Late Night Marquette hosted a movie showing of “Get on Up” in Varsity Theatre Sept. 6 night in honor of Chadwick Boseman. After Boseman’s passing Aug. 28, many students expressed feelings of heartbreak and sympathy towards the actor who kept his four-year battle with colon cancer a secret to the public.
Boseman was known for his roles as King T’Challa in Marvel’s “Black Panther,” Jackie Robinson in “42” and Stormin’ Norman in “Da 5 Bloods.”
Sara Asselin, a first-year student in the College of Engineering, attended the movie showing with a friend and said she didn’t realize he had cancer.
“I think it’s really selfless because instead of having other people focus on him and the fact that he had cancer, he was instead using his platform to promote what he wanted to,” Asselin said. “I didn’t realize that he had cancer, or was dealing with anything until all of a sudden, my social media was flooded with the fact that he died.”
Although Asselin said she just went to see “Get on Up”, a biographical film on the life of James Brown, for fun, she said it holds deeper meanings to her now that he has passed.
“Hiding cancer … that’s just like a really big thing. It is really painful and you are going through all those treatments,” Asselin said. “That is just very hard on a person and everyone around you. Going through that and doing it alone … it just kind of speaks to who he was and what he wanted to accomplish with his life.”
Kennedy Schooley, a sophomore in the College of Health Sciences, said Boseman was an inspiration.
“It’s just really sad because (Boseman) was such a talented actor, but a real inspiration for a lot of people of color, especially the kids watching him on TV,” Schooley said. “He had such an impact and we had no idea that we were not going to have that anymore.”
Schooley said even though she had never seen “Get on Up” before, she had heard really good things about it.
“I think my parents watched (the movie) and they were just commenting about how well he did in it,” Schooley said. “They didn’t really tell me about the plot, but they were very impressed by what he did because I think that was the only actor they remembered who was in it.”
Anna Anderson, a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences, said she was upset to hear about Boseman’s passing, especially because he was such an incredible addition to Marvel.
About two years ago, footage surfaced of Boseman getting emotional while talking about two kids who were both fighting cancer.
“The part that always gets me is that there was a story about two kids who had terminal illnesses, and they were trying to hold on until (‘Black Panther’) came out,” Anderson said. “Boseman did a couple of press interviews about that … how he was so touched that those kids wanted to hold on until the movie was released and how much representation matters.”
Not many people outside of Boseman’s family knew he was fighting a very similar battle at the time.
“It makes you realize how much it truly means, especially kids to see representation and to see someone who is so talented,” Anderson said. “It is really upsetting to know that he has passed on, but I really hope (T’Challa’s sister Shuri) ends up continuing on like she did in the comic books.”
This story was written by Skyler Chun. She can be reached at [email protected].