(Spoiler Alert: If you haven’t seen Black Panther, this post definitely has some spoilers.)
In most movies, bad guys aren’t usually right. Especially in superhero movies, the hero always prevails against the very evil villain. The theme of good vs. evil is one that resonates with us, because we want to see the good guy save the day, and we want to see the defeat of the enemy. However, the story of Black Panther differs. While T’Challa is the protagonist, Killmonger, the villain, gains sympathy with the audience, since he struggles in poverty without a father. To add, he also taps into a modern day issue: justice for the black community around the world. Yet, his desire for conquest and power makes him the villain as he desires to rule and subjugate all other people in a violent way.
There have been other blog posts arguing about who the real villain in the movie is, as T’Challa is the one who has lived a life of privilege, and his father, in his desire to protect Wakanda, keeps T’Challa and Wakanda sheltered from the oppression that others face. This results in their decision to not help those in need. At the end, T’Challa recognizes the good intention behind Killmonger’s desire to help those who are oppressed all over the world. T’Challa adopts a vision to share their resources to promote peace, instead of Killmonger’s quest for global power. In this way, T’Challa changes from following the previous generations idea of self-preservation, to one that is more open-handed in providing resources for the rest of the world to utilize in education, energy, and health care.
The complexity of the characters in Black Panther makes the movie compelling, as we see that there is good and evil in both the hero and the villain. This dichotomy makes me reflect on the theology of mankind, as humans are all made in the image of God, yet at the same time, have all been affected by the Fall, and have an internal tendency towards sin. How do we reconcile these two things in humanity? Humans can be agents of bringing about goodness and hope in the world, yet humans can also bring about much suffering and destruction. We all live in a broken world, and even in the Bible we see how many of the heroes of the faith, who we may have seen as awesome in Sunday School stories, also had huge blind spots. As I’ve mentioned in another post, even the greatest theologians had brokenness and sin in their lives.
Understanding the tensions that we humans have, as we try to reflect the image of God in an imperfect way, helps us be more compassionate to those around us. As we see both the good and bad in ourselves, we can also recognize the truth of who we are, and be more open to those around us. Perhaps, the person who seems so different from us, who is “the other” is not so different after all. The truths that we as humans are image bearers of God, yet are all fallen and are capable of much evil, show the common threads that help us relate to one one another. Thus, this connection to those around us can also help us be more open-handed to help those in need. Even if we come from a place of privilege, like T’Challa, we can see our connections with those who are oppressed as they are also made in the image of God, and be more generous with our resources.
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