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- Identity politics is toxic, and getting increasingly vicious as a variety of racial, national, religious, and gender interests fight to topple the white race and white culture from their primacy.
- The hatred against whites and the patriarchy is so blind that women and minorities vociferously support Democrat policies that are inimical to their best interests.
- Example: Blacks and Hispanics support open borders, although low-skill migrants contribute to unemployment and lowering of wages.
- Example: Women support more Muslim immigration, although Islam cites religious reasons for subjugating women, and Muslims in general feel profound contempt for western liberal customs and liberated women.
- Incidentally, the Black Panther comic book character was created by two Jewish guys: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. Many other superheroes, such as Superman, were also created by Jewish artists. Even cute Curious George is the product of two European Jews.
- There is much good in western culture, and intellectual honesty demands that if it's going to be rejected, such rejection should include everything that whites have contributed to civilization - from indoor plumbing to computers.
- And have feminists stopped to think where would civilization be without men's creativity, engineering, building, and heroism? Men are physically stronger and most heroic and creative because nature designed it that way for the survival of the human race. The current trend to feminize men is horrendous.
- Sometimes identity politics efforts backfire in an unintended ironic way, as in the film Black Panther. ------ Or, was there a deliberate Trumpist message cryptically embedded in the movie?
- John Nolte's movie review is interesting for its analysis, and has already 'triggered' the Hollywood elite.
The Black Panther movie hero is Trump
- the villain is Black Lives Matter
- the villain is Black Lives Matter
Black Panther is set in the fictional Wakanda, an idyllic country hidden in the heart Africa thanks to an alien metal called vibranium. This resource (delivered eons ago by way of a meteor) not only gives Wakanda the ability to disguise itself as a third-world country (and therefore remain blissfully ignored by the outside world), but to enjoy an extraordinary standard of living through the miracles of technology and science.
The real Wakanda looks like an African country — open markets, vibrant colors, the architecture, the love of long-held traditions… But if you look closer, everyone enjoys the lifestyle of a Silicon Valley billionaire.
The real Wakanda looks like an African country — open markets, vibrant colors, the architecture, the love of long-held traditions… But if you look closer, everyone enjoys the lifestyle of a Silicon Valley billionaire.
Wakanda is ruled by King T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman), who is also known as the Black Panther. T’Challa is big on border security, believes Wakanda and Wakandans should come first, and fiercely protects his country’s culture from outsiders, including refugees.
If this is all starting to sound familiar, it should.
Also like President Donald Trump, T’Challa’s beliefs are not based on race. This is not a “black thing.” This is a culture/survival thing.
Even the progressive Nakia (Lupita Nyong’o) — a more-than-capable spy and the woman T’Challa still carries a torch for (can you blame him?) — does not argue for open borders, liberal immigration policies, and a massive influx of refugees. She merely wants to export vibranium to help mankind.
Continue reading this, and an additional article on how this review triggered the Hollywood elite.
Continue reading this, and an additional article on how this review triggered the Hollywood elite.
The arrival of Erik “Killmonger” Stevens (an underused Michael B. Jordan) puts all of these arguments on hold. Killmonger (such a great name) is a man with mad killing skills and a burning grudge against Wakanda.
T’Challa might be the Black Panther, but Killmonger is a Black Panther in the Huey Newton-Bobby Seale 1960 black nationalist sense.
Like the Black Panther Party, Killmonger was born in Oakland, California, and to him everything is a “black thing.” He wants the vibranium exported in the form of weapons to overthrow white people.
Still, Black Panther is not a movie about race, it is a movie about ideas and ideals, about our shared humanity. Our hero is not in favor of protecting ethno-nationalism, but rather a healthy form of nationalism.
If T’Challa is Trump, Killmonger is Black Lives Matter.
Black Panther also has a wonderful sense of humor.
Black Panther also has a wonderful sense of humor.
For politically incorrect reasons, and for decades, a big complaint of mine has been Hollywood’s marginalization of black actors. I cannot tell you how many times, in some supporting role, I have seen a charismatic black actor or actress — one who would blow off the screen these metrosexual pretty boys and shapeless forever-girls we’re being force fed — and said to my wife, “Why in the hell is this person not in every movie ever made?”
Multiculturalism is a cancer. Diversity is code for “hire more leftists!” I hate all that stuff. What I love are movies and movie stars — masculine men, womanly women — and Black Panther is buried in movie stars — real movie stars. The women are sexy, the men are men, the talent and charisma overwhelming.
More, please.
My only gripes, and they do matter, are the pacing and scope. You keep waiting for the story to take off, for the action to become spectacle, for the soar. Instead, the rollercoaster keeps climbing and climbing without ever reaching the top.
The best action scene takes place in the first half hour, a car chase in Korea. After that, we are pretty much stuck on the plains of Africa with CGI’d actors fighting hand-to-hand.
We are also cheated. After we are made to fall in love with Wakanda, to share T’Challa’s desire to protect it, its people, its way of life, the investment fails to pay a dividend. Wakanda is never in any real danger, and this feels like a cheat.
Moreover, the action scenes are unimaginative, far from exciting or tense, like a computer-cartoon version of the battle scenes in Braveheart without the visceral moments. Except for the actors, Black Panther is lacking wows.
The actors, however, are worth the price of admission. And not just the film’s stars. The ageless Angela Bassett as the queen mother, the fierce and funny Danai Gurira as the king’s chief bodyguard, the endlessly charming Letitia Wright as T’Challa’s sister (and “Q”), Forest Whitaker, Winston Duke… Even the white guys are great. Andy Serkis kills as a South African gangster and Martin Freeman’s reaction-acting is still the best around.
There is a whole lot to like about Marvel’s $200 million Black Panther, and almost as much not to like. For starters, director and co-writer Ryan Coogler does an A+ job of world building (more on this later). In addition, the soundtrack and score also deserve an A+. Then there are the actors, the best cast yet assembled in all of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (by far).
Black Panther is filled smart politics, imagination, and movie star charisma — all that is missing is a satisfying payoff.
There is a whole lot to like about Marvel’s $200 million Black Panther, and almost as much not to like. For starters, director and co-writer Ryan Coogler does an A+ job of world building (more on this later). In addition, the soundtrack and score also deserve an A+. Then there are the actors, the best cast yet assembled in all of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (by far).
Black Panther is filled smart politics, imagination, and movie star charisma — all that is missing is a satisfying payoff.
UPDATE
Hollywood Elite Triggered By Breitbart’s Positive ‘Black Panther’ Review
Early Friday afternoon, Breitbart News published my mostly glowing review of Marvel’s Black Panther. By Friday night, some among the Hollywood elite were triggered by the review, including Don Cheadle, another member of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Outside of the fact that the review was mostly positive, the trigger seemed to be my noting the obvious connection between the film’s hero, T’Challa aka Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), and President Trump. I also noted the obvious comparison between the film’s villain, Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan), and Black Lives Matter:
Within hours, Cheadle and the blue checkmark mafia were so outraged, the far-left Hollywood Reporter published a story that quoted the outrage without offering a link to the actual review so readers could judge for themselves:
What makes this criticism especially reactionary is the fact that Breitbart was far from the first news outlet to document the similarities between the worldviews shared by Black Panther and Trump. You can read some of those comparisons here, here, and here.
In fact, my review picked up on some of the nuances others were not crediting the film with.
For starters, just like Trump, T’Challa’s nationalism is not based on race. It is not an ethno-nationalism, it is about survival and protecting his people’s way of life and culture.
***SPOILER ALERT***
Not wanting to give away anything, I did not mention this in my review but will here… By the end of the movie, T’Challa is even more like Trump inasmuch as he sees that his country of Wakanda cannot completely isolate itself from the world because he has a moral responsibility to help others.
In other words, his worldview shifts from a total isolationist to a more reasonable position. “The wise build bridges, while the foolish build barriers,” he explains after deciding that Wakanda needs to help others by exporting its most precious resource, vibranium.
In this same way, to help others, Trump is also big on exporting America’s most helpful resources — oil, military might, and missile defense.
If the reactionaries want to argue (and some do) that T’Challa’s criticism of “barriers” is a direct commentary about Trump’s border wall, that simplistic interpretation in no way gels with the movie’s overall nuance and depth.
Moreover, there is no closing scene involving T’Challa stupidly opening Wakanda’s borders to floods of refugees, an act of betrayal that would destroy his country’s cherished traditions and way of life.
The movie, however, does close with T’Challa and his sister pledging to help the predominantly black city of Oakland, California, which is also in keeping with Trump’s focus on helping America’s inner-cities. Both political parties tend to write off groups that they have no chance of winning. This has not been the case with Trump and the black community.
If T’Challa were a left-wing Democrat — a Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton — he would oppose bringing people together. Additionally, rather than roll up his own sleeves to do the hard work of trying something different, he would demand that everyone’s taxes be raised to fund the same government programs that have failed Democrat-run neighborhoods for a half-century.
While Black Panther is far from perfect and a tad anti-climactic, the movie deserves credit for its approach to its politics — which is nuanced, intelligent, and inclusive. Because the movie paints with a broad brush using the universal themes of self-sacrifice, selflessness, and focusing on our shared humanity as opposed to identity politics, it is by default conservative.
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