Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Rolling Stone, Obama and "The Magical Negro"

The latest Rolling Stone cover, featuring an almost luminous Barack Obama, has drawn lots of comment at THE AV CLUB.

Some quotes:

"Does Rolling Stone think Obama is:

--Jesus
--Superman
--The totally awesome, glowing, superhero/savior spawn of Jesus and Superman
--The radioactive president of America's dreams
--A dewy Venus, majestically stepping forth from a serene ocean mist, but, like also a guy who's running for president.
--The late-90s sitcom character, Teen Angel.
--Not just the president of the ShinySuit 3000 Club For Men, but also a client.
--Zeus for a new age.
--Some kind of space hero, or whatever
--Mr. Cloudo, President of Heaven ?"

But we thought a reference to a mythical "Magical Negro" of legend, lore (and maybe Hollywood) was intriguing. If you're not too familiar with the term, here's the Wikopedia article, which includes a reference to Obama.

And here's the picture itself: