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* ''Series/TheWhiteLotus'': Season 1's Belinda deconstructs this. She acts as the source of wise advice for Tanya, a wealthy white woman going through an emotional crisis, but their relationship is entirely transactional. Tanya latches onto Belinda for the sake of her own codependency, and her promises of helping Belinda strike out on her own are an attempt of keeping her around. When Rachel starts feeling like she needs advice, she also goes to Belinda, [[spoiler:who by the end is too burnt out to care and refuses any advising]]. In essence, she is treated as one by the wealthy white characters that need some help, but none of them have a care for her as a human being.
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* Reverend Ray Branson plays this role in ''Literature/WarsOfTheRealm'', acting as a sort of mentor figure to Drew while he (Drew) is in hiding in the ghettos of Chicago. The "magical" shoe fits to some degree because Ray is a pastor. There's even a point where he seems to know inexplicably what is going on in Drew's life...
--> '''Ray''': God and his mighty angels go with you!
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* In LifetimeMovieOfTheWeek ''Series/OddGirlOut'' the bullied protagonist's TokenBlackFriend Emily shows up in the plot to warn her not to trust the bullies, to tell her how wonderful she is after she tries to kill herself, to speak up on her behalf in class and to lead the assembled teenage crowd in a round of applause when she finally tells the bullies off at the end of the movie.

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* In LifetimeMovieOfTheWeek ''Series/OddGirlOut'' the bullied protagonist's TokenBlackFriend Emily shows up in the plot to warn her not to trust the bullies, to tell her how wonderful she is after she tries to kill herself, to speak up on her behalf in class and to lead the assembled teenage crowd in a round of applause when she finally tells the bullies off at the end of the movie. This is compounded by the fact that Emily doesn't even make an appearance on the cover.
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In order to show the world that minority characters are not bad people, one will step forward to help a "normal" person, with their pure heart and folksy wisdom. They are usually black, but may come from another oppressed minority. They step into the life of the much more privileged (and, in particular, [[WhiteMaleLead almost always white]]) central character and, in some way, enrich that central character's life. If the Magical Negro (also known as Magic Negro or Mystical Negro) is from a society of [[NobleSavage Noble Savages]], expect an {{Anvilicious}} [[AnAesop Aesop]] about the failings of the protagonist's society — which usually leads to the [[MightyWhitey protagonist]] "GoingNative".

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In order to show the world that A minority characters are not bad people, one character will step forward to help a "normal" person, the protagonist, with their pure heart and folksy wisdom.wisdom, and possibly magic. They are usually black, but may come from another oppressed minority. They step into the life of the much more privileged (and, in particular, [[WhiteMaleLead almost always white]]) central character and, in some way, enrich that central character's life. If the Magical Negro (also known as Magic Negro or Mystical Negro) is from a society of [[NobleSavage Noble Savages]], expect an {{Anvilicious}} [[AnAesop Aesop]] about the failings of the protagonist's society — which usually leads to the [[MightyWhitey protagonist]] "GoingNative".
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Usually one doesn't know if they are poor.


In order to show the world that minority characters are not bad people, one will step forward to help a "normal" person, with their pure heart and folksy wisdom. They are usually black and/or poor, but may come from another oppressed minority. They step into the life of the much more privileged (and, in particular, [[WhiteMaleLead almost always white]]) central character and, in some way, enrich that central character's life. If the Magical Negro (also known as Magic Negro or Mystical Negro) is from a society of [[NobleSavage Noble Savages]], expect an {{Anvilicious}} [[AnAesop Aesop]] about the failings of the protagonist's society — which usually leads to the [[MightyWhitey protagonist]] "GoingNative".

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In order to show the world that minority characters are not bad people, one will step forward to help a "normal" person, with their pure heart and folksy wisdom. They are usually black and/or poor, black, but may come from another oppressed minority. They step into the life of the much more privileged (and, in particular, [[WhiteMaleLead almost always white]]) central character and, in some way, enrich that central character's life. If the Magical Negro (also known as Magic Negro or Mystical Negro) is from a society of [[NobleSavage Noble Savages]], expect an {{Anvilicious}} [[AnAesop Aesop]] about the failings of the protagonist's society — which usually leads to the [[MightyWhitey protagonist]] "GoingNative".
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Suit seems rare


In order to show the world that minority characters are not bad people, one will step forward to help a "normal" person, with their pure heart and folksy wisdom. They are usually black and/or poor, but may come from another oppressed minority. They step (often clad in a clean, white suit) into the life of the much more privileged (and, in particular, [[WhiteMaleLead almost always white]]) central character and, in some way, enrich that central character's life. If the Magical Negro (also known as Magic Negro or Mystical Negro) is from a society of [[NobleSavage Noble Savages]], expect an {{Anvilicious}} [[AnAesop Aesop]] about the failings of the protagonist's society — which usually leads to the [[MightyWhitey protagonist]] "GoingNative".

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In order to show the world that minority characters are not bad people, one will step forward to help a "normal" person, with their pure heart and folksy wisdom. They are usually black and/or poor, but may come from another oppressed minority. They step (often clad in a clean, white suit) into the life of the much more privileged (and, in particular, [[WhiteMaleLead almost always white]]) central character and, in some way, enrich that central character's life. If the Magical Negro (also known as Magic Negro or Mystical Negro) is from a society of [[NobleSavage Noble Savages]], expect an {{Anvilicious}} [[AnAesop Aesop]] about the failings of the protagonist's society — which usually leads to the [[MightyWhitey protagonist]] "GoingNative".
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The


With such [[CloserToEarth deep spiritual wisdom]] (and sometimes — though not always — actual [[EthnicMagician supernatural powers]]), you might wonder why the Magical Negro doesn't step up and save the day himself. [[WhiteMaleLead For the sake of Hollywood's target audience]], this will never happen.

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With such [[CloserToEarth deep spiritual wisdom]] (and sometimes — though not always — actual [[EthnicMagician supernatural powers]]), you might wonder why the Magical Negro doesn't step up and save the day himself. [[WhiteMaleLead For the sake of Hollywood's target audience]], this will never happen.
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I assume this is supposed to collect Morgan Freeman's examples? Not sure if such is even allowed, but I'll fix it for now regardless.

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* Creator/MorganFreeman has a tendency to be [[{{Typecasting}} typecast]] in such roles:

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* A lot of roles played by Creator/MorganFreeman fall into this trope, which gets played with:



** ''Film/DrivingMissDaisy'' is very close to this trope, but Freeman's character gets a bit too much of his own character development to qualify.



** Interestingly enough, this is ''inverted'' in the film ''Film/TheShawshankRedemption.'' Red is the narrator, everyman, and a murderer, while a fellow white prisoner, Andy Dufresne, is the suffering saint that re-ignites his hope. Also, Red's character was never written to be African-American; in the book he is a red-haired Irish-American. Freeman was cast over other actors such as Harrison Ford, Robert Redford and Paul Newmann, all of whom were at least discussed for the role, because of his superior skill for narration.



* Inverted in ''Film/FindingForrester'', when Creator/SeanConnery plays a mysterious ''white'' man with incredible writing ability that helps a clueless inner city youth (black) become a famous writer and [[MemeticMutation the man now, dog]].



* In ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanDeadMansChest'', the black voodoo lady Tia Dalma seemed to be a Magical Negro. However, the [[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd third film]] revealed [[spoiler:Tia Dalma to actually be the sea goddess Calypso]] who is searching for a way to [[spoiler:be freed from her mortal body]], and she's [[ChaoticNeutral not necessarily on ]]''[[ChaoticNeutral anyone]]''[[ChaoticNeutral 's side but her own.]]



* ''Franchise/TheMatrix'' has some interesting cases. Morpheus comes ''very'' close to being one, but he does ultimately have his own goals and character arc independent of helping Neo. The Oracle, however, is an absolutely textbook example in the first movie, although the sequels give her a wider role.

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* ''Franchise/TheMatrix'' has some interesting cases. Morpheus comes ''very'' close to being one, but he does ultimately have his own goals and character arc independent of helping Neo. The Oracle, however, is an absolutely textbook example in the first movie, although the sequels give her a wider role.

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* ''Series/{{Life On Mars|2006}}'': Nelson TheBartender, whose main purpose is to offer advice to the FishOutOfTemporalWater protagonist (and occasionally hint that he may know more about Sam's situation).

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* ''Series/{{Life On Mars|2006}}'': ''Series/LifeOnMars2006'': Nelson TheBartender, whose main purpose is to offer advice to the FishOutOfTemporalWater protagonist (and occasionally hint that he may know more about Sam's situation).



* Inverted in ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'' episode "Paladin of the Lost Hour", which had a magical white man help the young black protagonist find his destiny.
** In the short story upon which the episode is based, author Harlan Ellison states, "One of these men was black, the other white" and refuses to say which one is which. Of course, for a visual medium, they had to make a choice, and it seems that they deliberately chose to avoid the Magical Negro trope.

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* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'': Inverted in ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'' the episode "Paladin "[[Recap/TheTwilightZone1985S1E7 Paladin of the Lost Hour", Hour]]", which had has a magical white man help the young black protagonist find his destiny.
**
destiny. In the short story upon which the episode is based, author Harlan Ellison Creator/HarlanEllison states, "One of these men was black, the other white" and refuses to say which one is which. Of course, for a visual medium, they had to make a choice, and it seems that they deliberately chose to avoid the Magical Negro trope.



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[[folder:Music]][[folder:Music & Music Videos]]



* In the music video to country singer Chris Young's "The Man I Want to Be," we are introduced to an older black man in a suit sitting on a bench outside of bus depot. Chris Young takes a seat, and is first offered food, but denies the offer in favor of spiritual advice. The older black man chuckles as he hands Chris Young a magical quarter that will allow him to make a phone call to God.



[[folder:Music Video]]
* In the music video to country singer Chris Young's "The Man I Want to Be," we are introduced to an older black man in a suit sitting on a bench outside of bus depot. Chris Young takes a seat, and is first offered food, but denies the offer in favor of spiritual advice. The older black man chuckles as he hands Chris Young a magical quarter that will allow him to make a phone call to God.
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crosswicking


* ''FilmTheKillingBox'': Rebecca is a mute escaped slave who is knowledgeable about the magic behind thwarting the zombies and makes Strayn question some of the Confederacy's beliefs after he falls in love with her.

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* ''FilmTheKillingBox'': ''Film/TheKillingBox'': Rebecca is a mute escaped slave who is knowledgeable about the magic behind thwarting the zombies and makes Strayn question some of the Confederacy's beliefs after he falls in love with her.



*** In ''Captain America: The Winter Soldier'', he's a PTSD counsellor who helps military vets coming home readjust to civilian life and gives Steve some emotional support, but it turns out he works well in this role because he's a HeroOfAnotherStory, having piloted an experimental Stark Tech wingsuit for the military under the codename Falcon. He comes out of retirement and helps Steve defeat HYDRA and save his friend Bucky from Brainwashing.

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*** In ''Captain America: The Winter Soldier'', he's a PTSD counsellor counselor who helps military vets coming home readjust to civilian life and gives Steve some emotional support, but it turns out he works well in this role because he's a HeroOfAnotherStory, having piloted an experimental Stark Tech wingsuit for the military under the codename Falcon. He comes out of retirement and helps Steve defeat HYDRA and save his friend Bucky from Brainwashing.



* Constable Benton Fraser from ''Due South'' is arguably an example of this trope - as a magical Canadian. He has an unusual outlook, resolves problems in the "white" world of urban America (Chicago, suffering from reverse [[CaliforniaDoubling California doubling]] as it was shot in Vancouver!), and has a stock of "exotic" wisdom. He even wears a distinctive suit (red serge rather than white) which never gets dirty. Thank you kindly, eh?

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* Constable Benton Fraser from ''Due South'' ''Series/DueSouth'' is arguably an example of this trope - as a magical Canadian. He has an unusual outlook, resolves problems in the "white" world of urban America (Chicago, suffering from reverse [[CaliforniaDoubling California doubling]] as it was shot in Vancouver!), and has a stock of "exotic" wisdom. He even wears a distinctive suit (red serge rather than white) which never gets dirty. Thank you kindly, eh?
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added example(s)



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* Lampshaded and parodied by ''Film/TheAmericanSocietyOfMagicalNegroes'', where a young black man is recruited into a secret society of Magical Negros whose mission is to make white people’s lives easier.
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With such [[CloserToEarth deep spiritual wisdom]] (and sometimes — though not always — actual [[EthnicMagician supernatural powers]]), you might wonder why the Magical Negro doesn't step up and save the day himself. [[WhiteMaleLead For the sake of Hollywood's target audience]], This will never happen.

to:

With such [[CloserToEarth deep spiritual wisdom]] (and sometimes — though not always — actual [[EthnicMagician supernatural powers]]), you might wonder why the Magical Negro doesn't step up and save the day himself. [[WhiteMaleLead For the sake of Hollywood's target audience]], This this will never happen.

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