Almost as soon as the trailer for The American Society of Magical Negroes dropped in late 2023, the reactions came swift and severe. “What were they thinking?” was a common refrain. “The fact that people thought this was a good idea and made it is distressing,” was another, placing the satirical film in the rarified ranks of movies Black Twitter hated before it even premiered. 

Honestly, it’s not hard to understand why. The term Negro, for starters, is one that’s bound to raise eyebrows in any context these days, and then its premise––that there’s a secret, shadowy world of Black people who perform magic to make sure white people feel comfortable––can be deeply triggering for people who not only have to live that experience but are exhausted by having to placate white feelings to stay safe. But that, the stars of Kobi Libii’s tongue-in-cheek flick say, is exactly the film's point: to shove that very exhaustion in people’s faces in hopes of one day rendering this kinda-fictional job obsolete. 

“I think it pisses people off because they don't want to see themselves represented that way,” says Justice Smith, who plays the film's lead, Aren, a struggling artist down on his luck who’s recruited into the American Society of Magical Negroes. He’s tasked with making a white guy at his job feel comfortable. “They're not upset because Black people have never done that. They’re mad because they don't want to do that anymore. It's a satire––the film is about how we shouldn't be doing that. But in order to survive socially, and sometimes literally, we're taught that when we encounter white police, we put our ego aside and say ‘Yes sir, no sir.’  Hopefully, this film helps eradicate some shame around having to do that.” 

The American Society of Magical Negroes plays off the longstanding ‘magical Negro’ trope in film that has Black characters existing for the sole purpose of comforting, soothing, or propping up white protagonists. Believed to have been coined by Spike Lee, the Magical Negro is exemplified by characters like the prisoner John Coffey in The Green Mile, Will Smith’s Bagger Vance in The Legend of Bagger Vance, or Whoopi Goldberg’s Oda Mae Brown in Ghost––characters who might be depicted as mentally challenged or handicapped and/or in possession of otherwordly spiritual powers that make them magical to white people in their time of need. 

The American Society of Magical Negroes lampoons this tired device, with David Alan Grier playing the recruiter who indoctrinates Aren and welcomes him into this strange new world. “What’s the most dangerous animal on the planet?” he asks Aren. “White people when they’re uncomfortable.” It’s an insight Black Americans certainly need no unpacking; from interactions with police to everyday Karens, most Black people, consciously or not, find ways to navigate white discomfort, even if it’s with direct confrontation and refutation of it. Hip-hop might be the best example; another is one a lot of Black folks employ almost every day. 

Nicole Byers, who plays the priestess who presides over the society, also knows the film will be polorazing but implores people to look at the deeper truth it imparts. “As Black people, we have a term, ‘Code Switching’ where we speak one way to white people another way to Black people. And that code switching makes white people feel comfortable. Black people can be seen as uneducated [if they speak a certain way] while a white businessman from the south can be like, ‘Howdy y'all!’ and people listen. That’s a hard thing to look at.” 

As viewers watch Aren discover that the rules of this society are more complex than he anticipated, they see him continuing to see that his desires are at odds with the role he’s signed up for until it’s no longer tenable. So, while he knows that people will wince, the hope is that by lifting this burden out of the shadows, people can gain awareness about this perpetual problem in the real world and overcome it. “It's a constant,” he says. “Hopefully it helps people stand a little taller and reach empowerment a little sooner.” 

The American Society of Magical Negroes hits theaters March 15.