A3 Post #2: Response to the Magic Negro

Morgan Freeman was the most static character in the entirety of Evan Almighty, but reviewers of the film did not really seem to notice this. In fact, they seemed to accept the idea that Morgan Freeman portrayed the role of "God" very well. The main focus of reviews seemed to be on the fact that the movie cost over $150 million to produce and wasn't exactly the greatest comedy made. With that fact aside, Morgan Freeman was truly a magic negro because he never really did anything other than tell Evan to simply build the ark. Sure, there was the initial push with the sending of the materials for the ark and the permanent outfit that was fit for Noah, but even then, Freeman himself didn't really show up for most of the miracles that occur throughout the film. There was no development on the part of God in the film, not even a back story or anything. The only information we know about God is from the previous movie, Bruce Almighty. Morgan Freeman's sole purpose in this entire film was simply to get Evan to build the ark, nothing else.

The reviews did seem to notice that Freeman had a static role in the film, but for the most part, they ignored the characters, with the exception of Evan, in favor of criticizing the movie in general. In a movie review on Slate, there was literally a parenthetical citation that noted that Freeman was a magic negro and no other reference to the racial implications of that action. After looking at over a dozen other reviews from various sources from the Wall Street Journal and New York Times to various blogs, there seemed to be little mentioned in regards to the fact that God was black, but perhaps people were simply used to God being played by Morgan Freeman from Bruce Almighty. Whatever the reason, there was not really much commentary on the fact that Morgan Freeman was such a static, "magical negro" character in Evan Almighty.

A3 Post #1: Bruce's Successor

For this assignment, I've chosen to examine the movie Evan Almighty, which is the sequel to Bruce Almighty, directed by Tom Shadyac, once again. In the film, there is a key character who returns from the original movie, God, played by Morgan Freeman. He is a perfect example of a "magic negro," who is supposed to be depicting how enlightened the movie is for including a diverse cast, even giving the minority a main character to the story. While God plays a large role, there isn't much of a story about God or much focus on the life of God, despite being such a powerful being.

The main plot of this film is based around the story of Noah's Ark, but with current times, so building an ark seems even more confusing than back in the day, when there was no experience of rain. As Evan is called to build an ark, God is continuously watching over Evan and encouraging him to keep on building the ark, no matter how others think of him. Of course, the story of the film continuously focuses on Evan's life, never really talking or even giving much of a spotlight of God's life.
In this film, God's role was actually not incredibly necessary. His main role was beginning the process of having Evan build the ark in preparation for a flood as well as encouraging Evan along the way. I feel like having any other character start this process could have worked as well. God's role was not really essential as a "magic negro" in this film.