“They trust each other,” Boseman says of Panther and Cap. The actor points to his gift of claw shields from Shuri (Letitia Wright,) forged from Wakanda’s sacred natural resource. “His shield was already made from vibranium anyway. So it’s just an extension of what he already had. This time, actually giving it to him, as opposed to…” Boseman shrugs. The materials for the old shield were likely taken, not offered. “Me actually giving it to him is a testament to our relationship and trust.” – Entertainment Weekly
T’challa is a Good Male Protagonist ™ mainly because he is humble and without the ego you see from so so many other male protagonists in blockbuster films
He defers to the wisdom of his mother, his sister, his general, his love, the women around him. He was a sweet and loving son who expressed and enjoyed physical and emotional tenderness from his father.
He’s proud but doesn’t ever disrespect anybody. He values family, affection and emotion and expresses it freely, but still retains the poise of a king.
That’s kind of rare in a lot of the mostly white, mostly male Hollywood protagonist lineup.
What a death sentence it would be for art if everyone strived to create Good Male Protagonists. Do you really believe that fictional characters should exist to embody admirable traits? Drama comes from flaws.
Aye…nobody asked you.
… What?
How would it be a death sentence for art of everyone strove to create good male protagonists when clearly black panther had one and was a really good movie? Did this person even bother reading the post?
“Drama comes from flaws” no drama comes from conflict which is not the same thing.
T’Challa is humble, respectful, gracious, kind, altruistic, all these wonderful things. His drama comes from trying to apply these noble traits to the world and figuring out the best way to do it. Should he focus on running his own country? Should he reach out to diaspora communities? Should he accept refugees? Which argument is compelling enough to him to cement his decisions? How should he handle people who disagree with his decisions? How will his enemies use his good traits against him? How will he recover from setbacks?
Yes drama can stem from flawed individuals, but you don’t have to write a dickhead as your protagonist in order to get an interesting story out of it.
And you know what? T’Challa is flawed. He’s indecisive. He’s inexperienced. He can get emotional, and that distracts him and clouds his judgement.
Those flaws are enough to help drive a story. Your character doesn’t need to be amoral or callous to be “flawed”. You don’t need someone who kills indiscriminately. You don’t need someone who is arrogant or cruel or self-centered. “Flawed” doesn’t have to mean “grimdark,” and “grimdark” does not always mean “good drama” anyway.
Almost forgot I wanted to post this March doodle request sooner rather than later~ A patron requested some of the guys from Black Panther, so I drew the AU where Erik gets to grow up in Wakanda with his family ;w;
Also imagining Erik tries to get them all into Dragonball and Naruto and Shuri is like “this is neat but why aren’t there more girls in the fights” and T’challa is just like “????? I don’t understand any of what I’m seeing”
wupacing 