Oh totally, it's maybe a bit awkward that I'm attaching this criticism to this particular film, given that showing non-white-male people in films seems to be oddly politically controversial right now. I just wonder if the unreasonable efficacy of fictional nerds might be an even bigger psychological problem for poorly represented groups than they are for my white male self. I think I've actually seen this arise IRL.
But which is the bigger problem for those groups - having those unrealistic role models, or not having them to begin with?
Black Panther's origin as a billionaire super scientist/martial arts expert with high tech body armor and mystical powers isn't that unusual as superhero origins go, what's unusual is having that power fantasy template attached to a character who isn't white.
> which is the bigger problem for those groups - having those unrealistic role models, or not having them to begin with?
I think they're probably both a problem, but the latter seems to get talked about and somewhat addressed, and the former not so much (not at all in fact, afaik). My (tentative) hunch is that letting people know that it's supposed to be hard and you're supposed to struggle might result in more non-white-male people making it into STEM than more minority wizard characters.
I feel like that's the kind of nuance you learn as you get older. Black Panther might inspire some pre-teens to start down the path to science, and someday they'll probably see October Sky or whatever the current equivalent is.