Black Panther, Hollywood Changer?

It isn’t quite often that a movie like  the Black Panther movie, produced in the West, will feature a predominantly foreign cast, but if this fails to be quite telling of the uniqueness of Black Panther, then it calls for a sub-surface probe to determine whether indeed Black Panther is an epic movie. One question you might ask yourself is why Marvel had to make such a dramatic move from what people have been accustomed to. “Is there a hidden, somewhat subliminal message that the producers wanted to put across?” you might ponder. Probably, there is.

What do the numbers tell you?

Black Panther, the Hollywood game changer, if it should live up to this title, must not just show promise of breaking several records in the entertainment world, but actually, exceed the limits previously set by comparable movies. For a movie that’s barely a week old since its release, it certainly does seem to be setting a new trend on what would have erstwhile appeared to be a well-worn path.

According to PostTrak, 40% of all movie enthusiasts in the United States are African American, and it is this cohort that is behind the stupendous sales accrued over the past few days. Indeed, the ticket sales have been so high that Black Panther has been touted “the biggest pre-summer opener of all time.”

A website of great renown has been receiving feedback from people who have watched the movie, and as would be expected, the responses are as varied as the personalities of the people who gave them. It goes without saying that you have a right to hold an opinion about anything, but when that opinion runs at variance with the opinions of others, and then it would only be appropriate to re-evaluate your perspective. For example, how would you explain why 13 out of 25 reviewers give the movie a 10/10 rating, 6 reviewers give it a rating between 1/10 and 6/10, while all the rest rate it between 8/10 and 9/10?

Assuming that these figures are a true representation of the views held by all those who have watched the movie, it follows that up to 76% of all who have watched it regard Black Panther with high esteem. If the remaining movie enthusiasts were to choose whether or not to watch the movie based on these figures alone, it is highly likely that less than 25% of them would think of Black Panther, the Hollywood game changer, as sheer hype. Nevertheless, since the question is yours to answer depending on what the numbers seem to reveal to you, go ahead and do the math. Whatever you uncover might be mind-boggling!

On Contemporaneous Matters of Global Concern

You do know that the movie industry does’nt only aim to entertain you but also to keep you informed about contemporary global issues, with the hope that you will be moved to endeavor and make a difference albeit locally. To this end, Black Panther does seem hell-bent on instigating the total upheaval of the status quo of what is known about the developed and Third World countries.

While the storyline might be relatively innocuous, reminiscent of the plot in Game of Thrones series, it does carry within itself a profound message to the First World and Third World countries alike; appearances can be deceptive. On the one hand, whoever appears to be affluent or highly developed industrially and technologically might not necessarily be so. On the other hand, the oversimplified standardized image with which a country has often been identified can act in the favor of such a country by hoodwinking the rest of the globe with the false impression that the country is underdeveloped. Regardless of this, secrets can only be kept for so long.

Against such a backdrop, it should not come as a surprise to you if indeed the allegations were true that a country in the Middle East has an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction, which it has surreptitiously kept away from the prying eyes of the superpowers. It would be dangerous to assume otherwise, but what if the lauded superpowers’ widely acclaimed arsenals were no match for the yet-to-be-revealed?

In an era when inclusivity invariably hits the headlines, Black Panther goes a long way in attempting to make a parody of the elusive Utopia where all people enjoy the equitability of resources and opportunities. This ought to take you back to the cast and make you privy to the fact that no other major production in the history of the film industry has ever comprised of “an almost entirely black cast.” Well, too much for the case of diversity. Black Panther is a Hollywood game-changer, which debunks the myth that the industry is a white man’s purview even by having an African American director.

The Rise of Surrogacy among Hollywood Celebrities

Giuliana, 43, and Bill Rancic used a gestational surrogate for their child, so it is their biological offspring.  Giuliana’s struggles with achieving a viable pregnancy are very well documented.

Technological advancement has made childbearing possible without the physical union between couples. Many couples across different parts of the world use surrogate as a method for bringing children in their family due to various reasons. Surrogacy exists in two forms; traditional or gestational. Surrogacy is particularly prevalent among Hollywood celebrities. Most of them prefer gestational surrogate as the method of choice to bring a new-born in their family. Reports from Parent Magazine show that there is rise of surrogacy among Hollywood celebrities.

According to the New York daily news reports, several celebrities have had babies through surrogacy, Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban admits to bearing their second child, Faith Margaret through surrogacy in Dec 2011. The couple opted for a surrogate since Nicole felt that her chances of conceiving were very narrow. Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick in April 2009 break the news of their expected twins via a surrogate mother. Jimmy Fallon and Nancy Juvonen, too welcomed their child Winnie Rose in August 2013. Through surrogacy, Elizabeth Banks and Max Handelman get Felix in March 2011.

The story is not different for actress Katey Sagal, after parting ways with Jack White; she gets remarried to Kurt Sutter, the creator of Sons of Anarchy, in 2004. Her advanced age and the devastating stillbirth news of her firstborn Ruby still fresh in mind prevent her from bearing more children. Adopting child becomes even harder for the couple to consider. Thus, they settle for surrogacy. The couple, Sagal and Sutter undergoes in vitro fertilization and gives it a long shot. The result was the birth of Esmé Louise Sutter in 2007.

Still, the technology rewards Amy Smart and Carter Oosterhouse, with their daughter, Flora in Dec 2016. According to HuffingtonPost, the actress had a long struggle with fertility problems, and she admits to having the baby via a surrogate.

Ellen Pompeo and Chris Ivery used surrogacy for their third child they named Sienna May.

❤️Eli Christopher❤️ Chris Ivery just fell a notch.. I’ve got a new guy

A post shared by Ellen Pompeo (@ellenpompeo) on Dec 29, 2016 at 11:21am PST

A while back Pompeo talked about the surrogacy process during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!    “This is an incredible thing to do with your life, to give the gift of carrying someone’s child. I am forever grateful and feel very blessed and grateful to her — she who will remain anonymous,” she said at the time. “I was there with her when they inseminated her, and we held hands. I looked into the microscope and I saw the embryo. I saw the baby, and they put it in a thingy, and they inseminated her. And then we held hands, and we prayed, we talked to God, and if she was meant to be. He said he was going to try to help us out, and now we have a gorgeous baby girl.”

Ellen has used surrogacy before. Discussing the process of surrogacy back in Oct of 2014, Ellen said “She was born two months ago,” Pompeo, 44, told Kimmel of her baby girl. “I’ve done it before. The covert thing is kind of fun. This baby was born via surrogate, so I felt an obligation to keep the surrogate’s privacy. That was of utmost importance to me.”

Angela Bassett and her husband also used a surrogate for the birth of their twin children.

HuffingtonPost, reports Tyra Banks and Erik Asla opted to have a son, York Banks Asla, via a surrogate at an advanced age. Tyra had been putting off the idea of having a baby until she reached over 40 years. For Tyra, the advanced age and the fertility issues couldn’t keep her from becoming a mother, as she reports to the People TV.

Thus she opted for IVF treatment which led to the birth of the son in January 2016.

As a single mom, Lucy Liu choose in 2016 to have her son Rockwell via the gestational method.   After being accused of being the “Murphy Brown of Surrogacy”,  she  said of the process;

“I didn’t really think about it at all,” Liu told CBS News. “I just went ahead and did it … I didn’t realize there was criticism until after I sent out the information that I had my baby through a gestational carrier and my friends said, ‘Don’t listen to what some people are saying.’ I didn’t realize people were saying anything negative!”

In an attempt to counter the negativity Lucy has run into as a result of her decision to use a surrogate Liu has been working with Tylenol on the #HowWeFamily campaign to show people that there isn’t one right way to have a family.

In January 2018, famous Kim Kardashian and Kanye West also welcomed their third born baby through surrogate.

Why the rise of Surrogacy among Hollywood Celebrities?

When you look deep into the lives of Hollywood celebrities, you will realize that there is the rise of surrogacy among them. Have you ever wondered why some celebrities miraculously regain their adoring shapes after childbirth? Dr. Vicken Sahakian, a fertility doctor, based in Los Angeles through the Daily mail, unravels the mystery. He echoes that more celebrities are opting to have their babies via surrogate. Such rich personalities secretly pay surrogates, while they themselves assume fake pregnancies.

A celebrity’s performance, charming looks, and body structure are linked together. Most of these actresses invest all their resources and time to become international stars. They then become absorbed in their professions without checking on their biological clocks. Soon they desire their biological kids when they are beyond the childbearing age. With their fertility graph fast going down, surrogacy seems like the surer solution to the problem.

Those who desire to have kids at their prime age also opt for surrogate mothers since they can afford the cost. Fearing that pregnancy would ruin their perfect looks and careers, none of the stars in Hollywood would even suggest they do anything different but there are two sides of every story, and  surrogacy is no different. We will discuss that issue in Part 2 of this story.