Token Minority: Difference between revisions

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* TV Ads in Australia are notorious for this (especially in "hip" young thing products like Coke), and usually include at least one minority for every white person they show. This shows up the most when they have African descent people, despite them being a very very small minority and only a very recent one at that. Usually mixed in as 1 Asian Woman, 1 African Woman, 1 White Girl, 2 White Guys and 1 Aboriginal or Middle Eastern Male.

** Target ads are particularly well-known for this. There will ''always'' be one blonde white girl, one brunette white girl, one Asian girl and one black girl. ''Always''.

* 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.

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

* In terms of film, equally well parodied/referenced by the "Token Black Guy" in ''[[Not Another Teen Movie]]''. Named Malik Token, the [[Genre Savvy]] token helpfully [[Lampshade Hanging|explains]] the joke to the audience by introducing himself as the person that stays out of conversations and says "Damn!", "Shit!", and "That is whack!" At a party later in the film, he sees another black guy, played by Sean Patrick Thomas, Token Minority from ''[[Cruel Intentions]]'', and tells him that he was at the party first and the other man apologizes and leaves the party. Arguably, Malik's [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] was when he got to say, "Damn, that shit is whack!"

* ''[[Star Wars]]''

* Invoked in a short story "Papanin's Mauser" by Michael Veller. It depicts a drift-ice research unit of four people. Three of them are Russians and Communists and the last one is a nonpartisan German. According to the Soviet laws three Communists is enough to constitute a Party cell, so every day they have to conduct a Party meeting, for members only. During these meetings the German has to leave the "meeting room", that is the tent where they all live and spend time tramping around it in the bone-chilling cold. Eventually he applies for membership in the Party to end this nightmare but is rejected on the following ground: as he is he symbolizes the international nature of the Soviet people and the unbreakable ties between partisans and nonpartisans.

* ''[[Animorphs]]'' and Cassie

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

** The character Toofer is named for the [[Twofer Token Minority]] trope.

* Balthasar, one of the three<ref>Who, by the way, are neither named ''nor numbered'' in the Bible: it is only a mediaeval tradition that there were three or that their names were as here plus Caspar.</ref> Wise Men, has been depicted as black since [[Older Than Print|Medieval times]], possibly making him the original token black guy.

** Melchior is sometimes depicted as Asian as well, so the Wise Men represent the three continents of the Medieval world: Europe, Asia, and Africa.

* Even ''[[Peanuts]]'' wasn't immune. Franklin joined the cast in a nod to the court-ordered busing that was going on at the time. As [[Chris Rock]] points out, he was the only one in the cast without any distinct personality.

** In one interview, Schulz admitted that he really didn't know what to do with Franklin, since he had no experience with black children. Ironically, the producers of one of the ''Peanuts'' animated specials found a role for Franklin [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mO6ccX90HNI&feature=related here].

* ''[[Mad]]'' magazine referenced the trope back in 1966 (issue 101). In a parody of the movie ''The Sandpiper'', a character refers to himself as the film's "token Negro". It was a long time ago indeed.

* 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''.)

* In Privateer Press' tabletop war game ''[[War Machine]]'', Major Markus 'Siege' Brisbane is the game's only black warcaster.

** Before the release of the expansion book ''Pirates of the Broken Coast'', he was the only black model in the game.

* You know how long it took ''[[Pokémon]]'' to include a character with black skin? Or for that matter, a character of any non-Japanese, non-White descent? In any shape, form, or continuity? ''12 years''. And no, Jynx doesn't count. Yes, it's a Japanese-produced series set in (Before Black and White) thinly veiled copies of the relatively un-diverse Japan, but they have international characters and travel as the focus on the franchise. He's the boss of the main character in [[Pokémon Ranger]] 2, and a [[Boisterous Bruiser]] as well as [[Da Chief]].

** That is if you don't count the non jpn version of Pokemon Battle Revolution (and that came out only a few years earlier) where the player's avatar has a customizeable skin tone (again, added in international releases)

* Alice in the ''[[Loserz]]'' strip. As she says in one strip, one of the few black kids in school.

* The character of [[Invisible to Gaydar|Kay Wheeler]] in ''[[Misfile]]'' exists solely to try and crack open Emily's [[Transparent Closet]]. [[Genki Girl|Missi Fuller's]] [[Chinese Girl|ethnicity]], while [http://www.misfile.com/index.php?page=824 lampshaded in her intro comic], serves no plot purpose other than to bring a bit of variety to the cast and the sole black character who's particularly recurring, Eponine, has only recently been getting attention.

* [http://www.theonion.com/articles/black-guy-photoshopped-in,1433/ Satirized] by [[The Onion]], after the embarrassing event of University of Wisconsin-Madison (see Advertising folder).

* Invoked/parodied in the third episode of ''[[Corrupting the Classics With Contemporary Crap]]''. "Project Playwright" has five contestants: [[David Mamet]], [[Harold Pinter]], [[Anton Chekhov]], [[Noel Coward]], and ''For Colored Girls'' author Ntozake Shange. Celebrity judge [[Oscar Wilde]] implies that Shange is only there because she is a black female, which Shange doesn't take kindly to. [[Hilarity Ensues]].

* Parodied in Token Black (formerly named Token Williams), the only black kid in ''[[South Park]]'', who is actually considered the token ''rich'' kid in-universe. Natch, since his parents own the Hooters [[Expy]] restaurant Raisins. Which is done as a deliberate subversion of this trope.

* ''[[Superfriends]]'' was notorious for that kind of character, with a bunch of obviously non-white superheroes; Apache Chief (Native North America), Black Vulcan (Black), Samurai (Asian) and El Dorado (Latin American). The final season tried to address the black issue by replacing Black Vulcan with Cyborg of the [[Teen Titans (Comic Book)|Teen Titans]], a character that Marv Wolfman and George Perez worked hard to create as a legitimate original character.

* Take any textbook made in the 1990s (or some made after 2000). Turn to a random page depicting a group of kids (especially teens). 90% chance that there is a Token Minority in the picture.

** Not just pictures; math textbooks are particularly egregious when the word problems require you to solve a teenager's problem for him. There's a 75% chance that the randomly selected name will be an ethnic one, especially Hispanic.

* Take any stock photo image used for marketing software or business applications. A group of racially diverse, smiling corporate types in a meeting, watching a presentation or poring over a report. Infamously led to backlash when Microsoft's Polish division [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/26/microsofts-ad-in-poland-p_n_269366.html whitewashed the black man in the original American ad].

* Jiminy Cricket and Cleo the goldfish from Disney's ''[[Pinocchio (Disney film)|Pinocchio]]''

* Abigail, Amelia, and their uncle Waldo (three geese) from ''[[The Aristocats]]''

* Lowly Worm from the [[Richard Scarry]] books.

* The ''[[Fabuland]]'' toy line by [[LEGO]] only had one crocodile and three birds among an otherwise all-mammal cast.

* From the core [[Looney Tunes]] cast, [[Daffy Duck]], [[Sylvester Cat and Tweety Bird|Tweety]], [[Wile E. Coyote and The Road Runner|The Roadrunner]], [[Foghorn Leghorn]] and Henery Hawk.

* Inverted in ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants]]''. Sandy Cheeks (a squirrel) and Pearl Krabs (a sperm whale) are the token mammals among the main, major, and supporting characters.

* Ratigan, Fidget the bat, Felicia the cat, Toby the dog, and a lizard from ''[[The Great Mouse Detective]]'' among a cast made mostly of mouse characters.

* [[Mickey Mouse]] and [[Donald Duck]] are this in ''[[A Goofy Movie]]''

* [[Pete]] and P.J. are this in ''[[Goof Troop]]'', ''[[A Goofy Movie]]'', and ''An Extremely Goofy Movie'' are token cats, despite being treated like [[Dogfaces]] in those worlds.

** Also, Waffles and Chainsaw from ''[[Goof Troop]]'' are a token cat and dog in a world of [[Dogfaces]].

* Beans the lizard and Angelique the fox from ''[[Rango]]''

* [[Stuart Little]] is far more anthropomorphic than the other animals in all his book and movie appearances and in the TV series.

** Note that in the original book he's human by heritage; his parents are his actual parents. He just happens to have been born with the approximate form of a mouse. How anyone worked out he was a viable life-form, let alone that he had the potential to grow up intelligent, when he was born so mutated and looking like a miscarriage is left to the imagination, because it is a children's book.

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

* Token Minority: The story of ''[[Videogames/Temple Run|Temple Run]]'' seems to be taking place in Asia (judging from the architecture and rainforest), but all characters but one is western. The one non-western character is Asian. Her name? "Karma Lee".

* Minerva Mink from ''[[Animaniacs]]''. Also, Wilford B. Wolf is this when he transforms into a werewolf.

* Mousey Galore from ''[[Pinky and The Brain]]''.