5 Lessons in Character Building from ‘Black Panther’ (the movie)

Perhaps you’ve seen the movie Black Panther. Was it just a movie to you or did you glean anything insightful from this feature film? 

Valuable life lessons exist in a myriad of contexts and feature films are no exception to this principle. I was excited to see the movie Black Panther and after I saw it, I was not disappointed. It was a great movie! But not only was it entertaining for me, but it was also insightful.

Here are some things that I gleaned from the movie:

5 Lessons in Character Building from Black Panther (the movie)

1.) Community — in the movie you see a deep rooted sense of community that’s held together in times of celebration and defeat. We all need community — essentially, people that are in our corner and who have our back through success and failures. Your community can be your family, colleagues, friends etc.

2.) Sacrifice — nothing good in life is achieved without sacrifice. It’s actually what makes a story interesting and in the movie you see that sacrifice is a vital component of overcoming obstacles. From time to time we too have to make sacrifices in order to achieve our desired goals. Sacrificing by waking up early to run, sacrificing by working extra hours to complete a project, sacrificing your career to stay at home with your kids, etc. But the positive sacrifices will always reap a reward in due time.

3.) Justice — it’s something we all inwardly crave; this deep desire to make the what’s wrong right. In the movie we see that when the Black Panther loses the battle, for many of the people of Wakanda, they seek justice. They seek for the wrong to be made right. In our lives, we must let our desire for justice not just be used to benefit our own lives but also the lives of those around us.

4.) Integrity — doing the right thing at all times. In the movie, we see the integrity of the Black Panther shine through because he does the right thing even when it would be easy and acceptable to do the wrong thing. At the end of the movie, we even see him willing to make some changes and speak at the UN in order to offer the resources of Wakanda to benefit other nations. We also must be people of integrity, committed to doing the right thing even if it’s not popular or common. We must not compromise our integrity.

5.) Love — an essential part of any good character, love is what makes it all worth it and the driving force. Especially if it’s a love that it unconditional and selfless and truly seeking the greater good of whomever is the object of your affection. This type of love is what kept people fighting for what it right until the end. And ultimately, love conquers all. If you let love lead your life then it will affect every area of your life in a positive way and most certainly build your character.

      Character-building is an ongoing process but thankfully there are so many opportunities for us to learn and grow on a daily basis. What character-building traits did you find in the film?

Photo by Chris Leggat on Unsplash