"The white community has been taught not to listen to black people. I truly feel that white people are more comfortable with black people telling them what to do when they are cast in a magical role. They can't seem to process the information in any other way . . ."
– Damon Lee, director-producer of Undercover Brother
There's always something interesting to read and/or debate about at hiphopmusic.com – the Internet's best hip-hop blog.
Case in point: Jay Smooth tackles The Washington Post's article on Hollywood's latest trend for the "Magic Negro."
What is a "Magic Negro"?
In film circles, a "Magic Negro" is a term that was coined back in the 50's to describe a one-dimensional African-American character (male or female) that serves as a "God-like" advisor or mentor who helps a troubled white man or woman.
From Morgan Freeman's heavenly role in Bruce Almighty to Queen Latifah's ghetto Goddess role in Bringing Down the House to Laurence Fishburne's God-like character Morpheus in the box-office smash The Matrix: Reloaded, these are prime examples of the super-duper magical Negroes.
Will Smith's mystical caddy character in The Legend of Bagger Vance also is a perfect example of this. In that film, Baggar (Will) helps the pride of Savannah (Matt Damon) gets his "authentic swing" back. Another example is Cuba Gooding, Jr. playing God in What Dreams May Come. Although Cuba gives us his best performance in a film since Jerry Maguire, it's still a subversive role, in which, he helps Robin Williams' character find redemption (and his wife) in the afterworld. These are just some of the examples of Hollywood's prolong syndrome for the "Magic Negro."
Read the Washington Post article:
Too Too Divine by Rita Kempley
So there are two questions to ponder here:
(1) What's up with the holy roles?
(2) Are they racial stereotypes (i.e. minstrelsy)?
Up-and-coming actress/writer Damali of the The Dyke Chronicles believes that the "magical Negro" term is "annoying" and "overused":
"There's no way Queen Latifah was a magical Negro in [Bringing Down the House]," she writes. "If there were no black people at all in movies then folks would still be complainin'. [When] we are in movies, folks complain cuz of the 'type' of role – i.e., Halle [Berry] and Cuba – its a no win situation for black actors, so fuck it. Imma play whatever role I want and let the rest of the public masturbate over whether or not I'm a magical Negro."
**rolls eyes**
Article comments
1 - Phillip Winn
"Hmmm . . . Do I detect a trend here?"
Actually, no. You detect one example (and not a very good one) of a stereotype that is painted with a ridiculously wide brush to begin with.
2 - Trent
What I meant was . . .
with Morgan Freeman, Queen Latifah, Laurence Fishburne and now Cuba Gooding Jr. all playing characters that have been labeled as this "Magic Negro" stereotype in films, do we see a trend (or pattern) here from Hollywood . . .
I think so . . .
3 - Phillip Winn
Do movies like Bad News Bears and Mighty Ducks constitute some sort of "Magic White Kids" stereotype?
This is a jumbled mess of extrapolation, and I can't even tell what the point is. Are you claiming that black actors can't get roles unless they're playing the Magic Negro? That one's laughable.
Are you claiming that white people won't listen to black people unless they're playing God? That one is also obviously false.
I'm with Damali on this one. If you want to complain about stereotypes in movies, there are a lot of them far more widespread than this one of which you can find roughly two legitimate examples. (No, Queen Latifah and Laurence Fishburne aren't "magical" in those roles.)
4 - Al Barger
Perhaps the story here is how anxious people are to make up some kind of racial problem in movies. Black folk are in all kinds of roles in all kinds of movies, and few people think about it one way or another. We get a black God, messengers from God, thug criminals, guys working in the Barbershop, becoming POTUS, doctors, lawyers, and probably Indian chiefs.
What Dreams May Come was all about magic stuff with all the characters. The Gooding character was NOT God, but an incarnation of the Williams character's SON.
5 - Bill Sherman
I think there's a measure of truth to the concept, but - as often happens in this kind of social/aesthetic criticism - it's been taken a bit too far. Magical wisdom figures frequently are "others," but in mainstream Hollywood terms, this can be anything that differs from the young and handsome/beautiful actor leads. A lot of "magical" figures, after all, are elderly (e.g., Obi-Wan in the first SWars trilogy - and doesn't the Oracle in Matrix work as both black and elderly?) though I haven't seen any pieces in the AARP Newsletter complaining about the fact.
6 - Trent
"What Dreams May Come was all about magic stuff with all the characters. The Gooding character was NOT God, but an incarnation of the Williams character's SON."
Point taken. Although Gooding's character still falls under the "Magic Negro" definition that's listed below.
(You have to read the Washington Post article.)
I think y'all missing the point here -- it's not about "magic" or a character being "magical" -- it's about the "Magic Negro" stereotype:
"In film circles, a "Magic Negro" is a term that was coined back in the 50's to describe a one-dimensional African-American character (male or female) that serves as a "God-like" advisor or mentor who helps a troubled white man or woman."
So for example, in the film What Dreams May Come, Gooding plays a guardian angel (who is African-American) that helps a troubled white man or woman (in this case, it's Robin). That's a fact. The question here is . . . does this fall under the "Magic Negro" stereotype. In my opinion, it does.
Michael Clarke Duncan in The Green Mile is another example.
Playwright, poet Ariel Dorfman further adds:
"The Magic Negro is an easy way of making the characters and the audiences happy," she says. "And I am for happiness, but the real joy of art is to reveal certain intractable ways in which humans interact. This phenomenon may be a way of avoiding confrontation."
It's not about a character being "magical."
7 - Al Barger
"The Magic Negro is an easy way of making the characters and the audiences happy"
Was George Burns a Magic Jew?
There would be a more reasonable point if this were the only kind of role played by black folks. There have been lots of other ethnic groups playing feel-good roles, and lots of more confrontational stories with black folks. Not EVERY movie with black folks really needs to be about confronting whitey.
8 - Trent
To Phillip Winn:
"Are you claiming that black actors can't get roles unless they're playing the Magic Negro? That one's laughable"
No. I'm well aware that African-American actors are playing a myriad of roles in Hollywood.
"Are you claiming that white people won't listen to black people unless they're playing God? That one is also obviously false."
No filmmaker Damon Lee said that in the Washington Post article.
"(No, Queen Latifah and Laurence Fishburne aren't "magical" in those roles.)"
According to the term, the characters that Queen Latifah and Laurence Fishburne portray in their films are considered "Magic Negro" stereotypes. Again, it's an African-American character (male or female) that serves as a "God-like" advisor or mentor who helps a troubled white man or woman. Latifah helps out Steve Martin in Bringing Down the House and Laurence mentors Neo in both The Matrix and The Matrix: Reloaded. No, they are not "magical" in their roles, per se, but they seemed to fall under this definition.
The point I'm making is . . .
I see a trend coming from Hollywood of films featuring a "Magic Negro"-like character. And there are several African-American film directors who are seeing the same thing, too, according to the Washington Post article.
Some see it as minstrelsy. Others think that the whole "Magic Negro" thing is a dumb argument.
In the end, this what I want to do -- I just want to have a debate about it.
Phillip Winn, you made some strong points here and I'm not saying that you're wrong.
I just think that it's important for African-American moviegoers (or moviegoers, in general) to keep an eye out on how "we" are being portrayed on the screen and what messages are being sent.
I just want y'all to read the Washington Post article and comment.
9 - Eric Olsen
I think there is something here: even now the dominant culture tends to either elevate or denigrate minorities, including blacks. I'm not sure why these approaches still feel so appealing. But I also still see a tendency to emphasize divisions rather than commonalities among minority intellectuals and opinion makers. That why the big melting pot has so many whirlpools and eddies.
10 - Trent
"Was George Burns a Magic Jew?"
If you are talking about the Oh God! franchise the answer to that is "No." The reason why is because his "God-like" character in those films didn't help an African-American man or woman. In the first movie, he helped out John Denver's character find his soul or whatever. John Denver is a white man not an African-American.
So, it doesn't fit here in this discussion.
11 - Al Barger
Huh? Burns played God. The supposed "Magic Negroes" are mostly helping out white folk. It makes as much sense to call Burns a "Magic Jew" as calling Morgan Freeman a "Magic Negro". Alanis Morissette also made a good "Magic Canadian" in Dogma.
12 - Trent
What is a "Magic Negro"?
In film circles, a "Magic Negro" is a term that was coined back in the 50's to describe a one-dimensional African-American character (male or female) that serves as a "God-like" advisor or mentor who helps a troubled white man or woman.
13 - Phillip Winn
So Trent, by that definition (and by the inclusion of Queen Latifah) it seems that any movie character played by a black actor that isn't downtrodden or an extra is a Magic Negro, no? Because in most movies there is some give and take, and people learn from each other. If a film has a black lead or secondary characters, odds favor that another lead of secondary character will learn from that, because there are only so many possibilities.
Was Halle Berry a Magic Negro in Bulworth? Warren Beatty learned from her, sort of.
Let's put it another way: In The Matrix, someone had to play the role of Morpheus. Early sketches of the film had a white actor in that role, or at least a race-neutral one. Let's say that they had cast a Jewish guy, or an Irish guy. Would that have been a Magic Jew or a Magic (Whatever a one-word term is for an Irish guy)? More importantly, should they not have cast Laurence Fishburne in the role to avoid the label?
Here's the thing, Trent. I don't disagree with you (or the author of the article) in that there is a certain kind of role that seems to insult the movie-goer and maybe the actor, too. Bringing Down The House is one example of that, and there are others. However, I think that the term is misapplied in a lot of cases, like a hammer onto anything that might resemble something related to the nail family. Sometimes the label just doesn't fit, because there is nothing particularly racial about the role. The Matrix seems to be a good example of this.
What about Shawshank Redemption? I would hardly put Morgan Freeman's character into the Magic Negro role. That was very much a situation where the two leads learned from each other, give and take, more or less equally. "Red" wasn't all-knowing, but turned his life around thanks to "Andy" as much or more than "Andy" turned his life around because of "Red." I admit, it's tough to envision that movie with two white actors, but I could see it with two black actors, though some of the impact would be lost.
I'm thinking out loud, so to speak, but I would say this: I agree that there is such thing as the "Magic Negro stereotype," but I think the label is over-applied.
14 - Kovacs
I read the article and there was one example that I thought was completely off base ...
American History X.
They are claiming that the role of his cell mate was that of a 'magical negro'. Now, that one is just absurd. You have a skin head that goes into jail and comes out having renounced his neo-nazi ways. Could the cellmate have been played by a white guy and still make sense? You could easily 'substitute' african-american for another minority ... but the replacement would have been arbitrary anyway and you'd get a 'magical ---' instead. Either way, for the character to change he needed to get 'a friend' to show him the error of his ways.
At the very least, in THAT case, the 'magical negro' was part of the PLOT, not just a casting decision. If the decision was "Ok, we need a character that will give advise to Matt Damon/Ben Affleck/etc ... let's cast a black guy in the role so they'll be happy" that would be racist. But I think that if the character has to learn to stop hating black people ... they should probably learn it from a black person.
Of course they could just make Soul Plane instead ... Hollywood is very cynical and they'll just go back to the well as long as it works, regardless of what's in the well.
Also, Radio being a 'Magic Negro' ... would that make Forest Gump a 'Magic Honkey'? I think in terms of the film Radio Magic Negro is completely off base. It's more of a 'magic retard' but as a main character in the film, it does change things up a little.
15 - merq
you've ALL got to be kidding me! The main feature of a Magical Negro is the fact that he's a completely one-dimensional character who seems to appear and EXIST to help the white protagonist "find himself."
That's the problem with this country. White people get all nervous and defensive the instant race is discussed, and change can never be brought about.
16 - eeax2
In the Honeymooners re-make the skinny guy helps the fat guy find himself but he isnt a magic-negro because both actors are black and also the skinny guy has a hot wife. There is no true formula for the magic-negro but they tend to be de-sexualized (and over sensualized)as do many blacks in movies. I just read about this magic-negro theory last-night and then coincidentally the next morning I catch this show where some literary commentators describe the noble-savage who in 19th century American literature helps the white male find himself. The show pointed to James Fennimore Cooper particularly who uses this technique. So its an old trick. I personally will only watch movies where the black guy kills the white-guy bangs the white-guys old lady is honored by the townsfolk with a parade and rides off into the sunset in a shiny new Smart-Car.
17 - eeax2
Actually Forrest Gump could fit with the theory and be a Magic Honkey since he has a requesite defect which in his case rather than being non-white is that he is kinda retarded
18 - Phillip Winn
Merq, now I think *you're* missing the point. We're talking about movies here, right? 95% of *all* movie characters are one-dimensional and exist only to help the protagonist or move the plot along. That's the problem!
By your definition, Laurence Fishburne's character in The Matrix doesn't fit the label, because those movie were very nearly as much about the hopes and dreams of Morpheus as about Neo!
19 - Nicholas
I think people are quick to believe that this phenomenon isn't real because they see that not all black actors are magic negroes in movies.
Segregation still exists. Black and white people are marketed to differently. There are "black movies" and "white movies". There are so many movies made for, by and about white folks that obviously black people see them too. I'm not saying this is right or wrong, this is just the way it is.
The magic negro is that he seems to have some sort of power and yet he's more interested in helping out the white protaginist. This is probably because most of the people in America are (gasp) white. We want to see blacks on screen, sure. We just don't want them to be the main character, save the world, kiss the girl or be threatening.
Keeping black people "nice" and "likeable" isn't a compliment to blacks from the movie industry. What it says is that they're too uncomfortable with blacks to give them real character, real flaws and other qualities bestowed upon white characters for fear of seeming anti-black.
Blacks don't always play magic negroes in movies. Jamie Foxx wasn't a magic negro in "Ray". Spike Lee's movies don't have magic negroes. You Got Served had no magic negroes although it did have some evil white stereotypes. (Some of them are pretty silly though) But those are movies with predominantly black casts.
Laurence Fishburne is les subserviant than most M.N.s but he is still praying to his white buddy to be his saviour. The focus of attention is on the white bland guy.
20 - jjd
This movie reminded me of having sex with my 65 year old wife! And I'm Only 62!