Black Panther

The most recent action movie I have fully watched is Black Panther. I chose to write about the fight scene on top of the water fall when Killmonger came to take the throne from T’Challa through ritual combat.
The look of this film is very futuristic with the technology they have made with vibranium. The viewers see this technology with their aircraft, hidden city, medical use, and weaponry which you can see within my photo. Another huge aspect of this film is all of the main characters are African American which is very rare within media Most films with a Black protagonist and predominantly Black cast are about racial injustice but “Wakanda’s fictional setting permitted the cinematic narrative to flourish beyond the normative boundaries of Black suffering and racialized catastrophe that have become ornamental in Hollywood.”
Within the fight scene there are a lot of pretty brutal cuts and stabs made by their weapons that ended in an almost deadly blow to T’Challa’s stomach. The fight was pretty gruesome for being a PG-13 movie. Severe violence has been increasing in films made for children, research shows that “gun violence in PG-13 -rated films has more than tripled since 1985. They also observed since 2009, PG-13–rated films have contained as much or more violence as R-rated films (age 17+) films. These effects have led to concerns that viewers are more likely to engage in aggressive behaviours without understanding the physical consequences.” This can lead to real life consequences as a result from this type of film because kids do not understand the severity of their actions.
Furthermore, during the fight T’Challa is about to lose and die to Killmonger when Zuri steps in and stops Killmonger, telling him that he was the one that killed his father not T’Challa. Killmonger ends up shocked and stabs Zuri in the chest killing him instantly. The director made this decision of killing him off because a death within film makes the content more memorable. It is also proven that “featuring death in a television program increases the appeal of advertised products.”So by killing off Zuri the Marvel franchise will end up making a lot more money because of this decision.
Another aspect with the fight scene was the very quick cuts that makes the viewer more nervous and gives the scene a sense of intensity. When the cuts are made very fast and frequently showing different perspectives and moments within the scene, research shows “that cuts affect media perception and chaotic and fast audiovisuals increase attentional scope but decrease conscious processing.” By making these fast cuts within the fight it makes the viewer perceive the fight as chaotic and unpredictable, not knowing what is going to happen next. The only problem with doing this is that the viewer might not perceive everything that is going on within the scene because the cuts are so fast and frequent. Within the short fight I counted around 100 cuts. Even with this amount of cuts you do not really notice it because they are made very seamless and easy to follow.
In addition, Killmonger and T’Challa are two men with very good combat skills along with being very fit and muscular. This makes the viewer think that this is what you need to look like to be a powerful man or have power within a civilization. This can give a false narrative to men that by getting muscular you will achieve these things giving men negative views about their bodies. This is “similar to women who use the “ideal” female physique promoted by mass media as a referent point when assessing their own attractiveness, men also may be susceptible to examining their physique through the lens of media imagery. Possible implications of doing so include: a heightened drive for muscularity, elevated body dissatisfaction, engagement in various behavioural practices designed to increase muscle mass and, potentially, muscle dysmorphia.” By the media making superheroes with massive muscles and hyper masculine it can negatively impact their audience to have these negative views about themselves and their bodies.
Overall Black Panther was an amazing movie in general and made a massive impact for Black people everywhere but especially African Americans. On Box Office Mojo Black Panther ranked first for gross income in South Africa along with 6th for gross income in Canada and the USA making over 700 million dollars, and grossing over 1.3 billion dollars worldwide.

Bibliography
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