The only african american in a group of friends.
This relates to this week's discussion of the cultural representations of blacks in the media. While not completely exclusive to black women, several black female characters often fall into the category of the "token black friend." This post expands upon this and explores the role of the TBF as portrayed by both males and females. It should also be noted that TBF does not necessarily have to be black, the more general token (any) minority character is also a familiar character role in the media as well.
We've also discussed in class that placing minorities within television shows or films with primarily white actors highlights their distinctive "otherness." Last semester in Intro to Media Studies, we dedicated an entire section of the course to examining the portrayals of blacks in the media and the evolution of on-screen racism (that is, racist messages present in the kinds of roles given to black actors as well as in the general portrayal of blacks in the media.) Since the overtly racist days of Amos 'n' Andy, "modern racism" has become the form in which blacks and other minorities are subjugated in the media. The TBF is a kind of modern racism, a kind of distinction made between races that is implied through the character presence, but not explicitly stated or mentioned. It appears natural that the protagonist of any given television show or film has only one black friend, and we as viewers internalize such a "fact" and take it to be true.
Famous examples of the token black friend include:
Dee from the Clueless series and film
Chad (as Troy's BFF) and Taylor (as Gabriella's) from the High School Musical movies
War Machine in the Iron Man comics
And my all time favorite: Brenda from the Scary Movie films. Obviously a parody of the TBF phenomenon, but too funny not to include.
"Ohhh!!! She about to get it aaawwwnnn with Shake-eh-speare!"
Oops, almost forgot: Beyoncé from Lady Gaga's "Telephone" music video
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