MOVIE MUSIC UK

Original Review by Jonathan Broxton

In cinematic and literary parlance, a “magical negro” is a stock trope that refers to a supporting black character who often has special insight or displays mystical powers, and who seems to exist only to help the white protagonist in their journey or to solve their problems, often at the expense of their own development and agency. Magical negroes often possess supernatural abilities, deep wisdom, or unusual insights that exceed those of the main (usually white) characters. Their role revolves around assisting the white protagonist, sometimes at personal cost or with little regard for their own story arc, and often lack a fleshed-out backstory, personal aspirations, or development independent of their assistance to the main character. Examples of the “magical negro” trope in cinema include John Coffey in The Green Mile, Dick Hallorann in The Shining, Oda Mae Brown in Ghost, and most notably Bagger Vance in The Legend of Bagger Vance, and many now see those characters as racial stereotypes which perpetuate the idea that black characters exist primarily to aid white characters’ narratives.

Director Kobi Libii’s satirical comedy-drama film The American Society of Magical Negroes explores this trope through the eyes of Aren (Justice Smith), a young African-American man who, after meeting kindly bartender Roger (David Allan Grier), is inducted into a secret society whose aim is to safeguard African Americans by appeasing white individuals, defusing racial tensions, and helping white people overcome their problems. It’s a clever idea, with some interesting and sometimes quite subversive points to make about race relations in contemporary society, but unfortunately it didn’t catch much traction with either audiences or critics, and left theaters for streaming services after just a couple of weeks, having grossed less than $3 million at the box office.

The score for The American Society of Magical Negroes is by composer Michael Abels, whose career in film music has often revolved around similarly racially aware films, notably Jordan Peele’s trio of hits Get Out, Us, and Nope, and is one of the first major scores of his to be released since he won the Pulitzer Prize for Music last year for his opera Omar. Abels is a composer who has proved himself very adept at treading the fine musical lines between comedy, drama, pathos, and satire, and The American Society of Magical Negroes is another score which does exactly that. It gently parodies the wholesome sound of scores that often accompany ‘magical negro’ films – I’m especially thinking of Thomas Newman’s Green Mile and Rachel Portman’s Bagger Vance – while also acting as dramatic score in its own right.

Director Libii, in an interview for the Focus Features website, praised Abels, saying that he “does such an amazing job of evoking that sense of a magical wizard movie that you almost don’t recognize what else is happening,” and pointing out that the score’s main theme is a black spiritual made to sound like it is in a Harry Potter film. That main theme is actually an adaptation of a pre-existing piece of music, “Wade in the Water,” an African American jubilee song or ‘negro spiritual’ which dates back to at least 1901, but is likely much older. Research suggests that it was one of the songs strongly associated with the Underground Railroad movement, and that none other than Harriet Tubman herself used the song to warn slaves to get off the trail and into the water to prevent slave owners’ dogs from finding them.

The score was recorded in Skopje, Macedonia, with the orchestra of the FAMES Project, and is based in large part on a 5-note motif taken from the song that follows the five syllables of its chorus (‘wade-in-the-wa-ter’). This main theme runs through a great deal of the score, and is prominent in numerous cues; you first hear it 8 seconds into the opening cue “Defining Magical Negro,” on a gentle flute, then in “The Magical Negro Main Title,” all throughout the wonderous and enchanting “Magical Shoeshine,” in “Presidential Entrance,” and then in the solemn, emotional, powerful “Welcome to the Society,” which is one of the most impressive reprisals in the entire score. Abels is clever to embed the motif deeply into the fabric of the score, drawing an intellectual line from Harriet Tubman to Aren, and how he eventually comes to reject and rebel against the society’s aims.

It’s performance in “The Magical Negro Main Title” is beautiful, with a twinkly orchestral sound that features choral accents, prancing strings, and gorgeous brass harmonies. As the early cues develop, through cues like “Behind the Scenes” and “Orientation,” and then later in “White Tears Meter,” Abels’s intentional homages to the warm 1990s Thomas Newman sound begin to emerge; there are some tender passages for oboes, lovely interplay between them and the light, prancing strings, and even some writing for marimbas and other jangly, rattly percussion items, which become more prominent later in the score.

Other cues of note include “Monticello,” which begins with a short burst of action, slashing strings and darker rumbling percussion that may or may not have something to do with the interracial relationship between US founding father Thomas Jefferson and his slave Sally Hemings, but which ends with a gorgeous flood of orchestral and choral warmth. Similarly, “Presidential Entrance” is upbeat, celebratory, and festive, with a slight touch of African tribal sounds in its rhythms.

When Aren receives his first assignment from the Society – to help Jason, a depressed and lonely white software developer working for the social media platform Meetbox – the music that accompanies him becomes energetic and modern and a touch comedic, more like American Beauty than any other Newman score. Here, Abels makes prominent use of synths and electric guitars amid lively passages for strings and wooden percussion, including marimbas. Cues like “Analyzing Jason” and “Notions” are great examples of this, with the latter of these cues building to a lively, busy, frenetic finale. The subsequent “Tanya’s Excuse” is heavy, threatening, and rambunctious, and features prominent percussion and whining brass underneath throbbing strings and a whole host of unusual clattering and clanging orchestrations. This style then continues on into “Tanya’s Sentence,” which incorporates a dramatic deconstruction of the main theme.

“Instead He Smiled” is a superb one off, and is full of warm, jazzy piano textures, has hints of the main theme in the strings, and builds to a lovely magical sweep in the finale, including an unexpected harmonica cameo. This leads into the conclusion of the score in which Aren, rebelling against the woke façade that Meetbox projects, and tired of having to put aside his own needs due to his role in the Society, interrupts Jason’s presentation, which causes the Society’s magic to become disrupted. “It’s About Diversity” offsets the marimba-led rhythms and the hustle and bustle of the Meetbox motif against choppy and agitated strings, the subsequent “A Move With Intention” is bold and dramatic, and then the conclusive “Run to Destiny” uses fast, intricate combinations of strings and percussion above hints of the main theme, which then becomes stirringly prominent in the final moments.

The American Society of Magical Negroes is an excellent score, fun and lively, attractive and engaging. It’s intelligent and sophisticated in the way it takes the melody of a 150-year-old negro spiritual song and brings it into a new setting, and t has a rich vein of wry humor that comes from its knowing acknowledgement of the musical approaches that previous ‘magical negro’ films have un-ironically used. It’s a short score, less than 30 minutes, but it’s testament to Michael Abels’s impressive talents that he is able to make such a strong impression in such a limited time.

Buy the American Society of Magical Negroes soundtrack from the Movie Music UK Store

Track Listing:

• Defining Magical Negro (0:45)
• The Magical Negro Main Title (1:37)
• Behind the Scenes (1:46)
• Orientation (1:34)
• Magical Shoeshine (0:42)
• Monticello (1:16)
• White Tears Meter (1:41)
• Presidential Entrance (1:11)
• Welcome to the Society (0:49)
• Analyzing Jason (1:22)
• Notions (1:26)
• Tanya’s Excuse (1:29)
• Tanya’s Sentence (0:44)
• Instead He Smiled (1:55)
• Black But Palatable (2:22)
• It’s About Diversity (1:46)
• A Move With Intention (0:38)
• Run to Destiny (2:18)
• A Twist & a Wink (0:35)

Running Time: 25 minutes 56 seconds

Back Lot Music (2024)

Music composed by Michael Abels. Conducted by Oleg Kondratenko. Performed by The FAMEs Project Orchestra. Orchestrations by Tomas Peire. Additional music by Miguel Bezanilla and Cameron Moody. Recorded and mixed by John Rodd. Edited by Ellen Segal. Album produced by Michael Abels.