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You are here: Home / Absent Friends / Legendary Heroes: Honoring Chadwick Boseman

Legendary Heroes: Honoring Chadwick Boseman

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Now that we’ve got some time and space to process it all properly…



Karen Attiah, at the Washington Post:

… In choosing to fight for African accents, Boseman was fighting against the legacies of colonialism. The fictional kingdom of Wakanda is supposed to be a powerful African nation, one that is self-sufficient — a representation of what could have been if African nations had not been colonized and plundered for their resources by outside powers. Marvel would have undermined one of the central motifs of “Black Panther” if it had gotten its way and forced its actors to adopt British accents, to mimic the tongue of one of Africa’s most powerful colonizers.

Boseman worked with a dialect coach for his role, to take on a Xhosa accent to match the heritage of Kani, who played his father, T’Chaka, in the films. Kenyan actress Lupita Nyong’o spoke in her native Kenyan accent. The other accents were “all over the place” as Kenyan journalist Larry Madowo said at the time. “They wanted to base the accents on Xhosa from South Africa, but some of it sounded Nigerian, others sounded more Ugandan. It was very confusing, and I understand perfecting an accent is difficult, but oh, my goodness, it was so messy!”

As a first-generation American with roots in Ghana, I recognize what Boseman did to champion a fantasy rendering of Africanness on a big screen may have been messy to our ears. But it was important for global Black culture. Back in 2009, when I lived in Accra, Ghana, as a media researcher, I remember attending radio journalism classes where the instructors lectured aspiring radio presenters in the class to approximate the accent of Queen’s English. (The instructors tried to correct my American accent, too). The message they were sending was clear: To be seen as authoritative, respectable, worthy of being listened to, you needed to speak in the same accent as the very people who helped to subjugate Ghanaians.

“Black Panther” is proof that isn’t true. And today, more and more Black creators of African heritage are finding their way onto the big and small screen, and bringing African accents and languages with them…

The proverb says that no man is a hero to his valet, but Boseman was a hero even to his bodyguard (who may have introduced Boseman to the idea of playing Black Panther).

Reader Interactions

39Comments

  3. 3.

    zhena gogolia

    Oh, I really want to process this whole post, but I have so much work to do. He was such a fine person. What a loss.

  4. 4.

    Barbara

    There has been a significant increase in the incidence of colon cancer among men in their 40s. My sister’s 45 year old stepson died 18 months ago after a year long battle. It is just wrenching to see someone so young and talented and just plain good be struck down.

  5. 5.

    cain

    An incalculable loss to world, to this country, and to the black community.

    Fuck this year.

    Fuck cancer.

  8. 8.

    rp

    That Obama tweet is…something. Like being thrown into an icy lake and getting into a warm bath simultaneously.

  10. 10.

    Raoul Paste

    The story about Chadwick and his bodyguard that you link to is amazing, and truly worth reading

  13. 13.

    sdhays

    I can’t believe they actually wanted to give the people in Black Panther British accents. That would have been very obvious and stupid.

  14. 14.

    debbie

    I missed the beginning when ABC showed the film last week, but picked up the DVD from my library yesterday and will watch it tonight.

  15. 15.

    Roger Moore

    @sdhays:

    I think a British accent is more or less the default “foreign” accent in Hollywood.  It’s a signal that someone isn’t American while still being reasonably comprehensible to American ears.

  16. 16.

    JoyceH

    @Roger Moore: I think a British accent is more or less the default “foreign” accent in Hollywood. It’s a signal that someone isn’t American while still being reasonably comprehensible to American ears.

    Specifically, though, British accent tends to mean ‘foreign bad guy’. Maybe all European villains went to Oxford?

  17. 17.

    Mary G

    What a lovely post, and you know someone who’s golfing today is totally pissed off that the tweet announcing his death is the most liked ever. Obama’s line about the best use of his years really got me.

  18. 18.

    Brachiator

    The future. I hope that they continue the Black Panther films.  I know who I would like to see offered the part, but I am not saying just now. But like James Bond, Superman the Batman or Wonder Woman, the character is larger than the actors who play the role.

    The work. I think that Boseman is great as James Brown in the underrated “Get On Up.” Some of the performance scenes stack up well when compared to the actual James Brown clips on YouTube. But I also like how the film gives a hint of Brown’s mercurial power as he takes over the R&B group the Fabulous Flames from Bobby Byrd, and keeps Byrd as a featured performer.

    Their call and response on Sex Machine  in this clip from an Italian tv show is a thing of beauty. BTW, a composite character representing the talented woman dancer in this clip is also featured in the Boseman film. Nice attention to detail.

    I still have not seen “42.” Even though I knew a fair amount about Jackie Robinson, I wanted to delve into background material before I watched the film. I’ve googled clips of sports stories and editorials  from the era, and also tried to get more of a sense of the degree to which Canadians loved Robinson and gave him and his wife relief from the idiocy of American racism.  I also noted how Robinson was representative of the time when black people still voted Republican, and how Richard Nixon made a fateful wrong choice in rebuffing Robinson when the sports star asked Nixon to help a recently jailed Martin Luther King.

    I figured I had plenty of time to get to enjoy “42” and place it among Boseman’s many acting roles to come.

    I remember seeing Boseman first play the Black Panther in “Captain America: Civil War” and immediately thinking that I wanted to see more of this character.  I wasn’t sure that Marvel would really commit to a film centering on the Black Panther.

    I watched “Black Panther” again when it was shown on ABC. Yep, it is a superhero genre film, but damn, the way it combines a black perspective and Afro-futurism is damn amazing.  And the film is very interesting in a curious way. The antagonist Kilmonger is as much as star of the film as is King T’Challa himself. And yeah, this time around I see Kilmonger as a Donald Trump style interloper whose brief reign as king of Wakanda is marked by his disdain for norms and his determination to destroy everything that came before him. The leader of one of the Wakanda tribes played by Winston Duke almost steals the movie. In some places, T’Challa himself almost seems to fade into the background. Almost. Director Ryan Coogler and Boseman understand that Americans, especially, don’t really take to monarchies, so it becomes important to show how T’Challa’s authority flows not just from heredity, but from the faith and respect bestowed upon him by his people.  So, the scenes between Boseman’s king and his key staff and allies, especially the women characters, is essential in establishing who the Black Panther is, and what Wakanda is all about. It also sets up an alternative vision of Kilmmonger, who is all about obedience and raw power.

    The man. This has been a tough year, and Chadwick Boseman’s passing makes it tougher. But I imagine that it may be tougher for kids and teens who really took to his character in the Black Panther films. I am reminded of Christopher Reeve’s terrible accident and later death.  To some fans, he was Superman. Actors who came along later had to deal with his giant shadow. Maybe this is how it will be for Black Panther as well.

    But I am also struck by how his peers felt about him. I had to stop reading some of these tributes. It was just too raw in some cases. And I am sure that someone has some story about Boseman not being a great guy.  But on balance, his talent, generosity and character pretty much overwhelms any minor dirt that anyone would ever want to throw at him.

    But damn, there are so many roles he will never get to play.  We will never see what he might have tried for next. I guess I can only hope that someone will feel inspired by him, challenged by his example, and continue what he started.

  20. 20.

    Brachiator

    @Roger Moore:

    I think a British accent is more or less the default “foreign” accent in Hollywood. It’s a signal that someone isn’t American while still being reasonably comprehensible to American ears.

    There is also a long tradition in Marvel Comics of having villains and alien beings speak in pseudo-Shakesperian diction. It was also a way for Stan Lee to try to “class up the joint” since comic books were often derided as being junk by idiot snobs.

    And yeah, in movies a semi-posh British accent is often the default for Euro-trash villains and a wide range of historical characters. It always seems absurd when ancient Romans speak with British accents.

    It would have been lazy and stupid for the producers to have imposed this on the characters in Black Panther, especially since in the comic universe, Wakanda had never been colonized by any European nation.  And Americans have become accustomed to some African speakers, such as the late Nelson Mandela, and would have no problem adjusting to a non-British accent.

  22. 22.

    Brachiator

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    @JoyceH: They spoke with British accents in ancient Rome too. Who knew?

    I was always impressed that the Romans in Mel Gibson’s controversial “Passion of the Christ” spoke Latin.  The characters often sounded like mobsters who had become world conquerors.

    ETA: The Romans in the region at that time may have actually spoken Koine Greek. But don’t nobody know what that might have sounded like. Some may also have spoken some pidgin Aramaic when dealing with the rabble.

  23. 23.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @Brachiator:

    I hope that they continue the Black Panther films.  I know who I would like to see offered the part, but I am not saying just now. But like James Bond, Superman the Batman or Wonder Woman, the character is larger than the actors who play the role.

    Especially as the Black Panther canon is that it’s role handed down through generations. FWIW, in the comic books Shuri inherits the Black Panther mantle*—which I think would be awesome for the next movie. Black little girls deserve their superhero too.

    *I haven’t read the comic books, so I don’t know the story behind the transition.

  25. 25.

    rikyrah

    I am still sad about this. He was 43. He made movie after movie while battling cancer.

    I can’t even express what Black Panther meant to the Black community throughout the diaspora. How much we absolutely needed Black Panther when it came out.

  26. 26.

    greenergood

    I am an old, and not at all interested in Marvel Comic films, and live in a small village on the w coast of Scotland and do my very best to not use Amazon at all, so wasn’t aware of his films – but Mr Boseman has just raised my amazement  dial to 100 – and I will do all I can to watch all of his films. His speech at the Black Panther award made me cry – and made me just so angry at the historic lack of recognition/talent/humanity and how people are working so hard to change that lack

  27. 27.

    Gvg

    It shocked me because I hadn’t heard he was sick. Now I understand he had kept it secret but the night I heard I just thought I hadn’t been paying attention again. It hurts me to think how much pain he must have endured.a

  28. 28.

    (((CassandraLeo)))

    I rarely post here these days, because I’m trying to limit my news consumption somewhat while in quarantine (it hasn’t been helping my mental health)… but this is a staggering loss for everyone, but especially the Black community. I can’t imagine how much his death must hurt them right now. It hurts me. The dude was 43, and it turns out he’d made many, if not most of the most important movies of his career while in terrible pain, and none of us even suspected – all while he was doing some amazing charity work, too, often for kids who themselves had terminal cancer. Fuck cancer, and fuck this terrible year.

    Cēterum cēnseō factiōnem Rēpūblicānam esse dēlendam.

  29. 29.

    Chacal Charles Calthrop

    Thank you for this post, and all the links.

    And of all the comic book heroes his was one of the few where he wouldn’t inevitably age out of representing his iconic character.  Wolverine and Deadpool can’t age, Spiderman and the mutants at Xavier’s school have to be teenagers for the sake of the story, and the rest pretty much have to be in peak physical condition – but Boseman could’ve played the king of Wakanda until he was 90.

    He would have had a career like Harrison Ford or Clink Eastwood, where he played older versions of himself for the rest of his life, plus unlike Ford or Eastwood he would probably have created more serious and worthwhile films in between playing the young king and old king.

    Fuck cancer.  Fuck 2020.

  30. 30.

    Benw

    This really sucks. Ugh

    BTW the Black Panther soundtrack – which is original songs curated by Kendrick and inspired by the movie – is fantastic. I highly recommend it if you’re a hip hop fan

  31. 31.

    Bruuuuce

    It seems like every day, even a week later, new tributes keep coming out. All are well deserved. The man was a mensch.

    It may be too soon, but according to a frequently correct source (We Got This Covered), Disney and Marvel will have T’Challa die offscreen before the opening of Black Panther 2, with Shuri (as she does in the books) taking up the mantle. I like it; it’s respectful as opposed to CGIing Mr Boseman in or recasting the role, and it’s already in line with established canon

  32. 32.

    J R in WV

    Beyond Viking caliber in my book — as much a super hero as he played on the big screen. Of which he did one hell of a great job, also too !!

    Chadwick Boseman, superhero actor, role model, lesson in heroism in real life, care giver to little children in cancer wards… what a pity to lose him so young. He should have 40 years in front of him, the world his oyster.

    Now I’ll read the comments… the post is wonderful, and such a great distraction from the political news, which is mostly good, but stressful as well.

  33. 33.

    J R in WV

    @JoyceH:

    Maybe all European villains went to Oxford?

    Actually, all the ones that didn’t actually attend Oxford work hard to sound as if they did.

    Just like American crooks trying to sound like JFK, if they know who that was. Unlike Trump.

  34. 34.

    J R in WV

    @(((CassandraLeo))):

    I’m so glad to see you here once again. I worry about you when you don’t show up for a long time.

    Take care! I understand your reluctance to be present on a site with lots of news right now, on the other hand, we are working together to make a change here, with ideas to help oust der Drumpf, and news about der Drumpf that makes him look like what he is, a cartoon.

    Please do keep in touch as you are able to!

    And “Cēterum cēnseō factiōnem Rēpūblicānam esse dēlendam.”

    ETA: Also, Balloon Juice is much calmer than LGM, which is the other site I see you comment on… so please feel free to visit the garden threads, or any of the positive political threads to work for success this fall, or fund raise.

  36. 36.

    prostratedragon

    @Bruuuuce:  Oh I hope they do something like this. It seems fitting to acknowledge Boseman’s death through having T’Challa die and become a legend, while a successor carries on.

  38. 38.

    Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)

    I’m an old, so much so that I read the Black Panther comics as a child. To see that world come to the big screen was unimaginable to me – and yet Coogler, Bozeman, and the rest did an amazing job. I’ve mostly stayed away from the tribute threads and I haven’t rewatched the movie – it’s all a bit too raw at the moment.

    Rest well, Mr. Bozeman.

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