What is the oldest Secret Society in America? The Flat Hat Club of the College of William & Mary? Hell naw, it’s the American Society of Magical Negroes! Let’s go!
Pop Quiz Hot Shot!
1) Now, you should be able to get that The Skull and Bones are one of the big three Secret Societies at Yale. Name either of the other two that are considered the Big Three.
2) Played by Will Smith, what is the name of probably the most well known example of the Magical Negro trope in modern films?
3) And not to spoil the ending (but spoilers), but in the end we also learn the love interest is a Manic Pixie Dream Girl for the primary fragile white male character. What movie involves a subversion of this trope by Zooey Deschanel towards Joseph Gorden-Levitt?
4) Besides the answer to Number 2 they also explicitly show another example of the Magical Negro trope, in particular where a death row prisoner fixes a white guard’s dick. This is quite explicitly the storyline for The Green Mile. Who wrote the original novel?
5) Now, the main character loves his yarn art. What does yarn remind me of? Spinning yarn. What does that remind me of? Rumplestilskin. What does Rumplestiltskin remind me of? Shrek obviously. Which Shrek film is Rumplestiltskin the villain?
Bonus NYTimes Listing Question: Someone once claimed Whoopi in Ghost was a Magical Negress. I don’t know if I believe it, but that did play Primetime on HBO on October 6, 1991 up against:
What is this Rewatchables movie?
Answers
1) I don’t think people are going to get the Wolf’s Head. But I’ve vaguely heard of Scroll and Key myself, so maybe that is gettable. The funniest member that pops out is Garry Trudeau the Doonesbury cartoonist.
2) You better know the Legend of Bagger Vance. Apparently it is actually supposed to be a play off of Hindu text and the tutoring of Arjuna by Krishna? That seems a little nuts but okay.
3) It has to be (500) Days of Summer. And yeah, I guess I always just considered to be just that, but that is how JGL treats her (without considering her feelings) and in the end it is subverted because she goes from not believing in love to eventually falling in love with and marrying someone else.
4) As usual Stephen King is everything. This and Stand By Me are probably the two weird Stephen King adaptations (although there are plenty, Lawnmower Man anyone?). Someone on a podcast I listen to says he read all of Stephen King’s books and I was like Bullshit, impossible.
5) Well, you know it isn’t the first or second. So it is either Shrek the Third, or Shrek Forever After. And really the real question is: do you remember what the fourth Shrek is called. It is the worst of all of the Shreks (so far): Shrek Forever After. The key is to realize that Prince Charming is actually low-key the villain of both Shrek 2 and Shrek the Third (although the Fair Godmother more so in the second).
Bonus NYTimes Listing Answer: That is Pump Up the Volume. I still haven’t seen it, a relatively rare Rewatchables miss for me.
It actually was a weird Rewatchables since it, at the time they did it, wasn’t available ANYWHERE to watch streaming … not very Rewatchable at that moment. Now you can watch it though.
Bad Movie Twins 