Isolationism In Black Panther

Black Panther: The Journey to Become a King
Wakanda is a fictional, utopian African country featured in the 2018 superhero film by Marvel Comics, Black Panther. In the film, ancestral African tribes formed Wakanda after a warrior gained superhuman powers from vibranium, a powerful, supernatural metal brought to Earth by a meteorite. The warrior, the original Black Panther, became the first king in the Wakandan monarchy and he established the country’s resolve to conceal the vibranium from the world’s evil inclinations. For thousands of years, the Wakandans obscured their city from view, maintained a strict policy of isolationism, and presented Wakanda to the world as an undeveloped country. Secretly, the Wakandans invested heavily into education

and used advanced knowledge to create the world’s most technologically advanced nation.
However, the isolationism policy prevented Wakanda from sharing any of their accomplishments with the world. When King T’Challa rose to power, he immediately faced a moral dilemma: should the Black Panther protect his own nation and his own people, or should he use his power to influence change that benefits all of humanity? To answer this question, T’Challa must test his values and discover the true purpose of a Black Panther. This essay uses themes from the Black Panther film to discuss the foundational values that form an individual’s morals and how morals impact decision-making.
Morals
Morals describe the choices people make based on their personal truths and standards (Janaro & Altshuler 314). According to Ralph Waldo Emerson, individuals possess a primary wisdom, an intuition, and can trust themselves to know a good choice (Emerson). According to Immanuel Kant, people are born with a sense of reason that allows them to understand the morality and immorality of their actions (Janaro & Altshuler 315). A moral system is a collection of beliefs that form the foundation of moral choice (Janaro & Altshuler 314). Ralph Waldo Emerson believed that the greatest moral system use self-reliance because this is what influences change in “all the offices and relations of men; in their religion; in their education; in their pursuits; their modes of living; their association; in their property; in their speculative views” (Emerson).
The Supervillain
The film begins with the reign of T’Challa’s father, King T’Chaka as the Black Panther.

While visiting California, King T’Chaka killed his brother, Prince N'Jobu, in self-defense during a confrontation involving the theft of vibranium to make weapons. To conceal the truth, King T’Chaka does not tell the Wakandans about his brother’s death and he exiled Erik Stevens, Prince N'Jobu’s American son. After eventually learning of his Wakandan heritage, Erik Stevens vowed to avenge his father’s death by overthrowing the Black Panther and becoming the new ruler of Wakanda. Erik Stevens trained as an American black-ops soldier to become Killmonger, a proficient killer and the story’s

supervillain.
Wakandan Morals
All previous Wakandan kings held the moral standard that the only way to protect the Wakandan nation was to keep the vibranium hidden from the world. But, T’Challa’s father says following predetermined actions do not define a Black Panther. Instead, each Black Panther makes his own choices and creates his own identity. When Killmonger arrived in Wakanda, T’Challa was outraged when he realized his father “protected” the nation by hiding the truth and abandoning a child relative.
Wakandans have the right to challenge a Black Panther’s claim to the throne through a fight. At his coronation, T’Challa accepted a challenge from M’Baku, but T’Challa did not kill M’Baku after he lost the fight because T’Challa believed this was the right choice. When Killmonger issued his challenge for the throne, T’Challa accepted due to the anger he felt toward Killmonger and his father. But, these choices did not match T’Challa’s values and led to his downfall and death.
T’Challa’s Transformation
Just like all other Wakandan kings before him, T’Challa accepted his responsibility for the entire nation’s safety and surrounded himself with the people he trusted most.

Nakia, his former lover, advised T’Challa that true leadership included helping other people to survive. T’Challa’s father warned, “You are a good man, with a good heart, and it is hard for good men to be kings” (Black Panther).
T’Challa strived to uphold his duties as Wakanda’s new king, including keeping the vibranium hidden. But, his father’s decisions related to Prince N'Jobu’s death infuriated T’Challa. After Killmonger defeated him, and M’Baku revived him, T’Challa understood the repercussions of decisions, since sparing M’Baku ended up saving his own life. With this knowledge, T’Challa criticized the previous rulers of Wakanda as morally wrong for following old traditions simply due to their fears. Determined to undo the wrongs of his forefathers, T’Challa challenged Killmonger and won back his position as Black

Panther.
Conclusion: Was T’Challa a Moral King?
Utilitarianism is a moral philosophy based on the principal of doing the most good, either for the most people or according to what makes the most sense (Janaro & Altshuler 314). T’Chaka and all other former Black Panthers chose to protect themselves and the nation by hiding the vibranium from the world because they believed it made the most sense. This was not necessarily an immoral decision. Although the term “Machiavellian” has negative connotations today, Machiavelli ruled his subjects based on the philosophy that being self-serving was acceptable if it created conditions that were better for the people than what they could create on their own (Janaro & Altshuler 315). On the other hand, T’Challa ultimately chose to reveal the vibranium to the world because it benefitted the most people and made the most sense. Altruism is the quality of acting due to concern for others instead of being self-serving (Janaro & Altshuler 314). Although Wakanda’s decision to reveal the vibranium to the world may place the nation at risk, T’Challa and the other Wakandans believed that their duty to improve mankind surpassed their fear of the unknown. Does this make T’Challa a moral king? Absolutely.

Works Cited
“Black Panther”. Directed by Ryan Coogler, Performances by
Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Marvel Studios, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, 2018. Amazon, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079NRC6MM
Emerson, Ralph Waldo. “Self-Reliance”. Emerson Central, 2018.
Retrieved from https://www.emersoncentral.com/texts/essays-first-series/self-reliance/
Janaro, Richard P., and Thelma C. Altshuler. The art of being
human: The humanities as a technique for living. Boston: Pearson, 2017. Print.