List of Magical Negro occurrences in fiction
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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.
Contents
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]
- Lamont (Guy Torry) in the film American History X (1998)[16]
- Rastaman (Amiri Baraka) in Bulworth (1998)[17]
- 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)[18]
- Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) and the Oracle (Gloria Foster / Mary Alice) in The Matrix (1999) and its sequels[13][19]
2000s
- Elliot's cellmate/God (Gabriel Casseus) in Bedazzled (2000)[13]
- Cash (Don Cheadle) in The Family Man (2000)[2][19][20][20]
- Bludworth (Tony Todd) in Final Destination (2000)[21]
- Bagger Vance (Will Smith) in The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000)[1][2][4][19][20]
- 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.[22]
- Jezelle Gay Hartman (Patricia Belcher), a clairvoyant who sacrifices herself to warn and protect two young, white, twentysomething siblings in Jeepers Creepers (2001)[23]
- Abou Fatma (Djimon Hounsou) in The Four Feathers (2002)[24]
- Mateo (Djimon Hounsou) in In America (2002)[4]
- God (Morgan Freeman) in the films Bruce Almighty (2003) and Evan Almighty (2007)[4][25]
- 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).[26]
- Charles (Afemo Omilami) in Hounddog (2007)[27]
- 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.[28]
2010s
- Brother Sam (Mos Def/Yasiin Bey), a character who appears in five episodes of the sixth season of Dexter (2011)[29]
- The janitor (Jordan Peele) and the copier repair man (Keegan-Michael Key) in a "magic negro" skit on Key & Peele (2012)[30]
- Evelyn (Alfre Woodard) in Annabelle (2014)[31]
Literature
- Jim in the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn[32]
- 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][19][20]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ "Movies, Briefly: The Vanishing Point (1971) on The Rumpus
- ↑ 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
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ http://www.pajiba.com/career_assessments/morgan-freeman-career-assessment-its-not-a-question-of-how-its-a-question-of-what.php
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ "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,
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Mazur, Matt. "Precious and Lee Daniels: State of the Race" on Pop Matters
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ http://www.theroot.com/views/magical-negro-chief
