Even more than democracy, celebrity defines Western culture. In fact, my dismay over people either worshiping living celebrities or deifying dead ones moved me way back in 2005 to write “Celebrity-Obsessed World Has Made Actors and Rock Stars the Statesmen of Our Times.”
This is why I trust you’ll deem it meaningful whenever I join in worshiping or deifying any celebrity. Because I believe all hosannas to and eulogies of Chadwick Boseman are entirely warranted.
Chadwick Boseman, the regal actor who embodied a long-held dream of African-American moviegoers as the star of the groundbreaking superhero film Black Panther, died on Friday at his home in Los Angeles. …
Whether it was James Brown in Get On Up, Thurgood Marshall in Marshall or T’Challa in Black Panther, Mr. Boseman’s unfussy versatility and old-fashioned gravitas helped turn him into one of his generation’s most sought-after leading men. …
During this summer’s wave of protests against systemic racism and police brutality, he expressed support for the Black Lives Matter movement and joined other Black entertainers and executives in calling on the industry to cut ties with police departments.
(The New York Times, August 28, 2020)
Of course, many actors have played kings on screen. But you’d be hard-pressed to find another who the eminent Times described off screen as “regal.”
However, I suspect this description stems primarily from the serene way Boseman dealt with the colon cancer that eventually killed him. He received diagnosis of his terminal illness four years ago. Yet his physical bearing and emotional forbearance were such that he gave co-workers – on several sets since then – no clue. And the clueless among them included Black Panther director Ryan Coogler.
Just imagine the serenity it took to maintain that stoicism and grace in the face of rank and even defamatory speculation, especially in Black media.
Black Panther actor Chadwick Boseman lost a massive amount of weight in recent months. …
[F]ans of the Black Panther actor left messages worrying about his well-being. Some speculated that the actor may suffer from an eating disorder. Others wondered whether the handsome actor may have a medical condition [namely HIV/AIDS].
(MTO News, April 20, 2020)
As it happens, he was getting chemotherapy while putting in 16-hour days. If the world only knew, that alone would’ve put Boseman in the pantheon of living legends alongside the likes of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (a.k.a. the Notorious RBG).
Even so, the way co-workers, friends, and acquaintances are all eulogizing him, one gets the impression that he was more heroic off screen than any character he played on screen. I am particularly impressed by the regard he showed for mentors and benefactors like Denzel Washington. Because he not only honored them but expressed a determined intent to do for others what they had done for him.
Actually, the character of the man they’re eulogizing comes across like a cross between Nelson Mandela, Muhammad Ali, and Sydney Poitier. And I have no reason not to take them at their word.
On the other hand, I’m no movie critic, and I never play one here. But it does not take one to know that his body of work is far more legendary than that of any legendary actor who was “gone too soon.” Of course, James Dean is the king in this respect.
Except that, when it comes to movies of cultural significance and impact, Dean’s Rebel Without a Cause, East of Eden, and Giant hardly seem worthy of comparison with Boseman’s 42, Marshall, and Black Panther.
For example, kids of my generation and those before could only look to white superheroes like Superman and Batman to save the world. But, with Black Panther, Boseman finally gave Black kids not only a superhero who looks like them, but also a world to save that looks like one they might live in.
Therefore, here’s to the curators of his legacy making him such an enduring cultural phenomenon that he dethrones Dean. This, as the actor whose memory is a blessing even to those who never watch any of his movies.
Boseman died of colon cancer. He was 43.
Farewell, Chadwick.
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