‘The American Society of Magical Negroes’ Trailer Satirizes a Tired Racist Trope

Detective Pikachu star Justice Smith is entering another magical world, but this time around, he‘s the sidekick. In the official trailer for The American Society of Magical Negroes, Smith becomes the latest member of a society in which an old racist trope is made real.

The Magical Negro trope isn’t as prevalent as it once was, but there are plenty of examples across media, including Rose in LOST, Uncle Remus in Disney’s notorious Song of the South, approximately half of Morgan Freeman’s movie roles (especially when he’s God or a God-like figure), and numerous Stephen King novels—notably The Stand, The Green Mile, and The Shining.

The trailer for the upcoming film The American Society of Magical Negroes does a great job of boiling the trope down while offering a modern, satirical update:

As Justice Smith’s Aren learns upon entry to the eponymous society, the Black membership has but one job: to lessen the discomfort of white people. Written and directed by Kobi Libii, The American Society of Magical Negroes has the surrealism and incisive satire of Sorry To Bother You, but with a rom-com twist: In his attempts to help guide a white man through his life, Aren falls for his mentee’s love interest—a big no-no.

The American Society of Magical Negroes has a fully stacked cast that includes David Alan Grier, An-Li Bogan, Drew Tarver, Michaela Watkins, Aisha Hinds, Tim Baltz, Rupert Friend, and Nicole Byer. Libii, who developed the film as part of the Sundance Screenwriters Lab and Directors Lab, will premiere his feature directorial debut at the Sundance Film Festival in January. Audiences can see The American Society of Magical Negroes when it hits theaters on March 22, 2024.

(featured image: Focus Features)

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Britt Hayes

Britt Hayes (she/her) is an editor, writer, and recovering film critic with over a decade of experience. She has written for The A.V. Club, Birth.Movies.Death, and The Austin Chronicle, and is the former associate editor for ScreenCrush. Britt's work has also been published in Fangoria, TV Guide, and SXSWorld Magazine. She loves film, horror, exhaustively analyzing a theme, and casually dissociating. Her brain is a cursed tomb of pop culture knowledge.