Campus groups come together for “Black Panther.”
St. Joe’s students had the opportunity to see “Black Panther” the day it premiered. Residence Life, Student Inclusion and Diversity and the Black Student Union collaborated to host this trip, in celebration of Black History Month.
Students were offered free tickets to the Riverview Plaza Stadium, where Residence Life rented out a whole theater. Tickets included transportation and a free small popcorn and soda.
“Black Panther,” the newest movie in the Marvel Comics franchise, has been highly anticipated as being the first superhero film featuring a predominantly black cast and black director, Ryan Coogler.
The movie has received rave reviews not only for quality, but for the impact it has on the African American community and its representation in the media.
Natalie Walker Brown, M.S., director of Student Inclusion and Diversity, said offering students the opportunity to see “Black Panther” was very important to her because she did not have any movies like this when she was growing up.
“Black Panther is such a culture changing movie,” Walker said. “The meaning of Black Panther, aside from being an excellent part of this franchise, is the importance of seeing black faces positively and being the good guys. I think it’s going to be really important for the students who see that.”
Walker said the 130 tickets being offered sold out quickly, as many students were excited to see the movie with other members of the St. Joe’s community.
Elizabeth Ali, assistant director of residential education, proposed the idea of planning a trip to see “Black Panther” because she also recognized the importance of students seeing themselves represented.
“It wasn’t until ‘Wonder Woman’ came out that for me as a female who’s really into comics, I felt like how cool is it that this a female superhero, a female director, and it is by far the best film coming out in the DC (comics) universe,” Ali said. “If I feel like that, as a white woman who sees white women in the majority of the stuff out there, how much more for a person of color to see themselves in that film.”
Walker and Ali agreed that “Black Panther” is an important film for African American students, but all students as well.
“In Hollywood, we have a really long history of seeing white washing,” Ali said. “Now you have a film with a predominantly black cast with a black director, and it is breaking all sorts of records. It’s saying to the Hollywood industry, the world is not just white people. Everyone wants to see themselves represented, and if you’re white, you take that for granted.”
Walker was excited to see the students feel empowered after the film, and she hoped that they would feel a bond from the shared experience of having an entire theater to themselves. She said that one of the goals of the collaboration was to bring different groups on campus to form one community.
Davashaye Jones ’20 felt excited after the film because of how it fit into Black History Month. She said that African history was a major part of the movie, and it accurately represented what she has learned in her African and Caribbean religions class at St. Joe’s.
“The history and the education in the movie is so great,” Jones said. “A lot of people don’t even know it was educating you because they don’t know about our history. That was one of the most powerful things in there.”
Ethan Grugan ’20 said the movie was different from most superhero films because of the character and plot development.
“I thought the movie was phenomenal,” Grugan said. “I liked the story arc and [how] they had a three-dimensional villain for once.”
Overall, students enjoyed both the movie and the experience of coming together with other members of the St. Joe’s community.
“This university thrives on collaboration,” Walker said. “It’s really the heartbeat of exposing students to new things, engaging in what can be challenging and difficult conversations. What is going to help us create the type of environment we want is continuing to reach out and work together and grow with one another.”
