‘Black Panther’: What the movie industry does to races it doesn't understand

Today is the worldwide premiere of Black Panther, quite possibly the most anticipated film of 2018, and also quite possibly already the best movie of the first quarter. Already breaking records in terms of sheer hype and pre-premiere ticket sales, the movie is revolutionary not just by its existence, but by its acceptance as well.

On the continent, and in Kenya specifically, people have been going on and on about how they are going to dress up to go to the cinema, a la Eddie Murphy in Coming to America, or simply, everyone's great grandparents before colonisation.

There has been talk of carrying traditional foods into the cinema, like ugali and managu, instead of eating the usual popcorn and hotdog fare – after all, this is an African movie, and you should be eating African food while watching it, whether that means 'fufu' or peanut sauce, known by many varied names in our local tribes.

Kisumu already had its premiere in honour of their daughter, Lupita Nyong'o, who stars in the film, and several people flew into Kisumu for this specific purpose. We are all behind this movie, because we feel it is our movie.

IS IT OUR MOVIE?

I'm not sure that it is.

Having seen this movie already, I can say that it is leaps and bounds ahead of any other movies that claim to be about black superheroes – not that there have been that many. Hancock with Will Smith was a terrible depiction of Smith's movie choices around that time – you remember After Earth? Winter's Tale? Focus?

Hancock was not the best idea. It was ridiculous at the time that the first big screen superhero was a drunk who had no focus or career to speak of, basically a mockery of the angry black alcoholic man trope, and it disappeared just as uneventfully into the dark halls of Hollywood's B movie section.

Then of course there are black superheroes who never make it to the big screen, or if they make it, are not as truthful to the comics and definitely not centre stage – there are black Green Lanterns, but we only see them when there are big battles involving all the lanterns, and we never really know their names.

LET'S MAKE MOVIES FOR OURSELVES

Lex Luthor, arguably Superman's most interesting nemesis, has never been black in his screen productions, even though he is indisputably so in the comics. Cyborg has finally made it past the halls of the wonderful Teen Titans into Justice League, DC's huge 2017 blockbuster, and this is a first for him.

Storm, one of the most powerful (if not the most powerful, according to her origin story) X-Men, is born in Nairobi and even marries Black Panther at some point, is more often than not an accessory in the X-Men movies.

So you see, this is why Black Panther is a huge deal to us, especially considering his origins, much like Storm, place him in Kenya, just shy of Lake Turkana. It's an amazing thing for black people everywhere – but not necessarily for Africans.

Again, I don't deny that this is a great movie and a great first step in the direction that we want to go in the representation that black people need globally. But Africans need to start making global blockbuster movies for themselves, because how we are drawn in movies by Hollywood is always just an amalgamation of what Hollywood thinks Africans are like – from the terrible accents, to the mishmash of tribal cultures across the continent and the duplicate Lion King soundtracks.

MERCENARY FILM PEOPLE

It seems ironic, considering that they had an “actual African” on the set, that they didn't think to ask her if this is what would pass, if this was a realistic recreation of a comic that was drawn in the 80s, if this is what Africa (the country!) is today, now, dynamic, growing, vibrant.

But then again, this is what the silver screen does to races it doesn't understand, or doesn't care to do the work for. Don't even get me started on whitewashing traditionally race-differentiated roles. I still can't believe that Forest Whitaker got an Oscar for that hack role portraying a pretty, one-dimensional Idi Amin Dada, while sounding like that.

It's okay that they don't care about us, but I wish we could find a way to do more, and not keep shooting ourselves in the foot. Granted, we do have players in the industry, like Ezekiel Mutua, who are not at all interested in the growth of the industry, but film people can also be very mercenary and unhelpful where the business of show business is concerned.

Why can't we do better, I wonder every time I watch a below-average production or see a spat where actors (and creatives, in general) haven't been paid...again? I don't have the answer just yet.

But I digress. In short, I love that Black Panther is about Black Power, but I am ready for African Power now.

Twitter: @AbigailArunga