IT RATHER SEEMS THAT THE ENTIRE BLACK WORLD HAS SEEN OR INTENDS TO SEE THE BLACK PANTHER, THOUGH BLACKS MAKE UP JUST 37% OF THE TICKET-BUYERS. IT IS A CROWD-PLEASING MOVIE FOR ALL AUDIENCES AND, HAVING ATTENDED THE FILM, I CAN ATTEST, AS SO MANY OTHERS HAVE, TO THE INFECTIOUS ENTHUSIASM OF THE FILM-GOERS FOR THE MOVIE FROM START TO FINISH. IT IS A BRILLIANT FILM IN MANY WAYS, WITH MAGNIFICENT SPECIAL EFFECTS AND SET PIECES, SURE-HANDED WRITING AND DIRECTING BY RYAN COOGLER, AND UNIFORMLY INSPIRED ACTING BY THE CAST – CHADWICK BOSEMAN (IN THE LEAD), MICHAEL B. JORDAN, LUPITA NYONG’O, AND DANAI GURIRA. THE BLACK PANTHER IS SURE TO MAKE A BILLION DOLLARS IN WORLD-WIDE TICKET SALES BY THE MIDDLE OF MARCH.
WHILE THE AUDIENCE WAS LARGELY ENGROSSED IN THE ACTION, THE SET PIECES, AND THE STORY LINE, I FOUND MYSELF DRAWN TO OTHER LESS-NOTICED ASPECTS OF THE STORY. I WAS PARTICULARLY INTRIGUED BY THE FICTIONAL COUNTRY OF WAKANDA, A JEWEL OF A NATION IN THE MIDDLE OF AFRICA, SEVERAL THOUSAND YEARS OLD, UNIQUELY POWERED LITERALLY BY THE MOST POWERFUL MINERAL IN THE UNIVERSE, VIBRANIUM. COOGLER AND HIS CO-WRITER DREW FROM SEVERAL STRANDS OF ANCIENT AFRICAN HISTORY TO WRITE THE SCREENPLAY. FROM ANCIENT TIMES IN AFRICA, EITHER THE KINGDOM OF KEMIT OR CUSH – EGYPT OR ETHIOPIA – COULD HAVE SERVED AS THE PROTOTYPE FOR WAKANDA. THESE, IN THEIR TIME, WERE AMONG THE MOST ADVANCED AND POWERFUL NATIONS ON EARTH, INSTRUCTING, AMONG OTHERS, THE PEOPLE WHO BECAME THE GREEKS OF HISTORY IN SCIENCE, MATHEMATICS, ENGINEERING, PHILOSOPHY, AND MEDICINE.
THERE WERE INTERESTING MYTHO-TYPES WOVEN INTO THE STORY. THE BLACK PANTHER, WHICH IS ACTUALLY A LEOPARD, WAS CALLED BAST, A NAME FOR THE CAT-GODDESS OF ANCIENT EGYPT, CLOSELY RELATED TO THE LION-GODDESS SEKHMET. MOREOVER, THE PHARAOH AND THE PRIESTS OF BOTH KEMIT AND CUSH WORE THE LEOPARD (PANTHER) SKIN AS A BADGE OF OFFICE, LATER RE-MANIFESTING AS THE “LEOPARD MEN” OF INNER AFRICA, A SECRET SOCIETY OF NATIVE MAGICIANS. SECONDLY, THE RIVAL KING WHOSE ARCHETYPAL REPRESENTATION WAS THE APE, CALLED THE APE HANUMAN, THE MONKEY-GOD OF INDIA. HE MIGHT JUST AS WELL AS REFERRED TO HIM AS KAF, THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN BABOON, APE FORM OF THE EGYPTIAN GOD OF WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE KNOWN AS THOTH, OR HERMES BY THE GREEKS.
FINALLY, THE ELITE COHORT OF WOMEN WARRIORS WHOSE SOLE MISSION WAS TO GUARD THE KING WITH THEIR LIVES, WAS MODELED IN PART ON THE ANCIENT PRAETORIAN GUARD:
THE PRAETORIAN GUARD (LATIN: COHORTES PRAETORIAE) WAS AN ELITE UNIT OF THE IMPERIAL ROMAN ARMY WHOSE MEMBERS SERVED AS PERSONAL BODYGUARDS TO THE ROMAN EMPERORS.
THERE WAS SUCH A UNIT OF WOMEN SOLDIERS IN THE ARMIES OF THE WEST AFRICAN KINGDOM OF DAHOMEY (1626 – 1890) WHOSE PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITY WAS TO PROTECT THE KING AND WHO WERE SO FIERCE AND LOYAL TO THE KING THAT IT WAS SAID THAT AN ENEMY COULD NEVER TAKE THEM PRISONER. THEY WOULD NEVER SURRENDER AND WOULD FIGHT TO THE DEATH, WITH TOOTH AND CLAW IF NECESSARY. THEIR TERM OF SERVICE WAS 25 YEARS BUT WERE NEVER PERMITTED TO MARRY UNTIL AFTER DISCHARGE. FEW MEN WOULD MARRY THEM HOWEVER FOR THEY CARRIED THAT INERADICABLE FIERCENESS INTO ANY MARRIAGE.
IN ANCIENT EGYPT, A PARTICULARLY FIERCE AND IMPLACABLE WARRIOR WAS ALWAYS LIKENED TO “A RAGING PANTHER OF THE SOUTH”. IN THE CLIMACTIC SEQUENCE OF THE MOVIE THE BATTLE TO THE DEATH BETWEEN KING T’CHALLA AND HIS DEADLY ADVERSARY KILMONGER WOULD HAVE BEEN DESCRIBED IN ANCIENT TIMES AS A GIVE-NO-QUARTER WAR BETWEEN TWO RAGING PANTHERS OF THE SOUTH. THE OUTCOME – SINCE IT WOULD DETERMINE WHO CONTROLLED THE SUPER-METAL VIBRANIUM – WAS BOUND TO DETERMINE NOT ONLY THE FATE OF WAKANDA AND ITS PEOPLE BUT ALSO THAT OF AFRICA, AND INDEED THE WORLD. THE IDEA THAT AFRICA HELD (HOLDS?) THE FATE OF THE WORLD IN ITS HANDS IS A WORLD-CHANGING IDEA.
CHARLES S. FINCH III
ELLENWOOD, GEORGIA
FEBRUARY 22, 2018