Black Skins and Superhero Masks: A study of Black Panther (2018)

Abstract

Black Panther (2018) is an American superhero film directed by Ryan Coogler. It is based on a Marvel comic produced by Marvel Studios. The fictional character of Black Panther first appeared as a comic strip superhero. This paper investigates questions of
racial and identity politics in the cinematic piece. By tracing the film’s lineage to the history of comic books in America, the paper examines Western popular culture’s depiction of Black characters. Through various cinematic allusions, the paper discusses
how the ideological content of Black Panther succeeds in challenging the master narrative of colonialism. Furthermore, through a meticulous examination of the antihero Killmonger, the paper analyses the idea of “double consciousness 1,” which demonstrates the predicament of the African-American community. This paper argues that Black Panther deconstructs the stability of a single monolithic paradigm of history, and disavows colonial axioms of knowledge, which refuse to acknowledge history from a different perspective.