In 2015, Saudi Arabia's ultra conservative leadership changed hands.
And in the past year, the government has relaxed a lot of its formerly restrictive policies.
Women are allowed to drive,
Women can now have access to government services without needing the permission of a male guardian,
Saudi Arabia is also allowing movie theaters to open for the first time since the 1980s.
Finally breaking the 35 year ban, with the showing of...
The Emoji Movie.
On second thought here guys maybe overturning that movie ban wasn't such a good idea.
[Intro Music]
Hello internet! Welcome to Film Theory!
The show that takes utopian fictional societies
and pits them against the cold harsh reality of the real world.
And that's why I am excited today to talk about Marvel's Black Panther!
As a character, you have to acknowledge how completely awesome this guy is!
So awesome, in fact, that it's going to totally make up for the fact that
Killmonger is the worst super-villain name like... ever!
At the very least that we've ever seen in a Marvel film...
But today's theory isn't about Black Panther himself.
It's actually about the country that he rules over:
the mysterious "Wakanda".
Now, Wakanda is an isolationist African country.
It's geography has kept it off-limits to most of the world,
and despite being chronically bad at sharing,
we're gonna get to that,
it's one of the most technologically advanced countries on Earth in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
And I'm here today to tell you that it is not the Vibranium that exists within its borders,
or Black Panther's superpowers that is the most fictional part of this story.
Ho ho, no!
I'm about to show you how the economy of Wakanda
Is completely unsustainable.
And if you happen to be living there right now,
Well then hoo-hoo boy!
You're gonna wanna get outta dodge before the walls come tumbling around you!
And I'm not even talking about Thanos yet! So are you ready for me to ruin this one?
Strap in ladies and gentlemen, because we are taking a delightful tour,
through Marvel's world of Macroeconomics.
Now in Black Panther, Wakanda's success,
Is credited to the country having a Monopoly on Vibranium.
A super strong metal that's the strongest on Earth.
Mostly because it's not even from Earth; it's actually from a meteorite,
That crashed into the nation's borders.
And we've seen plenty of evidence of Vibranium's strength in the movies already!
From Ultron's body, to,
Vision's body, to Captain America's shield! And given the fact that Cap's shield
Holds up to Thor's hammer, you know you got yourself a metal as tough as the Miracle Blade Pro.
So, okay if you're the average Marvel movie goer,
You're probably like
"Okay, yeah,
This country has this really valuable resource,
So that totally explains why it's rich."
Movie logic is logical.
Except, it's not really.
In fact, there's a real world theory that addresses,
Why this isn't logical at all,
And it's called the Paradox of Plenty.
The Paradox of Plenty tries to explain why countries,
That sit on massive and super rare natural resources,
Also happen to be the same ones that top the lists of:
Hey! Our economies are in the pooper! Most of the time.
Take countries like Saudi Arabia for instance,
Which is the world's largest exporter of oil.
Yet, millions of Saudis live in poverty,
earning less than $530 a month.
And Saudi Arabia's unemployment is 12.7%,
Which is HUGE!
The Paradox of Plenty says that even though one area of the economy is BOOMING,
Because of a natural resource, other areas lag behind.
Because there's a disproportionate amount of resources going to that one booming industry.
Ultimately, this leads to prices of some goods and services in the country.
Being WAY outta whack compared to other areas.
The theory has some holes, for sure,
And if we're talking about the movie, this doesn't really seem to really play out for Wakanda,
Where everyone is happy and educated and definitely isn't skipping leg day...
But real countries who use this system,
Don't usually end up with great technology,
And awesome Afro modern style inspirations.
So, what's going on here? Well in the real world,
There's another part of this "Paradox of Plenty" that makes the situation,
More complicated.
Part of the paradox is that countries with a single massive resource also tend to be countries with the,
Least democracy.
Again, Saudi Arabia,
Is a BIG check-mark there, but so are places like Russia and Venezuela
Both of which are HUGE on natural resource,
And (enny-teeny-beeny-meeny) on democratic freedoms.
Come to think of it, Wakanda is a lot like that too.
It's not like they elected their rulers, T'Chaka just passed down the crown
To his son T'Challa. And not in a cutesy,
Meaningless way like the Brits do. *Laughs* No! T'Challa is actually the HEAD
Of state! SO what's going on there? Why is Wakanda,
So different? If these countries all,
Have similar structures then why does Wakanda's system work,
And what are all the other countries doing wrong?
Well that democracy thing is a BIG factor here.
You see, in Black Panther, T'Chaka and T'Challa ONLY,
Care about the well-being of their people. And so,
ANY money earned from the sale of government controlled Vibranium,
Gets invested back into things like education or new businesses.
For the citizens of Wakanda. But in the real world,
Government Officials aren't quite so altruistic.
You remember reading Machiavelli in 10th grade and learning the whole phrase that,
"Absolute power corrupts absolutely" and,
Hear it over and OVER again anytime I read Animal Farm!
I mean don't get me wrong, I rolled my eyes during that too.
But the principle is true. In almost every
Dictatorship in history. From Stalin to
Mao, To Mugabe.
Turns out, when you give someone
Too much power in government or sometimes
Like any, power in government. They end up using it to take as much
Control as possible. And taking control
Happens to be a heck of a lot easier in countries where there's only
ONE Big natural resource. I mean think about it,
in the U.S. There are a ton
of different industries.
Everything from corn to coal mining to computers!
Everything that makes the country money! But what if
We only produced one thing?
Well, taking control of that one industry would basically mean controlling the entire country.
And wouldn't ya' know it but in Countries with
Only one super valuable resource
That's usually what happens.
Look again towards Saudi Arabia
All oil fields that are owned by the government and the ruling classes
who are all fantastically wealthy and everyone else just isn't.
For another historic example, try the Soviet Union, where during the Cold War,
the country sold off some of its huge natural gas reserve
but did they use their profits to help their people out? *slight chuckle* Not exactly
it was more like this...Soviet people were like *bad Russian accent* ohh wise government
we need potatoes and also pants
...and we are also Italian for some reason
Soviet leaders were like *also in Italian accent* ...uhh..no we are going to use this money for weapons research
we are pretty sure you actually want nuclear warhead
The Soviet People people respond with "no no thank you
...thank you very much but we actually just really need the pants, its like -40 degrees here in Siberia"
leader: "no no trust us, you are going to love these atomic bombs, they are..they are very warm!"
MattPatt: "I have no clue how many accents I butchered during that little scenelet there" (Many)
anyway that's basically the problem, the leaders of the country control all the money
because they control the only big industry.
when this happens, it's whats known as "COMMAND AND CONTROL," economy
Sounds bit Darth Vadery, right?..well it kinda is
its basically the leadership of your country telling everybody it knows better than
anyone else what the country really wants or really needs
this happens a lot in some of the saddest cases of
human rights violations in the world
In a pretty recent example Venezuela's
command and control economy under president maduro
became super reliant on oil
in 2012.Almost 90 percent of the economy revolved
around government owned oil their one major natural
resource. This wasnt much of a problem until the
price of oil fell when there was competition from other countrys
and now all of a sudden the goverment had no money to buy
anything up until that point the goverment had been providing
almost everything the people had through subsidies
but when the oil money ran dry there were just major shortages of
pretty much everything the result was what
citizens called the maduro diet named after the
president who was supposed to provide for them but instead couldnt
afford to stock food on grocery store shelves leaving
Venezuelans to literally eat GARBAGE
to survive and this wasn't
our grandparents problem we're talking about this wasn't the cold war 50 years ago
this was literally last year when 90% of the population of Venezuela reported that they
couldn't afford enough to eat
and that is the problem in situations like this
no goverment to matter how good and Altruistic they may intend to be
Can predict what people are gonna want or need the most.
Not to mention stuff that hasn't even been invented yet.
It is simply impossible.
And so time and time again, command and control economies fail from being:
A) Corrupt
B) Trying to provide people with the wrong things
Or just fail out right because of:
C) All of the Above so overall Wakanda,
Which is a commanding-controlling economy,
Run by a wealthy ruling class isn't looking all that likely here.
But, for the sake of this theory, let's say it does work.
That it's a system that isn't corrupt and that King T'Challa
Magically knows what all of his citizens want and need.
Again, in history this doesn't actually tend to work out,
But hey, I want to believe in the power of Marvel movies.
So, for the moment let's just let that part slide.
Great, even letting that big issue go,
That's still not gonna stop this whole economic situation
From biting Black Panther in his heavily renforced vibranium behind!
His country may be beautiful now and his fashion sense may all be on fleek,
but give it a couple of years and the tables will undoubtedly start to turn.
First, let's talk about what really happens when you make it illegal to buy or sell something.
Which is basically what Wakanda is doing when they're restricting the sale of vibranium.
Remember, Wakanda's rulers own the whole supply
And they don't allow anyone else to sell it outside the country
This makes it MASSIVELY expensive.
How expensive? Well, the vibranium used to construct Vision's body cost Ultron
several billion dollars on the Black Market.
That's right. I said billion with a 'B'
Notice that I also said Black Market, also with a 'B.'
And also an 'M.'
You see, that's what actually happens when you make it illegal to buy or trade something.
You get a booming black market for whatever that thing is.
For a bizarre example, did you know that theres a black market for Botox?
Botox cures everything:
From wrinkles to migraines.
But the pharmaceutical company who owns it,
Has a patent on it that lasts for decades.
And patents work a lot like forced monopolies.
So only that one company, controls that one resource.
Sound familiar?
And in this case, just like in Wakanda, motivated people don't wait for the official company to produce Botox.
They buy Black Market Botox in Russia. Or other countries in Eastern Europe for a fraction of the price!
Even from evidence in the movies we can see that people, and especially super villains,
are buying Vibranium under the table and using it to develop weapons.
"Have you been juicing? A little vibranium cocktail?"
And why the heck shouldn't they?!
The smugglers who are selling it stand to make a huge profit
And motivated people aren't just gonna sit around and wait for the next time Wakanda want to sell a dime-bag of vibranium legally
So, heck, I'm goin' out on the street corner
"Slip me a fiver!"
"Slip me a fiver"? Like a 5 dollar bill? Clearly you can tell I'm not proficient in the lingo of
Buying and selling goods on the black market.
It just means, like, give me a fiver dollar bill, right?
It's not an actual drug unit? I don't know...
But you know what, we're not done yet! Because we have not even addressed the biggest issue that Wakanda isn't even thinking about here
When the world has something that scarce, what usually happens?
Do we usually just use it all up and say
"Well that was fun was fun while it lasted. That oil phase that was a really cool phase wasn't it?"
Not really, when there's a scarcity of a resource, prices go up, that's called supply and demand.
If the price gets too high people are like:
"Eh I'm going to use less of this to save money.
Or maybe i'll stop using it all together and figure out something to replace this thing."
It's especially that last part that Wakanda has to worry about, here.
Just look at history to tell you why.
Back in the 1800s, everyone used to use whale oil in their lamps,
Besides being really tragic and sad, it also started to get really expensive when whales, you know, started to go extinct
Like I said, this whole thing is really sad, but, go figure, it gets better.
Whale oil became so rare that people couldn't afford it anymore, so they started finding alternatives,
Specifically switching to Kerosene.
At the time crude oil, was just this sludge, which farmers that getting annoyed by, in Texas
But people realized it would burn better than whale oil and, go figure, it was a heck of a lot cheaper.
So they switched, when the oil tycoons came along oil got even cheaper,
And then, all of a sudden, people could heat their houses, run cars, and finally leave the whales alone.
Not because they were super nice or Because whales are majestic, but because they found a better, cheaper alternative.
TLDR: John D. Rockefeller saved the whales. No joke.
For a more close to home example: For all of us, on the Internet though,
You ever wonder where fiber optic cable came from?
As early as the 1980s, copper became scarce.
But the demand for copper wiring for phones and electricity was huge.
So instead of paying super high copper prices, people started to look For cheaper, more effective, ways to deliver cable, and discovered fiber optics.
Fiber optics cables are literally made of sand which there is no shortage of.
Actually delivers better signals than copper ever did, and happens to be dirt cheap, literally.
The point of these examples is that when resources are too expensive,
People don't just sit around and wait for the next time, some greedy country wants to sell some off.
No, sir.
Instead they leave the counntry in the dust
By developing an alternative.
Saudi Arabia makes oil more expensive?
Tesla develops a lower-cost electric car.
Sugar-cane gets too expensive in the U.S.
Well, the U.S switches to corn syrup.
Wakanda keeps the price of vibranium in the billions?
We can literally see Tony Stark already studying the stuff in his lab,
So he can replicate it himself.
Or discover something better.
Think he won't?
The real world begs to differ.
And when that happens, I wouldn't want to be Black Panther ruling over Wakanda.
Remember what I said about that one resource dictating the entire economy?
Well, unfortunately for Wakanda, when the rest of the world isn't relying on vibranium anymore,
They have no backup plan.
All of a sudden, the leaders of Wakanda have to compete with each other on an international level,
With other substances that might be as good, if not better than their vibranium.
Their monopoly gets busted.
On top of that, remember that command and control economy they're working with?
Well, it means that up to this point, the Wakanda rulers,
Have been responsible for providing everything for their citizens.
From education, to jobs, to money.
But when vibranium isn't worth as much, the whole system falls apart.
An entire population that's been totally isolated,
Now has to fend for itself when the country can't support them anymore.
And even some basic high school economics and history, says that it's only a matter of time before that happens.
So, what does king T'Challa really have to do in this situation?
First, maybe play a little nicer with those trade partners you're gonna need later on.
And for goodness' sake, don't wait for someone to develop that vibranium alternative.
You need to get rid of that stuff before it turns into just another useless heap of scrap metal, my friend.
But hey, that's just a Theory!
A Film Theory!
And post-script!
Yeah, I'm back because this episode was written before I actually saw the movie,
And now that it's out in theaters and I have finally seen it, I gotta say, everything in this episode ended up coming to fruition, didn't it?
First, a big spoiler alert from here on out. So if you're like me and were barely able to get into a showing this opening weekend, well...
Might want to come back to this episode a bit after you've seen the film.
Everyone out who wants to get out? Good.
Okay, so 3 quick things I want to mention here:
First, how about that whole Killmonger situation, right?
When he seizes control of the country, (A 100% legitmately I might add)
He's the one man in charge of the country's primary resource: vibranium.
And even though people might be really upset with him for choosing to send it off to his war dogs around the world,
That's entirely his right as the sole-decision maker for the country.
It's a perfect demonstration of the challenges of a command and control economy that we talked about in this episode.
One, or a small handful of people, can choose to do whatever they want with the sole resource everything the economy depends on.
And, as we see in the movie, it prompts a literal civil war as they fight over what to do with the vibranium supply.
Then, did y'all notice T'Challa's line about "the world catching up"?
And how that makes it more critical for Wakanda to open its borders in terms of knowledge and technology?
It's exactly what we said about vibranium making itself obsolete if the country isn't nicer to its potential trade partners.
Which leads us to the conclusion to the entire film:
Wakanda shows itself welcome to helping the rest of the world.
Which is exactly the recommendation we made for it in the first place.
The Wakandan economy has moved past how it was run by its ancestors,
And it's evolved.
And now, the country will be able to remain viable for years to come.
So hey, it actually turned out to not really be a theory.
It turned out to be a Film Fact!
Which honestly, is pretty darn cool.
Not only did Black Panther ended up becoming a great movie,
It was also great on the macro-economic issues underlying everything that you saw happen on-screen.
And for that, Black Panther gets the Theory Seal Of Approval.
But uh seriously guys, you gotta find a better way to choose your heads of state.
I mean, a waterfall fist-fight a no way insurance you're getting the best leaders in that position.
And now, if you'll excuse me, I'll need to go watch the sunset.
Please subscribe in the meantime, and...cut.
[Outro music]