Black Panther

What is Black Panther?

Black Panther is a movie from 2018 starring Chadwick Boseman, and is a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The main character, T'Challa, who holds the title of the Black Panther is based off of the Marvel Comics character of the same name. This movie has T'Challa attempting to defend his kingdom of Wakanda from his cousin Erik Killmonger (Played by Michael B. Jordan), who looks to take over and reveal their advance technology to the rest of the world. Killmongers motivations come the death of his father, who was killed by T'Challa's father, as well as the injustice across the globe. This movie takes place in the fictional country of Wakanda which is located in Africa, and because of this, there is a lot of influence from different cultures found in Africa.

Culture In Black Panther

The biggest showing of different cultures in Black Panther is the costume design. There are multiple different tribes in Wakanda, and each one draws inspiration from a different African tribe. For example, the Dora Milaje, the female army of Wakanda, draw heavy inspiration from the Maasai people. Both typically wear red cloth, carry large spears, and wear multiple ring necklace (Orde). The languages spoken in the movie are also based on some of the languages found in Africa. In the movie, most characters speak Swahili and Xhosa, 2 common African languages, and English, which makes sense considering many African tribes nowadays are adopting the English language as it is one of the more common languages of the world (Johnson). Even the geography of Wakanda have ties to African landscapes, with Lesotho being the main inspiration. Lesotho actually has a second point of influence in movie, that being with one of the tribes wearing Basotho blankets. In real life, these blankets are used to signify a boys growth into and man, and different blankets are worn for occasions (Olvera-Sandoval). In Black Panther, these blankets are outfitted with technology to allow a shield to be created, so the blankets can be used in battle. Everything down to the hair and the rituals performed throughout the movie are all related to an African culture, and it's clear that the creators of the film went above and beyond to make sure all of these different groups were represented properly, as well as to make sure that Wakanda felt like it would fit as a country in Africa (even with the sci-fi technology).

The Dora Milaje (Left), and the Maasai (Right)

Lesotho geography (Left), and the Wakandan geography (Right)

Lesotho people wearing Basotho blankets (Left), and Wakandans wearing Basotho blankets (Right)

Learn More

• Interview with the dialect coach for the movie

• https://slate.com/culture/2018/02/an-interview-with-black-panthers-dialect-coach.html

• Articles that look at some more of the inspirations for Wakanda

• https://travel.earth/the-wakandan-style-and-where-it-came-from/

• https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/african-art-history-traditions-inspired-black-panther.html/

• https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/16/africa/black-panther-behind-the-scenes-marvel/index.html

Works Cited

Johnson, Malia. “Exploring African Culture in Black Panther.” UMKC Roo News, 4 Apr. 2018, https://info.umkc.edu/unews/exploring-african-culture-in-black-panther/.

Johnson, Tre. “Black Panther Is a Gorgeous, Groundbreaking Celebration of Black Culture.” Vox, Vox, 23 Feb. 2018, https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/2/23/17028826/black-panther-wakanda-culture-marvel.

Olvera-Sandoval, Mateo. “Cultural Representation in ‘Black Panther.’” ArcGIS StoryMaps, Esri, 31 May 2021, https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/5af7e7811a8541e490f2625e67adba2e.

Orde, Hannah. “Black Panther: The African Cultures That Inspired Wakanda - Skratch.” Skratch, 19 Feb. 2021, https://www.skratch.world/post/black-panther-the-african-cultures-that-inspired-wakanda.