MovieChat Forums > Black Panther (2018) Discussion > There is a Russian Sci-Fi novella

There is a Russian Sci-Fi novella


called "Missionaries".

It's about a group of people who found a rip in reality and traveled back in time to some Polynesian islands where they decided to help the locals against an inevitable arrival of the European colonizers.
And there were two tribes locked in a conflict on these islands but when the future-people tried to warn them they weren't impressed. "What you are talking about? We are great warriors. Our boats are fast, our wooden spears are sharp and our stone maces are fearsome. We are afraid of no one".
So they used a different approach - a little provocation. They attacked the both sides using simple delta-wing flyers and homemade grenades. "Well, if our opponents abandoned all honor and went to the outsiders for help, thought the both tribes, then we will too".
Fast-forward 60 years. The conflict is now spanning many islands. They have guns and some kind of napalm, planes and turbine ships. They use sugar-cane alcohol for fuel.
And this is when the Europeans arrive. In their slow wooden ships with sails, with their muzzle-loading guns, armor and swords. And they, or so the islanders were told, come from a large continent filled with various resources and there is also this thing called oil?
They sink all ships but one letting the last one lead them to Europe...


And that's what would have happened if Wakanda really existed. The vibranium clad warriors would have rolled over Egypt, Persia, Greece and Rome with the elite mutant panther-soldier ripping the whole units to shreds. A then they would spread out all over Eurasia, eventually colonizing both Americas and Australia. It's possible the fate of other black people would have been better in that world but I doubt it.
Inevitably the elite of herb-eaters would emerge and at some point there would be an internal strife, dynastic disputes etc with mutant superwarriors leading mobs of white, yellow, red, brown or black barbarians to slaughter. And so on and so forth...

Because this is how humans are and if there is one thing the movie proves it's that, despite all the vibranium radiation, the Wakandas are very much human.

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Cool story.

Do I take it you just disagree with the mythology of Wakanda?

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I disagree with some of the movie's fans and their revisionist bs.

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I disagree with some of the movie's fans and their revisionist bs.
Why would you disagree with some of the fans of the movie and their apparent takeaways and or perceptions of the movie? Wouldn't they be entitled to feel the way they feel and think the way they think about the movie without having to adhere to the way you perceive the mythology and or the narrative should have been? How and why do you come to the opinion that the mythology is revisionist bs?

Given the numbers that have watched this movie this forum doesn't represent even a valid relevant statistical sample. And like most movie boards personalities tend to dominate the discussions.

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I think we might be talking about different things. I'd appreciate if you could explain what do you mean by "mythology of Wakanda".

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The Mythology of Wakanda: Vibranium, 5 tribes, Heart Shaped Herbs, Water fall Challenge, contains a number of religious cults devoted to Heliopolitan deities, (Panther, White Gorilla, Lion, Crocodile, https://cdn.thinglink.me/api/image/708395773569531906/1240/10/scaletowidth

So when I asked you if you disagreed with the mythology of Wakanda why was your response,

"I disagree with some of the movie's fans and their revisionist bs."
, if you didn't know what the Mythology was?

I read your OP based on a Russian Sci-Fi Novella called Missionaries along with your view of what WOULD have happened had Wakanda really existed along with your summation that, "Because this is how humans are and if there is one thing the movie proves it's that, despite all the vibranium radiation, the Wakandas are very much human."

Which was a rather pointed declaration of your disapproval of how the movie portrays Wakanda or how you perceive the audience receives and reflects Wakanda (and thus a fictionalized Africa) and the movie Black Panther.

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My only objection to the "mythology" of Wakanda is that there is no way they could have worshiped Egyptian gods and a Hanuman cult in Africa is about as likely as Athena being born out of the forehead of the Feathered Serpent of the Mayans.
I wasn't talking about that though...

Thing about many fictional versions of Africa that they tend to portray these alternative universe\timeline Africans rather unrealistically. There is no definite explanations why some cultures progress and some remain less developed or even primitive but one thing for sure. Our biology is the same. Give a human culture an edge and it will grow and dominate other cultures. There are exceptions but each one is a special case - mostly islands with limited resources or other kinds of isolation. In general though, my scenario is what would have happened.

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Interesting post.

I think the response to Black Panther, critically and by the media and by internet reviewers has been very superficial, even for a comicook movie... the fans, are fanatical, that is a given for these types of movies...

Very few people want to engage with the actual themes of the movie. How the challenge to the Wakandan throne and the choices it faces about how to engage with the world ends up in [spoiler] an attempted coup and civil war in Wakanda. That is what the Wankandan vs. Wakandan battle shows us. It's not a simple "cool" rihno battle, or T'Challa vs. Erik dual in their supersuits... That there are CIA agents and legacy influence on either side is also something that has passed primarily without comment. [/spoiler]

Hardly the empowering or uplifting message that is sold by the PR machine. It is one of the more interesting concepts of the movie, yet it is ignore entirely. People gloss over what it means, if it means anything at all, especially as this is part of a series of movies and thus the actual themes of any particular movie get watered down...

I stopped watching most of these marvel movies long ago, but there seems to be an interesting, pro-CIA, pro-clandestine operations thread throughout, whether at home or abroad. What does this mean for governance? What does this mean for the republic? It seems with Black Panther these themes were transposed onto Wakanda in it's monacharist context. Yet no one wants to discuss them.

This theme is completely ignored in commentary on these movies... Even James Bond movies have more self refection within the movies as well as better consideration by reviewers and the commenting public regardless of their political positions.

Why is this? Is it simply the consumerist toy-movie wrapper that these comicbook movies come in? Clearly the PR campaign about Black Panther being an important movie for representation has reduced the range of commentary on this movie, but what about the others?

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A recurring thread in the Marvel films has been that the CIA, and clandestine operations in general, are seldom to be trusted. Some films, The Winter Soldier, for example, are based entirely around the fear of secret government ops run rampant, to the detriment of society, but even in films where it isn't center stage, it's often there.

Consider the S.H.I.E.L.D. arc over the course of the films-- the "good guy" secret agency that was in fact riddled with corruption to the point that it was actually an evil organization masquerading as good. Also consider how often the villain is in cahoots with the government's secret agencies, and the hero is the one opposing law and order. There are elements of that in nearly all the earth-based films.

Black Panther didn't dwell much on the topic, and the CIA agent seemed there mostly in the role of "outsider marveling at the heretofore unknown advanced society" of Wakanda.

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Interesting... I haven't followed most of Marvels movies... thanks for pointing that out πŸ‘

In Black Panther it seems Ross, CIA guy, ultimately redeems CIA by protecting the Wakandan and getting hurt in one scene and then by risking himself and fighting for T'Challa's cause... while it doesn't portray agency involvment as an institution, it does make it seem as it is populated by good hearted, adorable little nerdy guys who will fight for others at the slightest danger... πŸ˜‚

But he's also an avatar for the audience as outsiders to Wakanda...

Very different from CiA leader (or was he a government guy?) who was played by Robert Redford in Winder Soldier... Interesting...

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