Debating the effect of “Black Panther” on diversity in Hollywood:

By Patrick Nguyen:

“Black Panther” has received a lot of success already earning more than $700 million at the box office. Much of the success came from the hype that the movie created through the media. One of the main reasons for the hype of “Black Panther” is the predominantly African-American cast.

“I think it came out at a good time, just with everything that’s happening in the world just associated with African-Americans,” Janny Phannaraj, a mass media major, said. “’Black Panther’ is a very empowering movie that shows that characters as not just sidekicks but as strong leads.”

Films such as “Black Panther” and “Wonder Woman” raise the issue of diversity. Should there be more diversity in superhero films or films in general?

“Asian movies are always like an old karate movie in the feudal era,” Phannaraj said. “They had “The Last Samurai” with fricking Tom Cruise and I mean he’s cool but I definitely thought that was an Asian lead.”

Some Amarillo College students said they cared less about diversity and more about the movie itself.

“A movie is all about enjoying the movie and there’s nothing that should be political about it,” Tommy Phannaraj, a computer programming major, said. “You can throw in an Asian or you can even throw in a Russian superhero and I wouldn’t even care as long as the movie is good.”

Charles Diaz, a mass media major and film club president, said that diversity doesn’t matter if that means a bad story.

“I think that it’s more important to have a good story rather than diversity because you can have a lot of different actors who have different backgrounds and still be in a good movie,” said Diaz “If you’re making a movie to show that different races can be involved then I guess that’s ok, but it’s a source of division.”

Diaz also said that acting plays a bigger role than diversity in making sure the movie is good.

“Again, I think it’s less important that we focus on their ethnicity and more important what the actors do and that they have a good story to tell,” said Diaz. “Whether you are white, black, Hispanic or whatever, if you are a terrible actor, I don’t want to watch you.”

 

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