List of Magical Negro occurrences in fiction

The Magical Negro is a supporting stock character in fiction who, by use of special insight or powers often of a supernatural or quasi-mystical nature, helps the white protagonist get out of trouble. African-American filmmaker Spike Lee popularized the term, deriding the archetype of the "super-duper magical negro" in 2001 while discussing films with students at Washington State University and at Yale University.^[1][2]

The Magical Negro is a subset of the more generic numinous Negro, a term coined by Richard Brookhiser in National Review.^[3] The latter term refers to saintly, respected, or heroic black protagonists or mentors.

The following list represents examples of the archetype that have been proposed or discussed in various reliable media sources.

Film and television

1980s and earlier

• Uncle Remus (James Baskett) in Song of the South (1946)^[4]
• Super Soul (Cleavon Little) in Vanishing Point (1971)^[5]
• Grover Muldoon (Richard Pryor) in Silver Streak (1976)^[4]
• Big Jim Slade (Manny Perry) in The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977)^[4]
• Dick Hallorann (Scatman Crothers) in The Shining (1980)^[6]
• Mr. Bloom (Scatman Crothers) in Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983)^[7]

1990s

• Oda Mae Brown (Whoopi Goldberg) in Ghost (1990)^[8]
• Azeem (Morgan Freeman) in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991)^[9]
• Benjamin Buford "Bubba" Blue (Mykelti Williamson) in Forrest Gump (1994)^[4][10]
• Moses (Bill Cobbs) in The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)^[11]
• Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding (Morgan Freeman) in The Shawshank Redemption (1994)^[12]
• Chubbs (Carl Weathers) in Happy Gilmore (1996)^[13]
• Kazaam (Shaquille O'Neal) in Kazaam (1996)^[14]
• Arthur Chaney (Bill Cobbs) in Air Bud (1997)^[15]
• Ruby Rhod (Chris Tucker) in The Fifth Element (1997)^[16]
• Lamont (Guy Torry) in the film American History X (1998)^[17]
• Rastaman (Amiri Baraka) in Bulworth (1998)^[18]
• G (Eddie Murphy) in Holy Man (1998)^[13]
• Rufus (Chris Rock) in Dogma (1999)^[4]
• John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan) in The Green Mile (1999)^[19]
• Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) and the Oracle (Gloria Foster / Mary Alice) in The Matrix (1999) and its sequels^[13][20]

2000s

• Elliot's cellmate/God (Gabriel Casseus) in Bedazzled (2000)^[13]
• Cash (Don Cheadle) in The Family Man (2000)^{[2][20][21][21]}
• Bludworth (Tony Todd) in Final Destination (2000)^[22]
• Bagger Vance (Will Smith) in The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000)^{[1][2][4][20][21]}
• Tommy Johnson, (Chris Thomas King) in O Brother, Where Art Thou?, the accompanying guitarist who claims he sold his soul to the devil in exchange for his musical skill.^[23]
• Jezelle Gay Hartman (Patricia Belcher), a clairvoyant who sacrifices herself to warn and protect two young, white, twentysomething siblings in Jeepers Creepers (2001)^[24]
• Abou Fatma (Djimon Hounsou) in The Four Feathers (2002)^[25]
• Mateo (Djimon Hounsou) in In America (2002)^[4]
• God (Morgan Freeman) in the films Bruce Almighty (2003) and Evan Almighty (2007)^[4][26]
• Alex "Hitch" Hitchens (Will Smith) in Hitch (2004)^[4]
• Sam (Morgan Freeman) in Unleashed (2005)^[4]
• Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) in Batman Begins (2005) and its sequels (2008 and 2012).^[27]
• Charles (Afemo Omilami) in Hounddog (2007)^[28]
• August (Queen Latifah), May (Sophie Okonedo) and June (Alicia Keys) in The Secret Life of Bees (2008)^[10]
• Louise (Jennifer Hudson) in Sex and the City (2008), where Carrie Bradshaw's emotional recuperation depends entirely on the labor of her plucky black personal assistant, who is disengaged from the storyline as soon as Carrie starts to feel better.^[29]

2010s

• Brother Sam (Mos Def/Yasiin Bey), a character who appears in five episodes of the sixth season of Dexter (2011)^[30]
• The janitor (Jordan Peele) and the copier repair man (Keegan-Michael Key) in a "magic negro" skit on Key & Peele (2012)^[31]
• Evelyn (Alfre Woodard) in Annabelle (2014)^[32]

Literature

• Jim in the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn^[33]
• A recurring archetype in Stephen King's novels as well as some adaptations of his work:
  • Dick Hallorann in The Shining (1977) novel, the 1980 film adaptation (Scatman Crothers), and the 1997 TV miniseries (Melvin Van Peebles)^[1]
  • Mother Abagail in The Stand (1978) novel and the 1994 TV adaptation (Ruby Dee)^[1]
  • Lester "Speedy" Parker in The Talisman (1984).^[1]
  • John Coffey in The Green Mile (1996) novel and its 1999 film adaptation (played by Michael Clarke Duncan)^{[1][4][10][20][21]}

See also

• Noble savage
• Stereotypes of African Americans
• Tokenism
• Xenocentrism

References

1. Okorafor-Mbachu, Nnedi (2004-10-25). "Stephen King's Super-Duper Magical Negroes". Strange Horizons. Retrieved 2006-12-03.
2. Susan Gonzalez (2001-03-02). "Director Spike Lee slams 'same old' black stereotypes in today's films". Yale Bulletin & Calendar. Yale University. Retrieved 2008-12-29. Lee cited four recent films in which there is a "magical, mystical Negro" character: The Family Man, What Dreams May Come, The Legend of Bagger Vance, and The Green Mile. In the latter film, Lee noted, a black inmate cures a prison guard of disease simply by touching him; in The Legend of Bagger Vance, a black man "with all these powers," teaches a young white male (played by actor Matt Damon), how to golf like a champion.
3. Brookhiser, Richard (20 August 2001). "The Numinous Negro: His importance in our lives; why he is fading". National Review. Retrieved 5 April 2012.
4. Steven Hyden, Sean O'Neal (writer), Tasha Robinson, and Scott Tobias (March 4, 2007). "13 Movies featuring magical black men". AV Club. Retrieved 2010-10-26.
5. "Movies, Briefly: The Vanishing Point (1971) on The Rumpus
6. Stephen King Films FAQ: All That's Left to Know About the King of Horror on Film Scott Von Doviak Hal Leonard Corporation, Feb 1, 2014
8. Gabbard, Krin (2004). Black Magic: White Hollywood and African American Culture. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. p. 154. ISBN 0-8135-3383-X. OCLC 53215708.
9. "AV Club http://www.avclub.com/articles/box-of-robin-hood-prince-of-thieves-tiein-breakfas,26456/". External link in |title= (help);
10. Owen Gleiberman (2008-10-24). "The Secret Life of Bees". Entertainment Weekly. Over the years, we've all seen too many anachronistic magic Negroes in movies like Forrest Gump and The Green Mile. The saintly African-American matriarchy of The Secret Life of Bees may appear benign by comparison
11. Matt Zoller Seitz (September 14, 2010). "The offensive movie cliche that that won't die". Salon.com. Retrieved 2011-05-18. through the clock-keeper played by Bill Cobbs in "The Hudsucker Proxy"
12. http://www.pajiba.com/career_assessments/morgan-freeman-career-assessment-its-not-a-question-of-how-its-a-question-of-what.php
13. Matthew W. Hughey (2009). "Cinethetic Racism: White Redemption and Black Stereotypes in "Magical Negro" Films" (PDF). Social Problems. 56: 543–577. doi:10.1525/sp.2009.56.3.543. Retrieved 2008-10-20.
14. Benshoff, Harry M.; Griffin, Sean (2009). America on Film: Representing Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality at the Movies, Second Edition. Wiley-Blackwell. Retrieved November 5, 2014.
15. Cerise L. Glenn & Landra J. Cunningham (Nov 2009). "The Power of Black Magic: The Magical Negro and White Salvation in Film". Journal of Black Studies. 40 (2). Sage Publications, Inc. pp. 135–152. ISSN 0021-9347.
16. Saeed Jones (January 14, 2013). "Notes after Fifteen Viewings of 'The Fifth Element'". Retrieved 2016-10-21.
17. Stephen Hunter (October 30, 1998). "'History X': Hate With a Passion". Washington Post. Retrieved 2011-05-18. It must be said that Guy Torry, who plays Lamont, Derek's savior, fills the role brilliantly. But the part is just a lie from start to finish; it reflects a secret bigotry that sees black people only in terms of what they can do for white people, but has no other interest in them. And once Lamont has performed his miracle of healing, he disappears from the movie without a whisper.
18. Biskind, Peter (2010). Star: How Warren Beatty Seduced America. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster. p. 508. ISBN 978-0-7432-4658-3. I also think you have to cop to the fact that the Baraka character is the magic negro.
19. Wilmore, Larry (2010-01-19). "The First 364 Days 23 Hours". Retrieved 2011-02-24. Larry Wilmore also compares Obama's pre-election image to that of other notable magic negro archetypes in fiction, such as Bagger Vance and John Coffey. ...
20. Colombe, Audrey (October 2002). "White Hollywood's new Black boogeyman". Jump Cut: A Review of Contemporary Media (45). Retrieved 2006-12-03. What’s remarkable about the recent magical figure ... In The Matrix, Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) helps Neo ... In The Family Man, Jack Campbell (Nicholas Cage) is shown the right path by ... (Don Cheadle). In The Green Mile, John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan) ... In The Legend of Bagger Vance, Bagger (Will Smith) plays a caddie who helps Rannulph Junuh (Matt Damon) ... Unbreakable presents Elijah (Samuel L. Jackson) ...
21. Christopher John Farley (2000-05-27). "That Old Black Magic". Time. Retrieved 2007-02-03. In The Legend of Bagger Vance, one of the more embarrassing movies in recent history, Will Smith plays a magical black caddie who helps Matt Damon win a golf tournament and the heart of Charlize Theron. ... The first is the Magical African-American Friend. Along with Bagger Vance, MAAFs appear in such films as , the upcoming Family Man (co-starring Don Cheadle) and last year's prison drama The Green Mile.
22. "Magical Negro Tropes".
23. "Cinethetic Racism: White Redemption and Black Stereotypes in 'Magical Negro' Films", Matthew W. Hughey, Mississippi State University Social Problems, Vol. 56, Issue 3, pp. 543–577,
24. Coleman, Robin R. Means (2011). "We Always Die First". Horror Noire: Blacks in American Horror Films from the 1890s to Present. Routledge. p. 153. ISBN 978-0-415-88019-0.
25. "Pop Matters".
26. David Plotz (2007-06-22). "Just Say Noah". Slate. Retrieved 2007-06-22. By far the funniest moment in Evan Almighty occurs when God (Morgan Freeman, in full-on magical Negro mode) appears to the wife of Evan Baxter, a congressman turned reluctant ark builder.
27. Wendell Ottley (March 1, 2014). "On My Mind: Morgan Freeman and The Magical Negro Dilemma". dellonmovies.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2015-03-06. The easiest of these to spot is the tokenism that usually takes place in movies that make use of this particular trope. Again, think of four movies I mentioned above. Also think of other Freeman movies such as Driving Miss Daisy, Bruce Almighty, Evan Almighty, The Bucket List, Invictus and yes the entire Dark Knight trilogy.
28. "What If Dakota Fanning Got Raped And Nobody Cared?". Laist.com. January 24, 2007. Retrieved 2010-10-26. Then there's Hounddog's Magic Negro -- less a character and more a plot device -- which is so thematically ill conceived that it makes Driving Miss Daisy look like Malcolm X.
29. Mazur, Matt. "Precious and Lee Daniels: State of the Race" on Pop Matters
30. Alston, Joshua. "Just Let Go". The Onion. A.V. Club.
31. Heisler, Steve. "Key & Peele: Episode 5". The Onion. A.V. Club.
32. "Scariest Thing About 'Annabelle' Is the Subtle Racism It Delivers". viralglobalnews.com. Viral Global News. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
33. http://www.theroot.com/views/magical-negro-chief