The Power of _Black Panther_

A few days ago, I posted about my response to Marvel's Black Panther. In it, I embedded this tweet from Josh Gad:

There are cultural cinematic events that happen every so often. “Jaws” broke open the tentpole. “Star Wars” redefined the blockbuster. “Wonder Woman” gave us a heroine 4 the ages. And something tells me #BlackPanther is about to carry the torch & set the whole thing on fire again

— Josh Gad (@joshgad) February 12, 2018

I realize that Josh Gad was talking in terms of a cinematic revolution -- after all, the comparisons he draws are cinematic ones. The implication of it, of course, is that Black Panther -- and its attendant success -- will signal a new shift in cinema, perhaps marking the day when Hollywood (executives) realize that a movie like Black Panther -- an all-black cast, with a black director, and representation of African culture -- can return a blockbuster investment.

But what Josh Gad's tweet doesn't explicitly address, but what he alludes to, is that Black Panther isn't just a cinematic event, it's a cultural cinematic event -- that the ramifications extend far beyond Hollywood.

Case in point:

Story via The AV Club

Y'all.

That is a powerful statement of the impact.

And sure, the AV Club gets a little snarky with their comment about there being "only so many disappointing Toy Story-themed Disney World attractions you can blow your money on at one time" -- which isn't entirely fair, since as much as I hate when Disney "kills" my favorite old-school rides, part of the success of Disney theme parks is how they continue to evolve, but I digress -- but the story is there.

A cinematic cultural event, indeed.

Just Because Something Works...

...doesn't mean it can't be improved.

BRB--Printing this off to hang up in my office. I mean, it's applicable to writing and revision, right? Just because you write a first draft and it works doesn't mean it can't be better.

GO SEE BLACK PANTHER.

I'm not usually one for Teh Capslock, but in this case, I feel like it's warranted: go see Black Panther. 

This weekend, my husband and I visited my in-laws up at Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia. It's a bit of a touristy spot in the Blue Ridge Mountains of rural Southwestern Virginia, so it's nice and quiet in February. My mother-in-law loves quality time with her grandbabies, so we were able to sneak away for a few hours in the afternoon to see Black Panther at a local cinema -- where it was not difficult to get tickets. We walked up about 20 minutes before an afternoon showing and had walked right in. There were...maybe 20 people in the theater?

But it was fascinating -- it was wonderful -- to overhear the conversations of the people sitting around us. There was an African-American couple sitting a few seats down from us who frankly admitted that they didn't know anything about comic book characters or the other Marvel movies -- but they'd been to see this movie Friday night, were here again on Saturday afternoon, and couldn't wait to take their grandbabies on Sunday after church.

That's the power of this movie, y'all.

There are cultural cinematic events that happen every so often. “Jaws” broke open the tentpole. “Star Wars” redefined the blockbuster. “Wonder Woman” gave us a heroine 4 the ages. And something tells me #BlackPanther is about to carry the torch & set the whole thing on fire again

— Josh Gad (@joshgad) February 12, 2018

I'm going to try and post non-spoilery thoughts, because this is a movie that shouldn't be spoiled.