With that mentioned, the term “magical negro” has emerged in the contemporary films, post-civil rights era, and “has become a stock character that often appears as a lower class, uneducated black person who possesses supernatural or magical powers. These powers are used to save and transform disheveled, uncultured, lost, or broken whites (almost exclusively white men)” (Hughey, 2009, p. 544). The film The Green Mile is such a film that displays the “magic negro” stereotype. The film is about a white man, Paul Edgecomb (i.e. white protagonist), played by Tom Hanks, who is reminded of his days as a prison guard in charge of Death Row (i.e. known as The Green Mile) during the Great Depression while watching a film and the song “Heaven” comes on. Paul starts to cry and his friend Elaine asks him what is wrong and so Paul proceeds to tell her the story that took place in
With that mentioned, the term “magical negro” has emerged in the contemporary films, post-civil rights era, and “has become a stock character that often appears as a lower class, uneducated black person who possesses supernatural or magical powers. These powers are used to save and transform disheveled, uncultured, lost, or broken whites (almost exclusively white men)” (Hughey, 2009, p. 544). The film The Green Mile is such a film that displays the “magic negro” stereotype. The film is about a white man, Paul Edgecomb (i.e. white protagonist), played by Tom Hanks, who is reminded of his days as a prison guard in charge of Death Row (i.e. known as The Green Mile) during the Great Depression while watching a film and the song “Heaven” comes on. Paul starts to cry and his friend Elaine asks him what is wrong and so Paul proceeds to tell her the story that took place in