Positive Discrimination: Difference between revisions

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*** Kira's background as a [[Hot-Blooded]] fighter in [[La Résistance]] also put her at a disadvantage in diplomatic situations and forced her to adapt to life as Sisko's [[The Lancer|second in command]].

* In-universe [[Fantastic Racism]] version here: In ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'', Dr. Pulaski is well-known for her casual dismissal of Data as anything other than a mere machine. However, she is shocked--''shocked''-- when Data is defeated in a chess-like game by a flesh-and-blood man, fully expecting him to ace the challenge.

* ''[[~~ICarly~~]]'' has the episode ''iHireAnIdiot'' where Carly and Sam hire a male intern based on the fact that he's handsome, despite him being an idiot. For revenge, Freddie hires an attractive female intern who is also an idiot. At the end of the episode, it turned out that she was actually a brilliant college student pretending to be stupid.

* ''[[iCarly]]'' has the episode ''iHireAnIdiot'' where Carly and Sam hire a male intern based on the fact that he's handsome, despite him being an idiot. For revenge, Freddie hires an attractive female intern who is also an idiot. At the end of the episode, it turned out that she was actually a brilliant college student pretending to be stupid.

* Parodied in ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'', where Marshall's father suggests he borrow an umbrella from the Koreans down the hall, since Koreans are apparently all wise enough to be [[Crazy Prepared|prepared for any situation]] and compassionate enough to lend their things out to neighbors. Marshall is just as confused as everyone else. Note, however, that the Koreans ''did'' lend him an umbrella.

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== Western Animation ==

* ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' began its existence with Marge and Lisa being clearly smarter and more sensible than their male relatives. This was taken to the extreme in an episode where it was revealed that there was a "Simpson gene" for stupidity which only affected males ([[Discontinuity|we don't mention that episode much]], [[Canon ~~Dis Continuity~~|and the writers seem to have retconned it]]). As the series progressed, Marge developed her own idiotic habits, but so did everyone else in Springfield... save Lisa, who apparently absorbed every ounce of common sense and intelligence in the city. Of course, it didn't have anywhere else to ''go''. It was [[Early Installment Weirdness|much different in the very earliest episodes]]: Homer was relatively well-adjusted (if a bit naive), Marge was a [[Lady Drunk]], and Bart and Lisa were equally annoying, bratty nitwits. On the DVD commentaries, Al Jean has said that they once considered a bit that had Homer strangling Lisa, but others on the staff objected and were downright uncomfortable with such a notion. Jean then added that such opinions haven't been expressed in regards to Homer strangling Bart. It's perhaps worth noting that this trope stands tall in most of their cultural parodies too. For example, their Adam and Eve parody is altered so that Adam was tempted to eat the forbidden fruit, [[Dirty Coward|and then frames Eve for it]], meanwhile the Milhouse-enacted Moses is depicted as an incompetent coward with the Lisa-enacted Aaron suggesting to free the Hebrews (albeit self preserving enough to bully [[The Scapegoat|Moses]] to defy the Pharaoh for her). The show ''really'' thrives on this trope with everything they do. Granted the probable reason the show manages to use this so consistently without being outright insufferable is that the girl cast are only more competent ''compared to the males''. Lisa and Marge are gifted but still highly flawed individuals that can play the [[Idiot Ball]] or even act like [[Jerkass]] types on frequent occasions, just not nearly as consistently as Homer and Bart. Averted as well with Krusty the Clown and Karl. Krusty, who is a Jew, has simply too many flaws to even list. [[You Are What You Hate|He doesn't really see himself as a Jew and even hates Jews]] (mostly because of his [[Freudian Excuse|daddy issues]]), so there's that. Karl, who is black, is part of a [[Comic Trio]] with Homer and Lenny, and has no problem in getting drunk or joining their bizarre plans. Similarly, Apu is not presented in an unambiguously positive light. Indeed, in his early appearances he seemed little more than a broad caricature of Indian immigrants. Again, however they are more competent ''in comparison''. As stand alone characters the likes of Karl and Apu are fairly flawed and humanized, but much more toned down compared to their co stars and more likely to be [[The Straight Man]] against them (Karl indeed is often the [[Only Sane Man]] of the [[Comic Trio]], if only just).

* ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' began its existence with Marge and Lisa being clearly smarter and more sensible than their male relatives. This was taken to the extreme in an episode where it was revealed that there was a "Simpson gene" for stupidity which only affected males ([[Discontinuity|we don't mention that episode much]], [[Canon Discontinuity|and the writers seem to have retconned it]]). As the series progressed, Marge developed her own idiotic habits, but so did everyone else in Springfield... save Lisa, who apparently absorbed every ounce of common sense and intelligence in the city. Of course, it didn't have anywhere else to ''go''. It was [[Early Installment Weirdness|much different in the very earliest episodes]]: Homer was relatively well-adjusted (if a bit naive), Marge was a [[Lady Drunk]], and Bart and Lisa were equally annoying, bratty nitwits. On the DVD commentaries, Al Jean has said that they once considered a bit that had Homer strangling Lisa, but others on the staff objected and were downright uncomfortable with such a notion. Jean then added that such opinions haven't been expressed in regards to Homer strangling Bart. It's perhaps worth noting that this trope stands tall in most of their cultural parodies too. For example, their Adam and Eve parody is altered so that Adam was tempted to eat the forbidden fruit, [[Dirty Coward|and then frames Eve for it]], meanwhile the Milhouse-enacted Moses is depicted as an incompetent coward with the Lisa-enacted Aaron suggesting to free the Hebrews (albeit self preserving enough to bully [[The Scapegoat|Moses]] to defy the Pharaoh for her). The show ''really'' thrives on this trope with everything they do. Granted the probable reason the show manages to use this so consistently without being outright insufferable is that the girl cast are only more competent ''compared to the males''. Lisa and Marge are gifted but still highly flawed individuals that can play the [[Idiot Ball]] or even act like [[Jerkass]] types on frequent occasions, just not nearly as consistently as Homer and Bart. Averted as well with Krusty the Clown and Karl. Krusty, who is a Jew, has simply too many flaws to even list. [[You Are What You Hate|He doesn't really see himself as a Jew and even hates Jews]] (mostly because of his [[Freudian Excuse|daddy issues]]), so there's that. Karl, who is black, is part of a [[Comic Trio]] with Homer and Lenny, and has no problem in getting drunk or joining their bizarre plans. Similarly, Apu is not presented in an unambiguously positive light. Indeed, in his early appearances he seemed little more than a broad caricature of Indian immigrants. Again, however they are more competent ''in comparison''. As stand alone characters the likes of Karl and Apu are fairly flawed and humanized, but much more toned down compared to their co stars and more likely to be [[The Straight Man]] against them (Karl indeed is often the [[Only Sane Man]] of the [[Comic Trio]], if only just).

** The episode "The Last Temptation of Homer" played this trope ridiculously straight, especially in comparison to the farcical depiction of female characters in earlier episodes. Facing a string of lawsuits, Mr. Burns is forced to adopt an affirmative action hiring policy so he at least won't get hit with an anti-discrimination lawsuit (though why he wouldn't have been forced to do this before 1993 is never explained). As a result, the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant hires its first-ever female technician, Mindy Simmons (voiced by guest star Michelle Pfeiffer). Much to Homer's consternation, he discovers that [[Distaff Counterpart|Mindy shares all of his good qualities]] (proudly working-class, friendly, fun-loving) and none of his bad ones. Indeed, despite being shown [[Big Eater|eating at least as much as Homer does]], Mindy never gains any weight and remains forever a sexy babe. And while she does have at least ''some'' flaws, Mindy seems downright perfect compared to silly, pathetic, bumbling, stupid Homer. She's definitely the more grown-up and sensible of the two, and all the humiliating gags in the episode are at Homer's expense. All this, of course, is to test Homer's morality: can he remain faithful to Marge while in the constant presence of this goddess (quite literally, as Homer imagines Mindy as Venus the first time he sees her)? A subversion of the trope finally came in a later episode, in which [[Continuity Nod|Homer finally confessed to his family his temptation to sleep with Mindy]] (which he didn't do), and assured everyone that they never see each other anymore, because Mindy [[Not So Above It All|"hit the bottle pretty hard and lost her job."]]

*** Amusingly this was despite the episode seemingly trying to subvert the trope and displaying Mindy as a bumbling, more compatable female for Homer, however many of her flaws mirroring Homer's are minor or merely implied. The show doesn't seem to know how to get away from this trope, even when it's ''trying it's hardest to avoid it''.