During some aspects of this weeks
reading in regards to the Magical Negro I almost felt like the author was
somewhat stretching the definition of the Magical Negro to encompass characters
like Morpheus and God (Morgan Freeman) who in my opinion don’t necessarily fit
the bill. I don’t disagree with
the main points or concepts the author is trying to get across but I do believe
that at times he is crossing Magical Negro’s with character archetypes that are
used by writers to enhance the story.
Granted the Magical Negro is an archetype but it is one that can easily
be mistaken for another archetype, which is the teacher/guide of the hero. Examples of this is someone like
Obi-Wan Kenobi or Morpheus who calls the protagonist of the film to adventure
and advises them throughout the course of the film. Now just because the character is black or white doesn’t
really matter. Another archetype
is the God or Goddess character that offers supernatural aid and other worldly
advice to the protagonist to help them succeed or learn a valuable lesson. The Magical Negro, which is
characterized a poor, usually uneducated black person with supernatural powers,
plays the role of both a guide and supernatural aid from a subservient role
rather than a superior role and that is what distinguishes them from other similar
archetypes.
I
almost feel like Hughey was reaching at times when making his claims and
characterizing certain film characters in order to provide more evidence for
his claim. For the most part I
thought he hit the nail on the head when he mentioned Bagger Vance and John
Coffy because they really were Magical Negros and he had other great examples
as well. My question I guess would
be do these media researchers sometimes look for evidence in places where it is
a bit ambiguous or may not exist at all? Why?
I agree with you! The 'Magical Negro' would be someone like Constantine in 'The Help', the main character's maid who acted as the voice of wisdom.
ReplyDeleteEven though Skeeter was clearly fond of her maid, Constantine was clearly a side character and existed in the story because of her connection to Skeeter and her family.
Some of the other main characters in 'The Help', like Abileen or Minnie, could have easily been transplanted to different families and situations (as they actually are in the film) because both of their characters are 3-dimensional and do not depend on White characters to justify their existence...unless you count the fact that they might not be under-paid maids without White people in general!