HOW BLACK PANTHER REVOLUTIONIZED NIGERIA

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It landed with much fanfare and jubilations on February 16th and would go on to live up to expectations. Not only is it the first superhero movie with a predominantly black cast, it is also the most expensive movie to be directed by a black director. Director Ryan Coogler surprised and delighted us with his amazing vision of a black superhero in an Afro-futuristic setting.

Black Panther will go on to be regarded as the worldwide cultural phenomenon of the year; we will always remember 2018 as the year we first had a predominantly black superhero movie. it has already earned wide spread critical praise and performed beyond expectations at the box office earning and breaking several records along the way. With a vibrant cast that includes the likes of Chadwick Boseman, Michael B Jordan, Lupita Nyong’O and more, the movie has gone on to be embraced by movie goers worldwide and no less here in Nigeria.

Nigerians trooped out en masse to view this much talked about movie that actually featured Africa in a positive light and trust us Nigerians to be proud of the fact that references were made to our country, including the Hausa and Yoruba inspired languages and costumes and the Igbo inspired music video made by Kendrick Lamar, one of the contributors to the soundtrack. Knowing our Igbo brothers, he will probably soon be made an honorary member of the Igbo men association.

“Black panther is different” is what most people have come to agree on; it is a game changer. It’s no secret that Hollywood has a problem with diversity, and an even bigger problem with portraying Africa in a positive light. Black characters are mostly relegated to the background or left underdeveloped. And this is a major problem in superhero movies; the genre that major studios seem to only be spitting out these days. Nigerian moviegoers love their superhero movies, sure, but they are not particularly excited by it; another comes out, we go to see it when we are bored or going on a date then immediately forget the story as soon as we leave the cinema or finally get that girl to agree to date us. People actually went to see black panther because they were genuinely excited to see a superhero movie that made references to contemporary Africa in a positive light, different from the usual Hollywood fare where we are either the terrorists molesting little girls or the uncultured immigrants.

Even before its release rumors were already floating around that Funke Akindele and later Genevieve were part of the cast, alas, it turned out to be false (though how awesome would that have been). It was the number one trending topic on the Nigerian twitter scape for days after its release and many users even changed their usernames and bios to reflect their newly adopted Wakandan roots; there were even reports of some people wearing Agbada to go and see the movie.

It actually made us not to be ashamed of being Africans, and when something is this popular, trust Nigerian Politicians to jump on the bandwagon, especially with 2019 around the corner. When they are not busy blaming snakes and monkeys for stealing money, it seems our politicians are also on the Wakanda train, with many suddenly talking about the movie including Presidential aspirant Atiku Abubakar who went as far as to queue at the ticket line to see the movie.

The phenomenon that is Black Panther has finally come but here’s to hoping that this will lead to better minority reputation in mainstream movies and who knows perhaps one day we would get a superhero movie with a Nigerian main character and setting.

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