.
i think that’s why it was all in my dreams.
something i realized tho.
killmonger,
played by michael b jordan,
wasn’t really a “villain”.
this will include spoilers,
so don’t go past this point if you didn’t see it…
in my opinion,
killmonger represented black males within america.
even gay ones.
he represented the oppressed who wanted to fight back.
being black is one thing,
but being black AND gay can feel like hell on earth.
we are oppressed by our own as well.
even the gays oppress each other,
but thats a whole nother story.
so after hearing stories of this magical place called “wakanda” from his father,
he felt betrayed when he assumed he was murdered by them.
“i saw the claw prints on his belly”
killmonger was left behind and was running on hurt.
in some shape or way,
most blacks feel left behind too.
as he lived and trained out here,
this is why he saw more harmful things to black folks than the rest.
he felt they were living prosperous in wakanda,
while blacks all over the world were suffering.
he saw things and wanted war.
i find it funny he used a snow jackal the way they use us to get power.
so i had to wonder,
besides the killing and the robbing…
Was Killmonger really bad?
he didn’t “kill” t’challa on some random shit.
it was a fair battle as with m’baku.
killmonger was well within his rights,
although his motivations for power were more aggressive.
i do think his circumstance would have different if they took him.
like,
the whole movie is deep and has so many layers within it.
ryan coogler didn’t play when it came to giving it straight up.
i often wonder how the white folks felt watching?
even with like slave movies,
they are often painted as subtle villains and not “heroes” to us.
they have and continue to hurt us.
these movies are like a mirror and we get to express our pain in art.
like i said,
i’m so glad to see blacks in a whole new light.
we are deeper than a drug dealer or crackhead.
black vixens are not just brainless eye candy and sex slaves.
wakanda represented a better life and i’d move there in a heartbeat.
i don’t even care if i had to feed and raise those rhinosauruses.
just get me the fuck outta here!
lowkey: i would love to see a gay black “villian”,
targeting straights for feeling oppressed.
that would actually be pretty interesting.
As a descendant of people who chose bondage over suicide, I find the Killmonger character to be a problem. This character reminded me that much of the movie was filmed at a studio owned by Tyler Perry. As a dark-skinned, African American male with a degree from a prestigious university ( MIT in his case), Killmonger is a perfect Tyler Perry villain and must harm as many Blackwomen as possible. As much as I loved the movie, I couldn’t ignore that no Black Americans came across as anything but broken, damaged and expendible.
Killmlnger was a monster who wanted to destroy anyone who hurt him (or got in his way), moreso than liberate all blacks.
He killed the female who helped him, without hesitation. He choked the elderly woman, and wanted to wipe out T’challa’s family and Zurri, including ppl who were not responsible for his father’s death (who was killed justifiably). And ALL the people above were black.
From my read, he wanted to destroy another “enemy”, the white man, for the same reason…being hurt
His arming of blacks was to facilitate that, not truly liberate them as he himself self, his goal is to rule over them all and destroy anyone, any ppl, who oppose Wakanda, meaning himself.
End oppression? More like swap positions and he be the chief oppressor (rule the the right way…and we saw what that way was)
^i liked this breakdown of his character as well.
i forgot he choked out that poor older vixen in the glowing bush.
why did he have it burned?
i missed that part.
1. if he wanted to kill BPs family he would be done so. he empowered the wakandans to go out and help the rest of the world and he did kill those few who threatened his broader mission. The wakandans followed tge strongest leader and at ttat moment it was kollmonger… we do this…we follow whoever seems to have the power at the time. see how quickly kollmonger obrained ppwer begore he even gained his powers. The tribes couldve stopped him from killing Tchalla.
he burned the garden so he would be the last person to become black panther and have powers he was more the antagonist than a villain.
^oooooh ok.
clearly i was crying at that part and wasn’t paying attention LOL
i see your point.
i think that’s why daniel’s character switched so fast.
he wanted klaw dead and it looked like killmonger delivered.
He wanted to end all giving the next king power so everything he wanted it all to stop at him.
^so i guess he wasn’t trying to have children?
i swear mbj played that part so good.
it was better than his other “good guy” parts.
he is more confident as the antagonist
Nice review. For me Killmonger was a person I loved to hate during the entire movie. if there was one “fault” I saw in the movie it was the development of the character Killmonger. But with time a precious commodity I understand why Ryan had to make choices.
I still believed he could have added the 5 minutes or so in the timeline to develop the character more. Sure we saw when the little kid looked up and the ship left. Ok what was that all about? That question was answered in the movie later on. But WHY? What did he go through? Lets see how he was affected allowing him to get where we saw him. Not seeing or feeling that made me cold towards him. I think Ryan could have explored more.
Another problem i had with the character was what was his age? I thought I heard a reference of 19 but that was when he joined the army. But this was lost to me S i tried to appreciate his pain and all I saw was jealously despite his claim of being left aside. So I hated him.
On the other hand he was fine to look at. I thonk MBJ was suitably picked for the part. He was cold, hearltess and had no love. He killed his so called girl in a heartbeat. Really? She was “his girl?”. I don’t think so. Killmonger was such a great character to develop. I just wished we had more meat to eat if u pardon the expression. Lol.
^i agree with this comment!
he was such a stand out for me!
i wanted more!
i think because of time restraints,
we had to use our imaginations and create discussion after.
i wonder if they’ll bring him back in a future installment?
they always resurrect characters in the marvel universe.
“bury me in the ocean with my ancestors who jumped from ships, ‘cause they knew death was better than bondage.”… was such a deep quote.
That statement could easily be translated ” the only good African American is one who never existed because his ancestors committed suicide.” Other communities call that genocidal talk. But, then, most other communities don’t say it about themselves. Bury me in the land that my ancestors’ blood and tears fertilized as they kept the faith that better days were coming.
I didn’t think he was a villain. He was Malcom X and Tchalla was Martin Luther King Jr.
^kinda like professor x and magneto,
but in another way.