Token Minority: Difference between revisions

 

 

* Poor Hans, in ''[[The Daughter of Twenty Faces]]'', is seemingly the only non-Japanese member of a group of burglars led by [[Gentleman Thief]] "Twenty-Faces" that is ostensibly a globe-trotting organization. He often uses [[Gratuitous German]], to boot.

* ''[[Macross]]''/''[[Robotech]]'' had Claudia Grant/Claudia LaSalle, apparently the only black woman on the entire ship. ''Southern Cross'' had Bowie Emerson, seemingly the only black man on the entire planet Glorie. In ''Robotech'', he was re-written to be Claudia's nephew.

 

 

* Adam Brashear, the Blue Marvel who featured in the eponymous mini series of 2009, represents a rather awkward representation of this trope. He is for all intents and purposes (in the context of the story) a Black Superman from a time when the adjective was quite emphatically capitalized. And applied as a noun. It doesn't help that even without his powers, Brashear is a super-man - an athlete, military hero and scientific genius who gained ultra-super-powers when the experimental anti-matter reactor he was creating exploded. For about a year, he was the primary hero of the Marvel Universe (perhaps coincidentally around the same time the Sentry was supposedly very successful), but then it was discovered he was Black, which immediately led to outrage and uproar among both Black and White communities, until the President (JFK) gave the Blue Marvel the Congressional Medal of Honor and told him to quit being a superhero. Which he did until the present day. After his mini-series, he has made only cameo appearances.

* Under the "women as minorities" category (which, in superhero comics, they definitely were until relatively recently and in many books still are) every superhero team used to have [[The Smurfette Principle|exactly one female member]]. [[The Avengers (Comic Book)|The Avengers]] had [[The Wasp]] (later replaced by the Scarlet Witch), the [[Fantastic Four]] had the Invisible Girl (later Invisible Woman), the [[Justice League]] had [[Wonder Woman]] (or the Black Canary, [[Retcon|depending on when you asked]]), the [[Teen Titans (Comic Book)|Teen Titans]] had Wonder Girl, the original [[X-Men]] had Marvel Girl, and the second team of X-Men had Storm (who was also, for quite a while, the only Black X-Man. She joined the team along with Sunfire, a Japanese man who left almost immediately, and Thunderbird, a Native American man who died almost immediately, making her also the only active non-Caucasian X-Man for a good while). All those teams except the FF tend to have more female members these days (though the JLA goes through periods of focusing on [[DC Comics|D.C.'s]] "Big 7" wherein Wonder Woman is the only female member) and some have gone through stretches where the women outnumbered the men.

** According to Christopher Priest, Falcon's nickname in the Marvel offices throughout the 70s and early 80s was "Fal-coon". No, Priest wasn't alright with it, though being a lowly intern at the time, he didn't raise a big stink. In his blog, he refuses to name the co-workers who used it for fear of burning his bridges.

* Empress was the sole minority member of the original ''[[Young Justice (comics)|Young Justice]]'' team, and was added relatively late into the run.

 

=== Fan Works ===

* While the 2006 historical film ''[[Flyboys]]'' was already heavily criticised for its historical inaccuracies relating to its World War I setting, one of the more amusing ones came from the film's fictional Token Minority, Eugene Skinner, a black boxer who joined the squadron to 'pay back' his adopted homeland. Mainly because the end of the movie showed a picture of the real-life squadron which was composed of exactly zero minorities. A rare moment where a film actually seems proud to reveal when it [[Did Not Do the Research]]. [[The Other Wiki]]'s [[wikipedia:Flyboys (film)|entry on the film]] points out that the film confuses the Lafayette Escadrille with the Lafayette Flying Corps with whom Eugene Bullard (the real person Skinner was based on) actually flew.

* Harvey Weinstein loved using this trope for his productions back in the late 1990's and early 2000's. Starting with ''[[Scream (film)|Scream]] 2'', nearly all of his teen-aimed productions had at least one token black character (often played by a rapper) solely to bump up the box office. He seemed to stop this after ''Shall We Dance?'', which had an [[Advertised Extra]] in the form of Ja Rule (who appeared in one concert scene and had no purpose to the plot).

 

=== Literature ===

 

 

* ''[[30 Rock]]''

** Lampshaded when, to call attention during a GE exclusive lunch, Jack calls out, "Gentlemen... token ladies."

* Referenced in ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'' (itself a very racially diverse show) where Janeway and Chakotay discuss the issues involved in a ship crewed by both Federation members and Maquis separatists. Janeway notes that by making the Maquis Chakotay her second in command she hopes she has already shown that she can be tolerant of them, and Chokatay responds "I have no intention of being your token Maquis."

** Back in [[Star Trek: The Original Series|the original series]], the creators had to fight [[Executive Meddling]] to get two Token Minorities, Sulu and Uhura, on the bridge, and ''some'' nonwhites among the extras. The original pilot pushed further with a female second in command, and Spock was considered to be radical at the time as an Alien, especially with the original plans being for Spock to be either Green or Red Skinned. Also notable that both lead characters of Spock and Kirk were played by Jews. Then there's the gutsy move of creating a Russian main character at the height of the Cold War.

* In ''[[The Class (TV series)|The Class]]'' Kyle's boyfriend Aaron is introduced as a secondary character to counteract the [[Monochrome Casting]].

* Pete Ross from ''[[Smallville]]'' is an especially funny example, as his comic book counterpart is white.

* Both radio experts on ''[[Hogan's Heroes]]'' were token black characters. Which was awkward, as the armed forces were still segregated in WWII.

** Given that they were all prisoners and obviously not all from the same unit, the segregation wasn't really an issue.

** It is still notable that most of Kinchloe's spotlight episodes were the only ones to feature a black [[Girl of the Week]] (an African princess and an old high school girlfriend respectively).

* ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' has been guilty of this at multiple points in its run.

** Garrett Morris in the 70s.

** [[Eddie Murphy]] in the early 80s. While certainly nobody would question Murphy's right to be there, the fact remained that the show felt no obligation to have another black in the cast as long as Murphy was there. (In fact, Robert Townsend, who was originally hired to be the token black guy, was let go once Murphy showed up.)

* Benson from ''[[Soap]]'' (made in the 70s, mind) was the only black character in the show for the first three seasons and he was the butler. He was never used to put across any racial message and if anything he was the [[Only Sane Man]] in the entire show.

** When Benson got replaced in season three, there was Saunders the [[Expy]], also black.

* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]''

** Both subverted and played straight. Instead of bringing a token gay character onto the show, the writers had one of the three central characters turn out to be a lesbian. On the other hand, it wasn't until the seventh season that there was an important character who was black, and when he did show up he was the token black guy.

* The U.S. black music program ''[[Soul Train]]'' had some token white dancers in the audience.

* The character of Charlie Young was added to ''[[The West Wing]]'' just because the NAACP was criticizing the show for ''not'' having a Token Minority. Charlie's "token minority" status is particularly interesting in this case, as the only two of the shows main characters are white and Protestant (and that is if one guesses on Sam, whose religion is not mentioned but can be presumed not to be Catholic or Jewish). Two of the main characters are Jewish, four are Catholic, making the show's main cast far more diverse than the actual US population, even without Charlie in the mix.

* ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise]]'', unlike the previous shows (which were such aversions of [[Humans Are White]] they were often accused of being [[Five-Token Band|Five Token Bands]] by some), has a black guy, a Asian woman, and ''everyone else'' is white. And also note that, in order to make it obvious to the audience he was only on the show so they could say they had a Token Minority, the black guy was a glorified extra...

* ''[[Scrubs]]'' had the great feature of JD and Turk's College Brochure. Turk is photoshopped in twice to make it appear more diverse. [[Lampshaded]] in the episode ''My Long Goodbye'' when Turk struggles to think of other black members of staff. He gets himself and Nurse Roberts (whom he is speaking to), Snoop Dog Attending, and Leonard the Security Guard...

{{quote|'''Turk''':''This '''is''' a white-ass hospital.''}}

* On ''[[House (TV series)|House]]'', Omar Epps was the only series regular of color for three seasons, until House hired three new underlings, at which point Kal Penn became the token South Asian guy. Having said that, Wilson, Cuddy and Taub are all Jewish [[Informed Judaism|to varying degrees of obviousness]]. And Thirteen is bisexual, and House is an atheist. And his atheism is portrayed... well, not ''negatively'', at any rate. They do okay.

* ''[[Robin Hood (TV series)|Robin Hood]]'' has David Harewood as a black Friar Tuck in 12th century England.

* Arguably, Bonnie Bennett in ''[[The Vampire Diaries]]'' TV show. She has her own storyline for a bit, but it turns out to exist only to facilitate the (white, male) lead vampire's storyline. She was white in the books - but they completely erased the existence another extremely prominent female character who was Latina and definitely minimized Bonnie's personality and agency.

* Joss Whedon's ''[[Firefly]]''

* Played painfully straight in ''[[The Walking Dead (TV series)|The Walking Dead]]'' with T-Dog, who is the only major character in the series not to have any sub-plots and little dialog. Extremely apparent in Season 2 episode "Judge, Jury, Executioner" in which the group deliberates whether or not to {{spoiler|kill Randall}}, the episode focuses on the opinions of every member of the group except T-Dog whose one line of dialog is cut off by Dale.

* ''[[Angel]]'' had Charles Gunn as the only black guy, though Doyle and Lorne might count as token demons.

 

=== Mythology ===

* Currently the WWE Divas are sadly falling into this. Each brand has one (and in many cases, ONLY one) member of each minority group amidst the sea of blond hair on the rest of the roster.

** On Raw, as seen by the [http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_74DOUg2qS3k/TB38mp8S4AI/AAAAAAAADHM/A0auqaG47rA/s1600/Divas+Championship+Fatal+4-Way+Match.jpg Fatal 4-Way Divas match,] there was the white Maryse, black [[Alicia Fox]], Asian Gail Kim, and Latina [[Eve Torres]] (although the recently-returning Melina shook that up, and with the Bella Twins, it appears that Latinas have become something of the majority on ''Raw''.)

* As it stands, here are is the list of divas and their ethnicities:

** Caucasian - Natalya, [[Beth Phoenix]], [[Kelly Kelly]], Maryse, [[Chick Busters|Kaitlyn]] ([[Everyone Loves Blondes]] all blonde as well).

* Anthony Higgs of ''[[Metroid|Metroid: Other M]]''; he's the first ''major'' black character; there were a few black people on the [[Metroid Prime|Valhalla]] (key word being "few"). {{spoiler|He's also the only supporting character who survives to the end of the game}}.

* In [[Night Trap]], SCAT has both a token black guy and a token woman (if you don't count Kelly).

 

 

* Grace and Nanase in ''[[El Goonish Shive]]''. Sort of. Sensei Greg too, but he's become a [[Brother Chuck]]. And Nanase doesn't even look very Japanese.

** On Nanase: [[Word of God|Dan Shive has said]] that human hair colors in the comic's universe are just plain different from those in ours, for all races. The hair colors depicted are intended to be read literally, not as a stylistic effect.

* Lets not forget to always give them One [http://www.viruscomix.com/page482.html Award]

* The [[Web Comic]] [[Show Within a Show|within the]] [[MS Paint Adventures|MS Paint Adventure]] ''[[Homestuck]]'', ''[[Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff]]'' has the most pointless of Token Minority characters with Geromy. Introduced as "The new friend", he has never moved, spoken, or been aknowledged by another character. He's even called the token black friend in the theme song!

** Interestingly, in ''[[Homestuck]]'' itself, [[Word of God]] has given a similar, though less cynical, rationale for having [[Strange Girl|Jade]], [[Catgirl|Nepeta]], and [[It's Not Porn, It's Art|Equius]] be [[Furry Fandom|furries]].

** Slightly more cynical fans call shenanigans on there being only two canonically gay characters (Kanaya and {{spoiler|Dirk}}), though this is mitigated by the trolls [[Everyone Is Bi|being naturally bisexual as a species]].

 

 

* Baljeet from ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'' is Indian, the Fireside Girl Holly is African-American, Stacy and, by the looks of it, the Fireside Girl Ginger are Asian and Buford seems to have some kind of Dutch heritage. The show in general obviously tries to be very cosmopolitic.

** Isabella Garcia-Shapiro is half Mexican and half Jewish. Though one episode has the cast visiting the "Mexican Jewish Cultural Festival" so Danville might just have a particularly large population of Mexican-Jews...

* Mostly averted in ''[[Challenge of the Go Bots]],'' where A.J. and General Newcastle are both black, and Anya Turgonova is Russo-Chinese. Anya didn't show up as often after the [[Five Episode Pilot]], but A.J. was a main character and Newcastle was the most important human supporting character.

* Spoofed in the ''[[Robot Chicken]]'' sketch [[12 Angry Men|12 Angry Little People]], when the lone black juror points out that not every black person needs to be a positive role model.

 

 

* In ''[[Paperinik New Adventures]]'', Angus is clearly meant to be a [[Funny Animal]] kiwi bird, the only one in Duckburg. He is not only explicitly said to be from New Zealand but also a Maori.

 

=== Video Games ===

* Rouge the Bat from the ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' series, as far as games are concerned.

 

 

[[Category:Token Index]]

[[Category:Race Tropes]]