One interesting thing to note here is the origin of the phrase “Magic Negro” and *what it means*. Spike Lee coined the phrase, to describe a particular kind of character, a stereotype he’d detected in various movies. He mostly doesn’t like the character type, thinks that it’s used in a vaguely racist, condescending way. According to Wikipedia, the “Magic Negro” is a supporting character in a movie whose role, in the picture, is to assist or save the main (always white) character during the movie, often with some supernatural power and often at the expense of his own life. Apparently Steven King had characters of this type in several of his books (I don’t read King; I remember The Dead Zone being mentioned, but I could be wrong; The Green Mile definitely was included) and the archetype has been included in other movies and media. The point is that Obama being described as a “Magic Negro” now makes more sense. The mainstream media has been parodying itself since the election, with radio personalities on NPR (of all places) joking that Obama was named Time Magazine’s Man of the Year in apology for the four issues during the year where he wasn’t on the cover. People make jokes about him walking to and from Hawaii, healing the sick with his touch, etc. Makes the Magic Negro part seem more understandable, doesn’t it?
Not that this makes any difference. I still think it was unwise to do, because all of this explanation doesn’t carry much weight, along-side the left’s accusations.
