Washington Post film critic Rita Kempley defined magic negro characters as characters who are “likable, valuable or redemptive, but...are without interior lives.” Their only purpose, it seems, is to rescue the featured white character. Time columnist Christopher Farley argues that because of writers’ fundamental ignorance of African American life and culture, Black characters get magical powers instead of life histories and love interests. Among the many recent examples cited by critics are John Coffey in The Green Mile, Bagger Vance in The Legend of Bagger Vance, and Morgan Freeman’s God in Bruce Almighty and Evan Almighty.
Guinan; the bartender in Star Trek The Next Generation, is another one.
It really cracks me up everytime I see her in that role.
Don’t forget The Shining and all of Stephen King’s books feature a Magic Negro.