Fourteenth International Conference on the Arts in Society

Abstract

Throughout 2018, Marvel’s “Black Panther” produced a major hype among scholars, cinema critics and fans. Many have argued that the movie was groundbreaking when compared to the conservative traditions of the mainstream Hollywood cinema by providing a revolutionary utopian vision of a world where black people and women are no longer oppressed. We argue, however, that the three Academy Awards winner leads the viewers to the dead ends of identity politics - where there is no true emancipation from the structural violence of capitalism since its core characteristics are never deeply defied. We consider that “Black Panther” is a fine example of the cultural logic of our times, in which the producers of mainstream culture are able not only to reproduce the system-preferential ideological trends but also - and more importantly - to co-opt most of the existing expressions of resistance with anti-capitalist potential. We conclude by arguing that the only way out from the capitalist mechanisms of oppression is the acknowledgment of the inter-sectional nature of human identity, which demands either the replacement of identity politics by solidarity politics or the forging of new broad, inclusive identities - and that is precisely what “Black Panther” doesn’t promote.