(Image courtesy of Google Images)

< Washington : Esq. A Kim>

Marvel’s Black Panther has been a huge success worldwide, bringing in more than $1.2 billion since its February Launch. It is also the first movie to hit the Saudi theaters since its government finally ended its 35-year old ban on cinemas. This is exciting news for both Black Panther and Saudi Arabia.

While watching Black Panther, there are a couple of key themes that the plot tries to outline:

1. #Betrayal
2. #Revenge and Loss of Legitimacy
3. #Redemption

During the movie, I couldn’t help but see a certain parallel to another Hamlet-inspired movie, Lion King. Not because they both happen in Africa (although they both do indeed occur in Africa), or because both involves a monarchy. The basic theme is relatively similar as noted above.

(Image courtesy of Google Images)

I don’t want to spoil the movie for anyone (lest someone in Saudi Arabia or elsewhere under a rock comes across this review by chance), so I plan not to go too heavily in depth in my review. Now, there are many moving parts in the plot for Black Panther, surprisingly, and they tend to not just drop off like in some movies; a simple, cursory review of the plot will show that most of the side plots in Black Panther actually decides to round up and make sense by the end, while leaving just a couple of questions open for later plots to cover, which I hope, will be covered in Black Panther 2, confirmed due to its huge success.

(Image courtesy of Google Images)

The movie is based on a fictional country of Wakanda, an African country enriched with a metal of the strongest quality, which has allowed it to develop and protect itself from outside influences until modern times. With the events of the last Captain America movie, Captain America: Civil War unfolding, Wakanda is now without a King, and T’Challa, the son of the now dead King T’Chakka, is about to take the throne. So why does betrayal enter into the picture? Well, that takes us to the “flashback” part of the beginning of the movie, with the arrival of a flying vessel at a rundown apartment in Oakland, California, where the then King T’Chakka is about to walk in on his younger brother N’Jobu. Here, we’re not shown what happens between the King and his younger brother, but given the situation, there has been an attempt at betrayal by one party, and maybe even betrayal on both parties, depending on how you look at the situation. In Lion King, the King of Pride Rock, Mufasa is betrayed by his brother Scar. As it is a children’s movie, the betrayal is only really seen as being done on one unlike in the case of Black Panther, argument could be made that betrayal could be felt on both sides.

After, T’Challa passes his tests and becomes the King of Wakanda, but not for too long. Someone from the past (his father’s past), comes back for revenge, not necessarily or directly on T’Challa, but perhaps on the whole Wakandian political structure. He is T’Challa’s cousin, Erik Killmonger. Some will argue that Killmonger isn’t necessarily there for revenge of his past. Killmonger actually plays a complex role, making him more interesting than T’Challa, the main character. There could be a whole another article to explain Erik Killmonger, but it doesn’t fit here. In general though, he comes with many feelings, one of which is a desire for revenge as well a desire to abuse the power that comes with being a Wakanda monarch, even if his intentions are somewhat well-meaning. In the battle between Killmonger and T’Challa for the throne, T’Challa loses his claim over the throne, as Killmonger wins the semi-ritualistic battle for the throne. T’Challa is lost, and Killmonger receives the formal induction into Wakandan throne, much to the chagrin and fear of most of the Wakandan court. Similarly in Lion King, when Scar kills Mufasa, he then pins the blame on the young Simba, and tells Simba to “run away,” before unleashing the hyenas on Simba to kill Simba. Of course, the hyenas fail, and Simba manages to escape. However, Simba runs away, and plans to never come back, fearful of what would happen to him should he return. In the meantime, Scar has taken control of Pride Rock and begun using the resources around Pride Rock for his and the hyenas’ own excessive enjoyment. At this point, both T’Challa and Simba have lost their rightful claim to the throne, and have lost all support.

We know from both films, that there is then, a gathering of allies for T’Challa in Black Panther who finds him and fights for his return to the Wakandan throne, as well as in Lion King where Simba is given an unlikely set of allies to return to Pride Rock, where he is to claim his throne back, thereby redeeming the “rightful throne” from the “invading villains,” Killmonger and Scar respectively.

What’s so interesting is that both Simba and T’Challa are leaders. They both have to prove their leadership in some aspect, but in reality, it is the help and support of those around each of these characters that highlight exactly what a leader needs for leadership.

The details of both works differ, no doubt. The target audience is different, and even the ultimate messages involved are different between the two movies. One is closer to a comedic children’s movie version of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, while the other includes a broader cultural and political significance. Nevertheless, it is interesting that these two films show a similar theme in its overall plot points to create two very different yet similarly popular work.