The Women of ‘Black Panther’

Marvel hasn’t been known for incorporating a lot of female superheroes in their movies (until recently.) For a while Black Widow was the only female superhero in the superhero franchise until 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy introduced assassin sisters Gamora and Nebula into the fold. Since then the female superheroes have appeared at an increasing rate. Avengers: Age of Ultron debuted Scarlet Witch. Doctor Strange had The Ancient One. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 brought forth a new heroine, Mantis. Thor: Ragnarok unleashed the fiery Valkyrie into the MCU as well as the franchise’s first female villain, Hela. And now Black Panther.

Out of all seventeen previous films there have been only eight female superheroes, and four of them appeared in the last two years! This has been a male-dominated franchise for a long time but that’s slowly being cut into and the arrival of Black Panther helps that immensely as it introduced the most women we’ve seen in a Marvel film to date. Not only were their four major heroines in the film but there were plenty of strong, powerful women surrounding them as well and it was a marvel (see what I did there?) to see. And more importantly, they were black!

We, as black women, rarely see ourselves represented in such an epic fashion onscreen and to see so many of us, at one time, portrayed as strong, beautiful, intelligent, and downright awesome was and still is one of the best experiences of my life. So today I’m going to celebrate the arrival of these powerful women and I hope you enjoy. 🙂

My Top Three Favorite ‘Harry Potter’ Films

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was one of the first films I saw as a child and it dazzled me. The Baselisk, Voldemort, the Quidditch match, it was a fantasy world unlike anything I’d ever seen before. And the main characters were children, something you don’t see a lot in movies as good as Harry Potter! In fact, for a while, I loved the Harry Potter franchise more than Star Wars, until I got a little older and Star Wars became better and better while the Harry Potter films started becoming a little boring in comparison. Recently I’ve watched Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, a movie I’ve seen over a dozen times (I highly enjoyed it) and so today I would like to share with you my three favorite Harry Potter films. Enjoy!

1. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

This is the Harry Potter movie I’ve watched the most (because I owned it as a child) and it always made me so happy every time I watched it. The flying car took my imagination to other places, I loved the screaming plant thingies (I forgot what they’re called,) the ghost girl used to always make me laugh because she was so perfectly weird, and who doesn’t love the scene with all of the spiders? Brilliant. This movie will always have a special place in my heart because it was one of the first films I was introduced to as a baby girl.

2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

I’ve only seen this movie, I’d say, four of five times and while it isn’t one of the Harry Potter films I most familiar with this is hands down the scariest installment of them all because it’s the movie where Voldemort comes back. *shudder* I really don’t like Voldemort. He’s so scary.

It’s also a very good movie as well. I love the tournament, I love the dragons and the frightening mermaids, and like I said before, the end of the film puts the icing on the cake as Voldemort is brought back to life.

3. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

This is my favorite installment of the franchise and, as a child, was the scariest installment as well. I remember being taken to the movies at six-years-old to go see this film. It was definitely a frightening experience. I’m going to tell you right now, I’m a huge scaredy-cat. I do not like scary movies, especially when I was little, and the third Harry Potter was part fantasy/horror film for me at that young age. I still remember covering my eyes several times as I watched it in the movie theaters and can you blame me? This movie’s got a scary (but no so scary) black dog/Sirius Black, Dementors, the most horrifying creation ever, and werewolves! I was terrified.

Now as an adult I can watch it without a hint of fear but I still remember the horror I felt watching this movie as a baby. It’s one of the reasons, however, that I like the movie so much. Part of the reason why the Harry Potter franchise is so enjoyable is that horror factor but the movies are really good as well.

My favorite part of the third Harry Potter is when Harry and Hermione have to go back in time to save Sirius Black from a terrible fate. It’s such an incredible portion of the film and it really makes the movie enjoyable. It’s also something I’ve never seen since then in a movie, making it extra special. This film has so many incredible layers and at a whopping two hours and twenty-two minutes this movie definitely provides plenty of entertainment.

Well, these are the three Harry Potter films that have always made me either happy or terrified (in a good way) and helped turn me into a Harry Potter fan. And with John Williams (Star Wars) making the iconic musical theme I’m not surprised I love these movies so much. He is truly a legendary composer and I’m so glad he’s still alive so he can continue creating fabulous music.

I thank you for reading and I hope you have a magical day.