After its release on February 16^th,  Black Panther has swept the world as both a phenomenal movie and a powerful social movement. Recognizing the importance of the movie to black youth, Frederick Joseph created the #BlackPantherChallenge to raise money for underprivileged children to see the movie for free. The movement has spread to over 50 countries and has raised over $775,000 to send over 60,000 students to Black Panther for free. But why is this comic book movie so important? Why have millions of people flooded to their local theaters to see the movie, sometimes multiple times?

Set in the fictional, Afrofuturistic country of Wakanda, we see a world untouched by European colonialism and slavery, and isolated from the rest of the world. Rich with resources, including a fictional material called Vibranium – a metal with the ability to absorb all vibrations and kinetic energy directed at it – allowed Wakanda to develop technology and blossom as a self-reliant, advanced society. However, the importance of Wakanda doesn’t stem from its technological advances. Its importance lies in depicting an African society characterized by its strength through its deep-rooted culture and ancestry. Its culture was never belittled by colonialism. Its ancestry was never stolen through slavery. Black Panther showed the world the beauty and strength of African culture and how powerful African society can be if the world stops seeing them as less than. It allows black children to experience this world where people who look like them are never made to feel small or unimportant; where they are celebrated. It provides them with a black superhero, in not only ability but also character, to look up to. T’Challa, the Black Panther and King of Wakanda, is a kind, emotional, and multilayered black man, which allows black boys to be the same. But Black Panther isn’t the only role-model in the movie. A cast of a majority black characters creates a multi-dimensional mirror for black children to see themselves in.

While Ryan Coogler, the director of Black Panther, created a beautiful African country that celebrated black culture, he also created a gender equal society. A common misconception of feminism is that the movement wants to belittle men to build women up. In actuality, feminism wants equal opportunities for men and women. It understands that when we empower both genders, our society grows and strengthens. Throughout Black Panther, T’Challa is complemented and advanced by the women around him. From General Okoye and the Dora Milaje, an elite female special forces team, to his tech genius sister Shuri to his ex-girlfriend and wardog spy Nakia, the women each have their own complex characters, revered skills, and undeniable strength that is never belittled or framed as threatening to the men.  Also, the women support each other, not just the men. Even though T’Challa is king, he never acts superior to the women. The women’s voices are consistently just as powerful and important as the men’s.

A corner stone of Wakandan culture and the Black Panther movie is the technological advances provided by their access to Vibranium. At the head of that technological development is T’Challa’s little sister and Wakandan princess, Shuri. In the middle of an action-packed superhero movie, the creators of Black Panther created a space to represent and support women in STEM, especially women of color. As the STEM field consistently has a disproportionate number of men to women, Shuri provides an amazing face for young girls interested in STEM to see themselves in. Studies have shown that girls’ interest in math and science drops drastically in junior high without proper encouragement and role-models. Now, girls all over the world have been shown that it is OK to love science and math and it is OK to pursue STEM. They are just as smart and capable as any man.

With the success of Black Panther, hopefully we will continue to see diverse representation and begin to chip away at the stereotypes that drastically limit our world view. These deeply powerful and socially relevant themes course through the core of Black Panther’s extremely enjoyable plot. In a political climate that has equated African countries to “shitholes,” Black Panther challenges people to question their stereotypes. Through the lens Black Panther created, black people can be proud of their blackness, women and men can create a more equal society together, and girls can be encouraged to pursue STEM.