The Magic Latina

An intellectual and interesting discussion at Big Hollywood: 

Sotomayor’s “wise Latina woman” comment has weirdly tapped into a cultural archetype that appears frequently in literature and cinema. She ironically seems to be a believer in a self serving stereotype that has been criticized by both conservatives and liberals.  Spike Lee and Richard Brookhiser, in two unrelated commentaries in 2001, called this archetype respectively, “the Magic Negro” and “the Numinous Negro.”