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Magical Negro: Difference between revisions
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* In ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'', season 4 episode 21, Barney and Marshall are aided in a prank by an African-American security guard they randomly meet at "the bar" (McLaren's). He speaks in a deep, resonant voice and quotes Pablo Neruda. He then walks out of their lives...
** This is a parody though, he tells Robin that he couldn't be bothered to remember their names and implies that however poetically he may have pretended to phrase it for them, he was leaving because he was bored.
* Neatly subverted by Shepherd Book in ''[[Firefly (TV series)|Firefly]]''. He may be Serenity's resident mentor and act as [[The Conscience]] for the Caucasian crew members, but he's not the holy man he appears to be -- {{spoiler|he's the man who killed him.}}
** ''[[Serenity]]'', however, is sometimes accused of reducing Book to this role. On the other hand, the scene in which he refuses to tell Mal about his background can be taken as a subversion—the classic Magical Negro would have happily told his life story and used it as a metaphor to help the white hero figure himself out.
* Heylia on ''[[Weeds]]'' subverts this thoroughly; she's always giving Nancy advice both on pot dealing and on life in general, but whenever it looks like the show might follow this trope, she proves that while she likes Nancy well enough, it's ultimately a business relationship and her first priority is herself and her own family. Whenever Nancy can't pay for her product, she either takes something for collateral or simply tells her "Tough shit."
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