Shuri Meta: A Dark Prince and his Kidnapped Bride...
Once upon a time... There were (and still are... see: Red Riding Hood for free on youtube rn, which also uses some of this construct), girls who embodied a kind of beauty and innocence, with a suggested hint of darkness and the beginnings of exploring desire, being seduced by a dark figure.
These constructs were (and still are) popular... Pretty girl, embodying beauty, and purity (but with an obvious dark streak, that comes from grief, neglect, and so many other possible places) and a dark prince who is struck by that. He gives her gifts...but he also takes. A baby brother, killing a unicorn in order to drape the entire world in permenant darkness. Hell, even the gown is a common trope...(within WAKANDA FOREVER they name some of these in Riri's lines noting it and still....*woosh!*) Ultimately, the goal is for her to be his bride, to dwell in the dark with him. To mutually destroy and then rule over it together.
This was and still is a basic archeotypical space girls play in, either as a way to explore burgeoning desire in womahood in a fictional imaginative space or to tread a well-worn road, they enjoy. ...And I mean ANCIENT. These stories been around since BC and AD in most cultures all over the world. But in Hollywood... That particular space was almost exclusively *white* And envisioning an Afro- and/or Metzo/Indig-fantasy construct?????? *PSSSHHHH* To even begin to bring up that was possible, would likely get a WTF look and then, laughter and tears. And this is despite the fact that these constructs are at their oldest in these cultural spaces.
And yet, here we are... In a film, that bravely and fully jumps into the grief pool...and still has laughter, character development, and an arc, that includes the beauty being seduced by the dark prince trope.
And this time....She's *not* snow white skin.
She's deep brown skin. She's not long dark wavy hair... She's short carefully beautifully constructed coils... She's not embellished with sparkly blush and pink gloss... Her brown skin is dotted with white mourning ritual paint. She's not *even* biracially acceptable, with beige skin and long curly hair...& not even as a dark-skinned young woman, has she been "softened" in a way that comfortably signals "we still added these things that subliminally signals feminine/desirablity markers for you to help soften the fact that she's dark", i.e. long micro-braids, false eyelashes, et al ...and yet, here she is, with a story-arc, that heavily samples this construct and even some black women & girls are startled by it.