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[x-aileen]

Looking at T'Challa

There is one character compared to all the rest where I feel confident to give a front to back detailed analysis and feel intrigued as well as passionate to write about. That being T’Challa from “Black Panther”. After his fathers death, T’Challa becomes the new king to the throne leaving him to balance a life between a king and protector of Wakanda. As stated from Marvel.com, “not only did the throne of Wakanda pass to T’Challa, but also the full weight of the Black Panther’s responsibilities” (Marvel.com). No matter the situation, T’Challa dives head on to challenge the problem making sure the solution not only favors Wakanda’s best interest for its people and helps those outside of Wakanda. 

T’Challa played the role of a king and a hero. A king who wants to follow in his fathers footsteps and is loyal to his country. And a hero who is responsible for making sure his people and those he loves are safe. Becoming the new king of Wakanda and the Black Panther marks the start of T'Challa’s story. To prove to his people that he will be a great king like his father, he seeks to find the thief that stole vibranium and bring them both back to Wakanda to avoid getting their country from being known to the rest of the world. For years now Wakanda has lived in isolation from the rest of its world to keep their most important resource that brings them technological advancements from being used by anybody else in the world for bad. Outside of Wakanda, T’Challa comes across his long lost cousin Killmonger who was in compliance with stealing vibranium from the museum. While he does fail to bring him to Wakanda, Killmonger arrives in Wakanda unannounced to claim his chance to the throne with the goal of wanting to sell vibranium outside of Wakanda for war. T’Challa essentially “dies” from his defeat with Killmonger but meets his father one last time in the spiritual plane and makes a decision that will forever change Wakanda and its traditions. Reborn again, T’Challa battles Killmonger for the safety and the throne of Wakanda. Then the movie ends with the life changing, problem solving, and tradition breaking decision from T’Challa. 

Throughout the whole movie, T’Challa was so focused on doing things that his father would have done rather than doing things that felt right to him. He viewed his father to be a courageous, wise, and flawless king. Even coming back from the spiritual plane after seeing his father he promised to keep things as tradition follows. Taught to him by his father, he believes and values that Wakanda remaining in isolation is what is the right thing to do. T’Challa’s goal in the first half was to resolve his fathers failure of bringing justice to the man that attacked and killed many people of Wakanda and has stolen vibranium from Wakanda. With the chance of seeing him in person, T’Challa faces solving his 2 most prominent goals as the king of keeping Wakanda isolated by retrieving the stolen vibranium and resolving his fathers failures by killing/capturing the man. One of the turning points for T'Challa character motives and roles was when he discovered Killmonger was his cousin who came to Wakanda unannounced. From him he learned that his own father had killed Killmongers father. This reshaped the way he viewed his father, the goals that he’d have for himself and for the state of Wakanda. After his defeat with Killmonger for the throne and left for “dead”, he confronts his father in the spiritual plane about the abandonment of Killmoger. The reason he is the way he is is because of him being abandoned in the apartment, not even being brought back to Wakanda to get to know his people. T'Challa, upset with how his father handled that situation, lets go of his idealization of his father who could do no wrong. In an interview with BET he say, “There is real life when you find out that your father is not perfect, that he makes mistakes….T’Challa is coming into his own in this movie and trying to figure out what type of ruler he is supposed to be. He has to use his father’s successes and his failures and come to terms with the fact that he can challenge even the greatest of his ancestors” (Father Stretch My Hands: 'Black Panther' & Raising Our Sons To Shine). Not only that but rethinks the way vibranium can be shared outside of Wakanda, something the kings of the past have feared of doing. He makes a new goal that he will now do what he seems is best for his people not based on his father.

After the climactic battle ending with Killmongers death it changes T’Challa. He learns that Killmonger never had a community he can rely on or have opportunities he can look forward to unlike those in Wakanda. He just wanted to fight and help those who are suppressed in the outside world. This moment was the push T’Challa needed to make the life changing decision that he made at the end of the movie : to reveal Wakanda to the rest of the world and help those in need with the abundance of vibranium and technological advancements that they possess. Despite knowing that it might bring danger to his country, T’Challa commits to challenging the past to build a better future for Wakanda. 

T'Challa's development revolved by letting go of past ways and focusing on building a new future with new terms. Stray away from traditions to better himself and for others. He's passionate to keep his country and people safe but also caring about helping those outside of Wakanda.  While I myself am not Black, I would consider T’Challa a hero not only in the movie but to black people who watched the movie. He is able to represent black power to cinema and represent change and growth within the movie to inspire those who watch. Continuing with the same old ways won’t lead to any difference rather change is needed to grow. An idea that can be taken into context inside and outside of the movie. 

[x-aileen]

Introduction

Hello! To introduce myself I'm Aileen Delgado. I come from a Mexican background as both my parents come from Mexico. I don’t really have an origin to my name although it would be really cool to think that there was. Asking my parents the same question they gave me a mind blowing response of “cause why not”. I was curious however as to what my name means and as a result I found that it means “Light from Sun '' which sounds pretty dope. But if I were to change my name to a fictional character I would change it to Hange after one of my favorite characters in an anime called “Attack on Titan ''. In the show she’s a risk taker, creative, really passionate in her crafts and most importantly she’s a badass. She’s such an inspiring character to me and overall she has a pretty name that looks like it would suit me. 

Personally I have no recollection of what I did my first year in high school, let alone remember what I did the first day. My high school years were a bit of a rollercoaster that got stuck on the upside down part of the ride. Freshman and sophomore year was completely decent, made some lifelong friends and watched some friends move out of my life and that’s okay. But then junior year came around and that’s where this ride started to break down. Thursday March 12, 2020. I remember that day vividly as it would be my last day ever stepping foot in my high school due to the COVID pandemic. The rest of my junior year was spent at home which I would have to say was my favorite part of high school. More specially when I had the chance to work on a video project at home with creative freedom was one of the best moments for me cause it was really the only thing I had motivation to finish at the time. During that time everything felt easy, it was a nice little break and majorly needed (speaking as a student). 

Then the next school year came along which was completely done online and I thought it would be amazing being the little introverted girl I am. I thought it wouldn’t bother me literally waking up and logging straight to class. But it truly was a terrible mess and I hated the person I saw myself becoming. To be honest I would declare my whole senior year of high school as my least favorite moment because of how much I started slipping into this other persona who I couldn’t recognize. I would consider myself somewhat of a studious person, I know my responsibilities and understand what needs to be done in a timely manner. Yet I was completely the opposite. I vividly remember as my last class ended on the last day I closed the computer and started breaking down praising how this mess can finally come to a close. Never imagined that my senior year would end up the way that it did. Overall I would want to do my whole senior year over again just to get a chance of a normal year. I would focus more on building social and communication skills that would be really helpful after graduating high school as well as letting go of all the restrictions I would put on myself for the sake of a grade. Also get a chance to correct a friendship that faded during the pandemic. 

Originally I majored in behavioral science. It was something I was excited and passionate about learning. I wanted to study to become a behavioral analyst and maybe look towards working with children who struggle with expressing and processing their feelings. But over time that love and passion for psychology faded largely due to the fact of how the pandemic affected my plans for college. I was at first excited to transition but instead was scared and indecisive whether I even wanted to go to college. In the end I made the decision to continue on with college for the pleasure of my parents with the focus of becoming a psychologist. Yet at that time, for me, learning/studying felt more of a chore that I didn’t feel like doing rather than something I'm recognizing and using it for the benefit of my future. After my first semester I decided I needed a break for the sake of my mental health and while at first it was a scary choice to make (especially revealing it to my parents) it was the best thing I've ever done. A year later I felt ready to go back, but under new circumstances. I wanted to pursue something I know that I’m 100% passionate about and won’t feel as if I made the wrong decision midway into my future. I’ve always been a creative individual growing up. My parents would always tell me “que imagine tienes” (which translates to what imagination you have) while creating stuff from junk. I even tried creating an animation channel on youtube channel inspired by one of my favorite youtubers Jaidenanimations. While I really was invested in pursuing psychology throughout high school, one moment in particular made me question whether I wanted to continue the same path. I remember I had to do a project for a class which involved having to create a video presentation about ways to preserve water. And it was assigned after having to transition to online learning mid way through the year so really I had all the time in the world to do it. But me being the procrastinator I am, I didn’t start the project till the day before it was due. Yet I put my heart and soul into creating that video. I filmed shots I never imagined would look good but to my surprise they turned out amazing. I even captured a shot of my cat drinking out of a clear cup with the beautiful nature in the background (you could even see their tongue capturing the water and drinking it and I loved it). I didn’t even plan on creating a good video let alone a decent one being that it was done last minute, but something in me sparked and wanted to create a cinematic one. I even added some stock footage into the video that fit what I was talking about and even a quality voice over. I wish I still had the video saved but I think I deleted it for some stupid reason. Although I did turn it in time and got 100% as my final grade for it. This moment made me realize that I truly wanted to gear towards a creative path as my career. As of now I’m majoring in New media in hopes of becoming a director or film editor. 

One of my favorite hobbies to do in my free time is creating music. I really wanted to become a full time music producer but it kind of dwindled. Don’t get me wrong, becoming a music producer is still one of my goals, but it has become more of a hobby to relax or keep me entertained. I just love the idea of having the creative freedom to create a piece of music that can convey different types of emotions and stories to the audience and in a way that’s pleasing to the ears. The whole reason I got invested into music production is because my father one day brought home a piano since one of his buddies was giving it away, and from that day on I fell in love with it. Everyday coming home from school I would finish my homework and then look up some of my favorite songs and learn how to play them on piano. Before I ever thought of pursuing psychology, music production was my number one career path. I love every aspect but it started to become more of a back up career and eventually a hobby. Still even to this day I'm working on bettering myself and creating different pieces of music.

The last movie that I watched was Puss in Boots and the Last Wish and let me tell you if you haven’t watched it, you’re missing out. It’s a 10/10 movie, highly recommended despite it being a movie made for kids. Animation was really smooth and sharp, especially during action scenes, the plot was wholesome, and the villain was just down right made perfectly (in my opinion). The last show that I watched was Family Guy since me and my brother like to watch it together while doing homework. One of my favorite shows that I would recommend is Demon Slayer, an anime focusing on a brother trying to turn his sister who has turned into a demon back to a human and find revenge on the king of demons who had killed his entire family. Both of the siblings fight side by side defeating demons that are sent by the demon king who wants to kill them. The show kept me entertained throughout the pandemic and I remember watching an episode a day with my family which brought us so much joy during such a terrible time, so it has a little special place in my heart. I don’t really have a least favorite show or movie cause why would I bother watching one. 

Coincidentally the last thing I created was my short piece of music. Not long, just one minute but it’s a start. Still a lot of work that needs to be done. But when I initially created it I was working at the time, yet because it was slow I opened up the app and started creating random melodies till I liked one and just rolled with the flow. Eventually when I got home I hoped on to my midi piano and made the piece sound better.

If I had to eat one last meal on earth it would have to be a tie between my moms arroz con mole or lasagna. It just brings back childhood memories and if I were about to die (I'm assuming that I die since it's my last day on earth) I want to remember the good times first then think about all the things I could've done. But by then I would have seconds left to live since I'm a slow eater.