stereotypes of the less obvious kind
You don't have to look very far to find thoughtful articles on the subject of the Magical Negro in literature. In addition to the one I first linked to (Stephen King's Super-Duper Magical Negroes by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu) here are two others mentioned in an overview at wikipedia:
3 Vectors of The Magical Negro
Movies' 'Magic Negro' Saves the Day - but at the Cost of His Soul
I'm going to summarize, rather ruthlessly, what I see as the main points and arguments:
There is a recurring stereotype in literature and film which has been called the Magical Negro or, as Spike Lee rephrased it, the Super Duper Magical Negro. The MN is more a plot device than a real character. In a storyline where a white person is in desperate need of direction and guidance, the MN is the character who appears, often out of nowhere, to provide what is needed.
The main characteristics of the MN are:
he or she is isolated, with no observable family or community of their own and no backstory or conflicts;
the only purpose of this character is to provide the support the white protagonist needs;
the MN often has supernatural or magical powers;
these characters are benign or supportive, with no personal stake in the outcome of the story;
the MN either slips away quietly once his or her work is done, or is sacrificed so that the protagonist can prevail.
The articles listed above all list books and movies which rely on this stereotype. Some examples:
Noah Cullen (Sidney Poitier) in the film The Defiant Ones (1958)
Dick Hallorann (Scatman Crothers) in The Shining (King, 1977)
John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan) in the serialized novel The Green Mile (King, 1996)
Cash (Don Cheadle) in the film The Family Man (2000)
Bagger Vance (Will Smith) in the film The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000)
The problem with this kind of characterization is that it perpetuates a lot of negative stereotypes. The kindly, selfless Negro whose primary purpose is to support the white protagonist and make sure that he or she finds a solution to a tough problem. Or you could see it like this: black characters have a far more limited range of roles to play in our stories, and one of them is the Magical Negro -- which looks, on the surface, like a positive portrayal but which really is nothing more than second ranking to the ever present and pervasive white characters.
Storytellers often reach for plot devices. A stereotype is a plot device, and used to excess, the hallmark of a lazy or unimaginative writer. It's far easier to take a stock character off the shelf and dust it off than to sit down and construct a real personality with real wants and needs and motivations. And of course, to some degree stock characters are a necessity. A writer who takes the time to put together a full backstory for every minor character who flits on and off the page is a writer who will never finish a novel.
Thinking about this, I tried to come up with stereotypes that could be compared to the MN, and it occured to me that the MN is an innovation based on the stock character of the interfering angel which showed up in a lot of movies in the forties and fifties and still shows up now and then. Clarence the Apprentice Angel in It's a Wonderful Life; Dudley the angel (played by Cary Grant) in The Bishop's Wife; Here Comes Mr. Jordan, Heaven Can Wait, Wings of Desire, What Dreams May Come.
So now I'm wondering if there aren't multiple issues here. One has to do with a certain type of story that depends on a stock character, one with the way African Americans are portrayed, and the third with the variety of roles available to African American actors.
Would it be possible to retell any of the stories in the first list above and switch the race roles? Putting aside the issue of historical fiction for the moment, think about this: you're casting for a remake of the movie The Family Man. In this movie Jack Campbell (Nicolas Cage) is the stereotypical Wall Street high powered business executive, the guy who works Christmas because he wants the deal and his love life has mostly to do with paid professionals. On Christmas Eve he goes into a convenience store and finds himself in the middle of an escalating situation involving guns and a very rough, street wise black man (Don Cheadle). Jack Campbell takes a risk and intercedes and the situation is defused. Then he runs into Don Cheadle out on the street, and it turns out he's not what he first appeared to be. He offers Jack a look at what his life would have been like if he had married his college girlfriend and taken a different path -- one that involved kids and a house in the suburbs.
Don Cheadle comes across as a very rough customer in this movie and Nicholas Cage as very composed and sophisticated. Could you switch the roles? I think this could be pulled off, as they are both strong actors. In other stories it gets a little more difficult. In Bruce Almighty, you've got Jim Carrey as the white guy in need of guidance and Morgan Freeman as the God who gives him the powers he thinks he wants.
Could you switch those roles? A white God and a black man in need of guidance? Harder to pull off.
It's easier to rationalize a two dimensional character who is not of this world. What is there to know about an angel's backstory? Is there any doubt about God's motivations? The problem is when the character is grounded in the here and now, but is treated like an abstraction. The Never-Mind-About-Me Negro, the Magical Negro, the Negro without needs or wants of her own.
All this brings me to the topic of John Coffey in The Green Mile. Because while on the surface he would seem to be an example of the Magical Negro, there's more going on about his character. He's certainly part MN, but King seemed to be trying to move beyond the stereotype. And I'll put that down in more specific terms tomorrow, after I've done some work and seen to the Mathematician. Who, by the way, does indeed need surgery.
I have heard that phrase before,"Magical Negro", and have been wondering what it was all about, thank you for explainging. I think it is so odd that people focus so much on race and color. And it's such a messy subject; I wonder if our children's children will still be preoccupied with racism. I know it's not something that will go away completely, but I find it tiresome to be around or listen to people/movies that make race and color a focal point. It was interesting reading your entry and switching the actor's roles in my head, and really not seeing much of a difference, but knowing it was significant for other people.
which looks, on the surface, like a positive portrayal but which really is nothing more than second ranking to the ever present and pervasive white characters.
Not to mention the backhanded insult generally involved - Magical Negroes are typically not intelligent or articulate, but "simple", "innocent" or "childlike", and they're "magical" (sometimes literally) via being "mystical" or "close to the earth".
One step away from "and they have natural rhythm" territory.
I'm with mrs.mj on the race issue; it was never something that was on my radar screen (as I was growing up, skin color was no more significant than hair or eye color to me, and thus far we've managed to bring up our children with the same attitude) until the media put it there. I too wonder if we will ever have a culture where race is not an issue one way or another.
My mangled husband needs surgery for his herniated discs as well; we just found this out on Tuesday. Fun times.
I think a number of people in a recent Livejournal discussion made a very good point, which might be relevant here:
Being able to find a focus on race "tiresome" or "not notice" race is a luxury that generally white people have and people of color don't.
A lot of the people of color in the debate said that for them, growing up on the receiving end of discrimination and a racially-divided society, noticing and thinking about race has never been optional.
Personally, I think it's important (to all of us, as readers and writers of any colors) if we notice that many writers are consistently using black characters in particular, limited and limiting roles, and discuss what's going on there.
(And lest I mislead anyone, I'm white - despite my username, taken from one of my favourite books).
Tom of Uncle Tom's Cabin - might that be the original MN?
I wonder if there's a link to the "noble savage" motif, and I wonder about Melville's role.
Also fits into the mentors role within the hero's journey schema.
What's your view on the role of Jim in "Huckleberry Finn" and Mammy in "Gone With the Wind"? All my best wishes for the Mathematician and his surgery, and the family meanwhile.
I concur that race and ignoring race/colour is a luxury that white people can indulge in easier than people of other races/colours. (I'm a white person living in a city in Canada that now has more of a mult-cultural, multi-racial feel to it than when I first moved here 20 years ago - but for Canadians the aboriginal issue and prejudices is more of an issue.) In any event, I think it is important to notice and try to avoid/get rid of stereotypes in art etc. However, as a woman, women are still stereotyped in movies and the media (less so in books than in TV or movies). So there are gender issues in stereotyping - it's not just a question of colour. And many a white person has taken a crappy movie role to get their face on celluloid. I assume it would be the same and even worse for coloured actors who have less to choose from - but all change takes time - consider when women, aboriginals and coloured people got the vote if you're thinking change isn't fast enough. I too get impatient/irritated with negative female stereotypes and cheer when they are avoided. What I think, however, is that all people who suffer from stereotypes (including women) need to ensure they don't allow a chip to grow on their shoulder where they only notice and focus on the negative aspects of the issue. (However, on the other hand if we didn't have some "rabid feminists" as people might term them in history, women wouldn't have the vote, the right to birth control or the right to abortion at their choice. So in many cases to get any change and/or attention to an issue one has to yell from time to time. So carry on yelling people and dialoging. (and as a small footnote, I definitely think you could not have reversed the roles in Bruce Almighty - coloured people would have been more annoyed (and probably rightly so) if God were portrayed as white - and to the extent Morgan Freeman plays God or Allanis Morrisette plays her (in the movie where Ben Affleck and Matt Damon play angels - can't think of the name of the movie) that too helps people's stereotypical view of God get shaken up and they do perhaps think to themselves - "yes why have I assumed God would be a white male?" as a for instance. Plus, call the Magical Negro whatever you like - however he/she is protrayed - people wouldn't necessarily be any happier if say the coloured person in the film were the villain. I remember the outcry of homsexuals and lesbians over "Basic INstinct" and over "Silence of the Lambs" (not that the villian in Silence was gay) - my response? If you want honest portrayal of your group, gender, culture whatever you have to take the good characterization with the bad b/c reality is that yes women do commit heinous acts and yes so do homosexual/lesbian individuals - so like it or not on occasion a coloured person will be the villain as will a woman/homosexual/oriental person or what have you. (That's my dime's worth rather than 2 cents)
If the race issue is tiresome for some them maybe we should get more involved, for the people involved it's more frustration then tiresome. Though Canada is far from perfect we've had a multi-culturism program for decades, in our schools,festivals etc...