Black Panther

Watching this film was long overdue... I'm glad I finally got around to it.

Wow. The layers.

There are so many facets of this movie which make it transcend the genre of an "action packed superhero movie". It's not just about the strength of the Black Panther, or the fact that he is a good and righteous man, and blah blah blah. But it also dares to explore the complexity of African perception in the world. Most of us (let's face it) think of Africa as a third world continent, and the movie brings to light that the abuse of colonizers all has led to severe discrimination of Africans (slavery, and its evolved forms: mass incarceration, etc.) around the world.

Wakanda defies all the stereotypes that we lay on Africa. It's rich, powered by the most strong metal in the world, "Veranium" (fictional), and has the best technology mankind has ever laid eyes on. Women are empowering and thrive there as soldiers and scientists. Its trains run on advanced magnetism. It is beautiful, and its people are colorful and peaceful.

The complexity is brought quite nicely into the picture through the villain of the movie, Erik Killmonger, who is not so much a heartless monster, as a product of the violence, injustice and cruelty that African Americans have been facing till now. How much is Wakanda to blame for not stepping up to the unfairness faced by people of African descent around the world? Killmonger thinks a lot. To him, justice is dethroning T'Challa (Black Panther, current Wakandan King) and using Wakanda's vibranium to "colonize the colonizers" and take revenge upon white supremacy. Of course, this is all fueled by anger and hatred, which makes Killmonger need to be stopped, but it raises some very serious questions about whether Wakanda should in fact play a larger role in bridging the gap between Wakandan abundance and African poverty around the world.

That makes the pursuit of defeating Erik Killmonger not so much a good vs evil battle, but rather a wakeup call to the Wakandans.

T'Challa is portrayed in the movie as someone who is pure of heart and good, but who needs to make the penultimate decision to take Wakanda out of its luxurious safety net. He is surrounded by smart and strong women: his sister Shuri: chief scientist of all gadgets and architecture that fuels Wakanda and his black panther suit, his chief general: the nimble and strong Okoye, and his ex-lover Nakia:  refugee saver and mighty warrior. It seems that he is in equal footing in power with all of them, which makes the movie a breathe of fresh air from the typical male dominating superhero films.

The visuals are spectacular, the Wakandans, in their bright and colorful costumes shine with powerful culture, even the Mountain tribe that play as competitors to the Wakandans, are portrayed with gusto. The basal beat throughout the movie is steady and compelling, and the special effects with the gadgets are high quality.

I would therefore, recommend this film. It's more than just good vs bad as I mentioned before, but it also shows what righteousness and honor would be for a situation as complex as this. And I just loved the African empowerment that reminds us all to not underestimate anybody out there in the world.

Coco

I really enjoyed this film. The visuals were spectacular, it made me cry at the end and it was a good overall family entertainment. 

The songs felt a bit lacking for me, partially because this movie wasn’t a musical per se as many other Disney films are so we didn’t get to see a full song in action. 

The Mexican culture explored though was interesting, especially surrounding the significance of ancestral/family blessings in life and happiness. 

The skeleton world was also interesting. I wondered why ancestors were represented as skeletons and not spirits that were just invisible but human like in form? Maybe this was to show the clear distinction between changing bodies as representing changing worlds and perceptions. My mom did comment that some of her pre-school kids perceived the skeletons as scary. I thought they bought a sense of eerie charm, although let’s face it, the skeleton world seems exactly like the human world. It’s not heaven, just a morphed continuation of life where you’re constantly dependent on your legacy in another world to survive. 

I thought the charm of the movie came from how important family is to kids, and to people of all ages in general. Miguel, the main character of the film just wanted to become a musician, yet  he couldn’t easily because of his family. The core insecurity of pursuing music in his current family stemmed from his ancestors, and what Miguel was able to bring from the ancestral world to the current world after his journey was the acceptance of music. With his family accepting music, Miguel was more free to pursue music than ever before. 

The importance of family to an individual’s life and career path is one that is especially prevalent in Asian cultures. The hope to bring pride and happiness to one’s family is a constant goal in many peoples’ lives. This movie touched me when the family really saw that it wasn’t music that was the problem, but a misunderstanding. But even more that they fully embraced what Miguel wanted to pursue at the end, as all good families must do.