Magical negro

The Magical Negro is a supporting in American cinema who is portrayed as coming to the aid of a film's white protagonists. Magical Negro characters, who often possess special insight or mystical powers, have long been a tradition in American fiction.

The term was popularized in 2001 by film director Spike Lee, while discussing films with students during a tour of college campuses, in which he said he was dismayed at Hollywood's decision to continue using the premise; he noted that the films The Green Mile and The Legend of Bagger Vance used the "super-duper magical Negro". Critics use the word "Negro" because it is considered archaic, and usually offensive, in modern English. This underlines their message that a "magical black character" who goes around selflessly helping white people is a throwback to stereotypes such as the "Sambo" or "noble savage".

The Magical Negro is a trope created by white people; the character is typically but not always "in some way outwardly or inwardly disabled, either by discrimination, disability or social constraint", often a janitor or prisoner. The character often has no past but simply appears one day to help the white protagonist. He or she usually has some sort of magical power, "rather vaguely defined but not the sort of thing one typically encounters." The character is patient and wise, often dispensing various words of wisdom, and is "closer to the earth". The character will also do almost anything, including sacrificing him or herself, to save the white protagonist, as exemplified in The Defiant Ones, in which Sidney Poitier plays the prototypical Magical Negro.

The Magical Negro stereotype serves as a plot device to help the white protagonist get out of trouble, typically through helping the white character recognize his own faults and overcome them, typically teaching them to be a better person. Although the character may have magical powers, the "magic is ostensibly directed toward helping and enlightening a white male character". An article in a 2009 edition of the journal Social Issues states the Magical Negro is an expression of racial profiling within the United States:

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