All writers employ tropes in order to move the plot along. Whether it’s a magical negro or character exposition or the Hollywood MacGuffin. I loved King’s books while growing up and his writing certainly inspired me at a young age to becoming the active reader I am today. For that I am appreciative of his works.
I don’t recall ever being made aware on any one his written works character’s skin color in a stereotypical fashion so I can’t honestly say if the magical negro is indeed one of his go-to devices or not. I do remember black characters such as Mike Hanlon in IT - he seemed to have a pretty well developed backstory and I don’t think he was just there as a token black kid. Seems to me that many examples occur when Hollywood get their mitts on a book and bastardize the screenplay. Not exactly King’s fault (except of course for the screen adaptations he wrote.) I can also think of Morgan Freeman’s character in Shawshank Redemption as a counterpoint to this.
This video gives me something to think about.
