Why All the Girl Characters in Black Panther are Awesome
What I love especially(other than everything) are the girl characters. This is not about sexism or feminism or anything like that, but rather just about good writing. Girl characters have had a problem for a long time because normally there's only one girl in a whole book or because their personalities are flat and useless. But not in Black Panther!
I talked about Cara Dune as being the perfect 'strong female character', now I'm going to bring up the most perfect female representation I've seen in film. *Mario voice* Lets-a go!
Why are these characters awesome?
They're all very different
All people want to know that they're not being stereotyped. Girls are no exception. Every girl character in Black Panther is unique and distinct, with her own fashion sense, her own mindset, and her own personality. I'm gonna go through a few examples so you see what I mean.
Shuri(aka my favorite) is young and smart and teases her older brother mercilessly.
Okoye is the strong, silent type(a type we don't see in girl characters a lot), loyal to her country to a fault.
Nakia is a save-the-world type with a strong opinion on everything, but so so nice.
They're all vastly different, and that's what makes this group of females so awesome.
No one is just one thing
A major problem with a lot of characters these days is that they're just stereotypes. They're just shoved into one specific box without any thought to who they might be as well rounded people. Girl characters especially, I think. You got your damsel in distress(basically a leech on the plot), you got your stabby girl who hates everyone, you got your manic pixie dream girl who is judgemental of everything but no one can say anything about it because she's a strong and independent woman and apparently she's just allowed to be like that. I do love me a recognizable character trope, but I get a little tired of it sometimes.
Our girls in Black Panther are multi-faceted. Nakia is opinionated but she's super sweet and loves everyone around her. Shuri is primarily an inventor but she'll fight if she has to. Okoye is scary as all get out and she carries a spear around like a purse, but she adores her husband and I find that just. So. Cute!
All of them are well-rounded characters full of seeming contradictions and unique sets of morals and they're just so beautiful and real I wanna hug them all.
No one exists for just one purpose
You know how sometimes a girl character exists just to be a love interest or just to be someone not in the know on the Very Special Secret? And then as soon as they've served their purpose they vanish from the story?
Well, we don't do that here. *snickers at my own reference*
Every one of these girls exists for a reason, yes, but they don't cease to exist other than that. Each of them and their unique views gets a place in this plot(which yes, might not work in every story, but it's still cool). All of them can help using their own skill sets and they're just as valuable and awesome as any and every other beautiful and well rounded character in the story. *chef kiss* I love it.
To sum up: Black Panther is awesome.
Okay, now that I've given you my thoughts on Black Panther, what are yours? What did you think of it? Let's talk down in the comments!
I haven't watched Black Panther, but this sounds like a really fun and well-rounded set of characters!
ReplyDeleteBoy do you have a great coming up for you when you do watch it! It's such an incredible film!
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