With the hype of Black Panther taking over the entertainment world, this article stood out to me as someone who took more than a few moments to confide in friends with as to whether or not to sing from T’Challa’s perspective in my new song coming out next week. Answers ranged from ’ don’t even go there’to it would be weird if you didn’t with the precedent you’ve set. I appreciated everyone’s time while I talked it out, but the sadness of having to even ask was not lost on me, and even more so, what did that mean? I’ve testified from the perspective of a female cartoon character and even robots, so why did this make me feel so different?
What I landed on was not unlike where this article goes, that it’s OK to communally celebrate the Fandom, but also know that a movie like this counts for a lot more to a culture underrepresented positively in our media. You’d have to not have a pulse to miss how many layers this moment has and how deep it goes for so many, and so that’s the energy I chose to put behind it.
Hi-5 to the new generation of little kids playing superheroes.