Take a look around social media and you’ll find plenty of cringe-inducing reactions to the title of Kobi Libii’s debut feature, The American Society of Magical Negroes, ranging from people being offended that it exists, to people expressing eerie joy at having an excuse to use the word “nigger” in public. Libii’s film is a darkly comedic satire that builds on a common trope First popularized as a term by director Spike Lee in 2001 – the black film characters, especially in ’90s films, who only exist to support white characters and further their character arcs. In Libii’s story, that black support network is a codified secret society of black men and women with actual magical powers, which they use to comfort and help white people so they are less fragile, tense, and inherently dangerous to people of color.
The concept is confrontational, especially since society firmly believes that black people (in keeping with the trope) must bury their own needs and desires in order to more effectively cater to white people. And the title is just as confrontational – by design. Critics and scholars writing about the trope often confuse it with “magic black character” or other softened versions of the term – even in the trailer, protagonist Aren (Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves‘ Justice Smith) clumsily suggests that the association should find a more appropriate, modern name.
Libii told Polygon ahead of the film’s release that he felt it was important to call out the most recognizable and direct version of the trope — and that the discomfort he’s seen around it from white people in particular might just be educational for them.
“For me, it’s partly about making the film relatable as a response to the trope, as opposed to a society of magical black people doing crazy things,” he said. “It’s downstream of this racist trope, not downstream of just me wanting to see black people in this situation.”
Libii says that since the film’s world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, he’s seen a “common white reaction to the title” that he finds intriguing.
“White audiences say, ‘Can I say that? How should I say it?’ and expressing their discomfort in navigating the title,” he says. “As a satirist I am very interested in that, because it is a film about, among other things, the discrepancy between white and black comfort. (…) That real discomfort with their own discomfort – their immediate centering of their own white discomfort in this personal film about a black experience – I find that knee-jerk reaction really interesting.
Libii has seen people online worrying about how to ask for a ticket to the movie at the box office, and he finds it particularly funny: “I promise you, if you don’t want to say the word, you can figure out a way to get one. Get a ticket for the movie without saying it. Frankly, I find this kind of hand-wringing a bit disingenuous. When was the last time you said the name of a movie to get a ticket? You’ll be fine. You’ll take care of it. You are smart.”
Image: Focus Features/Everett Collection
He also believes that people who feel squeamish about the title might get a taste of what the black characters in the film are feeling because they worry about what white people might think about them, and what danger that reaction might put them in. could bring. It’s like that line: “If all you’ve known is privilege, then discomfort feels like oppression,” he says. “It’s just double consciousness, right? As I continually move through the world, two audiences come to mind. I have to think about how my actions would sound in a vacuum in the Black community, and among my peers, friends, and family. And then, Oh, wait, how will they be perceived by this white person who has power in this situation? I’m constantly doing double work.
“And I think for some white audiences, honestly, navigating a title like this is the first time they’ve ever had to think about two audiences at once: Well, I may feel comfortable saying it, but what is the black person going to think here? And that double consciousness, that thinking for two target groups, is work that we are constantly working on. So that’s all to say that as a satirist I once again feel that the white discomfort surrounding the title is part of the work the film does. I am endlessly interested in that reaction.”
The American Society of Magical Negroes debuts in theaters on March 22.