Thank you for reading my post and sharing your thoughts! The Magical Negro trope was a term coined by filmmaker Spike Lee to describe the pattern of relegating Black actors to roles that are subservient to a white protagonist. In this film’s case, it’s a Black actor playing a genie who is subservient to a non-Black Arab character. The issue is not about Will Smith’s talent as an actor, but rather the long history and pattern of reserving such roles for Black actors.

I highly recommend reading the excellent blog posts about the Magical Negro trope written by Modern Hermeneut. It’s quite extensive and informative. Read the second post in the series where the author discusses the donor archetype. Interesting enough, the author also mentions how, historically, genies have been depicted as Black in several films and cartoons (1940’s Thief of Baghdad, 1996’s Kazaam, and Mr. Popo in Dragon Ball Z). As the author writes:

“By casting black actors in Genie roles, filmmakers encourage white audiences to have their cake and eat it too: they can root for the slave’s release from bondage, even as they relish his continued loyalty post-liberation.”

What deepens this trope in the Aladdin remake is that Will Smith is the only Black actor who plays a significant leading role in the film. Had Aladdin been Black, the dynamic would have been different. However, just like other movie tropes (the damsel in distress, the benevolent misogynist, “fridging” women to further manpain, etc.), the Magical Negro is unfortunately still quite prevalent and needs to be challenged.