# Black Panther movie **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 18, 2018, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-panther-movie/809075 "2018-02-18T20:07:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2018, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-panther-movie/809075/81 "2018-02-20T17:11:59Z")
Having now seen the movie, I can point out that the isolationist guy who doesn’t want to accept refugees because “they bring their troubles with them” is the same jerk who’s only too happy to join the “let’s conquer the whole world” side. Because yeah, the best way to end refugee situations is by having - a bigger war! The biggest! ---
**Author:** ![ShadowFacts](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfacts/32/2934_2.png) [@ShadowFacts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowFacts)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2018, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-panther-movie/809075/82 "2018-02-20T20:42:31Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Great. Another white boy for us to fix. _slow clap_ ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2018, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-panther-movie/809075/83 "2018-02-20T22:40:08Z")
Why is there controversy associated with this movie? Or is there controversy associated with this movie? ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2018, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-panther-movie/809075/84 "2018-02-20T23:32:33Z")
Controversy? It’s a movie with black people in it, so of course there’s a controversy. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2018, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-panther-movie/809075/85 "2018-02-20T23:40:32Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > To be fair, creating an element is more work than mining it. Stark made it in a basement with parts ordered off of [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com). Once he learned that the element was stable, and presumbly whatever properties it has, making it was just a matter of building a pretty small scale cyclotron and aligning the beam with a monkey wrench to produce a visible quantity of it, as implausible as that seems to every physicist who has ever seen the film. Wakanda has no need to create tiny quantities of vibranium; they have a whole large meteorite worth of it that came from…where? Anyway, they’ve clearly gone beyond anything Stark has done with it. > [@Chronos](#): > > Has it been said that the new element powering his reactor is vibranium? Remember, Howard Stark had access to a shield’s worth of vibranium, but couldn’t get his improved reactor to work. You’d think that he would have made the shield a few grams smaller, if that’s all it took. It seems to have all of the properties of vibranium (absorbing and stabilizing energy, preventing the Mind Stone in Loki’s Scepter from working, et cetera). It is never explicitly stated to be anything but “a new element” but the fan speculation is pretty solidly that it is vibranium, and assuming that it has similar chemicall properties should fall in the Group 10 elements below Damstadtium as a hypertransactinide element, but somehow far more stable. And I guarantee that the above is far more thinking about the chemistry and nucleosynthesis than anyone at Marvel Studios has done. > [@Chronos](#): > > And I think that Shuri and Stark would probably both have a lot to learn from each other. Two supertech geniuses, who up until now have been working completely independently from each other? Combining them is going to be multiplicative, not additive. Bring Pym in on it, too, and who knows what they could accomplish? ”I spent thirty years protecting that technology from a Stark, I sure as hell don’t intend to give it to another! This isn’t cute technology like the Iron Man suit! This could change the texture of reality!” > [@Chronos](#): > > When politicians are comparing themselves to comic-book villains in order to try to justify themselves, you’ve got a problem. Well, that’s hardly the largest problem we have today, but I’m morally certain that Trump would think that Thanos was the real hero of the Avengers saga. (Not Ultron, who is a big loser and basically the Ted Cruz of villians.) Such big hands! And he’s all about winning and impressing Death, yet he doesn’t actually get off his ass to actually do anything, encourages his ‘children’ to fight amongst themselves, and blames his minions when things go wrong. It wouldn’t suprise me at all if Thanos ran a few intergalactic casinos into the ground or supported a now-defunct hyperstellar arena orbball league that nobody wanted to go see. #MakeAnnihilationGreatAgain! Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2018, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-panther-movie/809075/86 "2018-02-20T23:48:06Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Why is there controversy associated with this movie? Because a handful of vocal racists can’t accept the notion that magical supertechnology drawn from a comic book could be developed by even fictional Africans. Only (white) Americans like Stark or Pym and maybe a few select Asians can do that. Captain America would like to have [a few words with them](https://media1.tenor.com/images/10840baf6b27a3a91e90e59f93f8dc15/tenor.gif?itemid=5705357), BTW. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-panther-movie/809075/87 "2018-02-21T00:13:52Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > Controversy? It’s a movie with black people in it, so of course there’s a controversy. > [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Because a handful of vocal racists can’t accept the notion that magical supertechnology drawn from a comic book could be developed by even fictional Africans. Only (white) Americans like Stark or Pym and maybe a few select Asians can do that. > > Captain America would like to have [a few words with them](https://media1.tenor.com/images/10840baf6b27a3a91e90e59f93f8dc15/tenor.gif?itemid=5705357), BTW. > > Stranger Seri-fucking-ously? How fucked is that? ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-panther-movie/809075/88 "2018-02-21T00:24:33Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Having now seen the movie, I can point out that the isolationist guy who doesn’t want to accept refugees because “they bring their troubles with them” is the same jerk who’s only too happy to join the “let’s conquer the whole world” side. Because yeah, the best way to end refugee situations is by having - a bigger war! The biggest! I will toss in that dude has trauma- he’s the one whose parents died in the whole Klaw Escapes Wakanda With The Vibranium And Shit Goes Down pre-story. And he was pro-going out and kicking some ass even before Erik walked up and tossed his greatest enemy’s corpse at his feet. I’m not disagreeing with you - it’s not at all logical, but it isn’t an unrealistic or even an unusual response. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-panther-movie/809075/89 "2018-02-21T00:35:37Z")
I always assumed that the reactor blocked the Scepter’s effect just by serving as a physical barrier. Loki’s trying to poke people in the heart, but he can’t poke Stark in the heart because there’s this chunk of metal in the way. _tink_ _tink_ And both Starks clearly knew what vibranium was; if that were the new element, they’d have called it that. Besides which, if Tony can make a few grams, he can make more: Why didn’t he make his whole suit out of it? ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-panther-movie/809075/90 "2018-02-21T01:11:05Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Seri-fucking-ously? > > How fucked is that? Well, check upthread and let me know. > [@Chronos](#): > > I always assumed that the reactor blocked the Scepter’s effect just by serving as a physical barrier. Loki’s trying to poke people in the heart, but he can’t poke Stark in the heart because there’s this chunk of metal in the way. _tink_ _tink_ > > And both Starks clearly knew what vibranium was; if that were the new element, they’d have called it that. Besides which, if Tony can make a few grams, he can make more: Why didn’t he make his whole suit out of it? The scepter works fine throuh ballistic armor, and in _The Avengers_ during the [“Not A Great Plan”](https://youtu.be/mhOfcoBxI80) scene, the scepter’s emissions are clearly absorbed by Stark’s ARC reactor. Earlier, it absorbs Thor’s hammer lightning and supercharges the suit. So if it isn’t vibranium, is seems to have many of the same qualities. Ultron makes it clear that he views the Starks’ use of vibranium trivial: “The most versatile substance on the planet, and they used it to make a frisbee.” It may be that Tony Stark cannot make enough of it to armor a suit, or perhaps it has to be alloyed or processed to fix it in some way to make it stable. Cap’s shield certainly doesn’t glow or behave in an unstable manner as the raw vibranium is shown to do. Stark may be able to produce vibranium but not know how to stabilize and use it. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-panther-movie/809075/91 "2018-02-21T01:41:52Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Well, check upthread and let me know. Are people boycotting the movie? Rooting in the streets? What the hell? ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-panther-movie/809075/92 "2018-02-21T02:04:01Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Are people boycotting the movie? Rooting in the streets? What the hell? Most of the “concerted action”, such as it is, seems to [emanate from the same general population of alt-right trollolols that tried to game audience ratings for movies like _Last Jedi_ last year](http://www.newsweek.com/black-panther-reviews-fanboys-rotten-tomatoes-boycott-798445). They seem to have been pretty ineffectual all round. There is apparently [an attempt at a “Christian” boycott](http://www.projectcasting.com/news/facebook-group-calling-christians-boycott-black-panther) that seems to be more anti-Disney than anything else. There also seems to have been a [racist fake-news campaign on social media using fake images to claim that non-black moviegoers were getting assaulted by “thuggish” _Black Panther_ fans](https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/2/16/17020230/black-panther-movie-theater-attacks-fake-trolls). > [@](#): > > On social media, racist trolls are currently attempting to fake a battle that isn’t happening by stealing photos, many of assault victims, from various parts of the internet and claiming they’re evidence of attacks by black moviegoers during Thursday night showings of Black Panther. > > In one tweet, Twitter user Hardcorial stole selfies which were shared online in 2016 by a woman attempting to speak out about her abuse. The Twitter user claimed to have been “brutally attack” [sic] by “black thugs” while attending, “because they said whites weren’t allowed to watch the movie.” This never happened. > > Another troll used a screencap of actor Steven Yun in a scene from The Walking Dead […] > > Another Twitter user claimed to have witnessed an assault at the movie: > > > [@](#): > > > > “Went to the #BlackPanther premier tonight and my wife was assaulted. Three black women approached us and one said “This movie ain’t for you white b\*\*\*\*” and then attacked her. Security escorted us to the parking lot and we left. We just wanted to see a movie.” > > The photo the troll used to illustrate the tweet, however, was a photo of Colbie Holderness, the ex-wife of former White House staffer Rob Porter, who resigned following accusations of domestic abuse. The photo was documentation of Porter’s alleged battery of Holderness while they were married. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-panther-movie/809075/93 "2018-02-21T07:05:03Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Given how well the movie portrays a country that is 100% African, with no colonial history (which includes the architecture, the city layout, the general design aesthetic, the clothing, etc), it’s no wonder the racists are losing their shit. It’s a kind of insecurity, usually paired in my experience with a reasonably high intellect but a lack of compassion and restraint. What I mean is that they see in this movie what is kind of inarguable: that this is a wish-fulfillment fantasy for black people and especially for black women. An all-black country in Africa is actually the most intellectually and technologically advanced society in the world. Not only that, but its warrior elite is made up of women, and its most prominent scientist is barely more than a girl. When I take note of those things, my reaction might be called condescending (basically, “Awww”), but I’m not filled with rage. The kind of racists who freak out and denounce this movie can’t stand for anyone to deny for a moment, even in a cinematic daydream, that men are stronger fighters than women, or that modern technological advancement has come predominantly from men working in the West and Far East. This is a churlish, extremely ungenerous worldview. And if anything, you see it more often directed at white female characters. There’s a certain kind of immature, insecure guy who can’t stand to see women on screen portrayed as being tough enough to outfight large, muscular men. They will jump up and down and scream about how this just isn’t physically possible (talking here about regular human characters, not superheroes or aliens). My attitude is to let women enjoy this power fantasy, since they have to suffer through the daily reality that (as Louis CK so insightfully observed before he became a nonperson) being a woman around men is basically like being a man hanging out with uncaged bears who have hopefully been trained not to hurt you—but no guarantees, good luck to you. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-panther-movie/809075/94 "2018-02-21T07:35:21Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > When I take note of those things, my reaction might be called condescending (basically, “Awww”), but I’m not filled with rage. Especially considering how many action movies serve as wish-fulfilment fantasies for average white men. The brilliant nerdy boy whose genius invention or accidental supermutation wins him the entree into some prestigious powerful group, the schlubby ordinary joe who gets recruited by the underappreciated mad scientist, even the trained secret agent who takes out a half-dozen baddies in a single dramatic punchfest—none of this is significantly more realistic than a hardbitten black female Praetorian Guard leader kicking a villain off a cliff. > [@SlackerInc](#): > > My attitude is to let women enjoy this power fantasy A good choice, particularly since women for the most part have been letting the vast majority of white male movie viewers who aren’t especially impressive or powerful, either physically or mentally, go on enjoying their own unrealistic action-movie power fantasies pretty much since movies were invented. ---
**Author:** ![Uzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/91b2a8/32.png) [@Uzi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uzi)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-panther-movie/809075/95 "2018-02-21T07:56:27Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > What this film desperately needs is some white people to white-splain everything about Africa. Wasn’t this explanation attempted recently by the Orangutan in Chief with the term ‘shithole’? Sent from my SM-N910U using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-panther-movie/809075/96 "2018-02-21T08:29:58Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Especially considering how many action movies serve as wish-fulfilment fantasies for average white men. I hadn’t thought of that angle, but you make a really great point. For that matter, the same is true of a lot of insufferably stupid, unsubtle beer commercials. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-panther-movie/809075/97 "2018-02-21T09:21:04Z")
Yeah, it is hilarious how many guys who happily suspend disbelief for the adventures of James Bond or Luke Skywalker suddenly get all concerned about realism when some woman in such a movie is shown whupping some guy’s butt. _“That couldn’t possibly happen in real life! This movie is SEXIST AGAINST MEN!!”_ ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-panther-movie/809075/98 "2018-02-21T11:25:59Z")
> [@Lasciel](#): > > I will toss in that dude has trauma- he’s the one whose parents died in the whole Klaw Escapes Wakanda With The Vibranium And Shit Goes Down pre-story. And he was pro-going out and kicking some ass even before Erik walked up and tossed his greatest enemy’s corpse at his feet. I’m not disagreeing with you - it’s not at all logical, but it isn’t an unrealistic or even an unusual response. I did wonder why no one bothered to point out to him that Erik’s dad, whom he was avenging, was the one responsible for “the whole Klaw Escapes Wakanda With The Vibranium And Shit Goes Down pre-story” in the first place. Hey, how do you like him _now_? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-panther-movie/809075/99 "2018-02-21T11:52:13Z")
Why would you assume he’d judge a son for his father’s actions? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2018, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-panther-movie/809075/100 "2018-02-21T12:10:01Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Why would you assume he’d judge a son for his father’s actions? Because the son supported the father’s actions. Erik didn’t kill Klaw to avenge Wakanda; he did so to get himself onto the throne. If Erik had cared about Wakanda, he wouldn’t have attacked the team in Korea in the first place (something which T’Challa also spectacularly failed to mention). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-panther-movie/809075.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-panther-movie/809075.md?page=6)