I have some pet peeves about Hollywood movies. On one hand, the variety of subjects that they handle across genres is impressive. Ditto for new ideas and techniques, be it CGI or 3D (Not a fan of the latter because it really messes up the lighting of the scene, and as a result, normal conversation scenes that do not have depth element become tepid and lifeless).
There are areas that seem to be a somewhat of a blind spot for some filmmakers. No matter what the background of the character, during action scenes they will invariably speak in typical North American lingo. A classic example is Star Wars. Here is a film series that invented a dialect for Jar Jar Binks and yet in the chasing sequence of Star Wars : Episode 4 – A New Hope, all the pilots talk to each other as if they are in Top Gun. One particularly annoying line is when in the middle of an action scene, the characters suddenly become entrepreneurs and say, “We got company”. From battling zombies to chasing evil men across galaxies, no matter what the scenario, the characters will always ‘have company’. The runner-up annoying line is when the detectives arrive at the crime scene and say, “What have we got?”
This is where Black Panther scores big time. This movie has many firsts. An African-American star cast in leading roles, not just any roles but of Superheroes – Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa / Black Panther, Michael B. Jordan as N’Jadaka / Erik “Killmonger” Stevens, Lupita Nyong’o as Nakia, Danai Gurira as Okoye and Daniel Kaluuya as W’Kabi. Till now, take any African-American character in a leading role and chances are that it will be character that is poor and oppressed. This is in keeping with history. That’s why movies like 12 Years A Slave received much critical acclaim. Equally compelling are the images from Africa that we are bombarded with everyday. Many African countries are poor, facing all kinds of disasters from droughts to civil war.
Black Panther turns this situation on its head. It’s based in Wakanda, a fictional country in Africa. For the rest of the world, it’s a poor, third world country struggling to survive. On the inside, it is more advanced than any other country in the world. You see happy, healthy Wakandans with super fast trains and state-of-the-art medical facilities. This is such a cultural shock that it wins half the battle for the movie. The dialogues are in Xhosa, Swahili, Korean and African English so no one’s starting any new businesses and no one is getting any companies here. 😀
Let’s face it. Movies are become more and more sophisticated and so are the viewers. Impressive CGI is no longer enough. In fact, no one is talking about CGI anymore. It is becoming as natural a part of movies as the camera or sound. Old plots are no longer working. People want something different. And because they now have access to movies from around the world, it is becoming more and more difficult to satisfy them.
It is interesting to see that fantasy movies are becoming more and more popular in the last two decades. There were the Harry Potter movies and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, along with X-Men and Spider-Man. And since 2007 it has been the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) decade.
One possible explanation for this popularity that also serves as a criticism for fantasy movies in general, is that they are escapist movies. They help the viewer ‘get away’ from reality. I find this invalid for two reasons.
First, it was much more valid, say 40 years back, when your only escape from reality was either the TV or the cinema theatre. And this escape happened with far less frequency than it is happening today. You did not watch a movie everyday or even every week. The television also did not have the constant looping of movies that you see today. So when you finally went to watch Star Wars in a theatre, you really did escape from the reality during that time.
The comparison to current times is almost laughable. We are practically drowning in distractions. Almost everything is a distraction from reality, from social media to PUBG. Movies pale in comparison as culprits of distraction.
Secondly, the fantasy genre is moving away from the ‘happily ever after’ theme. It’s gradual but still noticeable. Sure, first few Avengers movies were fun, but then they became darker, with Avengers : Endgame being the darkest and grimmest. So if the viewer is “escaping” from reality, he is certainly not going to a very happy place.
India missed the fantasy train big time, both in literature and movies. We were so consumed with pursuing different forms of realism that fantasy was always regarded as “stuff for kids”. Can you imagine where Indian literature would be if Salman Rushdie was not an exception but a norm?
I always found it interesting that when the fantasy element was mixed with reality by Gabriel García Márquez, the stories were critically acclaimed but a master of the fantasy genre like J R R Tolkien got snubbed by the Nobel committee in 1961. They also rejected Robert Frost and Graham Greene in that same year, so at least there is some consistency.
I think the reason why MCU is doing so well is quite simple. They are exceptionally good in engaging the audience. In the end, that’s all that matters.
Wakanda forever!
