The Black Panther has been the subject of much fascination ever since his first on-screen appearance in “Captain America: Civil War.”
Since then, the build-up to his solo film has generated some of the most excitement for any Marvel movie. During production of the film over the last few years, “Black Panther” appears to be creating a certain culture around it, and it doesn’t stop with the film itself.
According to Fandango, “Black Panther” has officially surpassed all Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films for first-day advanced sales on the ticket-selling platform. It is also the first MCU film to have an original soundtrack.
Director Ryan Coogler picked hip hop superstar Kendrick Lamar and Top Dawg Entertainment CEO Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith to produce the music that will follow King T’Challa, played by Chadwick Boseman, on his journey in the film. Coogler himself was directly involved with Lamar and Tiffith in the creation of the album.
“I am honored to be working with such an incredible artist whose work has been so inspirational and whose artistic themes align with those we explore in the film,” he said.
The film is centered around celebrating black culture.
Boseman and Coogler spent time in Africa preparing for the film. In an interview with SYFY Wire, Coogler told the Marvel team that he first needed to take a trip to Africa before writing the screenplay. Although Wakanda is a fictional place, Coogler wanted to dive deep and grasp a better understanding of what it means to be African.
The world they built for the film won’t be filled with common stereotypes of the African culture. Everything from the look and feel of the film, even down to the music, will have been inspired by the continent itself.
The film’s stars also drew inspiration from this iconic trip.
In an in-depth interview with CNET, Boseman discusses many things about not only the character he portrays on screen, but the origination and inspirations of the character. One of the most interesting points of the interview was when Boseman discussed the accent he used for the role.
Black Panther is the first black superhero ever, he is the leader of the most technologically advanced nation in the world, and the leader of a nation that has never been conquered. These factors were most important of all to Boseman in cultivating his accent, describing the idea that as this character he could never speak to the people of Wakanda with a European accent.
He also described how he didn’t want to promote a white supremacist idea of being educated, royal, or presidential, and that there was no way he could speak his people in any other voice but an African one.
“Black Panther” has been carefully crafted into not only one of the most action-packed blockbusters of the year, but as a representation of black culture’s art and creativity, with an overwhelming crew of talent from screen to stereo. This looks to be one of Marvel’s biggest movies yet.
Go check out Marvel’s “Black Panther” in theaters this Friday.
