Character Analysis of Mbaku- The Great Gorilla.

Lord M’baku -the great Gorilla, leader of the Jabari tribe, the people of the high mountains of Wakanda. He is called the great Gorilla for being the leader of the tribe, in the midst of gorillas there is always a leader, the leadership reigns in the midst of the males with the silverback, which is easily recognized by a patch of silvery fur that covers its back. The strongest and oldest of them all gets to rule

Gorilla is an animal with human-like features, it is very aggressive and assertive, willing and determined to take the risk no matter what happens. Gorillas naturally hate being challenged but will love to challenge just to prove their worth as they are regarded as the strongest of the Monkey species, they will do everything to prove themselves worthy of their title or positive.

M’baku challenges T’challa since it is a challenge
day, a day of crowning a new King, well in this context T’challa wears no crown but a necklace which is the ‘claw’ necklace. M’baku aimed at restoring back traditions since according to him their technological advancement is headed or overseen by Shuri(sister of T’challa), a child who scoffs at tradition.

The challenge paves way to the throne and anyone from the four tribes that is the River tribe, the Mining tribe, the Merchant tribe and the Border tribe and also anyone from the Royal family who wishes to challenge the Prince to be King. M’baku underestimates T’challa accuses him of not being worthy of being a King because he could not keep his own father alive. Gorillas are over-protective so left to M’baku alone T’challa should had been protective to keep his father T’chaka his father alive.

 

"We will not have it. I say we will not have it! I, M'Baku, leader of the Jabari..."- M’baku

"I accept your challenge, M'Baku."- T’challa

"Glory to Hanuman!"-M’baku

 

“You become what you worship”, this is evident in the movie. The Jabari tribe worship the ‘hanuman humanoid ape God instead of the panther god ‘Bast’, according to research on the marvel-cinematics website of the owners of the movie. Hanuman donated to his followers a sacred type of tree that provided them with an exceptionally strong wood, which they used to build their weapons and their own city on the mountains after separating from the mainstream of Wakanda. In the school of history, hanuman is a Hindu god depicted as a humanoid ape.

According to findings from Gorillas world , gorillas are intelligent, with Jabari’s becoming what they worship gave them the likeness of their deity the humanoid ape god; bravery confidence, physically enhanced strength and well-built stature. We all should note that scripts mostly contain the actions, interpretations and progression of the play from the playwright’s view, mostly contains less analysis or traits of the character and what he is made up, it is up to actors to read through and analyze the script severally, picking clues and comments made by other characters about him or her in order to know who he really is, this helps create the full effect need in the production. That is why as an actor you must never read your lines in isolation; you will not be able to fully understand your essence in a production.

M’baku is a brave and courageous character, he is ever ready to make a show off of his strength and abilities just to prove the Jabari tribe is the strongest off all the tribes in Wakanda that is why they decided to settle high up the mountains. Has a high sense of humor which mostly sinks to mockery, Everette and T’challa mostly suffered this fate in conversations they popped in.

"You cannot talk! One more word and I will feed you to my children. I'm kidding. We are vegetarians."

―M'Baku to Everett Ross

M’baku is believed to be a ruthless person; one who has no compassion for anyone and by giving him the heart shaped herb which Nakia aimed at convincing him to help overthrow Erik Kilmonger will make M’baku a bigger monster of their own making. The irony is he is not what he is seen to be, he is just a strong and strict personality who leaves no room for holes which can gradually sink his ship of honor.

His honor and reverence to T’challa is shown when he remembers how indebted he is to T’challa for sparing his life during the ritual combat, this eventually leads to keeping T’challa in a snow to keep him alive after a fisherman of the Jabari tribe found him and brought him to the king when he was thrown into the river by Erik Kilmonger.

He is an analyst, yes. He carefully analyzed what will happen to the world if vibranium fell in the hands of Kilmonger, he will also be at risk and stand a chance of losing lives in his tribe. He refused to offer his army to help overthrow Kilmonger initially but later realized he has no option than saving the world from the hand of Kilmonger.

 This closes the door on my mini-analysis on M’baku, questions and contributions are allowed, this is the only way we all can improve. Before the climax of the mini-analysis, I will comment on the audience view of the script from my perspective and thorough analysis.

The writer of the movie in my perspective is one who hails Women's Empowerment. Why? He gave women key roles and positions in the movie. Yes! The movies evolves around T’challa and Kilmonger, but the actions and in-actions of Nakia, Okoye and Shuri fuels the progress of the movie. Women in the movie are the royal guards or protectors of the King, they stay loyal to the King with passion and total submission to the General(Okoye) they protect the one true King of the land.