# Female "Magical Negros" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 22, 2010, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-magical-negros/554596 "2010-09-22T00:33:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gestalt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/90ced4/32.png) [@Gestalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gestalt)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-magical-negros/554596/1 "2010-09-22T00:33:16Z")
I know we had a thread on Magical Negros recently, but **Sampiro** made a comment in this week’s Mad Men thread about how, paraphrasing, he’d love to see a warm, loving, white mother and a cold, abusive black nanny. His comment really resonated with me, because I feel like I constantly see the stereotype of an older, usually larger, desexualized black woman who is motherly and warm and wise and such. Carla (the character on mad men) isn’t really like this, but usually they tend to be all no-nonsense about everything, and give sage advice succinctly. They might be a fan of “tough love,” and can occasionally be gruff, but you know deep down they love you. And are right about most things, most of the time. If any of you have seen Friday Night Lights (the show), Mama Smash definitely fits into this role. It really annoys me. I think I watch too much tv, because I’m starting to believe that every large black woman I might encounter is full of country-fried wisdom and will invite me to her house to have absurdly good homemade pie. Anyone else notice this or have any thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-magical-negros/554596/2 "2010-09-22T00:36:13Z")
Well, Stephen King is often accused of being particularly guilty of this meme, and swapping genders is no exception, Mother Abigail in _ **The Stand** _ being Exhibit A. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-magical-negros/554596/3 "2010-09-22T00:41:02Z")
There’s “The Oracle” from _The Matrix_. Also, just about any judge on any _Law & Order_ franchise is going to be a (usually large) black woman. Oh, and the prosecutor (or whatever she is) from _Bones_. I guess these are more “examples” than “thoughts” as you requested, but it’s all I’ve got. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-magical-negros/554596/4 "2010-09-22T00:55:19Z")
Whoopi Goldberg in Star Trek: The Next Generation? ---
**Author:** ![multimediac17](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/839c29/32.png) [@multimediac17](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/multimediac17)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-magical-negros/554596/5 "2010-09-22T00:57:01Z")
Whoopi Goldberg’s character in _Ghost_? ETA: I didn’t see Revtim’s post before I hit submit - how odd. ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-magical-negros/554596/6 "2010-09-22T01:11:17Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > Well, Stephen King is often accused of being particularly guilty of this meme, and swapping genders is no exception, Mother Abigail in _ **The Stand** _ being Exhibit A. Beaten to the punch. shakes tiny fist at **ArchiveGuy** ---
**Author:** ![jordanr2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/838e76/32.png) [@jordanr2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jordanr2)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-magical-negros/554596/7 "2010-09-22T01:33:27Z")
Mother Sister in _Do the Right Thing_? Grizelda in _Desperate Living_? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-magical-negros/554596/8 "2010-09-22T01:46:16Z")
Ethel Waters and others in [Beulah](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beulah_(series)) ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-magical-negros/554596/9 "2010-09-22T01:58:16Z")
For a subversion, there’s the DC Comics character Amanda Waller. Middle-aged black woman who seems to have been conceived as “Nell Carter as a government bureaucrat in a world of superheroes.” Tough, gruff, well-meaning, but as the protagonist of her own book (called _Suicide Squad_) definitely not always right, & all too human. Or many of Nell Carter’s roles for that matter, or almost any black character that’s written as a human being & protagonist. Magical negroes are a white thing. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-magical-negros/554596/10 "2010-09-22T02:22:23Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Ethel Waters and others in [Beulah](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beulah_(series)) One of the Beulahs was Hattie McDaniel, who won an Academy Award for playing the Magical Negro in _Gone With the Wind_. Not to mention that Ethel Waters herself won a New York Drama Critics Circle Award for doing the same thing in the original stage version of _Member of the Wedding._ It goes back at least as far as _Uncle Tom’s Cabin_. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-magical-negros/554596/11 "2010-09-22T02:44:10Z")
Definitely desexualized. Pretty similar to the magical male negro, only I imagine in many roles this gives casting agents a ‘twofer’ – they’ve got their black female cop or doctor or whatever, so they can make the white guy or woman the hero. FTR, in no way am I referring to S. Epatha Merkerson aka Lt. Van Buren. She is amazing. And, on a show with little character development, she’s managed to be tough, flawed and fascinating all at once. For the younger set, there’s the [Black Best Friend](http://jezebel.com/294589/black-women-wise-best-friends-to-white-women-everywhere) phenomenon. Sassy, hot, but always a bridesmaid ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-magical-negros/554596/12 "2010-09-22T02:55:40Z")
Are you serious? The Guinan character on Star Trek I can see, but in Ghost she’s a shrill charlatan that Swaze bullies into helping him against her will. ---
**Author:** ![Electric\_Warrior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Electric\_Warrior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electric_Warrior)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-magical-negros/554596/13 "2010-09-22T03:46:22Z")
I can’t believe this thread has over 10 posts and not a mention of the name Calpurnia yet… ---
**Author:** ![JCorre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3da27b/32.png) [@JCorre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JCorre)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-magical-negros/554596/14 "2010-09-22T04:02:42Z")
Don’t forget “The Oracle” from The Matrix. ---
**Author:** ![Gestalt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/90ced4/32.png) [@Gestalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gestalt)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-magical-negros/554596/15 "2010-09-22T04:44:47Z")
The only character of the ones listed is Goldberg’s from ST:TNG. I think the tropes I’m more familiar with tend to be Southern, and sort of Mamy-ish. Extra points for any of the following, “Honey, baby, sweetie, chile, honey chile, babychile, now don’t you . . . , uh-huh, that’s right, Lor’ have mercy.” And they tend to be super-Christian (Carla fits this one). There was a scene in Community actually that played upon this. Shirley (large, black, Christina, desexualized female) is upset at her characterization in one of Abed’s films, I think. She says something like, “He made me out to be a stereotype! If the good Lord in Heaven wasn’t watching, I’d slap him so hard his mamma wouldn’t know him.” ---
**Author:** ![Gestalt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/90ced4/32.png) [@Gestalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gestalt)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-magical-negros/554596/16 "2010-09-22T04:45:50Z")
Not to say that all the above examples aren’t examples of what I was talking about. They sound about right. Also the judge characters; I have noticed that on law/police-y shows and it’s definitely an example of what I was thinking of. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-magical-negros/554596/17 "2010-09-22T05:06:19Z")
> [@Gestalt](#): > > I know we had a thread on Magical Negros recently, but **Sampiro** made a comment in this week’s Mad Men thread about how, paraphrasing, he’d love to see a warm, loving, white mother and a cold, abusive black nanny. But if such were done, it without a doubt would be immediately jumped on as terribly racist. Sometimes you can’t win. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-magical-negros/554596/18 "2010-09-22T05:49:33Z")
> [@JCorre](#): > > Don’t forget “The Oracle” from The Matrix. Did you bother to read the thread before posting? It isn’t all that long yet. ---
**Author:** ![JCorre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3da27b/32.png) [@JCorre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JCorre)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-magical-negros/554596/19 "2010-09-22T06:01:00Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > > [@JCorre](#): > > > > Don’t forget “The Oracle” from The Matrix. > > Did you bother to read the thread before posting? It isn’t all that long yet. I actually did read the thread. Apologies if I misunderstood but I thought the OP asked, “Anyone else notice this or have any thoughts?” I did notice this when I watched the matrix and thought I’d point it out. Other posters seemed to be pointing out similar examples. Am I misunderstanding the premise of the OP or am I misunderstanding the role I submitted from the matrix? ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-magical-negros/554596/20 "2010-09-22T06:41:41Z")
Neither. **Tim** was saying that he didn’t think you read the thread because you failed to notice that your example was brought up in post #3. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/female-magical-negros/554596.md?page=2)