Black Panther from a PD Perspective

Executive Director of the the USC Annenberg Innovation Lab Colin Maclay spoke with CPD Faculty Fellow Nicholas Cull in the podcast How Do You Like It So Far? to discuss the public diplomacy implications of movies like Black Panther and The Lion King.

In the words of Maclay, Black Panther represents an "homage to, not stealing from" both pan-African and individual cultures, while Cull elaborates on the new narrative propagated by the film.

"What is the meaning of the film when it's seen in China? What is the meaning of the film when it's seen in Latin America, where it starts to imagine other kinds of Africa being possible, other kinds of empowerment being possible?" asks Cull. "...It creates an imaginative space for Africa to be something other than everybody's victim."

Listen to "Episode 9: Nick Cull Talks Black Panther and Media's Rule in Public Diplomacy" of the podcast, which is co-hosted by Henry Jenkins and Colin Maclay, here.

Photo by Gage Skidmore I CC BY-SA 2.0