It’s the Great Black Panther Movie, Charlie Brown!

I find it quite troubling that so many Black folks are Spellbound by Marvel Studios Black Panther movie. Like Linus and the Great Pumpkin, they believe that Marvel Studios’ Black Panther movie is going to be such a revolution in filmmaking that it’s going to lead to a bunch of other Black Superhero movies being made.

I’m sorry that’s just not gonna happen. All one has to do is take an objective look at White Hollywood and most Black Cinematic Milestones to see where things are going to go regarding this film.  

In 1997, Blade starring Wesley Snipes revived the Superhero movie genre. Blade paved the way for studios to produce films like Bryan Singer’s X-Men, Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man and the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Did Blade’s blockbuster performance at the box office lead to a flood of Black superhero movies at the box office? NO. But they made several billion dollars at the expense of Wesley Snipes’ efforts.

In 2001 Denzel Washington and Halle Berry won Oscars for Best Actor and Best Actress for Training Day and Monster’s Ball. Halle Berry said in her speech that her Oscar win would open doors for Black actresses.

Fast forward to 2017 and Halle Berry is now saying her Oscar has absolutely no value.

How many doors were opened for Halle? NONE. How many were opened for Black Actresses? NONE. After Berry starred in 2004’s box office flop Catwoman, she faded into obscurity.

And how many were opened for Denzel? NONE. Even though Denzel Washington is a $20 million a picture actor he can’t get a Black fantasy film greenlit or financed just on his name.

So if anyone takes an objective look at the History of Hollywood they’d understand that a Black Panther Movie isn’t going to do anything for Black people. Except give them another place to spend their Black dollars with White folks.

When it comes to White Hollywood Black folks like Charlie Brown keep falling for Lucy’s football hustle. They keep running to kick that football instead of realizing that the liberals in White Hollywood are just jerking them around.

Worse, they just keep jerking themselves around. Just because White Hollywood makes a movie with a Black superhero character they own in it doesn’t mean that Hollywood would be interested in making films featuring other Black characters in lead roles. That’s a covert contract that many Blacks are trying to make with White Hollywood as they hope, wish and pray not for more Black superhero movies, but for White attention and approval. Because that’s what most Black folks actually want, attention from Whites, not actual Black superhero or fantasy movies.

Black folks have been making their own superhero movies, fantasy, and science fiction media for YEARS. But many are just too afraid to go out and support their own. No, they’re too busy waiting for a White person to say it’s okay before they go out and start supporting Black comics, Black fantasy, and Black science fiction. It’s sad that so many Black folks believe they need the imaginary White Man’s seal of approval before they can think about using their imaginations. If that ain’t a slave I don’t know what is.

Just because Hollywood makes a Black Panther movie doesn’t mean that White folks love us. It just means they love Black dollars. Don’t get it twisted. This is all business for Marvel Studios.

How many Marvel Studios movies did they make before they made Black Panther? At least a dozen. That should show ever Black person out there how much of a priority Black folks were for Kevin Fiege and Marvel Studios.

Twenty years after Wesley Snipes single handedly revived the superhero genre after Warner Brothers Batman & Robin killed it, Black folks still don’t see the crumbs thrown at them by White liberal Hollywood.

Damn. Just Damn.

What’s really sad about many of these more delusional Negro nerds out here is the idea they have that the Black Panther movie will lead to some sort of rise in popularity for Black comic books, Black science fiction and Black fantasy in the mainstream media.

Seriously, why should it take a movie featuring a Black superhero made by White people for Black folks to go out and support Black comic books, Black fantasy and Black science fiction by Black creators? Why does it take White mainstream media paying attention to Black fantasy, Black science fiction and Black comics for Black people to see a value in the media we make for ourselves?

Shows me how backwards many in the Black community think.

It shouldn’t take a Black Panther movie being made for Black folks to go out and buy Black comics by Black creators or Black science fiction and Black fantasy books. We should have been doing that BEFORE a Black Panther Movie was a gleam in Kevin Fiege’s eye.

Yeah, it’s nice that a Black Panther movie is being made by Marvel Studios. But don’t treat it like it’s the second coming of The Cosby Show. The Black Panther is a creation of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and is the vision of what Africa is through the lens of two White men. It’s not a story told by Black people for Black people like Robert Townsend’s Hollywood Shuffle, Keenan Ivory Wayans I’m Gonna Git You Sucka, Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing or Malcolm X.

For me Marvel Studios releasing a Black Panther Movie is not an event it’s not an accomplishment. It’s just business as usual for White folks, them telling us who we are and not us telling the world what we’re about. Even though there’s a Black director attached it’s still a White man’s vision of Black people at the end of the day.

The way I see it I can think of a dozen more things more important than getting excited for 2018’s Black Panther movie. No, for me what gets me excited is seeing the work of a fellow Black creator come to the marketplace. I’d rather spend money helping them build their business and their audience. That’s what’s really going to open doors for brothers and sistas in the community. That’s what’s going to take Black people to the next level.

Black folks stop hoping, wishing, and praying for the Black Panther to rise out of the movie theater and give you opportunities for Black Superhero, sci-fi and fantasy films, books and TV shows. Go out and make your own and build your own audience with your own people. Fuck Hollywood.