By now, the buzz around Black Panther is pretty evident. Not only has the movie busted the box office wide open by surpassing the $1 billion mark in just a few short weeks of release, but it is creating the same kind of iconic fandom garnered by Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. Not being a fan of the Marvel movie genre, at first I was ambivalent to see it. But as word got out, I got the sense that in a way, this would be more than a movie. I have seen it twice so far and loved it!
Now, I do think some folks are going too far and I’m speaking of Christians when I say this. After all, it is just a movie. I’m hearing of sermon and Bible study series being wrapped around Black Panther themes. I’m not sure why we have to do this. But I’m also mindful that Lord of the Rings baptized many a Christian message. For consistency sake, if LOTR was ok for sermon illustrations and such, then Black Panther should be no exception unless of course, the Christian message is being changed to accommodate the movie. That’s a problem!
One of the issues where I believe Christians will find their most strident objections, is the film’s portrayal of ancestral African religion. Yes, I did grunt on these parts. However, to get stuck on this point, robs the film of an overarching messages I believe the film communicates. Make no mistake, those messages are compelling especially in light of our current cultural milieu. Over at Kaleoscope, I wrote about the dueling paradigms at work in the movie that seems to provoke some questions worth asking today. Check it out. Link is here.
To be sure, this was more than a just a movie.
TheoThoughts 