Magical negro

File:Hillary Clinton and the Magical Negro.png

Hillary Clinton and the magical negro

The magical negro (sometimes called the mystical negro, magic negro, or our magical African-American friend) is the label given to a supporting, often mystical negroid stock character in fiction who, by use of special insight or powers, helps the white protagonist get out of trouble. The word "negro", now wrongly considered by many as archaic and offensive, is used intentionally to suggest that the archetype is a racist throwback, an update of the "Sambo" and "savage other" stereotypes. The term "magical negro" was popularized by Spike Lee, who derided the archetype of the "super-duper magical negro" in 2001 while discussing films with students at Washington State University and at Yale University.

The Magical Negro in Fiction

File:THE-MAGIC-Negro.jpg

The magical negro is typically "in some way outwardly or inwardly disabled, either by discrimination, disability or social constraint," often a janitor or prisoner. He has no past; he simply appears one day to help the white protagonist. He is the black stereotype, "prone to criminality and laziness." To counterbalance this, he has some sort of magical power, "rather vaguely defined but not the sort of thing one typically encounters." He is patient and wise, often dispensing various words of wisdom, and is "closer to the earth."

The magical negro serves as a plot device to help the protagonist get out of trouble, typically through helping the white character recognize his own faults and overcome them. In this way, the magical negro is similar to the Deus ex machina; a simple way for the protagonist to overcome an obstacle almost entirely through outside help. Although he has magical powers, his "magic is ostensibly directed toward helping and enlightening a white male character." It is this feature of the magical negro that some people find most troubling. Although the character seems to be showing African-Americans in a positive light, he is still ultimately subordinate to European-Americans. He is also regarded as an exception, allowing white America to "like individual black people but not black culture."

To save the white protagonist, however, he would do anything, including sacrificing himself, as Sidney Poitier portrays in The Defiant Ones, considered by some as the prototypical magical Negro movie. Note that Poitier's character is also saved by the white protagonist, played by Tony Curtis.

Examples

File:Uncle Remus from the (now banned) Disney movie Song of the South (1946) is the model of the Magical Negro in the USA.jpg

Lovable negro freedman (former slave) Uncle Remus (James Baskett) from the (now banned) Disney movie "Song of the South" (1946) is the model of the magical negro in the USA.

Examples of magical negroes as published by social commentators include:

• Uncle Remus (James Baskett) in the film Song of the South (1946)
• Noah Cullen (Sidney Poitier) in the film The Defiant Ones (1958)
• The magical negro is a recurring archetype in novels by author Stephen King:
  • Dick Hallorann (Scatman Crothers) in The Shining (1977), and in both the 1980 film adaptation (Scatman Crothers) and the 1997 TV miniseries (Melvin Van Peebles)
  • Mother Abagail in The Stand (1978), and the 1994 TV adaptation (Ruby Dee)
  • John Coffey in The Green Mile (1996), and the 1999 film adaptation (Michael Clarke Duncan)
• Oda Mae Brown (Whoopi Goldberg) in the film Ghost (1990)
• Cash (Don Cheadle) in the film The Family Man (2000)
• Bagger Vance (Will Smith) in the film The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000)
• Gloria Dump (Cicely Tyson) in the film Because of Winn-Dixie (2005)

Note, however, that black characters with apparent supernatural powers who are portrayed as independent, who have a level of power roughly equivalent to that of other characters, and who are not subservient to whites — such as Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson) in Star Wars and Storm (Halle Berry) in the X-Men — are not usually considered weakened magical negroes; nor are helpful non-white characters without some magical or fantastical element.

However, the common repetitive trend remains — that all these non-white characters are still not the main protagonists (heroes) in their storylines. Hence, the definition of the magical negro may also include non-white protagonists who continue to be teamed up with a white hero as well. The concern is that the magical negro may still be covertly used as a subordinate character to white protagonists. Even though they may play a central figure in a storyline, they are portrayed as being unable to solve challenges without the involvement of a white associate.

Several commentators perceive Morgan Freeman's portrayal of God in Bruce Almighty and Evan Almighty as an example of the magical negro archetype. However, since God is not a character created by the author and has neither race nor gender, a person of any race or gender could also be selected to perform the role, like Alanis Morissette in Dogma (although one commentator asserts that "Chris Rock’s Thirteenth Apostle in Dogma is one example.")

Obama the Magic Negro-Gate

David Ehrenstein, a liberal writer with a secular Jewish father with Polish ancestors and a half African-American mother was, wrote an opinion piece on 19 March 2007 in the Los Angeles Times called "Obama the 'Magic Negro.'" He argued that whites, according to sociologists, stereotype blacks as "dangerous." But whites consider Barack Obama accessible, likeable and "benign." This, according to Ehrenstein, explains Obama's "crossover" appeal. The article insults whites, by accusing them of voting for Obama merely to assuage their own guilt. The article produced virtually no outcry.

"But it's clear that Obama also is running for an equally important unelected office, in the province of the popular imagination—the 'Magic Negro.' [...] He's there to assuage white guilt over the role of slavery and racial segregation in American history [...] The senator's famously stem-winding stump speeches have been drawing huge crowds to hear him talk of uniting rather than dividing. A praiseworthy goal. Consequently, even the mild criticisms thrown his way have been waved away, "magically." He used to smoke, but now he doesn't; he racked up a bunch of delinquent parking tickets, but he paid them all back with an apology. And hey, is looking good in a bathing suit a bad thing? [...] Like a comic-book superhero, Obama is there to help, out of the sheer goodness of a heart we need not know or understand. For as with all Magic Negroes, the less real he seems, the more desirable he becomes. If he were real, white America couldn't project all its fantasies of curative black benevolence on him."

The column received world-wide attention and discussion, especially in the news media and in talk radio. Rush Limbaugh aired a song parody called "Barack, the Magic Negro", sung by Paul Shanklin impersonating Al Sharpton and based on the Peter, Paul, and Mary song "Puff, the Magic Dragon". Limbaugh also referred to the 2008 presidential candidate as the "magic negro" several times during his radio broadcast, each time prefacing the reference by explaining that the title came from Ehrenstein and/or the LA Times.

Chip Saltsman, a candidate for chairman of the Republican National Committee, sent the song on a CD with 40 other songs, in a Christmas mailer to committee members. Doesn't the mailer, asked several cable news programs, expose the Republicans -- yet again -- for their tone deafness on the issue of race? CNN host Anderson Cooper asked about the term "Negro." Isn't it pejorative? Never mind the parody actually satirized Al Sharpton. The song implies that Sharpton hoped against an Obama victory, for it crushes Sharpton's argument about America's alleged institutional racism, a force so potent in a country so racist that Obama could not win. An Obama win threatens to reduce the significance of Sharpton-like black leaders. And never mind a black liberal -- who started the whole thing -- called Obama a "Negro." When will the GOP -- on the issue of race -- go on the offense? After all, for 100 years, the Democratic Party showed its tone deafness to the rights of blacks. Democrats opposed the 13th Amendment (freeing the slaves), the 14th Amendment (making ex-slaves citizens) and the 15th Amendment (that, on paper at least, gave blacks the right to vote). Democrats founded the Ku Klux Klan -- some even call it the "terrorist wing of the Democratic Party." And a greater percentage of Republicans than Democrats voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Alabama Gov. George "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever" Wallace was a Democrat. Georgia Gov. Lester Maddox, who as a restaurateur, left pick handles hanging on the walls to provide customers recourse in the event an uppity black tried to enter his restaurant. He was a Democrat. Arkansas Gov. Orville Faubus attempted, in 1957, to prevent the integration of Little Rock High School. He was a Democrat. Bull Connor, the commissioner of public safety for Birmingham, Ala., turned water hoses and dogs on civil rights activists. He was a Democrat.

See also

• Mark Twain
• Stereotypes
• Noble savage

External link

• "magic Negro" definition from Double Tongued Dictionary. Retrieved on 2007-10-04.
• Barack Obama The Magic Negro song -- a parody of Puff, the Magic Dragon.