How does the film’s much celebrated diversity challenge Curran and Seaton’s idea that domination by a small number of media institutions limits creativity and variety?
The film challenges Curran and Seaton’s ideology that domination by a small number of media institutions limits creativity and variety by having a cast diverse and a cast varied from the other casts the small number of media institutions have. The film ‘Black Panther’ has a predominantly African-American cast with a very limited amount of Caucasian people involved which differs from other Marvel movies such as ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier’ where the cast is predominantly Caucasian and there are two African-American actors. This doesn’t however limit creativity as the production team of ‘Black Panther’ is also predominantly if not all African-American which allows culture and innovation within the film and shows that it can vary from the 17 other Marvel films before it. ‘Black Panther’ also shows the creativity and diversity since being introduced to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2016 in the film ‘Captain America: Civil War’ as it collectively brings together the African-American community by giving them a superhero they can look up to rather than having to look up to a superhero that is Caucasian and it shows representation on the big screen. The film grossed over $1 billion at the box office for Marvel and shows how it got more people going to the cinema to watch the film.
How could the conglomerate model (Marvel as a separate brand to Disney) offer a more complex pattern of ownership than Curran and Seaton describe?
Marvel and Disney are the are a small number of companies; Marvel being a subsidiary of Disney which shows that the creativity must’ve come from Marvel rather than Disney for the film ‘Black Panther’. Black Panther was definitely marketed differently compared to other Marvel films such as being shown teaser trailers between NBA games and a special by Lexus cars at the Superbowl. This helped to distribute and market the film as it would give the film a range of audiences along with the 360 degree consumer experience which showed Black Panther wherever the consumer i.e. the audience looked. It utilize historical events such as Britain and Europe’s colonialism of Africa by showing that ‘Wakanda’ is free from colonialism by both parties and that it has advanced technology in their hands such as ‘Vibranium’ which would’ve been utilized by Europe and Britain had they got their hands on it. This deals with the events of colonialism as it is, in the film, the only African country to evade colonialism. Marvel had to be careful with marketing as to not get it wrong as they were taking a huge risk commercially in fronting the film being Afrocentric; making it a risk in places outside of the USA and Africa; however the film proved to smash in the box office like the other Marvel films.
To what extent does the dominance of Marvel in the sci-fi/superhero genre limit the opportunities for alternative, riskier independent films in these genres?
The dominance Marvel has over the superhero genre limits the opportunities for alternative, riskier independent films in the same said genre because audiences are most likely to go see a film where they know will be successful and will have the same rousing plot as the other films in the category (such as the MCU) rather than see an independent film which doesn’t have that big of a budget and more focuses on the narrative rather than how big the film will be and how much money it will make. In 2008, it was a risk for Marvel to take to release Iron Man however once they found that the movies were doing well commercially; they practically started making them every year sometimes even three films in one year (2009 and 2020 being the only years without a Marvel movie). This makes it harder for independent films to jump and risk making a superhero movie which doesn’t follow the same pattern or doesn’t conform to how Marvel makes a superhero movie and therefore they have more chance of being a failure rather than a success because Marvel dominate the genre. It makes it harder for independent filmmakers to want to try the superhero/sci-fi genre because Marvel have already topped the genre and the films will be compared to those exact ones Marvel make that follow the same narrative.
Chloe Nottage Media 