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	Strange Horizons Articles: Stephen King's Super-Duper Magical Negroes, by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu
		He explained that a Magical Negro was a fl character—usually depicted as wiser and spiritually deeper than the white protagonist—whose purpose in the plot was to help the protagonist get out of trouble, to help the protagonist realize his own faults and overcome them.
		The Magical Negro has great power and wisdom, yet he or she only uses it to help the white main character; he or she is not threatening because he or she only seeks to help, never hurt.
		A Magical Negro is not just a racial stereotype, he or she is also a specific plot device; this character is dropped into the story to help the protagonist along, and the story is often successful because of this device.
	www.strangehorizons.com /2004/20041025/kinga.shtml (3881 words)

	Magical Negro - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		The "Magical Negro" (sometimes called the "Mystical Negro" or "Magic Negro"), according to some critics and commentators, is a stock character who appears in fiction of a variety of media.
		The word "negro" in the phrase, despite now being considered offensive, is used intentionally for that very reason by many critics, to emphasize their belief that the archetype is a racist throwback to a less enlightened time.
		As a plot device, the magical negro is similar to the Deus ex machina, literally "God from the Machine" from Ancient Greece, in which a god or other supernatural entity was introduced into the play by a crane to resolve the affairs of mortals.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Magic_Negro (750 words)

	Magical Negro - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		The "Magical Negro" (sometimes called the "Mystical Negro" or "Magic Negro"), according to some critics and commentators, is a stock character who appears in some films, books, and television programs.
		The fl character is depicted as wiser and spiritually deeper than the protagonist, and the purpose of the "Magical Negro" in the plot is often to help the protagonist get out of trouble, and to help the white character recognize his own faults and overcome them.
		Variants on the "Magical Negro" include the Native American who helps pragmatic whites discover their inner spirituality and brings them back in touch with nature, and the servant (of any non-white race) who sacrifices himself to save his master.
	www.encyclopedia-online.info /Magical_Negro (515 words)

	Magical Negro (Site not responding. Last check: )
		The "Magical Negro" (sometimes called the "Mystical Negro" or "MagicNegro"), according to some critics and commentators, is a stockcharacter who appears in some films, books, and television programs.
		The word " negro " in the phrase, despite being nowconsidered offensive, is used intentionally for that very reason by many critics, to emphasize their belief that the archetype isa racist throwback to a less enlightened time.
		Variants on the "Magical Negro" include the Native American whohelps pragmatic whites discover their inner spirituality and brings them back in touch with nature, and the servant (of anynon-white race) who sacrifices himself to save his master.
	www.therfcc.org /magical-negro-31203.html (488 words)

	Harry Middleton Hyatt
		It was Hyatt's realization that Negro magical beliefs differed greatly from his own English American culture's beliefs that led him to go South and work on "Hoodoo - Conjuration - Witchcraft - Rootwork", the largest collection of folklore from one cultural group in America.
		The "Hoodoo" collection consists of 13,458 separate magic spells and folkloric beliefs, plus lengthy interviews with professional root doctors, conjures, and hoodoos.
		As if to overcome the ham-fisted linguistic editing of Negro dialect that marred "Folklore From Adams County Illinois," this time Hyatt transcribed the speech of his informants semi-phonetically.
	www.luckymojo.com /hyatt.html (2043 words)

	Blankman - By Matt Feeney - Slate Magazine
		This is the revised setup of certain recent Magical Negro movies, such as Finding Forrester (2000) and Dangerous Minds (1995).
		The new Magical Negro movie actually expresses a fairly complex anxiety combining old guilt and new fear—the fear that, given the assertive, self-confident, and occasionally separatist flavor of ever more African-American culture and politics, fls don't need white liberals anymore.
		As such, it is a kind of retelling of the civil rights story, where the material and civic condition of an innocent class and the moral condition of a guilty one are both improved.
	www.slate.com /id/115940/device/html40 (1319 words)

	The White Negro (Site not responding. Last check: )
		Of course the Negro was not learning anything about the merits and demerits of the argument, but he was learning a great deal about a type of girl he had never met before, and that was what he wanted.
		Since the Negro knows more about the ugliness and danger of life than the white, it is probable that if the Negro can win his equality, he will possess a potential superiority, a superiority so feared that the fear itself has become the underground drama of domestic politics.
		With this possible emergence of the Negro, Hip may erupt as a psychically armed rebellion whose sexual impetus may rebound against the antisexual foundation of every organized power in America, and bring into the air such animosities, antipathies, and new conflicts of interest that the mean empty hypocrisies of mass conformity will no longer work.
	xroads.virginia.edu /~DRBR2/whitenegro.html (4463 words)

	Magical Negro: Facts and details from Encyclopedia Topic (Site not responding. Last check: )
		Archetype is defined as the first original model of which all other similar persons, objects, or concepts are merely derivative, copied, patterned, or emulated....
		Negro means the color fl in both spanish and portuguese languageportuguese languages, being derived from the latin word niger of the same meaning...
		The Magical Negro can be considered a form of the "noble savage noble savage quick summary:
	www.absoluteastronomy.com /encyclopedia/m/ma/magical_negro.htm (2186 words)

	Essay: Stephen King's Super-Duper Magical Negroes - The Cult (Site not responding. Last check: )
		The term "Magical Negro" refers to a spiritually-wiser fl character that exist in the story to help the white protagonist out of a jam.
		And as far as Super-Duper Magical Negroes, these are the first books that came to mind with Speedy Parker playing this role.
		The issue of the Magical Negro cannot be dismissed as just part of entertaining an audience.
	www.chuckpalahniuk.net /community/showthread.php?t=19282 (1251 words)

	The Marigold Trail: Hollywood Magic
		The "Magical Negro" (MN) is never the protagonist in a film, because she/he must support the star character [..] "The Magical Negro" often appears as someone uneducated and in a low station of life, such as a driver (ex.
		The purpose of the "Magical Negro" in the plot is often to help the protagonist --who is almost always white--get out of trouble, and to help this white character recognize his own faults and overcome them.
		The Magical Helper is only there to help him along, to suffer silently or serve humbly until the White Man can see there is wisdom in the ways of the Magical Helper and become transformed, as if by, well...magic.
	themarigoldtrail.blogspot.com /2005/04/hollywood-magic.html (1154 words)

	Definition of Magical Negro
		The "Magical Negro" (sometimes called the "Mystical Negro" or "Magic Negro"), according to some critics and commentators, is a stock character who appears in some films, books, and television programs.
		The word "negro" in the phrase, despite being now considered offensive, is used intentionally for that very reason by many critics, to emphasize their belief that the archetype is a racist throwback to a less enlightened time.
		The fl character is depicted as wiser and spiritually deeper than the protagonist, and the purpose of the "Magical Negro" in the plot is often to help the protagonist get out of trouble, and to help the white character recognize his own faults and overcome them.
	www.wordiq.com /definition/Magical_Negro (540 words)

	Media Matters - Latching onto L.A. Times op-ed, Limbaugh sings "Barack, The Magic Negro"
		The Magic Negro is a figure of postmodern folk culture, coined by a snarky 20th century sociologist to explain a cultural figure who emerged in the wake of Brown vs. Board of Education.
		And so the white people who are supporting Barack Obama, the "Magic Negro," are doing so precisely because he's the "Magic Negro." By supporting him, white people get to assuage their guilt over this nation's history with slavery and the Confederacy and all this other tripe.
		He wants to "own" this magic negroe thing and if even one media outlet hangs it around his neck he's going to come out bragging about how he "told you so." This guy is about as predictable as gas after dining on Mexican and he stinks just as bad.
	mediamatters.org /items/200703200012 (3794 words)

	blog.myspace.com/adevilinside
		Because sometimes a magical negro (the 13th Apostle "Rufus") must return from the dead to lead a bitchy, sad-sack of a white woman messiah, a couple of retarded drug-dealers,a spicey latina and a frumpy englishman to stop Jason Bourne and Daredevil from ending all existence as we know it.
		Because sometimes a magical negro becomes impervious to bullets and his life is spared so he can intervene in the lives of a stupid englishman and his hunny-bunny,talking them through their hair-brained robbing of a Denny's, and teaching them to be like The Fonz: cool.
		This is only so the magical negro can exchange his miserable fl life for the life of a little white girl in the end.
	blog.myspace.com /index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=40033131&blogID=162616065 (3748 words)

	Padre Engo-Spirits (Site not responding. Last check: )
		For all the negroes of fl Moors are descendants of Kush, the son of Ham, who was the son of Noah.
		Hitherto, ethnologist imagined that Negroes appeared in the New World only during our own epoch, when they were imported as slaves; but the most recent researches demonstrate that they first came to America in a period very remote...
		The opinions of scientists concerning the origin of the Saramakas vary: Whilst some consider these Negroes to be a autochthonous American tribe, others think that the Saramakas are none else than the progeny of the ancient slaves imported into South America, who deserted from their masters in the forests of Guyana.
	www.padreengo.com /html/spirits.html (4005 words)

	Blogcritics.org: It Must Be A Magic Negro
		In film circles, a "Magic Negro" is a term that was coined back in the 50's to describe a one-dimensional African-American character (male or female) that serves as a "God-like" advisor or mentor who helps a troubled white man or woman.
		No, I'm not saying that Radio is a "Magic Negro." What I'm saying is that Hollywood has turned this guy's real life story into a mystical, tear-jerky tale of redemption and forgiveness — which, at the very least, falls into the "magical Negro" syndrome.
		Magical wisdom figures frequently are "others," but in mainstream Hollywood terms, this can be anything that differs from the young and handsome/beautiful actor leads.
	www.blogcritics.org /archives/2003/06/08/203754.php (3284 words)

	LA Weekly
		God, or one of his high-ranking officials, decides it’s time to make an appearance on Earth in the form of a fl man because the suffering has gotten out of hand: A white boy has lost his love for the game of golf and has to be tended to immediately.
		The film uses a fl man to help restore a white man’s masculinity, while in no way ever acknowledging that fl and white in conflict is what has shaped the very definition of what it is to be either a white man or a fl man, much less an American.
		Sixteen-year-old Jamal (Robert Brown) is a Super Negro in training, evidenced by both sparkling goodness and mechanical recitation of data, the way he’s well-versed in Coleridge, Shaw and Twain.
	www.laweekly.com /ink/01/10/film-hardy.php (1782 words)

	Uppity-Negro.com: In Memoriam: To the wall
		These "Super Magical Niggers use magic to help white people but can't help themselves." Later, in a dream sequence, Delacroix wins an award for the show and proceeds to do a dance on stage, a parody of Cuba Gooding, Jr.'s dance after his famous Academy Award win for Jerry Maguire.
		I am not a Negro nor have I ever been a member of the Negro party, but I do think that there have been many magical simpleton type movies in the past.
		Dem negroes should be happy with their magic retard roles.
	www.uppity-negro.com /archives/001008.html (1277 words)

	Liberal Calls Obama "Magic Negro" (Site not responding. Last check: )
		The term "magic negro" has been thrown into the political presidential race and the mix for 2008, and the term magic negro, as applied to Barack Obama, has been done by an LA Times columnist David Ehrenstein.
		Now he's the "magic negro," which is just a convenient trick for the LA Times to blame a bunch of white people for being racists.
		They say that he is the "magic negro" because a bunch of people -- who are white, who are supporting him -- are only doing it because they have a bunch of white guilt and they think by supporting a "magic negro" that they can assuage their guilt.
	www.freerepublic.com /focus/f-news/1804494/posts (4981 words)

	Re: Dick Halloran
		Dick, as this "magical negro" doesn't just help Danny come to terms with WHAT his gift is, he also plays a role in informing the audience...
		And this mindset is necessary to the intensity of effect of the film as a whole...and in many cases with many horror films, the "magical negro" (in this sense) becomes necessary to the entire genre.
		He, as the "magical negro" has done his role, has completed in establishing the narrative effect the film needed and his death merely contributes to the goriness, shock, and nightmare of the plot.
	www.clas.ufl.edu /boards/fall2005/f05-1809/messages/206.html (892 words)

	The Daily Blogster: Obamasm
		The magical negro is typically a character "in some way outwardly or inwardly disabled, either by discrimination, disability or social constraint," often a janitor or prisoner.
		The magical negro is simply 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.
	thedailyblogster.blogspot.com /search/label/Obamasm (1110 words)

	Hurston HomePage (Site not responding. Last check: )
		Miss Hurston voluntarily continues in her novel the tradition which was forced upon the Negro in the theatre, that is, the minstrel technique that makes the "white folks" laugh.
		In the main, her novel is not addressed to the Negro, but to a white audience whose chauvinistic tastes she knows how to satisfy.
		She exploits that phase of Negro life which is "quaint," the phase which evokes a piteous smile on the lips of the "superior" race.
	etext.virginia.edu /railton/enam312/znhhp.html (546 words)

	Derek James
		Here's an interesting article in Strange Horizons about "magical negroes" in fantastical fiction.
		The benevolent, wise magical minority is obviously more flattering than a simplistic negative stereotype, but it is a stereotype nonetheless, and not a presentation of a fully-formed, well-rounded character.
		He's a telepath, too, but definitely not a magical negro.
	www.journalscape.com /derekjames/2004-10-26-10:32 (558 words)

	storytelling: stereotypes of the less obvious kind (Site not responding. Last check: )
		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.
		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".
		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.
	www.tiedtothetracks.com /storytelling/archives/002271.htm (1928 words)

	Blankman - Keanu Reeves' emptiness helps Hardball. By Matt Feeney (Site not responding. Last check: )
		Black characters redeem fallen whites not through straightforward instruction, as in the original Magical Negro movie, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), but through a vulnerability or desperation that evokes in white characters a previously unseen but indispensable...
		The new Magical Negro movie actually expresses a fairly complex anxiety combining old guilt and new fear—the fear that, given the assertive, self-confident, and occasionally separatist flavor of ever more African-American culture and politics, fls don't need white liberals anymore.
		As such, it is a kind of retelling of the civil rights story, where the material and civic condition of an innocent class and the moral condition of a guilty one are both improved.
	slate.msn.com /id/115940 (1331 words)

	Inventory: 13 Movies featuring magical black men \| The A.V. Club
		In a bitter 2000 Time article titled "That Old Black Magic," critic Christopher John Farley neatly summed up the increasingly common, increasingly annoying "Magical African-American Friends," the fl film characters who exist primarily to help troubled white folks, and who generally have few meaningful characteristics of their own.
		In films without fantasy elements, magical fl men don't actually have magical powers, they just seem to because they show up out of nowhere to make everything better for no particular reason except munificent kindness.
		And once the job is done, Smith tips his hat and disappears into the vapors from whence he came, no doubt to help another rich white guy knock a few points off his handicap.
	www.avclub.com /content/feature/inventory_13_movies_featuring (1085 words)

	Polimom Says » “Magical Negroes” and “un”reality
		BoE (1954) and the “appearance” of “The Magic Negro”.
		Then either the author or editor, or someone who reviews it along the way brings up that there needs to be some diversity in the characters, so they make one of the secondary people fl.
		[…] The Obama the ‘Magic Negro’ LA Times piece by David Ehrenstein has created quite a bit of buzz– so much so that a couple of friends forwarded it to me. I’ve avoided the “how Black is he” meme and don’t want to wade too deep into it now.
	www.polimom.com /2007/03/19/magical-negroes-and-unreality (879 words)

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