Getting It Right (4)

This is my final installment concerning Black Panther (2018 Disney Marvel, Directed by Ryan Coogler), and I thought an appropriate summary would be a listing of the scenes which resonated most with me on an emotional level. Unfortunately, they didn’t involve breathless action, so I couldn’t find many pictures.

Both ancestral scenes got to me. I’m at an age where I’ve had to say goodbye to both of my parents, and that kind of experience opens up a whole new world of understanding. Here is a sequence from the first ancestral scene which really pulled me in.

I probably need to say this for some of my Christian followers. I myself am a Christian, so I don’t subscribe to ancestor worship, transfiguration of humans and animals, or communication with the dead. Neither do I take my fantasy literally. It’s possible to take this scene as a metaphor for what a great many people feel and for what they deal with from their own pasts. Concerning the transition between men and animals, I have used this allegorically in a few of my own stories. It helps in explaining spiritual concepts which are otherwise difficult to visualize. C. S. Lewis did this as well.

I attended Shortridge High School (a. k. a. “The Ridge”), an inner city school with a good academic curriculum in Indianapolis, Indiana. I also did a brief stint as a teacher replacement at an inner city public school, and (as I mentioned previously in this series) I am currently a biology professor at a women’s college. Perhaps all of this is why I almost teared up when I saw the scene in which a team from Wakanda inspires some ghetto children not with  physical prowess, weaponry, or superhero costumes but with scientific achievement. That scene alone was worth the whole movie.

The scene in which the leader of the mountain clan shows compassion on the Black Panther’s family was particularly touching.

This theme of reconciliation was embodied well by the scene in which Black Panther and Killmonger watch the sun setting over Wakanda (a nice methaphorical touch, by the way). Seeing bitter rivals speaking to each other with civility and a certain amount of social warmth appeals to my Christian ethics.

I also liked the peacefulness and redemptive quality of the final outro at the end of the credits, but I can’t really describe it for fear of spoiling the enjoyment of those who have yet to see the movie.  Okay, let’s say goodbye to Wakanda (for now). It’s time to make the real world a better place.

The Modern Pantheon: Thor

Picture credit: Disney Marvel

As I said in last week’s post, Thor was a movie I tried not to like, but I just couldn’t do it – for several reasons. The following scene is one of them.

Thor offers his own life for those of his friends and, stripped of his godly power, is killed by a robotic sentry sent by Loki from Asgard. A tear trickles down from the eye of his comatose father, Odin, and the hammer is activated. As the weapon hurtles like a missile toward his lifeless form, Thor is revived and catches it. He is then restored to his former glory.

This is essentially a resurrection scene, and the parallels with Christian theology are hard to miss. Both in comics and in movies, the Marvel franchise has repeatedly done an effective job of combining concepts from different mythological traditions (in this case, Christianity and Norse mythology) and mixing in an appealing dose of science fiction. This stuff is just plain fun. That it has additional meaning and good character development makes it that much better. I must mention here that, despite my relative unfamiliarity with the MCU, I am aware that Marvel has a habit of killing and resurrecting multiple characters – repeatedly. So my previous comments must be taken with a grain of salt.