Alright. On break.
Do you have any fucking clue. Any at all how many fucking years we've been putting up with this fucking Magical Negro bullshit?
"This black wo/man may not have none of that fancy book learning but he sure do got enough home grown common sense/street smarts/muscle to help the intelligent white people out of any jam that can't be fixed with brains."
The answer is all of them. All of the fucking years from the very moment a black person was allowed to be anything in a movie beyond a fucking buffoon.
Don't talk to me about fucking patience from your seat of condescending ignorance. I don't fuck that "even though she's not as smart as them, she sure is a fucking hero in her own way." I've seen it, thank you. In a fucking film that's supposed to be breaking barriers why the fuck do we get saddled with this bullshit AGAIN?!
Wh5 the fuck do WE have to be patient. We've been patient. In this case we've been 30 fucking years of patient and it's the same god damn thing all over again and worse.
Gets some historical context before you even think to type so kuch as another god damn LETTER in my direction.
First off let me clarify, in case you took it the wrong way, that I meant have patience to see the actual movie. Which is something that nobody on this earth has done other than the people involved with making it. If that's what you thought I meant, then according to BronsonLee who has apparently read the script, then I reiterate that you should be patient and watch the actual movie before you go spouting vitriol everywhere because from the look and sound of things, you might be making assumptions about the character that aren't true based off a really bad trailer.
Now, taking your advice, I looked up the term "magical negro" because I had never heard of it before. After reading the wiki and TV Tropes page on it, yeah, I can see why someone assuming Patty plays that role would be upset. The thing is, even from what little we have seen, it looks like she doesn't actually play that role at all?
For those not in the know, as I was, apparently Magical Negro is a character that has infinite wisdom and sometimes even literal magic powers, who appears briefly to impart sage advice on main characters, often white, and then either disappears or is killed. Immediately this stands out as not what Winston or Patty are, at all. Both are main characters, first and foremost. I guess you can call Winston one if you view him as someone that shows up to "save" the other three GBs, except that he doesn't impart any wisdom, he becomes a main part of the cast, and he is just a regular person looking for a job. He doesn't even save anyone or impart any wisdom, he just helps them with their work load. He could have been literally any race, but maybe that's part of the problem?
Patty, though, is even less of one. She is there right from the beginning of the story instead of just the back half, she's a main character, she gets everyone's shit together, and then stays with them as a major part of the team, even so much as directly saving two of her teammate's lives. That isn't just some nameless, backgroundless character in a cloak pointing to a used car lot with an old Caddy in it and then disappearing for the rest of the movie. Her main use isn't just that she has a car. If anything the trailer points out that without her, there wouldn't really be a team of people running around trying to stop these ghosts. Her role is way more important than Winston's.
I agree that having Magical Negro characters is insulting unfair bullshit, but I actually think it's unfair to the actress and the character to assume that her only role is to come help the white women. And on top of that, from what you and others in this thread have said, it comes across as if you think her character is actually somehow STUPID compared to the other three simply because she has a regular job instead of a scientist, teacher, or author. Wait two of those sound like pretty normal jobs to me too? I would actually put "government employee" higher on the list than "author-slash-ghost-hunter" but that's just me and isn't really here or there.
So, help me out please if you have the patience to do so. I know I can be opinionated and stubborn, but I always try to keep an open mind because nobody is infallible and if I'm wrong about something, I want to know so I can correct my way of thinking and acting. You talk about wanting representation. You get a character that this time is a main, driving force in a team, moreso than her spiritual predecessor Winston ever was. You even get a link to the actress' twitter feed where she is recounting an email from a fan literally saying "Hey, I have that job, and it means a lot to me seeing you up there kicking ass. Thanks for the representation." but you are still upset. Is it purely because she has an everyman job? If she played the exact same character, in the exact some way, except she was a biologist instead of an MTA worker, is that better? And if so, why does that part of it matter so much? If it was the exact same character played the exact same way but by another race, would they become a "Magical Caucasian" or "Magical Asian"? Or would they, simply by virtue of skin color, become just a "normal" character and nobody would think twice about it? Like imagine someone like Sean William Scott playing that roll. "Hey, you guys might be all smart with the sciencey stuff, but guess what fuckers? I've got a car, and I work MTA so I know this city better than anyone, so I'm joining your little gang." is he the white equivalent to a Magical Negro?
Maybe it's because I am white, and I do have an unfair privilege in life over others, but I don't see Patty as a Magical Negro character. When the Sony leaks happened I was hoping for her to not be the everyman character and then when they officially announced who was playing who, I was disappointed that it seemed like they were falling into the same trope (didn't know what it was called at the time) that Winston fell into. But after seeing the trailer she looks far, far more important to the movie and the team then that. I think that the Magical Negro trope existing is fucked up, I empathize with the frustration of seeing role after role delegated to that sort of character, but I don't see why or how Patty fits that role. But maybe I'm taking the definition of the Magical Nego to literally? I am absolutely open to explanation and clarification. And I think I saw someone suggest I might be racist in my thoughts? I may have misinterpreted that but I sincerely fuckin hope I'm not and if anything I've said has come across that way please for the love of God tell me because that is not something I ever want to be.