Salt and Pepper: Difference between revisions

[[File:saltandpeppershakers.jpg|framethumb|350px|[[Seinfeld|"Two races of flavor living side by side in harmony. It's a wonderful thing, isn't it?"]]]]

[['''Salt and Pepper]]''' seems to be becoming subverted more often today due to increased racial awareness, so that it is the white person who is a homicidal maniac, and the black person is smart, savvy, and always the one to come up with a solution ([[Positive Discrimination|occasionally to the point]] [[Magical Negro|of being a]] [[Mary Sue]]). Another common subversion is for the ''black'' guy to be uptight and the ''white'' guy to be relaxed. An alternate version is a pairing of a white character with a Hispanic character called a "Cafe con Leche". Please note, however, that being two different races is not enough for this trope. There must be some kind of contrast in their personalities for it to work.

For American media, this may be [http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=cop_movie more common] in [[Film|the movies]] (''Lethal Weapon'', ''[[Die Hard (Film)|Die Hard]] 1 2 AND 3'') than on TV as television shows often seem more segregated.

* The [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] series ''[[Blood Plus+]]'' pairs thin, ultraserious, white David with fat, easygoing, black Lewis.

** This also features a potential inversion/subversion with the reserved and serious (black) James and the flamboyant and affectionate (white) Nathan. Both are Diva's Chevaliers, but they never actually work together in battle. Still, if all the touching and flirting is anything to go by, Nathan certainly wants them to be an [[Odd Couple]].

*** ''[[Blood: theThe Last Vampire]]'', the [[Alternate Continuity]] predecessor of ''[[Blood Plus+]]'', features different versions of David and Lewis.

* ''[[Bleach]]'' gives us Urahara and Yoruichi, which play this trope straight and invert it. When it comes to their everyday personalities, Yoruichi is a vivacious [[The Tease|flirtatious]] pepper while Urahara is a hard-to-read [[Trickster Mentor|trickster]] salt. However, when it comes to mentoring [[The Hero|Ichigo]], Urahara is ''batshit insane'' white pepper of a [[Sink or Swim Mentor]], while Yoruichi is a calm and controlled black salt whose tests, while equally dangerous, are a lot less wacky.

* November 11 and April in ''[[Darker Thanthan Black]]'' are, respectively, a [[Incredibly Lame Pun|cool]], collected, and [[Badass in Aa Nice Suit|impeccably-dressed]] [[The Charmer|charmer]] currently gracing the [[Phenotype Stereotype]] page and an easygoing black [[Bottle Fairy]] who dresses like a party girl and <s> dyes her hair bright blue</s> has naturally [[You Gotta Have Blue Hair|bright blue hair]]. They're antagonists, though.

* [[Immortal Iron Fist|Iron Fist]] (white martial arts master raised in an other-dimensional city) and [[Luke Cage, Hero for Hire|Power Man]] (wrongfully accused black ex-con living in Times Square and freelancing as a superhero) in the Marvel comic ''Heroes for Hire''. Both were created in the '70s during the kung-fu and [[Blaxploitation]] crazes. Best [[Odd Couple]] ever.

** From the same era are the Daughters of the Dragon: the asian Colleen Wing and black Misty Knight, combining inspirations from ''[[CharliesCharlie's Angels]]'' and ''[[Cleopatra Jones]].''

* Marvel's [[Cloak and Dagger (Comic Bookcomics)|Cloak and Dagger]].

* Also from [[Marvel Comics]] is [[Captain America (comics)]] and his former partner [[The Falcon]]. They don't team-up as often as they used to but they invoked this trope, although both are very straight-laced.

** There is also the USAgent and Battle Star, a b-list [[Anti-Hero Substitute]] to Cap and his African American partner. Agent is the more violent of the two while Battle Star is more sensible.

== Fan FicWorks ==

* In ''[[Keepers of the Elements (Fanfic)|Keepers of the Elements]]'', there are two notable subversions. With Travis and Milah, Travis is the straight-laced, by the book one and Milah is is the more outgoing, risk-taking one. The other subversion is that of Nasira and Hasim, Nasira being the straight-laced one and Hasim is the fun loving one, who while he doesn't go against the rules, is certainly more flexible when it comes to them.

* Agents J and K, from the ''[[Men in Black (Filmfilm)|Men in Black]]'' movies and animated series; in the [[Men in Black (Comic Bookcomics)|original comic]], both were white.

* Further subversion in the ''[[Lethal Weapon (Film)|Lethal Weapon]]'' series: the by-the-book (and black) Roger Murtaugh is nearing retirement from the police force, while new partner Martin Riggs is the titular lethal weapon.

* Parodied in a [[Show Within a Show]] during ''[[Major League]] 2'' called ''Black Hammer, White Lightning'', with a pair of [[Salt and Pepper]]-ish ''[[Rambo]]'' wannabes. Featured such such [[Witty Banter]] as this:

{{quote| '''Black Hammer:''' Mine fell harder!<br />

* Jack Cates and Reggie Hammond in the movie ''[[Forty48 Eight HoursHrs.|48 HRS]]''.

* Subverted in the movie ''Amos and Andrew'', with [[Samuel L. Jackson]] as uptight Andrew and Nicolas Cage as crazy criminal Amos.

* And similar (being an [[Affectionate Parody]]), ''[[Robin Hood: Men in Tights]]'' had the very British Robin Hood with Hatchoo, who is so [[Jive Turkey]] that he wears his hat backwards..

{{quote| ''"While she burnt the ghetto to the ground, he light the sabbath candles by night."''}}

* Detective Virgil Tibbs and Sheriff Bill Gillespie from ''[[In the Heat of Thethe Night]]'', both the 1967 movie and its 1988 TV show.

* No less than three sets in ''[[King of New York]]'': drug lord Frank White (salt) and his right-hand goon Jimmy Jump (pepper), Frank's [[Bodyguard Babes]] Melanie (salt) and Raye (pepper), and [[Rabid Cop|Rabid Cops]]s Denis Gilley (salt) and Tommy Flanigan (pepper).

* ''Rising Sun'', with Wesley Snipes and [[Sean Connery]].

* ''[[Pulp Fiction]]'' has the duo of Jules Winnfield (a [[Scary Black Man]] played by [[Samuel L. Jackson]]) and Vincent Vega (a soft-spoken, slightly dorky white guy played by [[John Travolta (Creator)]]). Both are prone to moments of deep philosophical insight, leading to a lot of [[Seinfeldian Conversation]].

* [[Stuck]]'s leads, Tre and Nora. He's a black [[Genius Ditz]] with a [[Brilliant but Lazy|slacker complex]], while she's a white [[Stepford Snarker]] who can be uptight at times, [[Mood Swinger|depending on her mood.]] They end up in a happy relationship (which has its ups and downs).

** The show also had another occasional salt & pepper combination in [[Ethnic Scrappy|Ethnic Scrappies]] Izzy (hispanic) and Noogie (black), both of whom were two of the worst [[Jive Turkey|Jive Turkeys]]s ever to appear on the screen. Possibly their worst moment was when they shared an [[A Day in Thethe Limelight]] episode with [[Those Two Guys]] Switek and Zito, causing the [[The Scrappy|Scrappy-o-Meter]] to go off the scale.

** Not to mention the heroes' [[Distaff Counterpart|Distaff Counterparts]]s, Gina and Trudy (also hispanic and black).

** It goes back further than that-- thethat—the very first A.D.A.s, Stone and Robinette.

* The seasons of ''[[Law and Order Special Victims Unit|Law And Order: Special Victims Unit]]'' featuring Munch and Jefferies or Munch and Tutola.

* ''[[Angel]]'''s Wes and Gunn, who notably reversed roles during the show's run. Wes started out as a strait-laced, tightly-wound British stereotype and evolved into a brooding, morally ambiguous badass, while Gunn started out running a vampire-hunting street gang but later, thanks to some [[Applied Phlebotinum]], became a sharp-suited lawyer.

* A 2006 series of Twinings tea commercials in the UK featured the incredibly English [[Stephen Fry]] (the "face" of Twinings since 2005) running a tea shop with a [[Jive Turkey]] named Tyrone, who suggested the Earl Grey slogan could be "Feel the zing in your ding-a-ling!"

{{quote| '''Gus''': Let me guess. I'm the pepper, you're the salt. }}

* ''Tenspeed & Brownshoe'' a 1980 Stephen Cannell creation starring Jeff Goldblum as Lionel Whitney, a karate-chopping ex-stockbroker private-eye wanna-be that takes all his inspiration and advice from Mark Savage, a fictional character in a series of 40's style detective novels (Stephen Cannel's photograph appeared on the dust jackets as the author of the books). Thrown together in the pilot episode with his co-star, Ben Vereen, playing E.L. Turner a street-wise hustler and con-man, in a caper after E.L. steals a million dollars from the mob, which the mob had gotten by fencing Nazi diamonds. This gets both the mob and the Nazis after him and a confused Lionel, who is about to be married, and whom both groups believe to be E.L.'s partner. 14 episodes were made and this was Jeff Goldblum's only major television role until ''Raines'' and ''[[Law and Order: Criminal Intent]]'' in [[The Aughts]].

* A funny parody had Larry Wilmore discussing this trope on [[The Daily Show]] in regards to Barack Obama's search for a vice presidential running mate. Film clips illustrated how over the years black leads have been teamed up with [[Forty48 Eight HoursHrs.|cops]], [[White Men CantCan't Jump|nerdy guys]], [[I Am Legend|dogs]], "[[Blazing Saddles|Gene Wilder]]...[[Silver Streak|Gene Wilder]]...[[Stir Crazy|Gene Wilder]]...It was a different time." This leads into a further discussion of the [[Magical Negro]] trope (as in ''The Green Mile'', ''The Legend of Bagger Vance'', and ''Kazaam'') as it would apply to Obama.

* Although ''[[Red Dwarf (TV)|Red Dwarf]]'' is set in the far future where contemporary notions of race may not apply, the extremely uptight Rimmer (played by white British actor Chris Barrie) and the laid-back, slobby Lister (played by half-West-Indian half-Irish Brit Craig Charles) fulfill this trope. (You could probably also throw in Holly and the Cat.)

* Turk and J.D. from ''[[Scrubs]]''

* ''[[Homicide: Life Onon the Street]]'' plays it a little differently with Pembleton and Bayliss. Black Pembleton is a tightly wound intellectual with an unforgiving set of morals. White Bayliss was nakedly emotional and always wanted to see everyone's viewpoint.

* ''[[Flash Forward 2009|FlashForward]]'' did a white guy/Asian guy variation on this, with Mark being the introverted and brooding (and unfortunately prone to holding the [[Idiot Ball]]) white guy and Demetri being the more [[Hot-Blooded]] and impulsive and competent of the pair.

* Degrassi had JT and Liberty. JT, the white one in the pairing, was humorous, relaxed, and not very smart. Liberty was a teen genius, didn't have a sense of humour, and was always worrying. They end up falling in love.

** Also there is the friendship of Jimmy, the cool guy who can rap, dance, and play basketball, with the Spinner who's tough but can't dance because he's white. It's averted with Hazle who tries to be just like Paige.

* In ''[[Community]]'' episode [[Community (TV)/Recap/S1 /E20 The Science of Illusion|The Science of Illusion]] has Annie and Shirley acting as campus security.

* [[Angel Coulby]] and [[Katie McGrath]] from ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]'' make a striking pair as [[Foil|Morgana and Guinevere]]. The latter worked as the former's maid-servant, and where Morgana is passionate, high-strung and easily corrupted, Gwen is down-to-earth, practical and calm.

* "Eenie Meenie" by [[Justin Bieber (Music)|Justin Bieber]] and Sean Kingston.

* In [[World Wrestling Entertainment|WWE]], The World's Greatest Tag Team. A subversion in that Shelton Benjamin (the black one) is the relatively straight one (though he's still an insufferable self-centered ass), and Charlie Haas (the white one) is a veritable [[Jive Turkey]] (to quote Rory, one of the Highlanders, "I didn't know Charlie Haas was black!").

* The ''[[Tales Series(series)]]'' loves to play around with this one, which is fitting as several of its games ''really'' get into the guts of race, and discrimination, tropes and often end up subverting or deconstructing the crap out of them.

** ''[[Tales of Eternia (Video Game)|Tales of Eternia]]'' features the mages Keele, a [[Deadpan Snarker]] who always has to have the last word and more or less exemplifies [[The Smart Guy]] and Meredy, [[The Ditz|the ditzy]] [[Adult Child|seven year-old living in a teenage body]]. Eventually deconstructed when it's revealed that a) Meredy knows a ''lot'' more than anyone realises: she just doesn't "get" [[Values Dissonance|Inferian culture]] (due to coming from a world that's very far down the "Emotions" side of [[Emotions vs. Stoicism]]), and b) [[Dark and Troubled Past|the reasons as to]] ''[[Dark and Troubled Past|why]]'' [[Break the Cutie|she became such a]] [[Cloudcuckoolander]] [[Break the Cutie|are horrifying]]. {{spoiler|Her family was betrayed and she was forced to watch her mother cross the [[Despair Event Horizon]]: becoming an [[Eldritch Abomination]] possessed by a [[God of Evil]].}}

** ''[[Tales of Destiny (Video Game)|Tales of Destiny]]'' has multiple examples:

*** [[The Hero|Stahn]] being a naive, silly but [[Wide -Eyed Idealist|well-meaning]] white pepper to [[The Wise Prince|Woodrow]]/[[Woolseyism|Garr]]'s calm, collected black salt.

*** Another inversion happens with Woodrow and [[Genki Girl|Chelsea]]. He's still the [[Badass]] yet [[The Smart Guy|wise]] black salt to her hyperactive, fangirlish white pepper.

** ''[[Tales of Destiny (Video Game)|Tales of Destiny 2]]'' gives us another inversion. [[The Hero|Kyle]] is a [[Hot-Blooded]] white [[Kid Hero]] who will ''not'' stop harping on about [[To Be a Master|how he's going to be a true hero]] some day. [[The Lancer|Loni]] is a much calmer [[Chivalrous Pervert]] [[Big Brother Mentor]] [[Black Best Friend]] who generally tries to keep Kyle out of trouble with mixed results. Loni has a similar dynamic with his love interest, the [[Fiery Redhead]] [[Hot Amazon]] [[The Archer|Nanaly]].

*** Played straight with the villains; [[Big Bad|Elra]][[The Evil Genius|ine]] and [[The Dragon|Barba]][[The Brute|tos]]. However, this one proves ''very'' much that [[Tropes Are Not Bad]] because it was the latter who went on to become a [[Memetic Badass]] (in hindsight, [[Norio Wakamoto]]'s voice may have helped) while Elraine is largely forgotten by the ''Tales'' community.

** ''[[Tales of Rebirth (Video Game)|Tales of Rebirth]]'' is ''another'' inversion. [[The Big Guy|Eugene]], the closest thing the 'verse has to a [[Scary Black Man]], looks like the pepper but turns out to be an [[Only Sane Man|extremely sane]] [[Team Dad]]. The whites, on the other hand, are varying degrees of [[Idiot Hero]], [[Hot-Blooded]] and [[Leeroy Jenkins]]. This evades the potential [[Mary Sue]] problem, however, through the fact that the naive idealism of the latter ends up saving the day just as many times as the former's logic. Furthermore, after the [[Disk One Final Boss]], {{spoiler|Eugene becomes infected with its negative emotions and it's revealed that his wise, stoic personality is being deliberately invoked by him to try and desperately suppress the rage that's building up due to all of the [[Fantastic Racism]].}}

*** A played-straight example from the same game is Saleh (salt) and Tomah (pepper). However, it's worth noting that in this case they're ''both'' [[Complete Monster|Complete Monsters]]s who run around the world [[Kick the Dog|kicking puppies]], [[Manipulative Bastard|manipulating innocents]] and [[Break the Cutie|tormenting anyone they can victimise]] [[For the Evulz|just because they can]].

*** Played with with the Halfs (yes, they're the same race, but it [[Makes Sense in Context]]) [[Sixth Ranger|Hilda]] and the darker-toned [[Broken Bird|Militsa]]. Hilda is a white pepper effectively trying to pass as salt, while Militsa is a black salt who clearly wishes she could be more peppery but just finds it easier to bottle everything up and be a by-the-book [[Punch Clock Villain]]. The dynamic continues even after Hilda's [[Heel Face Turn]].

** It's different ''planets'' as opposed to ethnic backgrounds in ''[[Tales of Symphonia (Video Game)|Tales of Symphonia]]'', but Lloyd Irving, who is steadfastly committed to his principles of goodness and righteousness, and Zelos Wilder, a [[Chaotic Neutral]] [[Chivalrous Pervert]], clearly have the makings of this trope going on. In the same vein, so do [[Love Freak]] Colette and [[Action Girl]] Sheena.

*** In terms of race, the elf Genis is the salt to Lloyd's pepper. {{spoiler|This dynamic continues even after Genis is revealed to be a Half-Elf.}}

** Yet ''another'' villainous example occurs in ''[[Tales of Legendia (Video Game)|Tales of Legendia]]''. Interestingly enough, both are [[Big Bad|Big Bads]]s but don't work together so much as one plays off the other's mistakes to further their goals; making for an exploitive inversion of how the trope is usually meant to work. Of the two, Vaclav is the [[Ambiguously Brown]] brawler who has no regard for even the rules of his own country, never seems to have much of a plan beyond "Kill 'em all and let the flames sort it out" and has a much more relaxed attitude (although he's far from [[Affably Evil]]). The pasty-skinned {{spoiler|Maurits}}, on the other hand, is a textbook [[The Chessmaster|chessmaster]] who exploits the flaws in Vaclav's plans to lay the foundations for advancing his own goals. A straight, heroic example would be [[The Smart Guy|Jay]] and [[Chivalrous Pervert|Moses]].

** For exactly the same reasons as {{spoiler|Lloyd and Zelos}}, [[Tales of Xillia|Jude and Alvin]] are an inversion. Played straight with Milla and her [[Loony Fan]] Ivar, although ultimately deconstructed as her being so salty results in her refusing to take him seriously due to his extremely peppery nature, {{spoiler|resulting in what is basically the mother of all fuck-ups as the [[Dragon Withwith an Agenda]]'s [[Batman Gambit]] goes off without a hitch.}} [[Character Development|They both learn from it]].

* ''[[Dragon Age II]]'' plays it straight with the naive but well-meaning and culturally-loyal ([[From a Certain Point of View|well, from her perspective]]) Merrill and the [[Ambiguously Brown|Ambiguously Bronze]] pirate Isabela, who is both [[Incredibly Lame Pun|savvy]] and totally unconcerned with anyone's rules but her own.

* Even though 90% of its characters are [[Petting Zoo People]], ''[[Breath of Fire 2]]'' still has a straight example with Nina and Katt. The former is a lawful, almost Caucasian-like [[Black Magician Girl]] while the latter is a darker-furred [[Hot-Blooded]] [[Action Girl]]. She averts being her universe's equivalent of a [[Sassy Black Woman]], however. She's too busy being a heroic [[Blood Knight]].

* On ''[[The Simpsons]]'', there are two [[Salt and Pepper]] pairs -- Lennypairs—Lenny and Carl, and Lou and Eddie. Though none of them seem to be funky or by the book; they're more "barely competent" and "not that bright all around".

* Numbers 2 and 5 of ''[[Codename: Kids Next Door]]''; though 5 is general the street-wise ''and'' straight one, with 2 largely being a book-smart wannabe.

** Taken further in the [[Distant Finale]]. {{spoiler|[[Official Couple|They're]] [[Happily Married|married]]}}.

* ''[[Justice League (Animationanimation)|Justice League]]'' features the inversion with uptight [[Military Superhero|ex-marine]] John Stewart/Green Lantern paired up with [[Fun Personified|goofball]] Flash.

* On ''[[Total Drama Island]],'' the lanky white nerd Harold with [[Sassy Black Woman]] Leshawna. He also has a huge and obvious crush on her which she seems to eventually reciprocate.

** Though they were never a team until Total Drama Action.

* Parodied as well as being a [[Shout-Out]] to [[Men in Black (Filmfilm)|Men in Black]] on ''[[Johnny Test]]'' with (white) Mr. Black and (black) Mr. White.

** They were both pretty nerdy actually, and Richie only became smarter with his power, whearas before Virgil was much smarter.

* There are more than a few shades of this on ''[[Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers (Animation)|Galaxy Rangers]]'' when Goose and Doc are paired up. It also helps that Doc is a high-class gentleman and [[The Smart Guy]] while Goose is an [[Artificial Human]] designed for combat.

* [[The Brigadier|Brigadier General]] [[Robin Olds]], [[Yanks With Tanks|USAF]]. An [[Ace Pilot]] who flew P-38s and P-51s in [[World War II]], he went on to fly F-4 Phantoms in [[The Vietnam War]], alongside his wingman, a black pilot named Daniel James, Jr. They had the nickname of "[[PunA Worldwide Punomenon|Blackman and Robin.]]" Together, they were responsible for Operation Bolo, a mission where F-4 Phantoms would [[A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing|pretend to be F-105 Thunderchiefs]] on bombing missions, pouncing on North Vietnamese MiGs that thought they had an easy kill coming. The success of this operation lead to the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing being known to this day as the [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Wolfpack.]]

[[Category:Black Index, White Index]]

[[Category:Salt and Pepper{{PAGENAME}}]]