And We Thought Movie Theaters Closing Down was the Worst that 2020 Had in Store for the Movies...

It honestly feels strange that after everything we as a species have endured over the last six months or so, including the untimely death of many, many people, whether from the coronavirus or racially-charged violence or extrajudicial killings, that one more death should have any kind of meaningful impact. There have been so many heaping servings of tragedy this year that it was hard to imagine one more delivering quite the same gut punch as the many that came before it. And yet, once more, the year 2020 has managed to leave many of us reeling from the death of an actor, not from COVID-19 but from cancer, a foe that has been around much longer, and which has claimed many, many more lives throughout history. 

I didn't know Chadwick Boseman from Adam, and apart from his turn as Jackie Robinson in Brian Helgeland's biopic 42, and his career-defining performance as Wakandan king T'Challa in the Marvel blockbuster Black Panther and the other Marvel movies in which the character appeared, I hadn't even seen any of his films, which include turns as music icon James Brown in Get On Up and legal luminary Thurgood Marshall in Marshall, though I did enjoy his performances in all the films that I had seen. There's something inherently tragic about the death of someone as young as Boseman was, and who was only just beginning to come into his own as a movie star. The notion of a promising career cut short should be enough to sadden all but the most jaded movie fans. 

 But Black Panther wasn't just another movie, it was a cultural watershed moment for millions of African-Americans. It may have come with the trappings of a big-budget superhero movie, but at a time of police shootings and a racist head of state, it served as a beacon of hope for people who have long felt like second-class citizens in their own country, and Boseman's performance anchored that. I liked it a lot, even though I wasn't the movie's primary audience. For his death to come at a time when America is literally burning as a result of racially-charged rage having boiled over, it just seems like salt being poured into a gaping open wound. 

 Personally, the sadness of all of this, his youth, his promise, and what his performance as Black Panther meant to many, many people brought me to tears, reading more than one article about the unfortunate topic of his death. I'm sure others will have more meaningful things to say about this, but as someone who loves movies and who has ached at the knowledge that I probably won't be able to set foot in a movie theater for at least another year, I felt I had to give my two cents on what is probably the most significant movie-related news of the last several months.