![]() Is it embedded at birth? Or is there a coming of age ceremony associated with it? It would have been cool to see the lip tattoo as a smart tattoo with powers to communicate with other devices and even as a communication device to speak or subvocalize thoughts and desires. ![]() I think the film could have had even more backstory around the tattoo as a right of passage and development of it in the film. The Black Panther film tattoo electrifies my imagination because it combines both chemical augmentation and amplifies the African identity of being a Wakandan in this story. But it’s more than good worldbuilding to me. Lastly, it must be a painful spot to tattoo, so shows by way of inference how badass the Wakandan culture is. Placing it inside the lip means it is ordinarily concealed, and, because of the natural interface of the body, it is easy to reveal. Having a glowing tattoo shows that the mark is genuine (one presumes it could only be produced with vibranium and therefore not easily forged). ![]() The Wakandan diaspora is, at this point in the movie, a sort of secret society. The lip tattoo is a brilliant bit of worldbuilding. When I saw King Tchalla’s brother pull his lip down to reveal his glowing blue, vibranium-powered Wakandan tattoo, the body modification evoked for me the palpable rush of ancestral memories and spiritual longing for a Black utopia, an uncolonized land and body that Black American spirituals have envisioned (what scholars call sonic utopias.)
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