Black Panther and the Legacy of Chadwick Boseman

On August 28 of this year, it was announced to the world that the ever-talented actor, Chadwick Boseman, had died of cancer at the age of 43. He passed away at his home in Los Angeles in the company of his wife and family. Boseman was diagnosed with colon cancer four years prior but never went public with his illness.

This shocking news ricocheted around the world. Everyone was caught off guard. No one, not even the directors, producers, and actors he had worked within that course of time had any idea that he’d been ill. When my friend told me that morning, I thought they were making a sick joke to match the tragedies of 2020. I was wrong.

“A true fighter, Chadwick persevered through it all, and brought you many of the films you have come to love so much,” his family said in a heartfelt statement. “From Marshall to Da 5 Bloods, August Wilson's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and several more - all were filmed during and between countless surgeries and chemotherapy.”

Boseman was best known for his roles as James Brown, Jackie Robinson, and most famously as the ruler of Wakanda in Marvel’s Black Panther. Black Panther was a record-breaking blockbuster success. It was clear that he was destined to embody that hero, and it’s a tragedy that he won’t be able to step in that role again.

“It was the honor of his career to bring King T’Challa to life in Black Panther.”

Grieving the death of celebrities has always felt quite weird to me. Despite them being a perfect stranger, I’ve cried and mourned for artists I have admired and died too soon.

We mourn them because they can represent our past or our youth; because their art has been a consistent comfort in our lives. Because they will never create anything new again.

The movies Boseman created have essentially become a vessel of time, transporting us back to when he still walked this Earth.

On Boseman’s birthday in November, a few months after he passed, I decided to watch Black Panther for the umpteenth time. I wanted to re-examine the experience it gave me back in 2018 as an audience member as well as an audience to its impact on black people around the world. Re-examining it reminded me, once again, why it was such a cultural touchstone.

Yes, it definitely is another installment of Marvel’s billion-dollar Cinematic Universe. However, all other superhero movies have been a Western-Man’s wet dream. Iron Man, Captain America, Ant-Man – all of them have been a fictional attempt to rewrite 9/11, to save ‘Merica.

In the MCU, the rest of the world knows Wakanda was a third world country located in sub-Saharan Africa. Under the cloak of a rainforest is actually a technologically advanced African nation, untouched by the horrors of Western colonialism.

Ryan Coogler and his team of experts, set and costume designers, and screenwriters, had to ask what does liberation looks like in the hands of Black people?

Coogler can’t be credited for defining black liberation, but this move let us glimpse into one version of it. Wakanda offered an Afrofutrist reimagining of a future filled with arts, religion, science, and technology from a Black perspective. It unapologetically celebrated the uniqueness and innovation of Afro culture. We see a futuristic nation that is also steeped in ancient African traditions, social systems, and Black identity.

And the leader of this visionary world? T’Challa. The King of Wakanda and protector of his people. The character has been seen as an inspiration for kids around the world – especially young black children, who rarely get to see themselves reflected in the heroes they watch on screen.

It wasn’t just children who Boseman inspired. This film came at a time where the importance of diversity and representation on screen was in demand. Cosplayers and adult fans were super keen to commemorate T’Challa and their favourite Black Panther characters.

Alternatively, Boseman’s death came after a summer of protests sparked by the murder of George Floyd. His death added a layer of grief for black folks in America and around the world.

After revisiting Black Panther, I’m confident in saying that the film did representation right with one of the greatest black ensembles in pop culture. But in 2020 we’ve moved beyond just representation. Black Panther created a hero, it created a world, it reimagined history without the violence of colonialism. Black Panther was a bubble in space in time where a Black nation is free of global anti-blackness, and they are flourishing.

What an honour to have watched Boseman exist in such a beautiful world.

---

Alannah Link

Alannah is a writer whose vivid self-awareness often veers into self-consciousness. She can be found either watching the latest A24 flick, spending too much money at the local bookstore, or curating a thematic Spotify playlist.

Blog: TheCrookedFriend

5 Reasons Why 'When Harry Met Sally' is the Perfect Romantic Comedy

‘When Harry Met Sally’ was released in July 1989 and just over 30 years later, we can still see its impact on pop culture and the world of romance. I, for one, would argue that it’s the blueprint for all romantic comedies that came after it.

From it’s quotable one-liners, the autumnal NYC scenery, to the iconic Carrie Fisher – here are 5 reasons why ‘When Harry Met Sally’ is the perfect Romantic Comedy.

5. The main characters are nut-jobs, but in the most endearing way possible

‘When Harry Met Sally’ opens in 1977 when the title characters are forced to take an 18-hour road trip from Chicago to New York City. Almost instantly, their characters clash.

Harry is the over-sexed pessimist who uses humour to guise his sadness. And Sally is the romantically naïve optimist who’s in the dictionary next to the phrase “high maintenance”.

Billy Crystal isn’t an impossibly dashing romantic lead. He looks like a guy you’d walk past on a street. If you had given that script to the wrong person, Harry would’ve been absolutely miserable. But Crystal was able to soften the character’s cynicism with charm.

Sally’s anal retentiveness isn’t a quirky quality likened by manic pixie dream girls. When she carefully analyzes every vegetable she pulls from the salad bar, and demands the ice-cream be beside the pie, not on top – it’s just who she is, and while easily maddening, Meg Ryan makes it endearing.  

4. The film feels like a warm cup of Autumn

When I think of autumn, I think of the famous scene where Harry and Sally are strolling through a golden brown Central Park, with Sally wearing a grey bowler hat and tweed pants, and Harry in a brown leather jacket.  

Some of my favourite parts are the ones where the two characters are wrapped in blankets in their own separate beds, talking on the phone while watching the same show. While the film itself is aesthetically cozy, their conversations bring another sense of comfort, like the kind you feel when you talk to that person who is always willing to listen to your endless problems and musings.

Autumn is also the season of transition, and it just so happens to be the point in the film where the title characters feelings for one another change. I mean, who wouldn’t want to fall in love to Harry Connick Jr’s big-band/jazz soundtrack?

At the end of the day, ‘When Harry Met Sally’ is the quintessential autumn movie. It tastes like a warm cup of apple cider, feels like a thick, knit sweater, and sounds like crisp leaves crunching under our feet. It’s as bittersweet as unrequited love.

3. Carrie Fisher… need I say more?

When someone says Carrie Fisher, most people think of Princess Leia, and I mean… I do too. But what quickly follows is her role as Marie, Sally’s best friend in ‘When Harry Met Sally’.

Rom Coms just couldn’t get the best friend and B-romance right after Carrie Fisher perfected it in this film. She just set the bar too high.

Marie is a one-liner machine. Her romance with Harry’s best friend juxtaposes the title characters’ 12-year long stint of unrequited love as they almost immediately tie the knot. Marie and her partner coach their friends through romantic crises and turn to one another, grateful that they found a stable partnership while their peers are suffering in singledom.

It takes an incredible actor to steal the show as a side character, and Carrie Fisher does just that.

2. The story and script are timeless

Nora Ephron’s ability to write believable women and believable relationships with such sincerity is exactly what got her the Oscar nod for ‘When Harry Met Sally’.

The dialogue is witty and realistically depicts life and dating in 1980s New York City. The amount of iconic scenes and quotes the movie contains is remarkable, including the infamous fake-orgasm scene famously followed by “I’ll have what she’s having.”

While each character is fully developed, Harry and Sally are stripped of most things except for their relationships with one another. Their personalities are revealed through conversation, and in contrast with one another. Their love story is grounded by interspersed interviews of actors retelling heart-warming love stories of real-life couples, and ends, fittingly, with Harry and Sally telling theirs.

Despite its curly wired landline phones and shoulder pads, these are the things that make it feel timeless.

1. The romance is a perfect slow-burn

So many romantic comedies condense the romance into one night or a week. The thing about romance is that the longer it swells up, the sweeter the release is (if you know what I mean.)

‘When Harry Met Sally’ spans over 12 years. We get to see them grow up, mature and make mistakes. The story unfolds through low-stakes hangouts and well-written conversations that take place during walks against the backdrop of autumnal Central Park. They spend a day at the MET, banter in silly voices, and eat sandwiches at Jewish Delis.

When Harry and Sally start realizing they have feelings for one another, it feels so organic and real. You feel like their friends who so obviously know that the two are meant for each other but just can’t get over their own reservations. It tugs at the heartstrings, the only way a perfect romantic comedy can.

---

Alannah Link

Alannah is a writer whose vivid self-awareness often veers into self-consciousness. She can be found either watching the latest A24 flick, spending too much money at the local bookstore, or curating a thematic Spotify playlist.

Check out Alannah’s ‘When Harry Met Sally’ Spotify playlist here: jewish deli dates & witty banter

Blog: TheCrookedFriend

Introducing the 'Good for Her' Cinematic Universe

The Strong Female Lead

I’m exhausted by the strong female lead.

You know, this fairly new genre, usually inspired by a YA series, led by a kick-ass, witty, and emotionally stunted young woman who exists solely to save the world.

I didn’t always hate them. I was nine years old when I first saw Ellen Ripley annihilate the Alien Queen with a blow torch in one hand and a child in the other, all the while famously screaming, “Get away from her, you Bitch!”

What I felt then, watching wide-eyed as a young girl, was admiration, awe, and euphoria.

Now, whenever I see a bow-toting, gun-fisted female lead, I click, “Do not recommend.”

In the 80s and 90s, women being portrayed as anything other than a “sexy lamp” or sidekick was ground-breaking. Ellen Ripley and Sara Conner were catalysts for empowerment. They were mothers and caretakers but also emboldened with rage and a gun.

They are characters who ignited a long list of movies that Hollywood producers keep excavating probably until it squeezes out the last cent.

I think what they’re missing here is an opportunity to tell stories about women who are interesting. Complicated. Multi-faceted… Psychotic.

We deserve our version of a male power fantasy. Characters who can embody our fantasies of revenge, who aggressively take back their agency. Whose rage can burn down a whole village.

So, that being said, let me introduce you to the “Good for Her” Cinematic Universe.

The Good For Her Cinematic Universe

Deep in the belly of Film Twitter, I was introduced to the “Good for her Cinematic Universe” by  @cinematogrxphy

I immediately thought of this meme of Lucille Bluth from Arrested Development listening to an anchorman describe a woman driving her and her children into a lake (probably due to postpartum depression), and she ironically responds with praise.

 “Good for her!”

It made me think of some of my favourite films that were all, in some way, horrifying and monstrous. But somehow, Lucille’s morally-questionable voice rang in the back of my mind.

“Good for her!”

Female Rage has been coded as dangerous and destabilizing. The Shrill, Nagging wife. The Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Feminazis. Racialized women are coded as dangerous even more vigorously.

Our social order is based on this precedent that women must file away their discontent, like putting a lid over a lit candle so that the fire cannot spread.

As William Congreve wrote in The Mourning Bride “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.” While originally about women wronged in love, I think this can be more effectively applied to just about anything else. How society, relationships, religion, and systems can push women to take drastic and unpleasant measures as a means of re-asserting their agency.

Some of my favourite movies of all time fall under The “Good for Her” Cinematic Universe. I didn’t like these movies because they were feminist or politically correct. They definitely shouldn’t be praised for their morale. I just think there is something satisfying about watching a scorned woman get what they want. Kind of like being entranced by a flame that emblazes everything around it.

So many films do this so well: Midsommar, The Witch, Us, Suspiria, but the movie that embodies this genre perfectly is Gone Girl.

“Being the Cool Girl means I am a hot, brilliant, funny woman who adores football, poker, dirty jokes, and burping, who plays video games, drinks cheap beer, loves threesomes and anal sex, and jams hot dogs and hamburgers into her mouth like she’s hosting the world’s biggest culinary gang bang while somehow maintaining a size 2, because Cool Girls are above all hot. Hot and understanding. Cool Girls never get angry; they only smile in a chagrined, loving manner and let their men do whatever they want. Go ahead, shit on me, I don’t mind, I’m the Cool Girl.”

— Gone Girl (2014)

In Gone Girl, Amy is compelled to follow her jobless husband, Nick, from the Big City to suburbia. When he fails to be the man she married and she strives to be beautiful, thin, perfect, and appeasing – only for him to find “A younger, bouncier Cool Girl” – her tirade begins.

Amy is a perfect concoction of villainy and female rage. She is a terrifying antagonist fueled by spite, rage and contempt as she meticulously fakes her own violent disappearance to seek revenge on her “lazy, lying, cheating, oblivious husband.” She marvelously pulls off one of the most successful missing person gags in the history of fiction. And she speaks some earth-splitting truths while doing it.

‘The Cool Girl’ Monologue is one of the most iconic monologues of the last decade, mainly due to how relatable it is. The monologue contains many truisms, like how women pretend to be someone they’re not in order to keep the peace in the relationship and to remain desirable to our male counterparts. How women swallow their truth in order to maintain a façade of being unbothered - or cool, so to speak. Like when Nick ditches Amy for a game of poker and doesn’t call or text for hours, and then when he comes home, Amy embraces him and says it’s okay.

Of course, it wasn’t okay. But she lied to keep up with the charade. And this is something we’re all taught to do from a young age. It can file itself under a hefty list of the times we have all made ourselves smaller in order for men to feel more comfortable.

But, her story isn’t supposed to feel good. Amy does a lot of horrible things to get what she wants, and at some point, Amy becomes the “girl who cried rape,” and that certainly doesn’t help the Me Too Movement. She’s not a feminist hero - I mean, she’s literally a psychopath.

When Amy gets everything she wants – her truth just lingers there. And it’s absolutely haunting, horrifying, and holds itself tight to your stomach. She has obliterated the cool girl and turned the strong female lead on its head, and all we can do is stare at the flames.

That’s when that small voice in the back of your mind chimes in.

---

Alannah Link

Alannah is a writer whose vivid self-awareness often veers into self-consciousness. She can be found either watching the latest A24 flick, spending too much money at the local bookstore, or curating a thematic Spotify playlist.

Blog: TheCrookedFriend

Is Batman Really the Hero the World Needs Right Now?

At the head of Hollywood’s nostalgia machine, Batman has steadily appeared and reappeared in pop-culture since its conception by Bob Kane for DC Comics in 1939. Some of this tragic hero’s most popular adaptations have come from Tim Burton, Christopher Nolan, and Zack Snyder, all of whom have attempted to create an authentic spin on the character.

The most recent adaptation is The Batman, created by Matt Reeves, which has recently caught some attention after the trailer was released in August. Many people are wondering: can Robert Pattinson, the man who stopped the hearts of preteen girls playing a sparkly vampire, really compete with his predecessors in the role of Batman and Bruce Wayne? Some people are arguing if Batman even needs a new adaptation.

I’d even argue that perhaps Batman isn’t the hero we need today at all.

Now, I know this is a turbulent topic, especially in the Comic-Book-Nerd community. How could I possibly denote the beloved vigilante who, despite his many recreations, has always represented hope and justice?

But what kind of “justice” is Batman serving?

Batman, or Bruce Wayne, is a billionaire who spends his fortune developing new weapons and tools to fight criminals. The only reason the police view him as a threat is because, quite frankly, he’s stealing all of their thunder.

Anyone with a moderate understanding of class and crime knows that those who are “thieves” and “bandits” are actually just working class, poor and racialized people who lack the basic necessities in life. Instead of distributing some of his wealth back into the community to alleviate the circumstances that lead to crime, Bruce Wayne uses it to violently punish some of Gotham’s most vulnerable people.

Batman didn’t always have billionaire status, and all of its recent adaptations made it kind of an afterthought. It was a story of convenience. Wealth, for Batman, has always been about convenience and power. But isn’t that what wealth is for everyone?

There are no casual billionaires. The term itself has become a dirty word, becoming widely popular in public scrutiny. Something about it reeks.

The fact is that this resentment doesn’t come out of thin air; as the wealthiest people and biggest corporations have gotten richer, most people are just short of making next month’s rent or a few missed paychecks away from a food bank.

This begs to ask: can Batman really be Batman without being filthy rich? I think it depends on the creator. But, I also don’t think it takes a billionaire to find ways to beat up poor and racialized people.

When I think of the kinds of heroes we need right now, I don’t think of a neo-liberal billionaire/vigilante. I don’t think of Elon Musk, whose arrogance is arguably inspired by the likes of Tony Stark and Bruce Wayne. I think of someone who is brave enough to strip themselves of their own ego and thinks of themselves as part of their community - not a technologically-clad hero that needs to “save” it.

That being said, Matt Reeves is pretty tight-lipped about The Batman, and we have no idea how his twist on the character will compare to the predecessors. Perhaps Bruce Wayne’s only superpower - his wealth- will be explored in ways it hasn’t before. I guess we’ll just wait and see.

---

Alannah Link

Alannah is a writer who’s vivid self-awareness often veers into self-consciousness. She can be found either watching the latest A24 flick, spending too much money at the local bookstore, or curating a thematic Spotify playlist.

Blog: TheCrookedFriend