The prince

摘要

TO MARK THE end of its decades-old ban on cinemas, the government of Saudi Arabia held a fancy opening for the first commercial one in Riyadh. Ministers, in-fluencers and at least one royal were invited to watch the Marvel superhero film "Black Panther". In it a young prince called T'Challa finds himself suddenly in charge of Wakanda, an isolated kingdom rich in a precious natural resource. But he must fight off a challenge to the throne from a ruthless relative called Erik Killmonger. In the end T'Challa prevails and opens up Wakanda to the world. Sound a little familiar? The man who ended the cinema ban, Muhammad bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, has a bit of T'Challa in him. The young crown prince, often known as mbs, is trying to open up his isolated, oil-rich kingdom. Tourists and foreign investors are now welcomed as part of a drive to diversify the economy. Conservative clerics have been muzzled and the vice police curbed, as the Saudis tone down their austere brand of Islam. Archaic restrictions, such as the ban on cinemas and another on women drivers, have been lifted. But, as Ben Hubbard intimates in his book "MBS", Prince Muhammad arguably has a lot of Erik Killmonger in him, too.