The most dangerous animal on Earth is an uncomfortable white person. The thesis of today’s film is a statement and a half, and one that should resonate with every living member on the planet in 2024. In 2016, uncomfortable white people were so ticked off they elected an unqualified a-moral buffoon to be President of the United States. As mountains of evidence amassed that this action had been a complete and unqualified mistake, they tried to do so again 2020 and now again in 2024. There is precious little evidence that their lives will improve even a little bit if they’re successful. That doesn’t matter; they’re pissed off.
The American Society of Magical Negroes is a terrible title (if only for one word), but a wonderful premise. The idea is that behind closed doors, hidden away from the world, there is a secret arrangement of black people with magic powers, (It’s a little like Undercover Brother. Hmmm. It’s A LOT like Undercover Brother), the caveat being they can only use their magic powers to assuage white hate while assessing such with the “white tears meter.” I honestly wish I owned one of those to measure the misplaced and egocentric hate from every RW performer of the day.
My first response, of course, is “well, geez, where the Hell have you guys been? Have you seen how much unbridled, untethered, and -most importantly- unjustified white hate there is out there? And it absolutely feeds on itself. Put a Trump anywhere near that hate and it’s like gasoline on a bonfire.
The problem, and you’re going to spot this immediately as I did is, firstly, while your average black person is indeed aided by the lessening of white discomfort, there is nothing in this society that directly promotes black people, hence, secondly, every member of the society seems to be at least a bit of an Uncle Tom.
Our hero is Aren (Justice Smith), a yarn sculpture artist – which is hilarious by itself, but only in a subtle way. I’m not even sure he knows what the message of his art is. When ordered by a gallery official to play nice with a potential patron, he is mistaken for a waiter and goes with it. Aren doesn’t create waves. And that pretty much ends Aren’s career as an edgy artist. Followed home by Roger (David Alan Grier), Aren gets in a jam when he is mistaken by white fratboys as a robber. Roger uses magic to get Aren out of a jam and into The American Society of Magical Negroes.
Soon enough, Aren has a job at a mock Facebook company appeasing Jason (Drew Tarver), a white twentysomething so into his privilege that he doesn’t see the difference between privilege and talent. And Jason is angry because, well, his privilege just isn’t doing enough for him, a fairly typical complaint among the white privileged. Aren’s job is to calm him down … however, Aren is also into Lizzie (An-Li Bogan), also targeted by Jason’s affections. Primary rule at The American Society of Magical Negroes is never to act for oneself. We can immediately see the conflict.
This film could be the memoirs of a reformed Uncle Tom. The constant question is: “When will Aren snap? When does he stop being a milquetoast and trade his magical powers for a little dignity and self-respect?” While we root for this, such undermines the potential humor; the film is at its best when it clearly demonstrates how magic has propped up white mediocrity (if only in an effort to pacify a greater evil at work).
Along those lines, I wanted to see more of that propping and assuaging. I wanted to see Aren use his new magical powers far more often than he does. The film makes a fair case that the “magic” is often simply a black man acting as a soothing -if disingenuous- ego massager as in its hilariously chosen targets of films like The Green Mile and The Legend of Bagger Vance. While these moments are certainly funny, I wanted to see more. I wanted to see “behind the
curtain” moment where, say, a Society member talks a Republican politician off a racist stance … or quells a 2nd Amendment crowd … or lets a billionaire see that Pro-Life positions have racist consequences. There was a key step or two missing in this film.
In the realm of social justice redemption in cinematic form, The American Society of Magical Negroes wants to be American Fiction – a clear, pointed, and scathing indictment of Blaxploitation and racist tropism. Unfortunately, the film came closer to The Blackening, a muddled and occasionally confusing indictment of the same. The American Society of Magical Negroes didn’t lack for message, but -honestly- felt much more like and indictment of office politics than modern racism. The film also veered into the personal lane and stayed there; we were rooting for Aren to get his act together rather than understanding Aren as a symbol of a greater movement.
That being said, I was rooting for Aren throughout, and while I wish the film had done a better job of condemning racism from many walks, I’m glad it did what it did. Despite the off-putting title, The American Society of Magical Negroes is better than it isn’t.
There was once a poor sap named Aren
Who discovered his cuppeth was barren
Til he acquired some magic
Only to learn a lesson tragic:
You can’t appease a whole world full of Karen
Rated PG-13, 104 Minutes
Director: Kobi Libii
Writer: Kobi Libii
Genre: Troll-baiting
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: People who see the lighter side of racism
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Trolls
