Wakanda as an idea is a place where the cultures of different African countries come together and coexist in peace and harmony. The filmmakers created an imaginary copy of the African continent in order to redefine its history. Wakanda honors traditional customs and rituals, but the country also has advanced technology such as skyscrapers, magnetic trains, levitating warships, and sophisticated weapons. In my opinion, however, Wakanda is not much of a dreamland, especially given its lack of liberal values. Residents of the country are against the admission of refugees, immigration in general, open trade, and even information exchange.
Wakanda is an isolated East African country with extremely advanced technology and green energy sources. It is quite small, but it is inhabited by different tribes, and each tribe has its own style of architecture, clothing, and jewelry. In many ways, Wakanda represents the Africa that might have been if white exploiters had not come to the continent. It was as if the filmmakers were trying to rethink traditional ideas of the continent. The country can be perceived as a utopia in technological terms, but Wakanda cannot be called a dreamland since there are too many contradictions and ambiguities in it.
Wakanda would have to be a state with a different, much more advanced, democratic political and social system to be a utopia. I do not think that when Africans imagine an ideal Africa, isolation is something they want. Therefore, such a country seems ineffective as an African utopia. It is as if the film is rethinking the continent’s past, but at the same time, the authors warn against the mistakes that may await in the future.
When creating Wakanda, the filmmakers strove for maximum authenticity, taking inspiration from the buildings located on the territory of African countries. The interiors of the Golden City and the architectural forms used in the film are the most significant visual images. They demonstrate the African authenticity and strength of Wakanda as a single state whose inhabitants honor their homeland. Perhaps this is what Africa could have been like if the colonialist invasion had not happened.