My beloved Jamaicans, when are you gonna stop embarrassing yourselves? the Black Panther excitement reminds us of the fact that when America sneeze, Jamaica catch flu. Did you really put on traditional African garments to go help Hollywood execs make record profits? All you people who dressed up in dashikis and turbans and turned out in your packs to ‘support’ the Black Panther Movie are a bunch of “Pappy Shows”. Who vex?
The Dashiki theme was a global farce
what’s the problem with going to watch a movie?
Absolutely no problem with going to watch a film with your friends. The reason you are a big “Pappy Show” is that you people had the audacity to disguise your obsessive need to nuff up into other people’s culture as “Pan Africanism”. This is where the problem starts and you should have known KijanaWaasi was not going to let you get away with such buffoonery.
some of you take African culture for cartoon business
Black Panther is a fictional comic hero created by two white men
Let’s look at the concept behind the Black Panther movie; the main hero is T’Challa, who is the King of a fictional African nation called Wakanda. Yes, the name these two white men came up with for their fictional African country is Wakanda. The two men who created the character are Stan lee and Jack kirby. The company that now owns the rights to the character and is behind this movie is Marvel. They made US $12 Billion last year alone in sales.
Make you sure you grab some merchandise as well, spend spend spend.
Now I can hear you asking what’s the big deal? I mentioned the creators and owners of Black Panther to make a point about why the “Pan Africanism” theme was a farce. How can something that is created and owned by non-blacks be supported on the basis of black empowerment? Time and time again, we allow ourselves to be tricked with the same kindergarten tactics.
people value showtime more than growtime
As a people, this movie does nothing for Africans or people of African descent. The black actors who are in the film will collect their cheques and go right back to living in their all-white neighbourhoods. Why are you “Pappy Shows” dressing up in African clothing to go see a film about a fictional African country? you are so desperate to be apart of everything that you can’t even see when you are being played.
Modern day version of the spear chucking blacks stereotype
This film stinks of the need for mainstream approval that so many of us have. Look, we are getting “our own”(even though you don’t own nothing) films now. Do you see Chinese, Indians, Arabs or any other group doing this nonsense? nope, we are always the ones jumping for joy that we have some attention and spotlight. While these other groups are making moves that will benefit their great great grandchildren. They fight to own stores, industries etc. while we are fighting to get more nominees in the Oscars.
Why don’t you support local Jamaican plays like this?
Tell the same people to turn up in droves and go see a play from a local film and watch how the cinema empty. A matter of fact, Jamaicans bootleg their locally made movies like “Dancehall Queen” and “Third World Cop”, but pay good money to go see Marvel Comic’s Black Panther. Want Jamaicans to support something? tell them it’s from foreign. Who want vex, just vex and done.
Be honest, how many of you heard Jamaicans talking about Black Panther comic books, 5, 10, 15 years ago? do you remember any of your friends being hooked on the character or even knowing that it exists? Jamaicans know about Superman and Batman more than they do Black Panther.
When the circus was unfolding, some of my acquaintances tried to get me to dress up in a dashiki and go watch the movie. I asked them to tell me about the history of the character, not a single one could. They just saw the hype being built on social media and because they are ’nuff’ like rice grain they wanted to be a part of it.
remove the black power side to it and there is no problem at all
As I said before, it is the black power theme that bothers me so much. Every year we hear blacks complain about not winning Oscars and Grammy awards. Have you ever heard us complain that we don’t win enough Nobel Prizes for science? Have you heard any protests that we are barely represented in Banking, Science, Technology etc? nope, that is because our culture is obsessed with show business. Just like our ancestors used to “shuck and jive” for the entertainment of their masters, we are not much different now just better paid.
This is why so many black children want to be musicians and sports players. Entertainment is what we value and cherish, not ownership, not innovations. Congrats Hollywood, you have done it again. You manage to retain ownership, profits and you did it all while convincing black people that you were empowering them. Bravo.
Pictures are from Skkan Media