MovieChat Forums > Black Panther (2018) Discussion > Frankly if Wakanda existed. Most of Afri...

Frankly if Wakanda existed. Most of Africa would hate there guts


So while the Africa was being colonized and while the whole slave trade was going on. Wakanda did jack sh!t about it. And please don't tell me that Wakanda only survived because it was isolated. These people have spare that fire laser beams and have space ships. But they cant take on 19th Century Europeans with muskets. Give me a damn break. If the Native Americans had automatic weapons when the Europeans arrived. I think things would have turned out differently. But im sure Wakanda refusing to help its African neighbors for hundred of years. Wont lead to any resentment at all.

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Okay, I'll bite. The neighbors to Wakanda had no idea what was going on inside the country. The Wakandan's didn't have lasers and flying craft during the slave trade but definitely could have defended themselves and others but eventually would have been outnumbered by the rest of the world and not just other countries in Africa.

Now that the world knows of Wakanda how is it any different than Stark handing over his Technology to the USA?

And your comment about Native Americans is Erik's point also.

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"The neighbors to Wakanda had no idea what was going on inside the country".

I don't think that's possible unless Wakandans were exterminating everyone who'd try to cross their borders. There have been enough tribal migrations and conquests in Africa before and after the Europeans started actively interacting with the continent.
It supposed to be in East Africa somewhere close to Ethiopia which was a very active area since the Antiquity, known to the Classical world. So was Somalia.

It's also a little unlikely that the ancient Wakandans were isolationists. That's not how humanity works. If they had a technological age they'd have used it to thrive on the expense of less developed cultures. Or, at least, to repel Muslim and European invaders.

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I don't think that's possible unless Wakandans were exterminating everyone who'd try to cross their borders. There have been enough tribal migrations and conquests in Africa before and after the Europeans started actively interacting with the continent.
It supposed to be in East Africa somewhere close to Ethiopia which was a very active area since the Antiquity, known to the Classical world. So was Somalia.
You know you're right. So what are they going to do with all that Vibranium now?

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That's one of the things that makes Black Panther compelling: Wakanda's struggle to balance ancient xenophobia and mysticism, and its desire to avoid colonization, against its need to help exploited people. Even within Wakanda, people fight (often to the death) for control of its resources. T'Challa doesn't want to see the whole world descend into war over vibranium technology, and understands this is one of the more likely likely outcomes of revealing Wakanda's mineral treasure. But ultimately he is convinced that he must do so in order to bring about global change.

Killmonger is a great character, ultimately ruthless and megalomaniacal beyond redemption, but part of his motivation was initially noble: He wanted justice for exploited Blacks. Somewhere along the line his focus became supremacy, even at the cost of millions of lives. But his first (and last) desire was freedom from oppression.

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"ancient xenophobia and mysticism"

This is the part that makes the least sense.
There is absolutely no reason for East Africans to worship Egyptian gods and a cult of Hanuman in Africa is the utter nonsense.

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This is the part that makes the least sense.
There is absolutely no reason for East Africans to worship Egyptian gods and a cult of Hanuman in Africa is the utter nonsense.
Wait, what?

But the idea that a man can create his own personal sardine can and shoot repulsor rays from his palms makes sense?

Why couldn't the five tribes from East Africa of fictional Wakanda worship Egyptian gods and a cult of Hanuman in Africa? Please provide us a cogent answer. Please?

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Well, let's start with the easy one. There can be no Hanuman cult in Africa for the same reason lord Rama didn't fight a tokoloshe instead of rakshas and Zeus didn't have to wrestle the Feathered Snake of the Mayans for the throne of Olympus. Different cultures, different continents, different times.

As for Bast... Well, the conquests of Egypt never got to the region where Wakanda is supposed to be and even if they had the Egyptians did not, as far as I know, converted slaves to their faith. No did the African tribes have a tendency to borrow gods from their conquerors. For example, when Carthage was destroyed the locals did not continue to worship Baal of their Phoenician overlords. Same goes for African Vandal kingdoms although I'm not quite sure what gods did they worship. Some form of proto-Odin probably.

All in all, I think this is just laziness on behalf of the original BP comic authors who, instead of doing some research, just threw whatever exotic deities came to mind. There is no real excuse for that since there's plenty of interesting beliefs in Africa. They could have created an original organic culture instead of this...

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That's one of the themes of the film: that Wakanda has only ever taken care of herself. On one hand, it makes sense. Though technologically advanced, perhaps the Wakandans didn't believe they could defeat the entire onslaught of Europeans. Or, even if they felt they could, then what? Where does the obligation end? Are they simply to play policeman to the African continent? Or are they obligated to share their technology. If they do, what if someone turns it against them? And if they horde the tech, they can't be everywhere at once, so many who could have benefited from their medical or military advancements would still die. Even if they could solve all of those seemingly unsolvable problems, then comes the issue of where to stop? Are they only to help Africans? What about, say, the Americas? Should they help the Indians fend of the Europeans? Should they help the Europeans if they're attacked, or attacking one another? It never ends, and until Killmonger came along, Wakanda had always taken the simple route-- isolation and anonymity.

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