People Need to Shut Up About Black Panther Losing

Last night during the Golden Globes, Black Panther–long expected to bring home the trophy in a multitude of categories, failed to deliver on its grandeur. I didn’t watch them–I was too busy getting caught up in Red Red Redemption 2–but I heard it through the wall (my roommate was watching them). And as usual, social media was quick to react. A lot of what I’ve been seeing and reading has been full of shock and outrage. People just can’t seem to accept the fact that movies such as Bohemian Rhapsody and First Man won awards but BP didn’t.

Well, get over it. Seriously.

Black Panther was one of the latest of extremely high-grossing entertainment from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Disney broke through some new ground and cast itself in an entirely new direction inside the MCU that attracted high esteem and praise from all over the world (not to mention at the box office). As the first superhero movie featuring almost entirely African and African American actors and characters, it’s easy to have high hopes for such a movie, especially when awards time comes around.

But despite liberal’s best efforts, you don’t always win awards for being different. Sometimes only the best movies and well-made movies win the big awards, and sadly Black Panther doesn’t fit in either category.

I personally didn’t like the movie. I thought they did some great things with it, expanding the MCU and showing some cool effects. But I felt like they were trying to take advantage of the fact that it was a movie made up almost entirely of black people to sneak in a hidden agenda and politics into a genre that is best suited for spectacular entertainment. Plot wise, it was a generic and predictable plot that we have seen in movies again and again and again. King falls from high horse, hero is deported, and must go up against the usurper to regain the throne/powers. And as almost every other MCU film, it always ends on a happy and optimistic note (Infinity War not withstanding). Some of the acting was good but some of it was just too over-the-top. It just wasn’t award-winning filmmaking.

It’s funny to see people bitch and whine about things like this, because it’s quick for me to point out who has a brain and who doesn’t. People need to realize that it’s not a popularity contest, and that people care about movies other than the regular supply of Marvel superhero enjoyment. Had Black Panther been a better film, it might have won an award. Had other MCU movies been better in certain ways, they might have won more awards, too. It is what it is.

Congratulations to the winners of the 2019 Golden Globes and my condolences to the losers. There’s always next time. I hope to see some much better film-making from here on out, though. The bar has been raised.