Ready Player One: Digital Man

 

He picks up scraps of information
He's adept at adaptation
'Cause for strangers and arrangers
Constant change is here to stay.

Rush, Digital Man, Signals

And the votes are in for the Ready Player One movie - I agree with Karli, it was fun.

Fun at a price, in terms of being faithful to the original.  As expected, most of the extreme geek gracenotes from the book are gone, disappointingly so to anyone who particularly enjoyed the nerdish 80s nostalgia that provided the basis for so much of the story.

However, I have to say that Zak Penn, who also worked on the scripts for The Avengers, The Incredible Hulk and X-Men: Last Stand, and Ernest Cline, author of the original book, do a noteworthy job of humanizing the story and tightening things up.  The referential background is updated and expanded, resulting in a stream of background visual cues that will undoubtedly result in a lot of frame by frame analysis when the film is released for the home viewing market.*

 

The IRL performances are uniformly well done. Tye Sheridan, who failed to impress me in X-Men: Apocalypse, redeemed himself as a completely believable Wade Watts, and Olivia Cooke and Lena Waithe both deliver solid performances.  Ben Mendelsohn plays Nolan Sorrento, the villain of the story, with the same air of grim menace that he displayed in Rogue One, and Mark Rylance does a surprising fragile turn as James Halliday, inventor of the OASIS.

And, speaking of the X-Men, it's obvious that the producers weren't able to make a deal with Marvel for any of its intellectual properties.  DC gets a few references, including the uninviting prospect of climbing Mount Everest with Batman, but there's no sign of Captain America, no friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man, no invincible Iron Man, and so on - and when you think about it, there would undoubtedly be thousands of Wolverines in an unrestricted virtual reality.**

However, the computer gaming companies obviously felt no compunctions about having their creations appear in the film, along with lots of anime, science fiction and pop culture Easter Eggs.

 

All of the mechanics of the movie aside, as above, it's just fast paced fun, with good acting, lots of inside jokes, and an upbeat theme. Sadly, though, I couldn't help but think that Ready Player One was a movie out of its time, overwhelmed and overshadowed by the superhero franchises that dominate the box office right now.  Ironically, it might have been a blockbuster film if it had been released in the decade that provided the background for the book.

- Sid

* For example, the astute reader will look at the shot at the top of this page and see the Winnebago Chieftain from Spaceballs, what looks like the powerlifter from Aliens, and a Battlestar Galactica Viper Fighter suspended over ED-209 from Robocop, who is standing beside the Ferrari from Ferris Bueller's Day Off.  There's a glimpse of a Buck Rogers Thunderfighter, the maintenance pod from 2001, and the Swordfish II from Cowboy Bebop.

** You do have to wonder how that sort of thing is policed in the OASIS.  Does Wade's friend Aech have to pay anyone for the right to build a replica of the Iron Giant?

"First to the key! First to the egg!"

(Contributed by Karli Thomas)

When my dinner plans fell through on the same night that Sid was going to see Ready Player One, he invited me to join him. I hadn't planned on seeing the movie as I had heard mixed reviews and hadn't read the book. But, I love popcorn, I love going to movies and I love Sid, so I said yes, and joined him.

I am so glad that I did. The movie was full of delightful surprises. Not having read the book meant that I didn't know what I was missing, or if there was even anything to miss. The joy of spotting characters and hearing references from the 80s was fresh in a way it couldn't have been if I'd read the book.

 

Early on in Ready Player One there is a race sequence that plays a lot like a car chase. Full disclosure, there's not much I find more boring in movies than car chases. The longer a car chase goes on, the more bored I get. Car chases are where I find myself wondering what I should make for dinner, or if I should add pink streaks to my hair, or if I should rearrange the furniture in my living room.  (The two exceptions to this are The Italian Job and any chase sequence in any Bourne movie.) The race sequence in Ready Player One was exactly the right length to hold my attention and full of interesting extras to keep me entertained. It was during this sequence that I had the thought "Well, this is fun!".

 

And the fun continued!  The action sequences were interesting and the pace of the film neither rushed or dragged. The Shining sequence edged right up to 'too long' but didn't step over that line. The High Five were sweet and innocent and full of tame rebellion. I felt as though I was watching a good YA novel unfold on the screen. After the credits finished rolling and the lights in the theatre came back on, I turned to Sid and said "I loved that! It was just pure fun!"

In the days since seeing Ready Player One, I find myself thinking about it and wanting to talk about it. To me this is the the true test of a movie's enjoyability (not a real word, but it should be). If you haven't read the book, don't! Enjoy watching it unfold as a movie instead!

- Karli

Thanks for an excellent guest posting, Karli!  On behalf of the movie Easter Egg crowd, reading from left to right, you will note that the race starting line image above features 1) The Mach Five car driven by Speed Racer in the anime of the same name; 2) the classic television series Batmobile, and Mad Max's V-8 Interceptor from The Road Warrior.

 - Sid
 

Ready Player One: Easter Eggs.

Use the key, unlock the door
See what your fate might have in store
Come explore your dreams' creation
Enter this world of imagination

Rush, Twilight Zone, 2112

I've just finished an enjoyable re-read of Ready Player One, Ernest Cline's epic 2011 homage to 80s pop and geek culture.  I was thinking about seeing the Steven Spielberg movie version, but my somewhat disappointed co-worker Christi reported that it was a long way from the book, so I thought that I'd refresh my memory of the story before making a final decision.

For those unfamiliar with the book, it tells the tale of a near-future world on the brink of collapse, where most of the world's population spends its time in the OASIS, an immersive virtual reality that has replaced the internet.  James Halliday, the inventor of the OASIS,  has recently died, leaving behind a complex puzzle in place of a will.  Whoever solves the puzzle will win control of both his incredible fortune and the OASIS, effectively making them the most powerful person on the planet.

Wade Watts, the 18-year-old protagonist, spends all his spare time attempting to solve the riddle left behind by Halliday.  Halliday never abandoned his fascination with the geek lifestyle of his youth in the 1980s, and as such Wade has become an obsessed expert in both Halliday's life and the 80s, especially the nascent computer and arcade gaming culture of the period.

Ultimately, the book is a tribute to (and justification for) that sort of obsession, making it a pathway to being the richest person in the world rather than the dead end that it is often is in real life.  It's one thing to memorize all the dialogue from War Games in order to become a billionaire, but perhaps a bit sad if you're doing it because you have nothing else in your life.

Surprisingly, the book won an award from the American Library Association's Young Adult Library Services division in 2012, which puzzles me more than a little, given the book's fanatical reliance on 80s geek trivia - I would expect that in spite of its frequent explanations, most of the book would be gibberish to a young adult reader, although I admit that the novel does teach larger lessons about life.

 

I'm also puzzled as to how anyone who wasn't around in the 80s could appreciate most of this book in the first place - in fact, just being around in the 80s probably isn't enough to make the grade. I'm a science fiction-fantasy-computer game geek who turned 19 in 1980, and, as such, I'm right in the zone for Ready Player One. I know what a Trash-80 is, I played Zork* and Joust on my 8-bit Atari 800XL (which I still have in storage**), I know who Gygax Sector is named after, I smiled when I read that the password for the hero's teleportation ring is Brundell, I still have an MP3 version of Oingo Boingo's Dead Man's Party in my iTunes library, and on and on and on.  I can't claim to recognize every single reference, but I strongly suspect that I score higher than a lot of people in my generation, not to mention anyone born after 1990.

As a result, I would expect the movie to abandon a lot of the dense deep-dive geek content that fuels the book, purely out of self-defense.  Based on the trailers, the movie relies more heavily on visual cues from a wider range of pop culture, which would certainly makes it a lot more accessible to the average viewer.  People are far more likely to recognize iconic images like the Iron Giant than they are to pick up on the arcana of 1980s Japanese giant robot anime, for example.  Even so, I suspect that there's a lot of obscure references to modern geek culture buried in the script, which should satisfy my desire for otaku superiority.

I had almost decided to pass on the big screen version of Ready Player One, but after finishing the book I decided to give the movie a chance.  I'm coming in quite late in the film's run, but fortunately it's still showing in 3D at theatres in Vancouver, and I'm off to a showing this evening.

I was originally going to attend on my own, but Karli's plans for the evening were cancelled at the last minute, and she's agreed to join me, thereby providing a useful non-geek control group for recognition of Easter Eggs. Oh well - my level of obscure geek knowledge may not make the richest person on the planet, but at least I'll be able to use it to impress my girlfriend - a term that hardly ever ends up in the same sentence as "obscure geek knowledge".

- Sid

* To tell the truth, I never liked the interactive text games like Zork, I was much more of an arcade-style gamer.  And I never did manage to get the damn Babel fish into my ear.

** And which actually still works, although it took a few minutes for it to warm up the last time I hooked up all the bits and pieces.

P.S.  There are two Easter Egg references in this posting, let me know if you find both of them.

May the Fourth: Art Vader

Painting by David T Cho

 May the Fourth is once again here, which seems an appropriate moment to comment on the astonishing degree to which Star Wars has become a common design motif.

 

Yes, the galaxy far, far away has all the same sorts of marketing merchandise as any other pop culture franchise - t-shirts, hats, bedsheets, action figures and so on – but how many of those franchises have toasters?  Or waffle irons?  Or gas barbecues, for heaven's sake?* 

 

A brief search of the internet reveals a plethora of Star Wars derived items: dresses, measuring cups, screwdrivers, fish tanks, shoes, tape dispensers, cookie jars and so on.  I'm not certain that Hello Kitty has even managed to achieve the same degree of horizontal coverage that Star Wars has.

With this sort of thing apparently becoming more and more common, it's not hard to see a point in time where Star Wars is recognized as a historical design movement like Art Deco, Bauhaus or Scandavian Modern – Art Vader, if you will. One imagines some future socialite commenting to a friend, “Oh, that’s my Lucas VII chair, it’s in lovely condition, isn’t it?”

Ultimately, though, I think we need to draw the line somewhere, and I think I've found the place.  Mummified Ewok head purse, anyone?

 

- Sid

* I don't know why, but for some reason a Tie Fighter Gas Grill strikes me as being a little more absurd than a waffle iron.  Really, though, they're probably equally odd.

May the Fourth: "That is why you fail..."

I recently made a positive comment on a co-worker's performance in a new job, to which they replied by saying, "Oh, I try." And it was all I could do not to bark out, "Do or do not!  There is no 'try'!!!"  I may have missed an opportunity, though - because it would have given me a great follow-up line if they don't succeed in their new position...

- Sid

May the Fourth: "Everything you've heard about me ... is true."

Leia: Why you stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking…nerfherder!
Han: Who’s scruffy-looking?

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back

If it's not already obvious based on previous postings, I just love this sort of thing.  I wish I'd pulled my jacket straight, though, I feel that I'm not matching the sartorial standard of the rest of the group - and it's pretty obvious that Lando Calrissian agrees, based on the look he's giving me.

On the other hand, judge not lest ye be judged.

 

- Sid

"But this... does put a smile on my face."

My wonderful fiancée Karli is taking me to see Avengers: Infinity War in IMAX 3D tonight! Take THAT, May the Fourth!!

- Sid

"We serve all kinds in here."

After checking out a possible wedding party venue on Wednesday night, Karli and I decided to have dinner at the nearby Storm Crow - she's fond of their tater tots, and I'm just always happy to go to the Crow, I just feel at home there.

As it turned out, Wednesday night is Trivia Night at the Storm Crow, and as such the place began to fill up quickly.  We were seated at one end of a table for six, and a look-alike for actor Jon Heder was seated on his own at the far end.

Shortly after we placed our dinner order, Jon was joined by two women.  The sort of casual awareness that you have of other conversations nearby made it evident that they'd agreed to sit at our table to help fill in empty space in the bar, and they had a friend on the way to fill the last empty seat.

The three of them struck up a conversation, and I have to admit that I was sort of pleased for the guy there alone for trivia night who was doing his best to make a connection with someone.

At this point, the friend arrived, a blonde woman with a grey toque and a condescending smile.  I wish I'd found a way to sneak a photo, but that would have been a bit much - maybe just imagine a shorter version of Regina George from Mean Girls.  In a hat.

Regina was the poster girl for not being engaged.  She was turned away from the conversation to the point where she was facing me more than her friends, and kept looking down at the menu and smirking.

As Karli and I were finishing up and getting ready to leave - we're not big trivia fans, although it's possible that I might do well at Storm Crow Trivia Night - Jon finished making a Dungeons and Dragons dice roll joke and excused himself to visit the men's room.

The second he was gone, Regina suddenly turned her attention to her friends.

"Ohmygod, you're so funny.  I can't believe how interested you sounded when he was describing that stupid game.  'Unh huh, yes...'  My god, you're SO funny!"

I have no idea how your friend responded, because I was overwhelmed by the urge to lean over and say, "Hi there!  I couldn't help but overhear what you said - guess what, you came to the wrong bar."

Of course, my urge never made it past the original impulse, what kind of Canadian would I be if I started doing things like that in bars?  But really, if you're going to go to a venue which is decorated with battleaxes and rayguns, has a TARDIS in the back and a 10 foot wide Millennium Falcon over the entrance, not to mention a Star Trek themed drink menu and a beer named after Great Cthulhu, maybe don't make fun of the fact that the person beside you is talking about Dungeons and Dragons. In fact, I feel that the whole reason for having a bar like the Storm Crow is to provide a gathering place for people who want to talk about things like D and D without being mocked.  Full points to your friend for showing interest and attention - and I'm sorry, but you really were in the wrong bar.

- Sid

P.S.  Full disclosure:  I've never seen Mean Girls, due to my standard movie requirement of aliens and explosions (or elves and magic).  That being said, after reading the quotes from the characters on IMDB, it might well qualify under the "aliens" category.

Aussi disponsible en français.

I would like to express my ongoing appreciation for the strong social media game demonstrated by the federal government of Canada, as demonstrated by today's tweet from the National Research Council.

That being said, I have to admit that the release of Wolverine's Canadian military service record by Stats Canada is still my favourite - not to mention the Transport Canada announcement for May the Fourth last year.

Oh, and in compliance with the Official Languages Act of 1969, the French version of the NRC tweet can be found at https://twitter.com/CNRC_NRC/status/980420802297425920

  - Sid

"Your circuit's dead, there's something wrong."

You and I, we're military.  Chances are we go home, they'll courtmartial us.  And the rest of you guys, I guarantee that they will never send you up here again.

Commander Lewis, The Martian

It occurs to me that all the crew on the International Space Station needs for the best April Fool's joke ever would be a couple of ounces of fake blood, a few smuggled skull or alien masks, some disabled fuses for mood lighting, and a complete indifference to their future careers.

  - Sid

"Take care of the forest, Dewey."

You know, when I was a kid, I put a note into a bottle and it had my name and address on it. And then I threw the bottle into the ocean. And I never knew if anybody ever found it.

Freeman Lowell, Silent Running

As part of our ongoing wedding planning, Karli and I paid a visit to Vancouver's picturesque Queen Elizabeth Park this past weekend in order to look at possible luncheon and ceremony venues for our wedding.*

 

In addition to wedding pavilions and fine dining, Queen Elizabeth Park is also the home of the Bloedel Conservatory, a charming greenhouse oasis of tropical plants and birds.

 

My first thought on seeing the Conservatory was, "Wait, I recognize that - it's one of the domes from Silent Running!"  Coincidentally, I had just purchased a copy of Douglas Trumbull's 1972 directorial debut on Amazon.ca, so I sat down on Sunday afternoon to do a rewatch.

 

Silent Running is an intriguing movie that rides the fine line between classic and cult. It was produced as part of a series of five low-budget films by novice directors funded by Universal in hopes of repeating the unexpected success of Easy Rider in 1969.**

 

The movie tells the story of Freeman Lowell, part of a four-man crew that maintains the Valley Forge, one of a fleet of converted freighters orbiting Saturn. The ships are equipped with biodomes that house the remaining trees and plants from Earth, preserved against a time when they can be restored to their natural habitat.

When the government decides to destroy the domes and return the fleet to commercial service, Lowell rebels.  He kills his crewmates, and escapes with the ship and the last remaining forest by faking an catastrophic accident.  He takes the ship on a hazardous passage through Saturn's ring system and vanishes into the depths of space, aided by the ship's three robotic drones - one of which is destroyed in their passage through the rings.

Lowell, haunted by guilt over the deaths of his crewmates, reprograms the drones to act as replacements, naming them Huey and Dewey (Louie having been lost to Saturn's rings) and teaching them how to care for the plants and animals.  However, over time the forest begins to die, and Lowell is driven into depression by his inability to solve the problem, even with the help of his robotic companions.

 

Eventually a search party discovers the Valley Forge, and a chance comment by one of the searchers makes Lowell realize that the forest's problem is lack of sunlight.  He erects lights to replace the distant Sun, and then ejects the dome along with Huey. Dewey, damaged in an accident, is unable to reliably help with the forest, and so remains with Lowell as he blows up the ship in order to conceal the fate of the last forest and its robotic caretaker. 

Silent Running is a movie of firsts: it's Bruce Dern's first starring role, it's the (sometimes obvious) directing debut of special effects guru Douglas Trumbull, and the first professional FX credit for the legendary John Dykstra, hired as a student to help out with the spaceship models. Surprisingly, it's also one of the first scriptwriting credits for Steven Bochco, who is more noted for his crime dramas than science fiction.

Lowell, skillfully played by Dern, is an ambiguous figure, as much villain as hero: he's a fanatic who kills three people in his single-minded quest to do what he thinks is right, but he also regrets what he's done, and he's sincere in his love for the forests under his protection, to the point where he's willing to sacrifice his own life as well.  Dern is the perfect casting choice for this role, and he makes Lowell a surprisingly sympathetic character with unexpected depth, a portrayal which marks his transition from playing moody outlaws to more dramatic roles.

The low budget is sometimes obvious, but in some ways it works to the film's advantage. For example, most of the spaceship interiors were shot on the actual Valley Forge, a decommissioned aircraft carrier, which gives those scenes a sense of logic and solid physicality. The shells of the three robot drones are occupied by legless bilateral amputees, which removed the need for expensive electronic models, but which also makes the drones much more anthropomorphic in their reactions and timing.

Overall, Silent Running is an entertaining movie, but it's painted in very large strokes, more of a character study than a fully realized story.  It's also not a subtle film: the ecological message is blatant, right down to having legendary hippy activist/singer Joan Baez provide vocals for the soundtrack, and naming the last defender of the forests Freeman.

However, the simplicity and directness of the movie work well together, making Silent Running into a sort of environmentalist fairy tale, a fairy tale that could easily have started out the way that fairy tales do:

 

"Once upon a time, there was a man who loved the forest..."

  - Sid

* If you're curious, we batted 500: we got the luncheon venue we wanted, but not the wedding pavilion - which, at three grand for 90 minutes, is fine with me.

** One of the other films was American Graffiti, which launched the career of George Lucas*** and paved the way for Star Wars. So, really, Dennis Hopper is responsible for the Star Wars franchise.

*** And Harrison Ford's career as well, come to think of it.

"...I'm Batman."

Well, a guy who dresses up like a bat clearly has issues.

- Bruce Wayne, Batman Begins

 

  - Sid

A foolish consistency.

 

“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds…”

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Karli and I are away for the weekend in picturesque Victoria, where we're staying in an AirBnB micro-loft that can't be much more than 250 square feet - now I know what life would be like in the space-challenged megacities of some Malthusian version of the future (although the ceilings will probably be lower).*

We've visited Victoria a couple of times now, and we've started to develop a list of things to do and places to visit, which, in my case, obviously includes Munro's, Victoria's excellent indie bookstore.

I have yet to visit Munro's without finding something that a) I didn't expect to find; and b) wanted to buy. This visit was no exception - there in the science fiction and fantasy section was the full four book set of Chris Wooding's Tales of the Ketty Jay, an entertaining steampunk fantasy series that I'd previously read and enjoyed in digital format.

Unlike most steampunk, the Ketty Jay series takes place in its own reality, rather than an alternate history version of our own world. As such, Wooding is free to populate his tale with airships, pirates, golems, zombies, daemonists, and whatever else catches his fancy. The result is a fun light reading experience, full of adventure, drama, conflict, romance and dry humour.

Finding the entire Ketty Jay series is a bit of a happy coincidence in terms of timing – my friend Chris has been going through a bit of a steampunk phase in his reading, and I’d recommended the series to him. However, since I only have it as e-books and he doesn’t use any sort of e-reader, I was unable to lend it to him.

The only problem was that the four books at Munro's - all British imports - didn't match.  Parts one, two and four of the series were Gollancz Fantasy editions, and part three, The Iron Jackal, was from Indigo, with a completely different design sensibility. (And a note on the copyright page that it had originally been published by Gollancz.)

It actually hurt me a little bit to buy this mismatched quartet of novels, although I can't quite bring myself to blame Munro's buyer for the situation. At least they had the full set, and if this is the price that they had to pay to make that happen, then so be it. It does make me a little curious, though. These aren't just different editions, they're different publishing houses. How does this happen? Did Wooding have contractual issues between the second and third books?

A little research reveals that the matching Gollancz edition of The Iron Jackal is available on Amazon.ca, so apparently he didn't have to switch publishers, but it's ridiculously expensive, clocking in at close to $60 for a new copy. Interesting - is there some reason that the third book in that production run is in short supply?

(Damn it...I also see that there's an omnibus edition of all four books for $30....no, wait, that's for Kindle, so I haven't made a huge mistake in buying them separately.)

I realize full well that it’s irrelevant that one of the copies came from a different publisher: the content will be the same**, it’s just a bit of foolish consistency to want the cover designs to match. Regardless, if I see the opportunity to purchase a (reasonably priced) replacement copy of the Gollancz edition of The Iron Jackal, rest assured that my little mind will jump, JUMP at the chance - hobgoblin or not.

  - Sid

* Actually, it's quite comfortable for a weekend away, as well as being affordable and perfectly located.  But small.

** Probably. After all, I have a Science Fiction Book of the Month Club omnibus edition of Michael Moorcock Elric novels which disappointingly omits a line from my much-read Lancer edition of Stormbringer, the final novel in the series. So you never know.

"You really have no idea what it was. "

The movie adaptation of Jeff VanderMeer's 2014 novel Annihilation represents a very specific area of science fiction storytelling:  the alien enigma.  Very few of those stories end with a resolution to the central mystery, and Annihilation is not an exception to the rule.

It's been described as a combination of Contact, Arrival and The Fountain, but none of those references really touch the core of the movie.  For a better cinematic starting point in the challenges of comprehending the unknown, I'd suggest 2001, the 2010 guerilla film Monsters*, or either of the movie adaptations of Solaris, Stanislau Lem's classic SF novel.

As in those films, the unknown in Annihilation remains just that: unknown.  The mystery is never solved or understood, and we are left to judge it only by its ambiguous effects on those who have attempted to explore it.

At the core of Annihilation is the Shimmer, a zone of anomalous effects that surrounds the impact point of a meteorite at a lighthouse on the Florida coastline.  The slowly expanding Shimmer has defied analysis, and no one has returned from any of the attempts to explore it.

This changes at the start of the film with the unexpected reappearance of one of the mission members: Sergeant Kane, the husband of cellular biologist Lena, played by Natalie Portman.  Kane, who has been missing for a year, is disoriented and suffering from some kind of physical trauma when he returns to their home.

Taken into custody by the government on their way to the hospital, Kane and Lena are transferred to Area X, the research base for examining the phenomenon, where Lena decides to join the next group of explorers to enter the Shimmer as Kane slowly deteriorates in quarantine.

Annihilation's disjointed, staccato pacing only emphasizes the strangeness of the environment that the five-woman team of scientists ventures into.  This small group of interlopers offers a full spectrum of responses to the strangeness of the Shimmer and its disconcerting effects on their minds and bodies: confrontation, defiance, curiousity, acceptance, and fear, as demonstrated through strong performances by the excellent ensemble cast of Jennifer Jason Leigh, Portman, Tuva Novotny, Tessa Thompson, and Gina Rodriguez.

My main criticism of the film is that it doesn't go far enough in its evocation of the alien - I expected it to be far more extreme in its depiction of the oddities created by the Shimmer.  Only during the final scenes at the impact point of the meteorite does the movie attempt to fully reach into the bizarre possibilities of alien existence.

 

It's hard to say whether Annihilation succeeds or not - that would depend entirely on what you think it's trying to do.  It's deliberately non-linear, ambiguous and open ended, and as such it falls well outside of the standard approach to storytelling.  It may be that its success lies in exactly that, its lack of answers to the questions it raises.

- Sid

* In which the Mexican/US border is defended by a massive wall, in case you were wondering where Donald Trump gets his ideas.

One single tribe.

"What happens now determines what happens to the rest of the world."

T'Challa, Black Panther

Black Panther, the 18th film set in the Marvel Comics Universe, has proven to be an incredible success.  The movie is full of powerful dramatic performances by a superb cast of actors, and its record-breaking box office performance clearly demonstrates that the story of T'challa, king of Wakanda, resonates with audiences on an international level.

That being said, I have to confess that there were some parts of Black Panther that disappointed me.  It may be caused by sheer familiarity with the various obligatory tropes and themes, but there weren't very many places where the movie surprised me - let's be honest, T'challa's journey from victory to defeat to victory is very much what you would expect it to be.

In fact, his opponent's journey is a more interesting one in some ways, to the point where Erik Killmonger comes very close to being the hero of the movie.  It would only take a very slight change in the plot for the film to become the tale of a lost son of Wakanda who returns from exile after the cowardly murder of his father, and then fights the son of the killer for the throne of the country, after which he will have the opportunity to use his new position to change the outside world.

Ultimately, the thing that does set Black Panther apart from the standard superhero movie formula is the cultural and moral background to the story, as symbolized by the country of Wakanda.

 

An impressive creation that draws upon a myriad of cultural influences to create an idealized African city-state with one foot in the past, and one in the future, Wakanda combines tradition and innovation:  its skyscrapers feature elements from thatched huts, its scientists wear clothing patterned after classic African tribal costumes, and it relies upon both technology and ritual observances.

Wakanda is also a thought experiment, the idealized dream of African country that has been free from the consequences of exploitation, colonization, and war.  However, the dream is a tainted one: the Wakandans are very aware of their privileged status compared to the countries that surround them, and justifiably fearful that to extend a helping hand would be to share the issues that plague their neighbours.  As W'Kabi, leader of the Border Tribe, says to T'Challa, "You let the refugees in, you let in all their problems."  As such, they are only willing to provide minimal aid to other countries through undercover operatives.

The dream is also something of a sad one when it is compared to real world. Wakanda is a what-if Africa, one which stands in stark contrast to the problems that have plagued the real African subcontinent for generations, problems caused by both long-standing tribal conflicts and the unwanted interventions of European interlopers.

It is the problems of Africa and of the underprivileged around the planet that provide the real story for this movie.  The underlying theme of Black Panther deals specifically with the fundamental question of intervention versus inaction, of community and unity, of whether or not power should be used to help the weak, even if it means the end of one's own comfortable security and the possibility of mutual failure.

 

In the final analysis, the hero decides to do exactly what heroes are supposed to do:  save the world.  Except in this case, he decides that the world should be saved for everyone, by a little bit, every single day.  It's a shame that there aren't more heroes like that in the real world.

- Sid

Not to mention the Lululemon League.

Of course, the Vegan Tyranny.  Just past the Yoga Confederacy, and perhaps sharing borders with the Gluten Free Republic.

- Sid

P.S. To be fair, this probably deserves a little more explanation:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vega