I have one kind of stupid linguistics-nerd nitpick about Black Panther. The place-name “Wakanda,” the location posited for it, and the structure of the personal names are, I think, meant to suggest that it’s a Bantu ethnic group. They had Wakandans speak Xhosa as a stand-in for the native language of Wakanda. The linguistic problem, though, is that Xhosa is one of the Bantu languages that fairly recently – a few hundred years ago – borrowed clicks from genetically unrelated Khoisan languages due to intermarriage (this article explains how and when the borrowing happened). I got the sense that Wakanda has been isolated for more than a few hundred years – longer than there have been clicks in Bantu languages like Xhosa and Zulu. So they probably should have used Swahili, a Bantu language that doesn’t have clicks.
On the other hand, the number of people who are likely to know that that’s historically implausible is so minimal that it really doesn’t matter that much.
do people hire Martin Freeman or does a writer type the sentence “CHARACTER is a white everyman thrust into a new world that he processes by blinking in befuddlement” and then Martin Freeman just manifests in a puff of smoke and ash
do people hire Martin Freeman or does a writer type the sentence “CHARACTER is a white everyman thrust into a new world that he processes by blinking in befuddlement” and then Martin Freeman just manifests in a puff of smoke and ash
I see more posts by white people asking if it’s “okay” for them to see Black Panther than I do see them asking for links to charity campaigns trying to help young Black kids see the movie.
which is to say the BP tags have like three of the former posts every day, but I have yet to see a SINGLE post by a white person asking people to send them links for campaigns they can support.
I need someone to realize that this is the pinacle of performative allyship.
they’re out here trying to get their hoodpass into wakanda but aren’t ready to let Jerome hold a dollar. They want to be invited to the cookout, but won’t even bring a bag of ice. They want to think themselves the ‘special white people’ but don’t actually want to do the work of the special white people.
and before you, white person clearly missing the point of this posts asks, yes, you CAN reblog this if it’s to show support of the message.
Here’s some links, btw, to gofundmes that still need funding for helping black kids see Black Panther:
Loki is the Philosopher King 