Black Best Friend/Playing With

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Basic Trope: A white character spends the majority of his/her time with a black character.

  • Played Straight: Alice, the lead has a best friend named Betty who's always there when she needs someone to give her encouragement or discouragement.
  • Exaggerated: Alice and Betty spend every waking moment together and yet you can forget that Betty's even there because of how the story is all about Alice.
  • Justified: Betty is introduced as Alice's best friend because they have specific interests in common and like spending time together; race has nothing to do with it.
  • Inverted:
    • Alice and Betty can't stand one another. (This mutual dislike may or may not be racially motivated.)
    • Alternatively, Betty is the protagonist, and Alice is just her sidekick.
  • Subverted: Alice is good friends with Betty, but doesn't spend every waking moment with her.
  • Double Subverted: However, Alice and Betty are very close friends.
  • Deconstructed: This may be a case of Positive Discrimination, depending on how it's played out. (i.e. if Betty is a Mary Sue)
  • Reconstructed: Betty isn't a Mary Sue type character; she is a normal human being. The same holds true for Alice.
  • Parodied: After befriending Betty, Alice takes out a list named "Obligatorily Ethnic Acquaintances" and checks off the point labeled "Black Friend".
  • Lampshaded: "And these are Alice and Betty, or as we affectionately call them, Salt and Pepper."
  • Averted: Betty is not just Alice's friend. She has characterization and they are social equals.
  • Enforced: An attempt to introduce diversity to the series or movie
  • Invoked: Alice meets Betty, and the two of them instantly hit it off as best friends.
  • Defied: Alice wants nothing to do with Betty and vice versa.
  • Exploited: Bob gets his friend Betty to set him up with her best friend Alice
  • Discussed: ???
  • Conversed: ???
  • Played For Laughs: Salt and Pepper
  • Played For Drama: Alice and Betty's world is pretty racist, and people don't approve of their spending time together, which takes a toll on their friendship.

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