Details and Context of the Chosen Media Artifact The media artifact selected for this assignment is Black Panther , a film that was recently shown in movie theaters all around the globe. This media artifact received a loud social response as it was one of the most expected films of the year and because it contained a powerful message. From the sociological perspective, Black Panther is an interesting work to explore in terms of its meaning for the modern society and its various groups. It is the case because the film presents a fictional story where one of the countries of Africa, known as Wakanda, becomes a proud owner of a precious resource. Consequently, the movie explores an alternative reality where an African nation grows into the most technologically developed state on the entire planet. The film emphasizes the uniqueness of African culture, its appreciation of heritage, the value of familial and social ties, and the strong sense of togetherness. Practically, using the fictional land of Wakanda and its culture as an example of a wise structure of the society and the established social equality, creators of this movie attempted to point out the contrast between the film and reality. Course Concepts Multiple course concepts can be applied to the selected media artifact and its details and context in terms of sociological influence and meaning. For example, the first-course concept that is necessary to discuss in this paper is that of media functions in general and socialization and social control in particular (Lyon, 2018). These concepts stand for the social impact that the media can achieve. Specifically, by sending messages incorporated into their content, media can control social perceptions and enable socialization of certain population groups as opposed to their marginalization. The next applicable course concept is media advertising. When it comes to this concept, critical thinking is rather crucial because the advertisement can be viewed as one of many forms messages can take (Lyon, 2018). Also, advertising can be perceived as a “softer” version of the argument (Lyon, 2018). Moreover, this concept can be connected to the idea of flak as one of the effects produced by mass media. Specifically, its ability to stimulate and promote anti-ideologies is important. Such a situation becomes possible due to the capacity of the media to broadcast and popularize beliefs (Lyon, 2018). By disseminating negative images of certain social groups, media shape the social perception of these groups as evil or dangerous outsiders, thus contributing to their marginalization. Application of the Concepts The underrepresentation of African Americans in the media has long served as a serious reason for criticism. The film industry has been accused of the exclusion of African Americans from the casts of popular movies and TV shows for decades (Cuby, 2015). Today, the gap in quantity has been addressed in many cases, but the quality of images of Black people continues to be a problem (Meyerhoffer, 2015; Punyanunt-Carter, 2008). As a result, due to negative media portrayal boosting harmful stereotypes, the lives of people of African descent all around the world have been unfairly and unnecessarily complicated (Donaldson, 2015). T