Black Panther and The Godfather Saga

[FromStLouis]

From director Ryan Coogler :

"A big one was we realised we were making a film about a guy who lives in this secretive country

nobody really knows, he works with his family, his father dies, he has to step into this position of power, and it

was like ‘Oh man, we’ve got to look at The Godfather.’ So once we pivoted and looked at the Godfather films,

a lot of things opened up for us."

As a spinoff thread I wanted to explore this inspiration a bit. What do you think? @Milk N Cookies

Obviously both are their own films and the narratives don't follow one-to-one but I was struck by how BP reminded me of GF at times.

Boseman's performance reminded me a lot of Michael Corleone in GF1 especially in his body language and demeanor. A certain stillness to both characters. Measured and level-headed, but also, full of emotion running deep beneath the surface until it explodes.

Then there's Jordan's Killmonger. He really reminded me of O-Dog, but also Sonny Corleone. Stubborn and absolute in their positions. Both their deaths beg the question of what the outcomes might have been if they had assumed power.

Ryan Coogler on screening the film for Coppola :

"As soon as the movie was off, he said, 'Rewind it to the most important scene in the movie. The

scene where everything changed'," Coolger said.

Said moment is when T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) confronts Zuri (Forest Whitaker) about what happened

to Erik "Killmonger" Stevens (Michael B. Jordan) and his father, N'Jobu (Sterling K. Brown), years before in

Oakland. T'Challa had learned that his father T'Chaka (played by Atandwa Kani in the flashbacks) killed his

own brother N'Jobu, who had secretly been planning to arm the oppressed peoples of the world with

Vibranium. After killing his brother, T'Chaka left his nephew Erik (played by Seth Carr in flashbacks) alone in

Oakland so that the people of Wakanda would not find out about what had transpired.

"It's the original sin of Wakanda and the original sin of T'Chaka," said Coogler, who noted it was the most

crucial moment in the entire picture.

If you're a Godfather fan T'Chaka confronting N'Jobu had to put you in mind of Michael giving Fredo the kiss of death. Also like N'Jobu, Fredo thought he was helping the family but turned out putting Michael in danger of Hyman Roth and Johnny Ola. N'Jobu believed he was helping the oppressed black peoples worldwide, but in doing so Vibranium ended up in the hands of Klaw.

There's also Michael moving the family and operations out of New York and into Las Vegas, setting the course for his downfall. We're now seeing T'Challa move Wakanda (and its resources) out of hiding and into the larger world.

If you noticed anything else or want to dispute anything I've said above please do. I realize some of these might be reaches.

 

[Soymuscle Mike]

I think Killmonger is more like Mike than T'Challa.

T'Challa was being groomed to be king, whereas Eric (/Mike) got sucked into that life when they killed his dad (/Vito). He was also a soldier like Mike was. People forget that Mike has bodies on him from the war, he wasn't a stranger to warfare when he took over.

Sonny showed his shortsightedness again when he mocked Mike for it ("This isn't war where you shoot from a distance") whereas I think Vito understood that Mike had that in him. Even one of the cops was like "this guy's a war hero " before McClusky pops him.

Dope comparison tho and not a reach since Coogler said it's one of his influences.

 

[Soymuscle Mike]

A comparison for W'Kabi would be Tessio who becomes disillusioned with and betrays Mike because he's not giving him the vengeance he wants.

"Tell him it was never personal"

 

[gho3st]

there's no similarities