MY 15 year old son absolutely idolised Chadwick Boseman.
A huge Black Panther poster was the only thing stuck to his wall – the first black superhero.
Breaking the news was extremely tough – he was his Elvis, Lennon and Bowie all in one.
To him, anything Boseman touched was cool, evocative, powerful, DIFFERENT.
My son is white. And he, along with children of every race, were mesmerised seeing Black Panther walk through the portal at the end of Avengers.
We now look back on his choices of roles with renewed awareness – here was a man in a rush to make a difference.
ELECTRIFYING
To say he represented a generation of black people is like saying water is a little wet.
He went from the first Black Major league baseball player, Jackie Robinson in ’42’, took on the seemingly impossible task of portraying James Brown, then the role of Thurgood Marshall, the first Black Supreme Court justice.
Then… the big one.
After a trio of films representing real-life cultural game-changers, his fictional T’Challa/Black Panther was an extraordinary, seismic shift in cinema.
The first Black superhero, the first Marvel film written and directed by a Black man (Ryan Cooger) – it was electrifying.
These vibrant, empowering characters connected with audiences like nothing we had ever seen (even seeing Black actors lit correctly was an anomaly).
Any doubts about the commercial appeal were blown out of the water as it became the ninth highest grossing film of all time, securing Marvel it’s first Best Picture nomination at the 2019 Oscars.
It brought a wave of positivity and recognition to a group rarely at the centre of such Hollywood pizazz – it strengthened identity and helped grind stereotypes further into the ground.
The fact Chadwick filmed this, and most of his incredibly demanding, physical roles – plus slogging the world promoting them, all while completing chemotherapy and surgeries for colon cancer is frankly unbelievable and testament to his dedication and courage.
There’s a video online of him breaking down in tears describing what the Black Panther film meant to two young fans suffering from terminal cancer.
He understood these films are children’s entire worlds, the most important thing in their short lives.
Knowing what we do now about his personal battle, it’s also achingly poignant.
So today I mourn the loss of a true superhero… as well as saying goodbye to Black Panther.
Wakanda Forever.
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