It is time! That’s right. Time to break down the #Mesoamerica Influences, not explained in detail at least, in #WakandaForever so Spoilers in the THREAD and links to more info if I could fit it. Let’s Dive In, pun intended. 🧵… (1/17)
Firstly, gotta talk about the Talokanil themes. You hear Maya whistles and drums when we first meet the warriors! And that screech in Namor’s theme. It’s a jaguar whistle. It sounds like… well… a Jaguar! #wakandaforever 🧵 (2/17)
Another instrument was the Conchshell like the one in the film. It could also have been used just to summon a crowd. I go into a but more details about this particular conch in the film 🧵 (3/17)
Which brings me to shells and other seashore finds. Lots of coastel Mesoamerican groups wore them as jewelry and even traded them to other inland groups. Left are photos from the West Mexico pavilian in INAH #wakandaforever 🧵 4/17)
Namor’s surface home is inside a cenote. These sinkhole cover almost all of the Yucatan. The Maya believed these sinkhole were doorways to Xibalba, the underworld. #wakandaforever 🧵 (5/17)
Confirmed by the production designer, stelas outside of Namors hut are carved to tell the tale of his ascension to the throne. We wouldn’t know much of Maya history without the survival of these stela’s depicting the story of Maya rulers 🧵6/17)
The inside is breathtaking! The murals inspired by the Teotihuacan style ceiba tree art and Maya murals from Bonambak. Mor info on Bonamback here mexicolore.co.uk 🧵(7/17)
Couldn’t have explained the mythology of the tree better myself🧵 (8/17)
There’s also some small prop details I caught like Maya tripod vessels, what looks like (maybe?) an Olmec figurine for some reason, and a codex Namor is writing in. A vital form of timing keeping and literature. #namor you nerd XD 🧵(9/17)
A friend caught a few more artifacts 🧵(10/17)
Details get even better in Talokan. People harvest seaweed like their ancestors harvest crops. As mentioned before, Agriculture was not only vital but sacred as the Maya believe the gods made them from corn. 🧵(11/17) #wakandaforever
More detailed Maya origin tells they were born from corn stock that sprouted from the buried head of a Maize (corn) deity. Buried by his sons, the Hero Twins, who avenged him by defeating underworld gods in Ulama. The Maya ball game seen played in the film #wakandaforever 12/17)
Which is why the end of the bridge fight will always be hilarious to me XD #wakandaforever 🧵(13/17)
Cacao was also very important with a variety of uses (yes, chocolate for one lol). The one we see in the film is trade. Its seeds were a form of currency throughout Mesoamerica #wakandaforever🧵(14/17) mexicolore.co.uk
When #namor says he brought the “sun” to his people, I saw it as him bringing a new age. In Mexica belief, the world was remade 4 times before. Each new age called a Sun, with gods like Quetzalcoatl (Kukulkan to the Maya) bringing about these new Suns #wakandaforever 🧵 (15/17)
The Megaladon throne! Powerful creature whose teeth found by the Maya inspired the legends of Xook, shark and deep sea demons. 🧵 (16/17)
And this one of course is my top favorite! #wakandaforever 🧵(17/17)
And well i’m wiped!! 😅. I’ll do a seperate thread on costuming soon. But i do want to give thanks to the Prod Designer @HannahEBeachler who provided insight into the influences they used (and images!!)
This blew up wow! Just happy you all saw great research of Maya/Mesoamerica in action in a huge film like BP. Big step in the right direction cause of misinterpretation that gets thrown around in other media. Follow me on Insta & Hive. Same name. See pinned tweet
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