Magical Negro/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: In order to show the world that minority characters are not bad people, one will step forward to help a "normal" person, with their pure heart and folksy wisdom. They are usually black and/or poor and are often there solely to help out the white main character.

  • Straight: Joey, the CEO of Tropecorp, is given moral advice by Ramell, the black night janitor, which helps him save the company and restore its ruined image.
  • Exaggerated: Joey, the CEO of Tropecorp, is unable to function in his role without the advice of Ramell, the night janitor.
  • Justified: Ramell has a high IQ, had a good, moralistic upbringing and reads a lot but comes from such a poor background that he had to start work straight after highschool. As such his talents have not been put to good use.
  • Inverted: A rich and successful white man tells the poor, ill-educated, black man how to get a higher paying job and support his families.
  • Subverted: Ramell's advice causes Tropecorp's stock to plummet and Joey to lose his job.
    • Ramell demands a better job in exchange for his wisdom.
    • When Ramell is off-duty, the story switches to a subplot that explores conflicts of his own.
  • Double Subverted: However because of his policies giving him a reputation for moral business practices Joey is able to use his severance package to start a new company, Tropes inc, that both outperforms the dying Tropecorp but also has a very positive public image.
  • Parodied: Ramell is able to answer any question put to him, no matter how complex or niche, from "What is beauty?" to "How do I build a faster than light space ship?", in the form of folkey proverbs and idioms.
  • Deconstructed: Ramell realizes how valuable his advice is, leaves his janitor position, and gets Joey to give him a well-paying job in Tropecorp's public relations department.
  • Reconstructed: Ramell's character is developed by exploring in detail why he would want to help Tropecorp and why he would not want to leave his low-paying position.
  • Averted: Ramell the night janitor is about as astute as to the workings of the world as you would expect him to be.
  • Enforced: "That black janitor was reading philosophy texts earlier, clearly he is the one Joey needs to speak to."
  • Lampshaded: After asking Ramell for advice Joey says "Why the hell is that guy working as a janitor?".
  • Invoked: Joey: "What I need right now is a poor, ill-educated, black man."
  • Defied: Joey: "What the hell does that guy know anyway?"
  • Discussed: Joey: "That's all well and good Ramell but I think I will go with the consultants I have on 6 figure salaries."
  • Conversed: "What's going to happen here is the principled and moralistic poor black man will tell him what to do and he will ignore his consultants."
  • Played For Laughs: ???
  • Played For Drama: ???

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