If Life Imitates Art, Our Heroes Need To Look Like Us

Corey Murphy - SV De-Bug - March 14, 2018 - 7 minute read

Editor's Note:

In any culture, the most important attribute of the hero was that they looked like the people that they were protecting, writes Corey Murphy on the immeasurable impact a film like "Black Panther" can have on black youth across the globe.

Prior to the movie “Black Panther” black folks had been suffering a sort of mental fatigue watching the same seven stereotypical black characters in repetition. There’s Hollywood's number one go to which is the trusty thug character. If the thug doesn’t work they can always rely on the ambitious young athlete character to keep us at the edge of our seats as he chases a dream that the majority of us could never realistically accomplish. There’s the comedic role played by the current court jester of the hour to help us laugh away our pain after we finish watching the depressing movie about the black homeless character or prostitute struggling to make it in the hood. If all else fails and Hollywood producers really want to make a legitimate Oscar run there is the old reliable slave or civil rights character.

People of African descent are so much more than these seven recycled characters. In 1889 Oscar Wilde wrote an essay called “The Decay of Lying” where he stated, "Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life." “Black Panther” is such an important film because little black boys and girls all over the world get to see themselves on the big screen as heroes. Nothing is more motivating than seeing individuals that look just like you doing things that black people have not historically been seen doing in film.

The concept of hero or heroine has been celebrated in just about every culture on earth since the dawn of civilization. Whether the hero was one of the ancient gods or a mortal human that battled adversity in the face of danger, the most important attribute of the hero was that he looked like the people that he was protecting; this point cannot be understated. The fact that a hero looks like the population he or she represents has enormous psychological benefits on that society.

Social psychologists have more recently referred to this phenomenon as the Obama effect. The idea is that African Americans are constantly mindful of stereotypes that reinforce that they are not supposed to be the heroes or intellectual juggernauts of society, so this mindset often leads to less success when striving towards their ambitions. But when they see African American success in examples like President Obama or in our case the movie “Black Panther” those inhibitions caused by the pressure of stereotypes fall away. The motivation provided by seeing individuals that look like you succeed, is priceless.

Although the Black Panther is the hero we all came to see we were delighted to get to know an unsuspected heroine in his sister Princess Shuri. Black kids rarely see role models when it comes to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math). Only 9% of science and engineering degrees went to blacks according to a 2011 report by the National Science Board. According to a 2013 US Census Bureau report, blacks made up 11% of the total workforce yet they only occupied 6% of STEM jobs. The same report indicates that about 67% of the total workforce was white but whites made up 71% of STEM employees. Remember life often imitates art. We can’t even begin to imagine how many young black lives were impacted simply by seeing a black female engineer, big and bold on the silver screen. The beautiful thing about “Black Panther” is that this movie is chuck full of beautiful black heroes that inspire hope and pride in blacks around the globe.

The movie Black Panther introduces us to an illustrious African kingdom named Wakanda. The wealthy kingdom of Wakanda is the most technologically advanced country in the world with universal healthcare and the ability to heal the majority of injuries and illnesses. Wakanda also happens to be the only country on earth where the rare and extremely valuable fictional metal vibranium is native. The trade of this vibranium is what accounts for the kingdom’s great riches. Although the depiction of African royalty is rarely celebrated in Hollywood we know that African royalty is not rare in actual history. World history is crowded with many advanced African Kingdoms that possessed great wealth and led the world in the fields of science, philosophy, mathematics and civil engineering.

We see the impressive engineering achievements of the Egyptians and Kushites. To this day scientists continue to attempt to figure out exactly how the great pyramids were erected without the use of heavy machinery. When it comes to scholastics and philosophy we know that the city of Timbuktu in modern day Mali was once a great center of education where African scholars and business men met to exchange goods and ideas. Timbuktu became legendary throughout the region for its wealth as well as its plethora of books. During the reign of emperor Mansa Musa from 1312-1337, Mali was the largest gold producer in the world and Mansa Musa became the richest man on earth.

Although these facts about African royalty and prosperity can be found in many books we rarely see them translated into our media. Black children rarely see positive images of themselves in film while white children see media visuals of white greatness continuously throughout their life. In depth African history is rarely taught in American schools. The majority of the history taught is from the European American perspective even though African Americans played an essential part in building this nation. When we do get around to teaching about African American’s history we jump straight to slavery as if blacks did not exist before that. It is literally up to African American parents to teach their children what happened before slavery or else the children will never know the rich history of Africa.

I attended the film with my wife and 14-year-old daughter and as we walked out of the theatre I listened to the two of them debate which character was the most impactful. I know that the images of blacks in film will be forever altered by the success of the “Black Panther.” Currently, Black Panther has made over $1 billion worldwide. I'm just a working class, blue collar Teamster but even I know that Hollywood executives tend to follow the money. Black positivity sells! I am hopeful that the blueprint has been laid and we can look forward to many more positive black stories that inspire our youth.

Hero Image by Rich Gutierrez, Images in text by Free Rolando