(no subject)

Mixed Media Watch recently wrote about Carlos Cortes, who wrote the influential book, "The children are watching:How the Media affects our view of diversity." In a recent lecture at a university, Cortes identified four types of interracial movies. I think this is where the term "magical negro" comes from.

(Comments in Italics are my own, the rest is from the article)

Here are the four examples-

1) Buddies for Life
Films like “Lethal Weapon” try to prove that blacks and whites can get along, but frequently turns the main characters into comedic figures. "Rush Hour", anyone?

2) The Brother Always Dies First
We all know this one. The person of color dies before the white guy.

3) Ethnic Advisor
Films in which a white person is tutored by a non-white. "The Karate Kid", anyone?

4) “Magical Negro”
Similar to the ethnic adviser movies, these portray African-Americans as god-like creatures who help white men attain a higher level of spirituality or intellectualism. There are SO many examples of this! Some of the ones I can think of include “The Legend of Bagger Vance” (Will Smith), “The Green Mile” (Michael Clarke Duncan), “The Family Man” (Don Cheadle) and the most literal example is “Bruce Almighty,” where Morgan Freeman actually plays God. I actually think that this could also be "Magical Native" as well, since there are movies where a wise North American Indian tutors the bewildered Caucasian.