There's no doubt that Marvel's Black Panther has assembled a mighty ensemble cast to bring its range of characters to life this February. Two of the film's actresses, Lupita Nyong'o and Letitia Wright, recently sat down with Teen Vogue to discuss their respective roles and the impact they believe the film will have on the level of superhero films and the wider cultural landscape.
Speaking on her role as T'Challa's sister Shuri, Wright discussed the "refreshing" feeling she had playing a character who is open with both her strengths and weaknesses. "Playing [Shuri] was so refreshing. She’s strong, and she can kick butt. She’s intelligent, she loves Wakanda, and she loves creating technology to protect her people. But you see when she’s scared, when she’s frightened, when she’s afraid for her family. Even with some of the male characters [in the movie], you see moments when they are weak. Shuri was the sort of character I went home and studied to find out the reason she does things."
Nyong'o described what it was like being pitched the role by director Ryan Coogler, saying she was surprised that a Marvel film could have real-world relvance. "[Ryan] walked me through his idea for the story, and after he was done, I was like, 'Wait a second, is this a Marvel movie?' It had social and political relevance. My character, Nakia, was a departure from the character you see in the comic books. She’s this independent woman, super patriotic but also very questioning of her society, and I liked that. With her complicated relationship with T’Challa, I knew it was going to be kind of sexy, and I was like, 'OK, I definitely want in.'"
Nyong'o added that Coogler deliberately moved away from the trope of having the women of the film pitted against one another, opting instead to create a dynamic of "love and respect" between the characters. "Ryan made a point of avoiding the expected female-rival narrative. In this genre, where spandex is involved, oftentimes the women are pitted against each other. In our story, there are so many different women holding their own space. Women may be in competition with each other, sure, but that doesn’t necessarily mean there’s an absence of love or respect. Shuri is the sister to the Black Panther and the leader of technological pursuits, and Nakia is someone who has a complicated history with the Black Panther and is a warrior in her own right. You see them work together, and you see a dynamic that is really encouraging."
In conclusion, Nyong'o opened the conversation up to the importance of diversity within superhero films and Hollywood at large, describing her own experience growing up in Kenya, and what a film like Black Panther adds to cinema. "In Kenya, I grew up watching Mexican soaps, Australian soaps, and American stuff. I didn’t feel like TV was so diverse — but I just took it in stride. What’s really exciting about this is if I can project my humanity onto people who don’t look like me, from cultures that aren’t like mine, why on earth shouldn’t it be the same in reverse? What we’re talking about is the prominence of this particular film and how it is entering into a more mainstream cultural consciousness. Superhero movies are our modern folklore—and folklore is important. It informs our sense of oneness. The beauty of cinema is you all go into a room together and agree to suspend your disbelief and share this experience of another world. For that moment, you are all one in that space, experiencing the same thing. It reinforces our sense of community. These big blockbuster superhero films appearing in moments when we’re so polarized are some of the few chances we all get to be on the same page."
Black Panther releases in theatres on February 18, 2018.