About the Lecture

A flurry of articles appearing shortly after Black Panther’s release proffered different, even opposed, readings of its politics, all of which centered on its “villain,” Erik Killmonger. To understand the movie’s politics, it seems, one had to understand Killmonger — the pervading question was: Should Killmonger be regarded as representative, and if he is (or if he isn’t), what is he representative (or not representative) of? To think this through, though, one has to move beyond the script (what the movie says) to think about Black Panther as an aesthetic, phenomenological, and rhetorical experience (what it does). Identification is crucial to cinematic rhetoric, and performance is crucial to identification. T’Challa and Killmonger don’t just espouse ideological positions, they struggle to articulate or understand their place in the world, and Chadwick Boseman and Michael B. Jordan contribute mightily to our awareness of their struggles. Here and in his earlier roles, Jordan gives us gentle, fundamentally decent characters who can hardly catch a break, in stark contrast to the regality of Chadwick Boseman’s characters, who are confident, entitled. The first half of Professor Bukatman's talk will focus on these two performances and the ways they complicate simple dichotomies of meaning.

Then, to fully appreciate Boseman’s contribution, Professor Bukatman will explore the body of Black superheroes historically, as well as the projection of presence that Boseman brings to the screen. The quest for role models that “look like me” usually refers to moral rather than physical strength; physical strength is generally valued as a manifestation of moral strength. But it’s possible to skip the “moral” part and still have something to identify with: a corporeal rather than a moral identification. There’s more at stake than “balanced” representation and moral positivity in the intersection of Black (and other Other) bodies with superhero bodies. There’s also the ability to display power in what might seem like the least radical of terms: the power to be seen, to be seen as you choose to be, the power to fight, the power to fight back, the power to imagine alternative ways of being, and embody new ways of belonging in the world. “As you can see,” T’Challa announces to Killmonger, “I am not dead!” Bukatman's talk will explore the stakes involved, ideologically and performatively, in that affirmation.

Biography

Scott Bukatman is professor of Film and Media Studies in the Department of Art and Art History at Stanford University. His work has long explored the alternative bodies popular media has produced in droves in comedy, animation, musicals, and superhero media. His books include Hellboy’s World: Comics and Monsters on the Margins (University of California Press) and, most recently, Black Panther, part of the 21st Century Film Essentials series (University of Texas Press).

Location

The Mosaic 113 Auditorium is located in the Suraj Israni Center for Cinematic Arts at UC San Diego (Mosaic Building).

Parking

The closest visitor parking is located in the Scholars Parking underground parking structure (map). Weekend parking is $2/hour.

Questions

Email surajisranicenter@ucsd.edu.

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