The Cult of Black and white Cinematic Symbolism (Part 22)...Here's what Marvel's Black Panther movie, The "Netflix" series Luke Cage, and Kanye West have in common...

In regards to the “Marvel Cinematic Universe” (MCU), to date, its most successful franchise has been “The Avengers” series—and more specifically, “The Avengers: Age of Ultron” (which grossed 1. 4 billion globally), and “The Avengers: Infinity Wars” (which grossed 2 billion dollars worldwide). And these movies weren’t only box office hits, but they’ve been ranked amongst the most profitable movies of all time.

Mind you, the reason I’m talking about this particular franchise, is not ‘cause I’ve seen these flicks—and I proudly state that I haven’t watched them, and never will. I’ve looked at enough deified white guys in films to last me a lifetime, thanks. I’m talkin’ about these films cause whenever I hear about MCU’s “Black Panther” movie, and its success, it never fails that some white person will bring up the (slightly) more successful Avengers series. Meaning, whitey’s always tryna’ steal the thunder of Black Panther’s triumphs, by comparing it to one of the most successful franchise films of all times, the Avengers.

So, right off the bat, I wanna’ do a bit of a comparative analysis as to why the Avengers series was more profitable than MCU’s Black Panther, with these 3 points…

Point#1: MCU’s Black Panther is a “standalone” film.

Meaning, in the case of MCU’s Avengers movies, you had the original Avengers film, which came out in 2012, and the Avengers: Age of Ultron, in 2015, before The Avengers: Infinity Wars was released in theaters earlier this year. Also, you had the Avenger’s superheroes in other MCU flicks like “Iron Man”, “Thor”, “Captain America”, “The Hulk”, etc. Whereas Black Panther’s character, had only 1 debut before his own MCU movie, and that was in the Captain America film, “Civil War”, which came out in 2016. So MCU kept the Black Panther superhero under wraps, for fear that “mainstream” audiences wouldn’t connect with the character.

Point#2: MCU’s Black Panther had less of a budget than the last Avengers movie.

With an estimated budget of $310 million to $400 million dollars, The Avengers: Infinity War, was one of the most expensive movies ever made. Conversely, MCU spent $200 million dollars on the Black Panther film. And ultimately, that says what? Well, more than anything, it’s says that Ryan Coogler (the brotha that directed the Black Panther film, in case ya’ll didn’t know) and his Black Panther movie, which grossed $1.3 billion globally, more than quadrupled MCU’s ROI (return on investment)—and mind you, Ryan Coogler is MCU’s youngest director.

Point#3: MCU’s Black Panther was released in less theaters than the “Avengers: Infinity Wars” movie.

The Avengers: Infinity Wars movie opened in 4,474 theaters, as opposed to MCU’s Black Panther, which opened in 4,020 cinemas. And regardless of this, Black Panther still had the 6^th largest “3-day opening box office weekend gross” (domestically), and the 3^rd highest “4-day debut” of all time, while having the lowest theater release count of america’s all time biggest grossing, top 20 films.

Meanwhile, on October 1^st, of this year, Netflix debuted the 13^th episode of the first season, of Marvel’s successful series, “Luke Cage”. And, on this date, it’s reported that Netflix servers “crashed” while this episode aired. And ultimately, that means 1 of 3 things happened—and they are…

#1. Luke Cage is so wildly popular, that its aggregate audience overwhelmed the farm of Netflix computer servers and their “failsafe” mechanisms, that should’ve kept the network on-line—thus, causing this crash.

#2. Disney and Netflix executives didn’t like the idea that a smart and powerful Black man-of-a-superhero, was the most popular Marvel property on Netflix, when they had a host of white heroes for fans to choose from, like: Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, the Defenders, etc. So, they pulled the plug on this episode themselves.

#3. Not only didn’t Disney and Netflix executives, like the fact that Luke Cage was the most popular Marvel series on Netflix, but they were caught off guard by its groundswell of support (this is probably the reason it got canceled). Meaning, they failed to socially engineer one o’ the white superhero shows to be more popular than Luke Cage. Which brings us back to why the MCU’s Black Panther wasn’t supposed to be so popular—and in retrospect, how they counted on it to do poorly—cause if it didn’t, they’d have to acknowledge one fact, that I’ll get to later on in this post.

Now, ironically enough, a couple of weeks after the Netflix meltdown, good ol’ Don Trump arranged a luncheon for his pal, Kanye West, at the white house. And to keep it a hundred wit’ y’all, after watching 5 minutes of Kanye’s dumb-founded diatribe, I had to turn the channel—‘cause his tirades were beyond farcical, they were outright folly.

But, I do recognize that public relations event for what it really was, and that brings me to what Kanye, Ryan Coogler, MCU’s Black Panther and Luke Cage, all have in common—and that’s this…

These living and mythological Black men exemplify the universal law that shows how “Black Street Cred” (a.k.a. “Black Cool Points”), are now completely synonymous wit’ white profitability.

Meaning, I understand Kanye’s not very astute politically—but he doesn’t need to be—cause his presence is giving Don Trump more Black Cool Points, which will translate into him being able to “cake-off” even more exponentially, down the line. Not to say that Don Trump is having money problems, but in the court of “public opinion”, Kanye’s Black Cool Points will give him the necessary cultural swag, needed to make him more “likeable”.

Cause right now, Don’s image is in desperate need of repair.

And understand, that Kanye was mandated to do this by his freemasonic fraternity—cause even though they don’t want the word ‘bout this metaphysical law to get out, they understand what Kanye has to offer Trump, and vice-versa. So, it’s a symbiotic relationship between Don and Kanye.

And like I’ve said in the past, Black Street Cred is at the zenith of not only cultural, but spiritual currencies—and whitey knows that’ll manifest into monetary currency. Remember fam, everything’s SPIRITUAL—not political.

So, I’ve said all that to say this: even though we, the indigenous Black Diaspora, live in a global social order that does everything it can to defile us, we should peep what whitey’s really showing you and I, now. And that is how our people, to the exclusion of all others, are not only at the genesis of everything in this universe, but how we’re the sustenance of it as well.

And like Sam L. Jackson said in Spike Lee’s movie, “Do the Right Thing”: “That’s the double truth, Ruth.”

Later…

—MontUHURU Mimia

P.S.

Now, here’s one of “Snoop Dogg’s” recent appearances on the TV show, “The View”. And the reason I’m featuring him, is not only ‘cause he touches on Kanye’s foibles at the white house, but he sees how “Black Street Cred’s” (spiritual) energies and synergies, result in white profitability. And he’s so cold wit’ it, that he realizes it’s his Black Cool Points that are making Martha Stewart and “The View” more profitable. Furthermore, this vid shows how he’s absolutely the smartest person in that room. 

   

*Addendum — 11/23/18: And family, speaking of Snoop Dogg, this past Monday, on the 19th, Snoop got a star on the “Hollywood Walk of Fame”. And here’s the speech he gave on that momentous day. Now, this more than anything, not only solidifies Snoop’s status as an industry icon, but it reinforces the now universal law that officially marries “Black Street Cred” (a.k.a. Black Cool Points) with white profitability. Mind you, I remember when whitey was scared of Snoop, but what they’re more scared of now, is being without our “cool points” that they’re using to sell every item they manufacture. And in the immortal words of Biggie Smalls: “...and if ya’ don't know, now ya’ know.”