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+--- Thread: "The American Society of Magical Negroes" (movie spoofs weird trope that won't die) (/thread-16737.html)
"The American Society of Magical Negroes" (movie spoofs weird trope that won't die) - C C - Oct 28, 2024
Occasionally, the character trope is "space-alien" rather than magical -- like Guinan on "Star Trek: The Next Generation".
I've noticed it in television shows and films spanning decades, but somehow in all these years never crossed paths with it as a repetitive gimmick that had officially been discerned and received a label. Just wasn't tuning in to the applicable left-wing and right-wing sources, I guess.
Retrospectively clarifies a comic-book like essay I once came across -- that was illustrated by underground comic artist Robert Crumb, and maybe written back in the 1970s. That was about white men undergoing their midlife crisis, receiving mystical revelations from stereotyped Black figures who talked in slang from the early jazz era. I was like -- what... what is this strange stuff, where's it coming from?
Recruited for various odd, shameful to pseudo-noble reasons throughout the centuries. Today, it arguably assuages the guilt of virtue-posturing white progressives in literary and entertainment industries, by introducing Black characters with occult powers or oracle-like wisdom (despite the perverse range of racist connotations and motivations that might be inferred). And gives their political counterparts something to lampoon on the other side -- or, in instances like this, something for actor-writer directors like Kobi Libii to parody.
Magical Negro: A trope in American cinema, television, and literature. In the cinema of the United States, the Magical Negro is a supporting stock character who comes to the aid of the (usually white) protagonists in a film. Magical Negro characters, often possessing special insight or mystical powers, have long been a tradition in American fiction.The old-fashioned word "Negro" is used to imply that a "magical black character" who devotes himself to selflessly helping whites is a throwback to racist stereotypes such as the "Sambo" or "noble savage".
The term was popularized in 2001 by film director Spike Lee 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....
THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MAGICAL NEGROES ... https://youtu.be/v7_c-7tWXqg
RE: "The American Society of Magical Negroes" (movie spoofs weird trope that won't die) - Magical Realist - Oct 28, 2024
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvaE_HCMimQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXrJLvX9Rhs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=optHzRmqdFk
RE: "The American Society of Magical Negroes" (movie spoofs weird trope that won't die) - C C - Nov 1, 2024
(Oct 28, 2024 11:24 PM)Magical Realist Wrote: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvaE_HCMimQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXrJLvX9Rhs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=optHzRmqdFk
Stephen King stuff partly came to mind, but I surprisingly forgot about "The Matrix" -- especially Morpheus being Neo's instructional guide.