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My brother Joe and I went to see Black Panther a few weeks ago with our friend Matt. We all love John Williams and action movies, and we all came out saying it was a pretty good film. One of the strongest character relationships, which I absolutely loved, was the sibling-bond between T-Challa and Shuri. They come from a family supported by love. T’Challa has a great love and respect for his father and predecessor King T’Chaka, as we saw in Captain America: Civil War, an emotion which is challenged in Black Panther after he learns a dark secret about his father’s past.
The warmth of T’Challa’s home life and family life is a beautiful touch. Aside from flipping her brother off in jest, Shuri’s character is quite enjoyable. Brother and sister have two separate paths, different capabilities, and different personalities, yet they work together like bread and butter. Each of them knows what the other wants to do, what the other has to do. Shuri is fully aware of what her brother is called to be, but that doesn’t mean she won’t make fun of it.
This is an amazing and inspiring depiction of a strong, secure sibling relationship. We all know family quarrels happen: sometimes between different members, sometimes more frequently, sometimes less. But they can happen. Wakanda is obviously a bit of a too-perfect utopian creation. However, the fraternal love displayed on the part of both T’Challa and Shuri is not an impossible feat. Such a grand partnership as theirs is certainly attainable.
Friendships – in every form they take – evolve, becoming ever richer with time. It’s been like this with me and my brother. We used to roughhouse all the time, doing the most damage possible to each other and to our surroundings. We moved to a new house, but it was still in the same town. Maybe all that furniture moving tuckered us out because I don’t recall physical combat with Joe after moving. Ever since then, I think our relationship has become a healthier one.
We laugh together more often, and we both like doing that. As I said before, both of us enjoy a good action movie. It’s also the custom of the two of us to quote and critique a movie for weeks after watching it. Frequently, we’d go to the same events, and we still do. We would get a kick out of people mixing up our names. People called for John when they meant Joe, or vice versa, even though we really don’t look too similar. Our parents still mix us up sometimes, and there are only the two of us.
Last summer, we commonly biked together. We would hold ping-pong matches in our basement many an afternoon on the dining room table. We were often amazed at the different places the ball got to, and we lost an innumerable amount of the white balls.
However, it came to my attention that with following my passion for the media, trying to stay fit, and following my own pursuits has recently taken away a great deal of the time I’ve spent with Joe in the past. I’m now working to correct this. I love my little bro, and I know we need each other a whole lot. In a way, we aren’t too different from T’Challa and Shuri.
True, we don’t live in a super high-tech civilization where every machine is built of the same material and is powered by the same energy source. But we have each other; we have a family. We poke fun at each other and can (usually) take a personal joke even if it’s a prank or even kind of insulting. Most of all, we know we can have fun with one another.
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