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Magical Negro in Marvel Cinematic Universe Master’S Diploma Thesis

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Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies Teaching English Language and Literature for Secondary Schools Bc. Tereza Menšíková Magical Negro in Marvel Cinematic Universe Master’s Diploma Thesis Supervisor: Jeffrey Alan Smith, M.A., Ph.D. 2018 I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. …………………………………………….. Author’s signature I would like to thank my supervisor, Jeffrey Alan Smith, M.A., Ph.D. for his valuable advice and all the resources he provided me with. Table of Contents 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 6 2. African Americans in the United States of America .......................................................... 9 3. African Americans in Film ............................................................................................... 12 3.1 Seemingly Positive Stereotypes .................................................................................. 13 3.2 Reshaping of Old Stereotypes ..................................................................................... 14 3.2.1 Moral Virtue ........................................................................................................ 16 3.2.2 Assistance to the White World ............................................................................ 17 3.2.3 Magic and Folk Wisdom ...................................................................................... 20 3.2.4 Relationship to the White Protagonist ................................................................. 21 3.2.5 Desexualization .................................................................................................... 22 3.2.6 Abrupt Disappearances ........................................................................................ 24 4. Marvel Cinematic Universe and the Magical Negro ........................................................ 26 4.1 Marvel Cinematic Universe ........................................................................................ 26 4.2 Choice of Films ........................................................................................................... 28 4.2.1 Iron Man .............................................................................................................. 29 4.2.2 Iron Man 2 ........................................................................................................... 34 4.2.3 Thor ...................................................................................................................... 36 4.2.4 Captain America: The First Avenger ................................................................... 40 4.2.5 Marvel’s The Avengers ........................................................................................ 44 4.2.6 Iron Man 3 ........................................................................................................... 46 4.2.7 Thor: The Dark World ......................................................................................... 48 4.2.8 Captain America: The Winter Soldier ................................................................. 51 4.2.9 Avengers: Age of Ultron ...................................................................................... 55 4.2.10 Captain America: Civil War .............................................................................. 58 4.2.11 Doctor Strange ................................................................................................... 62 4.2.12 Thor: Ragnarok .................................................................................................. 64 4.3 Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Alteration to the Magical Negro ................................. 67 4.3.1 ‘Traditional’ Magical Negro ................................................................................ 68 4.3.2 ‘Other’ as the Magical Negro .............................................................................. 70 4.3.3 Black Buddy ........................................................................................................ 72 4.3.4 Black Panther ....................................................................................................... 73 5. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 75 6. Works Cited ...................................................................................................................... 78 7. Resumé .............................................................................................................................. 84 7.1 English Resumé .......................................................................................................... 84 7.2 České resumé .............................................................................................................. 85 1. Introduction This thesis focuses on Marvel Cinematic Universe, a series of superhero blockbuster films produced by the United State-based Marvel Studios, and discusses the way these films portray African Americans and incorporate the Magical Negro stereotype. Film watching and going to the cinema represents a popular pastime in the United States of America; Matthew W. Hughey argues that the average American spends around 13 hours a year in the cinema with half of the adult population watching at least one film per month, the frequency rises to one film a week for younger audiences aged nine to seventeen years (“Racializing Redemption, Reproducing Racism”, 752). Furthermore, Clint Wilson II and Felix Gutiérrez describe the United States as “a media-dominated society” in which all “depend on the media communication to portray and define those things that [they] have not personally experienced for [themselves]” (35). The use of racial stereotypes, such as the Magical Negro, might thus lead to serious social consequences in understanding racial relations and African Americans in general. Filmgoers are well aware that the films depict fictional characters and their fully fictional lives, especially when it comes to superhero movies full of extra-terrestrials, super humans, extremely smart scientists inventing a new piece of technology overnight, there is no doubt that this part of the depicted world is just a product of authors’ imagination, not their personal experience. Nonetheless, in most cases of Marvel Cinematic Universe, they take place in America. The world impacted by these unrealistic characters is presented as the very world what American audiences are familiar with. It becomes even more important since, as John Iceland and Gregory Sharp interpret the results of 2010 census that “white isolation is considerably higher that the isolation experienced by other racial/ethnic 6 groups” (11). Hughey argues that these segregated whites then do not have any in-depth experience with African Americans (“Cinethetic Racism” 547), they thus shape their understanding based on the depictions of African Americans in media, and white people who consume these depiction eventually “think they know Blacks and their actual status because of the roles played while acting” (Glenn and Cunningham 137). Therefore, it becomes essential to identify racial stereotypes because they might fill in the vacuum of real experience and result in distorted whites’ image of social reality. Furthermore, provided the primary role of the film is to entertain, not to provide accurate information (Wilson II and Gutiérrez 36), viewer might fail to identify how the images consumed influence shape their views. The thesis is divided into two major parts; the first part focuses on American society and the views on race, and how mainstream film reflects this understanding. It also discusses filmic representation of African Americans with the emphasis on the Magical Negro stereotype. Since the stereotype results from ongoing development, the thesis also focuses on ‘positive’ stereotypes. The discussion of the Magical Negro stereotype later on is then based on Cerise L. Glenn and Landra J. Cunnigham’s article “The Power of Black Magic: The Magical Negro and White Salvation in Film” and Matthew W. Hughey’s “Cinethetic Racism: White Redemption and Black Stereotypes in ‘Magical Negro’ Films” in which the authors discuss how Magical Negro manifest themselves in various films and the implications behind the stereotype. The second part focuses on the Marvel Cinematic Universe, specifically Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, The Avengers, Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War, Doctor Strange, and Thor: Ragnarok. It discusses the Black character 7 that appear in these film with the focus on their relationship toward the white protagonists and their place in the hierarchy in the films. It also compares the filmic depiction of the original comic books, however, since film contain significant alteration to the original storyline, the emphasis is put on the film themselves. The analysis aims to categorize the characters and suggest implication of the use of the respective categories. Provided the fact that Marvel Cinematic Universe focuses on commercial success and therefore mainstream audiences, the thesis focuses on the hypothesis that Marvel films do not challenge nowadays’ views on race and use the Magical Negro
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