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'Reading the popular' : an analysis of the reception of Black Panther by subaltern black South African women
Author(s)
Sibiya, Andzisani Prunnel
Date Issued
2021
Type
Thesis
Publisher
Cape Peninsula University of Technology
Abstract
In February 2018, Black Panther made headlines worldwide as the first Marvel
Cinematic movie to feature a black superhero, black director, and predominantly
black cast. (Babcock, Beskow & Carley,2018). South Africa came to a standstill as
the Black Panther fever hit the nation. Many black South African moviegoers filled
movie theatres wearing their beautiful cultural attires and singing traditional songs
and praises, signalling the arrival of a ‘cultural moment’. Black Panther attempts to
capture what it means to be Black in both America and Africa through the lenses of
Afrofuturism - a 21st-century cultural aesthetic.
The movie is revolutionary and epoch-defining sci-fiction. Some scholars have written
about the significance of Black Panther, its cultural aesthetic and its thematic
engagement with black themes. However, limited research still explores and
accounts for the movie’s popularity in specific socio-historical consumption contexts.
Existing research examining Black Panther's popularity has mainly approached
audiences as homogenous and used research methods that privilege textual
determinism. The study used a cultural studies approach as its conceptual frame and
audience reception analysis as its methodology. The cultural studies approach the
study of the media views media texts as having more than one meaning.
This study aimed to account for the popularity of Black Panther among black South
African women, particularly in Soweto township. The study’s findings revealed that
the popularity of Black Panther is attributable to the meanings and pleasures
associated with resistance that it suggested among marginalised black South African
women in Soweto. The film provided these women with a ‘cultural moment’ to resist,
challenge and subvert global and localised forms of oppression that they encounter
in their everyday lives. It also offered them voice and space to symbolically
recuperate and claim a futuristic world where they have agency and control over their
lives.
Cinematic movie to feature a black superhero, black director, and predominantly
black cast. (Babcock, Beskow & Carley,2018). South Africa came to a standstill as
the Black Panther fever hit the nation. Many black South African moviegoers filled
movie theatres wearing their beautiful cultural attires and singing traditional songs
and praises, signalling the arrival of a ‘cultural moment’. Black Panther attempts to
capture what it means to be Black in both America and Africa through the lenses of
Afrofuturism - a 21st-century cultural aesthetic.
The movie is revolutionary and epoch-defining sci-fiction. Some scholars have written
about the significance of Black Panther, its cultural aesthetic and its thematic
engagement with black themes. However, limited research still explores and
accounts for the movie’s popularity in specific socio-historical consumption contexts.
Existing research examining Black Panther's popularity has mainly approached
audiences as homogenous and used research methods that privilege textual
determinism. The study used a cultural studies approach as its conceptual frame and
audience reception analysis as its methodology. The cultural studies approach the
study of the media views media texts as having more than one meaning.
This study aimed to account for the popularity of Black Panther among black South
African women, particularly in Soweto township. The study’s findings revealed that
the popularity of Black Panther is attributable to the meanings and pleasures
associated with resistance that it suggested among marginalised black South African
women in Soweto. The film provided these women with a ‘cultural moment’ to resist,
challenge and subvert global and localised forms of oppression that they encounter
in their everyday lives. It also offered them voice and space to symbolically
recuperate and claim a futuristic world where they have agency and control over their
lives.
Additional information
Thesis (MTech (Public Relations Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2021
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