Sassy Black Woman: Difference between revisions

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[[File:black-woman-~~attitude_4523~~.jpg|frame| [[Oh No You Didn't|Oh, no you]] '''[[Oh No You Didn't|di-idn't]]'''!!]]

[[File:black-woman-attitude 4523.jpg|frame| [[Oh No You Didn't|Oh, no you]] '''[[Oh No You Didn't|di-idn't]]'''!!]]

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''"You better R-E-S-P-E-C-T me"''|'''[[Jay-Z]]''', "Girls, Girls, Girls"}}

Since the era of Jim Crow, black people could be more ~~outspoken -- to~~ a point, particularly if they were female. To illustrate this, Sassy "Mammy" figures could scold the family they worked for and playfully berate their employers (to show that Blacks were not being oppressed). As the Civil Rights movement came up in the 60s, black people in media could be more outspoken. And because of feminism, the same thing applied for women. [[Twofer Token Minority|Combine these]], and you get the sassy black woman. It started with the heroines of [[Blaxploitation]] movies, like ''[[Coffy]]'' and ''[[Foxy Brown]]'' (both played by [[Pam Grier]]), and continued into the 1980s.

Since the era of Jim Crow, black people could be more outspoken—to a point, particularly if they were female. To illustrate this, Sassy "Mammy" figures could scold the family they worked for and playfully berate their employers (to show that Blacks were not being oppressed). As the Civil Rights movement came up in the 60s, black people in media could be more outspoken. And because of feminism, the same thing applied for women. [[Twofer Token Minority|Combine these]], and you get the sassy black woman. It started with the heroines of [[Blaxploitation]] movies, like ''[[Coffy]]'' and ''[[Foxy Brown]]'' (both played by [[Pam Grier]]), and continued into the 1980s.

She's defined by her vivaciousness, humor and joie de vivre, and can make a good counterpoint to the more grim or snarky members of the cast. In complete contrast to her other variation, is not only a pleasure to be around, but is also so the go to girl for advice and help. These characters usually make good leaders, because though generally fun, insightful, they are still firm in decisions, trustworthy, and speak their minds. Also like the [[Spicy Latina]], the character will usually be sexually liberated and have no qualms acting in a sexual manner, though usually in a less pronounced manner. The positive version is now portrayed a lot more than the negative version, mainly because of the [[Unfortunate Implications]], that portraying black women in only this way had. It's also rather common for the positive variant to be the [[Only Sane Woman]] of a group, in which case her "sass" will be more like "[[Deadpan Snarker|exasperated sarcasm]]".

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*** Pretty much any sitcom with a predominently African-American cast(I.E.-Moesha, All Of Us, Eve, My Wife And Kids, The Bernie Mac Show, The Hughleys, For Your Love, One On One, Half And Half, etc) has at least one example of this trope.

* Maxine, Khadijah, and Regine, from [[Living Single]]

* The black women on [[Reality Show~~|Reality Shows~~]] tend to be of this variety, ''especially'' those on [[MTV]] (Gladys from ''[[Road Rules]]: Latin America'' stands out in particular, as she was booted early in the show for fighting). It's harder to find black female roommates/contestants who ''don't'' fit this stereotype.

* The black women on [[Reality Show]]s tend to be of this variety, ''especially'' those on [[MTV]] (Gladys from ''[[Road Rules]]: Latin America'' stands out in particular, as she was booted early in the show for fighting). It's harder to find black female roommates/contestants who ''don't'' fit this stereotype.

** Alicia Calaway from ''[[Survivor]]'' is another notable example. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xl94fj2nHZo This famous scene] pretty much exemplifies her sassiness.

*** Other ''[[Survivor]]'' alums of note include Sherea of ''China'', Ghandia of ''Thailand'', Candace of ''Tocantins'', Yasmin of ''Samoa'', and three-time competitor Cirie, though Cirie tends to be portrayed more often as friendly and sweet but quippy than outright sassy, and is also given considerable character depth.

*** Naonka of ''Nicaragua'' is one of the extreme negative versions, having taken an instant and vocal (to the [[Confession Cam]]) dislike to Jud (dubbed "Fabio" by his tribe, a male [[Dumb Blonde]] but a nice guy) and Kelly (who had her leg amputated at birth).

* Mother and daughter Mary Lou and Ivy are both ~~[[Sassy Black Woman|~~Sassy Black Women]] on ''[[Good Luck Charlie]]'' though Ivy has a bit of an edge on her mother since Mary Lou likes jigsaw puzzles and likes to sing "Row Row Row Your Boat" in German.

* Mother and daughter Mary Lou and Ivy are both Sassy Black Women on ''[[Good Luck Charlie]]'' though Ivy has a bit of an edge on her mother since Mary Lou likes jigsaw puzzles and likes to sing "Row Row Row Your Boat" in German.

* Cheryl, Kenan's mother on ''[[Kenan and Kel]]'' is fairly mellow but she shows signs of this in the episode where Chris moves into the house.

* Raven from ''[[That's So Raven]]'' though it got cranked [[Up to Eleven]] when she guest starred on ''[[The Suite Life]]'' as the same character. Loca from Alana's [[Girl Posse]] manages to be both this and a [[Brawn Hilda]] as well.

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== Professional Wrestling ==

* Sharmell Huffman, Booker T's wife, was this in her initial face persona. "Can you dig it, sucka" sounded so much better when coming out of her mouth.

** This made it all the funnier when, after Booker became King of the Ring, the two of them tried to pass themselves as [[Upper Class Twit~~|Upper Class Twits~~]].

** This made it all the funnier when, after Booker became King of the Ring, the two of them tried to pass themselves as [[Upper Class Twit]]s.

* Naomi Night on NXT season 3 who went so far as to [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|call out Michael Cole]].

* Jacqueline Moore, when she actually spoke, managed the cigar smoking, beer chugging, poker playing APA and joined in just as well. In TNA she was also with their carbon copies Beer Money Inc.

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* Libby from ''[[The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron]]'', who's actually the [[Black Best Friend]] of the [[Alpha Bitch]], Cindy Vortex.

* Leshawna on ''[[Total Drama Island]]''.

* Foxxy Love on ''[[Drawn Together]]'' is all ~~sass -- and~~ yet another [[Cree Summer]] voice role.

* Foxxy Love on ''[[Drawn Together]]'' is all sass—and yet another [[Cree Summer]] voice role.

* Loretta Brown, Cleveland's deceased ex-wife on ''[[Family Guy]]''. Also used for comedic effect in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&feature=endscreen&v=PmEvxswn4IY some] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AajslFuPro of their] [[Cutaway Gag|one-shot bits]].

* Trixie in ''[[American Dragon: Jake Long]]''.<ref> Odd bit of background on this one: the executives tried to [[Executive Meddling|tone her down]], but most of her characterization came from her voice actress, Miss Kittie. The execs didn't have the sheer Balzac it took to ask a black woman to act less like ''herself'' to her face, and dropped the issue.</ref>

* Trixie in ''[[American Dragon: Jake Long]]''.<ref>Odd bit of background on this one: the executives tried to [[Executive Meddling|tone her down]], but most of her characterization came from her voice actress, Miss Kittie. The execs didn't have the sheer Balzac it took to ask a black woman to act less like ''herself'' to her face, and dropped the issue.</ref>

* Aka Pella from ''[[Histeria!]]!''

* Valerie Gray from ''[[Danny Phantom]]''.