The Magical Negro is a
trope in American cinema, television, and literature. In the
cinema of the United States
The cinema of the United States, primarily associated with major film studios collectively referred to as Hollywood, has significantly influenced the global film industry since the early 20th century.
Classical Hollywood cinema, a filmma ...
, the Magical Negro is a
supporting stock character who comes to the aid of the (usually
white
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
)
protagonist
A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a ...
s in a
film
A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...
.
Magical Negro characters, often possessing special insight or mystical powers, have long been a tradition in American fiction.
The old-fashioned word "
Negro
In the English language, the term ''negro'' (or sometimes ''negress'' for a female) is a term historically used to refer to people of Black people, Black African heritage. The term ''negro'' means the color black in Spanish and Portuguese (from ...
" is used to imply that a "magical
Black
Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...
character" who devotes himself to selflessly helping whites is a throwback to
racist
Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...
stereotypes such as the "
Sambo" or "
noble savage
In Western anthropology, Western philosophy, philosophy, and European literature, literature, the Myth of the Noble savage refers to a stock character who is uncorrupted by civilization. As such, the "noble" savage symbolizes the innate goodness a ...
".
The term was popularized in 2001 by film director
Spike Lee
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and author. His work has continually explored race relations, issues within the black community, the role of media in contemporary ...
during a lecture tour of college campuses, in which he expressed his dismay that
Hollywood continued to employ this premise. He specially noted the films ''
The Green Mile'' and ''
The Legend of Bagger Vance'', which featured "super-duper magical Negro" characters.
Usage
Fiction and film
The Magical Negro is a trope in cinema, television, and literature: the character is typically, but not always, "in some way outwardly or inwardly disabled, either by discrimination, disability or social constraint". The Negro is often a janitor or prisoner. The character often has no past but simply appears one day to help the white
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
protagonist. They usually have some sort of magical power, "rather vaguely defined but not the sort of thing one typically encounters." The character is patient and wise, often dispensing various words of wisdom, and is "closer to the earth". The character will also do almost anything, including sacrificing themselves to save the white protagonist, as exemplified in '' The Defiant Ones'', in which Sidney Poitier plays the prototypical Magical Negro.
Film critic Matt Zoller Seitz stated that the trope "takes a subject that some white folks find unpleasant or even troubling to ponder (imagining that resentful black people's status in a country that, 50 years after the start of the modern civil rights struggle, is still run by, and mostly for, whites) and turns it into a source of gentle reassurance". Film reviewer Audrey Colombe argues that the trope has been perpetuated by the overwhelmingly White blockbuster film industry. Film director and writer Spike Lee
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and author. His work has continually explored race relations, issues within the black community, the role of media in contemporary ...
said in 2001 that the White-dominated film industry is "still doing the same old thing ... recycling the noble savage and the happy slave".
Racism historians Francisco Bethencourt and John Beusterien trace the trope to late fifteenth century and early sixteenth century Spanish ''comedias de negros'' and their depiction of black "savior soldiers," who reinforce the stereotype of the supposed greater physical strength of Africans. These include ''El prodigio de Etiopía'' and ''El negro del mejor amo'' by Lope de Vega and ''El valiente negro en Flandes'' by Andrés de Claramonte.
Christopher John Farley, referring to the magical Negro as "Magical African American Friends" (MAAFs), says they are rooted in screenwriters’ ignorance of African Americans:
MAAFs exist because most Hollywood screenwriters don't know much about black people other than what they hear on records by white hip-hop star Eminem
Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem, is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all time, he is credited with popula ...
. So instead of getting life histories or love interests, black characters get magical powers.
The Magical Negro stereotype serves as a plot device
A plot device or plot mechanism
is any technique in a narrative used to move the plot forward.
A clichéd plot device may annoy the reader and a contrived or arbitrary device may confuse the reader, causing a loss of the suspension of disbelief ...
to help the white protagonist get out of trouble, typically through helping the white character recognize his own faults and overcome them and teaching him to be a better person. Although the character may have magical powers, the "magic is ostensibly directed toward helping and enlightening a white male character". An article in a 2009 edition of the journal ''Social Problems
A social issue is a problem that affects many people within a society. It is a group of common problems in present-day society that many people strive to solve. It is often the consequence of factors extending beyond an individual's control. Soc ...
'' stated the Magical Negro was an expression of racial profiling
Racial profiling or ethnic profiling is the offender profiling, selective enforcement or selective prosecution based on race or ethnicity, rather than individual suspicion or evidence. This practice involves discrimination against minority pop ...
within the United States:
These powers are used to save and transform disheveled, uncultured, lost, or broken whites (almost exclusively white men) into competent, successful, and content people within the context of the American myth of redemption and salvation. It is this feature of the Magical Negro that some people find most troubling. Although from a certain perspective the character may seem to be showing blacks in a positive light, the character is still ultimately subordinate to whites. He or she is also regarded as an exception, allowing white America to like individual black people but not black culture.
In 2001, Spike Lee
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and author. His work has continually explored race relations, issues within the black community, the role of media in contemporary ...
used the term in a series of talks on college campuses to criticize the stereotypical, unreal roles created for black men in films that were recent at that time, naming '' The Family Man'' (2000), '' What Dreams May Come'' (1998), '' The Legend of Bagger Vance'' (2000), and '' The Green Mile'' (1999) as examples. Talking about the time and place in which Bagger Vance is set, he said:
: "Blacks are getting lynched left and right, and agger Vance ismore concerned about improving Matt Damon's golf swing! ... I gotta sit down; I get mad just thinking about it. They're still doing the same old thing ... recycling the noble savage and the happy slave." He went on to discuss his desire to create films showing black people doing all kinds of things.
In a book published in 2004, writer Krin Gabbard claimed that the Oda Mae Brown character in the 1990 movie ''Ghost
In folklore, a ghost is the soul or Spirit (supernatural entity), spirit of a dead Human, person or non-human animal that is believed by some people to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from a ...
'', played by Whoopi Goldberg, was an example of a Magical Negress.[
In 2012, writer Kia Miakka Natisse discussed actor ]Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman (born June 1, 1937) is an American actor, producer, and narrator. In a career spanning six decades, he has received numerous accolades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award, as well as a nomination for a Tony ...
playing parts conforming to the Magical Negro form, such as "a doctor who creates a prosthetic tail for a dolphin (in '' Dolphin Tale''), and an ailing CIA mentor (in '' Red'') – in both roles he reprises the Magical Negro type, coming to save the day for his imperiled white counterparts. One could argue his gadget guru in ''The Dark Knight Rises
''The Dark Knight Rises'' is a 2012 superhero film directed by Christopher Nolan, who co-wrote the screenplay with his brother Jonathan Nolan, and the story with David S. Goyer. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, it is the final instal ...
'' fits under that same umbrella."
Chris Rock made references to the trope on his show '' The Chris Rock Show'', including one critical of ''The Legend of Bagger Vance'', entitled "Migger, the Magic Nigger
In the English language, ''nigger'' is a racial slur directed at black people. Starting in the 1990s, references to ''nigger'' have been increasingly replaced by the euphemistic contraction , notably in cases where ''nigger'' is Use–menti ...
". Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele
Jordan Haworth Peele (born February 21, 1979) is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. He is known for his film and television work in the Comedy film, comedy and Horror film, horror genres. He has received List of awards and nominations r ...
, of '' MADtv'' and '' Key and Peele'' fame, followed suit in both shows with their own critical Magical Negro sketches.
The 2019 indie film ''Cold Brook,'' written and directed by William Fichtner, included a Magical Negro named Gil Le Doux, played by Harold Perrineau. The role was a century-old trapped ghost who was saved by two middle-aged men experiencing midlife crises.
The 2024 film '' The American Society of Magical Negroes'' critiques and satirizes the magical negro trope by portraying a secret society
A secret society is an organization about which the activities, events, inner functioning, or membership are concealed. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence ag ...
of African-Americans who make it their job to keep White people comfortable. The film was not well-received, with critiques of it being too safe to make any commentary.
Barack Obama
In March 2007, American critic
A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as Art criticism, art, Literary criticism, literature, Music journalism, music, Film criticism, cinema, Theater criticism, theater, Fas ...
David Ehrenstein used the title "Obama the 'Magic Negro'" for an editorial
An editorial, or leading article (UK) or leader (UK), is an article or any other written document, often unsigned, written by the senior editorial people or publisher of a newspaper or magazine, that expresses the publication's opinion about ...
he wrote for the ''Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'', in which he described Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
's image in white American culture:
Discussing the Ehrenstein editorial at length, Rush Limbaugh
Rush Hudson Limbaugh III ( ; January 12, 1951 – February 17, 2021) was an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative political commentator who was the host of ''The Rush Limbaugh Show'', which first aired in 1984 and was nati ...
at one point sang the words, "Barack the magic negro" to the tune of song " Puff, the Magic Dragon".[''Rush Limbaugh Show'' Transcript. March 19, 200]
Liberal Calls Obama "Magic Negro"
/ref> Shortly after that Paul Shanklin recorded a song about Barack the Magic Negro set to that same tune, which Limbaugh played numerous times throughout the 2008 presidential election season. In Christmas 2008, Chip Saltsman, a Republican politician and chair of the Tennessee Republican Party, sent a 41-track CD containing the song to members of the Republican National Committee
The Republican National Committee (RNC) is the primary committee of the Republican Party of the United States. Its members are chosen by the state delegations at the national convention every four years. It is responsible for developing and pr ...
during the Republican National Committee chairmanship election. Saltsman's campaign imploded as a result of the controversy caused by the CD, and he withdrew from the race.
In May 2015, theater and cultural critic Frank Rich, looking back at the coincidence of the 2015 Baltimore protests with the annual White House Correspondents' dinner
The White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) is an organization of journalists who cover the White House and the president of the United States. The WHCA was founded on February 25, 1914, by journalists in response to an unfounded rumor ...
in Washington, DC
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...
, wrote: "What made this particular instance poignant was the presence in the ballroom of our first African-American president, the Magic Negro who was somehow expected to relieve a nation founded and built on slavery from the toxic burdens of centuries of history."[Rich, Frank.]
Why do America's riots so precisely mirror each other, generation after generation after generation?
". ''New York'' magazine. May 17, 2015. Retrieved August 17, 2015.
See also
References
External links
*
*
{{African American caricatures and stereotypes
Stereotypes of African Americans
Sociology of culture
History of racism in the cinema of the United States
Stock characters
Politics and race in the United States
The Rush Limbaugh Show
Fiction about magic
Spike Lee