What should a Black superhero property aim to teach?

[WIA20XX]

When i read Coogler's interviews in 2018, in which he said T'Challa was the enemy (to Black-Americans) and that Black-Americans wouldn't connect with T'Challa if he didn't make the plot what it was (with Killmonger American and related to BP as a simpathetic villain to humble BP)... i knew instantly he missed the entire point of superheroes.

Given the sea change in how Black America thinks about itself, I think Coogler was right.

Black America is different now than it was in the 80s and 90s, imo

• You've got the Tariq/Tone/Yvette contingent.
• You've got the Trump Contingent
• You've also got a lot of Black Americans going out of their way to hate on Afrobeat.
• Lotta folks rejecting 1-drop and demanding other sorts of purity

Verified Blackness is a new thing, simply having Black Skin, Black Hair, or Black genes is not enough.

TBH, all that stuff has been simmering in the background for decades - but in 2024 - what was joked about in certain circles, has become visible movements online.

Maybe Coogler missed the point on what super heroes represent, but he certainly understands the zeitgeist of Black America.

• Black America is not interested in seeing English Blacks take Black American roles.
• Black America doesn't give AF about what's popping in London on GP
• Black America isn't watching Lupin, even if the Lupin is now African
• Kamala who? Better go back to New Dehli with all that.
• Does not want to hear any Reggae, Soca, Calypso, and most definitely not any Afro Beat.
• And don't even get me started on Black American Women's gripes...

He gets where the audience is, not where he wants the audience to be...

 

[WIA20XX]

Black Super Hero in 2024 - what should he/she teach?

Remember this movie?

Genius Level Black Kid out smarts everyone and moves away with his family?

Fresh (1994) ⭐ 7.5 | Crime, Drama, Thriller

1h 54m | 18

www.imdb.com

Box office ; Budget. $3,500,000 (estimated) ; Gross US & Canada. $8,094,616 ; Gross worldwide. $8,094,616.

Great movie if you've seen it. It's like The Wire with a happy ending.

And it didn't make any money. People wasn't trying to see this.

This "real life" approach is just wrong.

Comic books are escapism. Trying to hammer "life lessons", "codes of conduct", and "black philosophy" into something aimed at young(ish) people is why Fat Albert was always so horrible. (Like watching Christian Cartoons) It's why Tyler Perry and Spike Lee tend to yell MESSAGE and lose people. All that Akeelah and the Bee, Hidden Figures, Color Purple (og and the musical) - no matter how well done, no matter how well intentioned - is never gonna get the love of a Bad Boys, or a Bernie Mac, of a Nipsey Hustle, of a Kendrick Lamar.

You want to see some downtrodden underdog, power up, and take on the bad guys. (in style, with some sauce)

There's a reason that Anime/Manga has made such inroads into our community.

Folks are not trying to get specific Black American survival lessons.

They want to be entertained, not educated.

 

[DOSDUMUNI]

One that shows the kids that it’s cool to be smart

Protects and values our women

With swag and a mouthpiece

 

[Primetime]

Given the sea change in how Black America thinks about itself, I think Coogler was right.

Black America is different now than it was in the 80s and 90s, imo

• You've got the Tariq/Tone/Yvette contingent.
• You've got the Trump Contingent
• You've also got a lot of Black Americans going out of their way to hate on Afrobeat.
• Lotta folks rejecting 1-drop and demanding other sorts of purity

Verified Blackness is a new thing, simply having Black Skin, Black Hair, or Black genes is not enough.

TBH, all that stuff has been simmering in the background for decades - but in 2024 - what was joked about in certain circles, has become visible movements online.

Maybe Coogler missed the point on what super heroes represent, but he certainly understands the zeitgeist of Black America.

• Black America is not interested in seeing English Blacks take Black American roles.
• Black America doesn't give AF about what's popping in London on GP
• Black America isn't watching Lupin, even if the Lupin is now African
• Kamala who? Better go back to New Dehli with all that.
• Does not want to hear any Reggae, Soca, Calypso, and most definitely not any Afro Beat.
• And don't even get me started on Black American Women's gripes...

He gets where the audience is, not where he wants the audience to be...

I respectfully disagree. T'Challa isn't black American just like Thor isn't white American, yet the target audience (kids) don't give a shyt about that, didn't know or care the lead actor wasn't African, nor do they care about Tariq or Donald Trump. They just want to see a cool superhero who looks like and inspires them.

Little black kids probably don't watch Lupin either but they do watch Spider-Man, Ironman, and Batman and plead their black parents to buy the corresponding white merch, without needing to know if Tony Stark or Bruce Wayne are MAGA, or if Spider-Man ever stood for BLM.

The majority of black american adults also barely supported Chadwick's pro-black movies before (or after) BP, and never heard of a Wakanda but became hyped for the solo just off a CA:Civil War film, in which they got introduced to an off-the-boat sounding but suave African on a revenge tour for his dad. Lining up in theatres wearing danshiki outfits n ish.

I say all that to say: Coogler gets where he himself is as a person, and wanted to tell a story that reflected that. And that's fine. However, Chadwick himself (based on his interviews) was more connected to what the actual aim of the character/IP should be for the audience (imo) and who that audience was.

 

[WIA20XX]

They just want to see a cool superhero who looks like and inspires them.

We'll have to agree to disagree here.

 

[Primetime]

We'll have to agree to disagree here.

No doubt

 

[loyola llothta]

Ally with the CIA to take out radicals and stop revolution?

That what black panther taught me. Even the CIA twitter page promoted the film

 

[mastermind]

Ally with the CIA to take out radicals and stop revolution?

We should support the man who went around the world killing black and brown people as a CIA agent and defaced his body for each kill instead.

 

[RickyDiBiase]

This is a silly ass thread, but I understand where it comes from.

Black Super Hero in 2024 - what should he/she teach?

Remember this movie?

Genius Level Black Kid out smarts everyone and moves away with his family?

Fresh (1994) ⭐ 7.5 | Crime, Drama, Thriller

1h 54m | 18

www.imdb.com

Box office ; Budget. $3,500,000 (estimated) ; Gross US & Canada. $8,094,616 ; Gross worldwide. $8,094,616.

Great movie if you've seen it. It's like The Wire with a happy ending.

And it didn't make any money. People wasn't trying to see this.

This "real life" approach is just wrong.

Comic books are escapism. Trying to hammer "life lessons", "codes of conduct", and "black philosophy" into something aimed at young(ish) people is why Fat Albert was always so horrible. (Like watching Christian Cartoons) It's why Tyler Perry and Spike Lee tend to yell MESSAGE and lose people. All that Akeelah and the Bee, Hidden Figures, Color Purple (og and the musical) - no matter how well done, no matter how well intentioned - is never gonna get the love of a Bad Boys, or a Bernie Mac, of a Nipsey Hustle, of a Kendrick Lamar.

You want to see some downtrodden underdog, power up, and take on the bad guys. (in style, with some sauce)

There's a reason that Anime/Manga has made such inroads into our community.

Folks are not trying to get specific Black American survival lessons.

They want to be entertained, not educated.

you not like us.

 

[Rekkapryde]

Killmonger was more the voice that people responded to.

and his pops sold wakanda tech to scallywag cacs (people forget that part).