History Main / FauxInterracialRelationship

'''Elaine''': I'm white.''\\

->'''Darryl''': ''So, what are you?''\\
'''Elaine''': ''I'm white.''\\
'''Darryl''': ''So, we're just a couple of white people?''\\
'''Elaine''': ''I guess.''\\
'''Darryl''': ''Oh.''\\
'''Elaine''': ''Yeah. So, do you want to go to the Gap?''\\
'''Darryl''': ''Sure.''

* FantasticRacism example in the Literature/{{Dragaera}} prequel novel ''Five Hundred Years After''. Khaavren, the main protagonist has a MeetCute with his future wife, and toward the end of book mentions that while he loves her, he regrets that their relationship won't work because she is of a different House (basically a race) than he is. She then reveals that while [[CultureEqualsCostume she dresses like a member of one House,]] she actually belongs to the same House as him. [[DeliberateValuesDissonance The fictional narrator then comments how great it was that this impediment was cleared up.]]

* ''Literature/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'' by Creator/VictorHugo: The Phoebus/Esmeralda relationship is this as Esmeralda is revealed near the end to be a French girl by birth swapped for Quasimodo. This is subverted with the Quasimodo/Esmeralda relationship though, as while Esmeralda is french by Birth, Quasimodo is Romani by birth.

* ''Literature/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'' by Creator/VictorHugo: Esmeralda is actually a French girl swapped for Quasimodo.

->'''Darrly''': ''So, what are you?''\\

'''Darrly''': ''So, we're just a couple of white people?''\\

'''Darrly''': ''Oh.''\\

'''Darrly''': ''Sure.''

** In one episode, Elaine thinks the guy she's going out with is black, but she's not quite sure, and spends the episode trying to find out without directly asking. It turns out he had been thinking Elaine was Hispanic.

* The novel ''TheSheik'' by E.M. Hull. Sheik Ahmed Ben Hassan isn't Arab after all.

Mostly a DeadHorseTrope. Has two different versions.

'''Version 1. PlayedForDrama.'''
Alice is a White woman in {{Qurac}}. Somehow, while on holiday she meets Bob, a native man. They fall in love, but she's conflicted because he's a native and marrying him would lead to a MalignedMixedMarriage. Eventually, a discussion with one of Bob's friends leads Alice to learn that [[MightyWhitey Bob is really White.]] Hooray! Bob is a SuddenlySuitableSuitor. Alice will sometimes be aware that Bob is different somehow, such as behaving in a more "civilised" way than the other people around him, making the revelation less of a surprise.

'''Version 2. PlayedForLaughs.'''
Alice (or sometimes Bob) believes through [[MistakenNationality a misunderstanding]] or [[PoorCommunicationKills miscommunication]] that their LoveInterest is of a different ethnicity when this isn't the case.
Can be full of UnfortunateImplications about goodness being inherent in White people. Older works featuring this trope tend to be on the Nature side of the NatureVsNurture debate and to be a very specific type of SuddenlySuitableSuitor. The dramatic version where one of the partners is White is rarely seen in more modern works due to ValuesDissonance, but dramatic versions containing an element of PassFail, where a non-White partner believes their Love Interest to be White, still exist.

* The novel ''TheSheik'' by E.M. Hull. [[spoiler:Sheik Ahmed Ben Hassan isn't Arab after all.]]
** Also appears in the sequel, ''Literature/TheSonsOfTheSheik'': Yasmin, the LoveInterest, is actually French.
* ''Literature/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'' by Creator/VictorHugo: [[spoiler:Esmeralda is actually a French girl swapped for Quasimodo.]]

* In ''Theatre/TheDesertSong'' the mysterious rebel leader, supposedly an Arab [[spoiler:turns out to be the son of the new governor]].
* The operetta ''Theatre/TheBohemianGirl'': TheIngenue Arline, raised Roma, is [[spoiler:really a Polish countess]]. This operetta was inspired by ''Literature/LaGitanilla''.

* The short story "Literature/LaGitanilla" by Creator/MiguelDeCervantes (known for ''Literature/DonQuixote''): Preciosa, the heroine, is described several times as being more refined than the other [[UsefulNotes/Romani Roma]] girls she is raised alongside. When a young Spanish nobleman falls in love with her, he soon discovers that she is actually Spanish and was kidnapped and raised by a Roma woman as her granddaughter.

-->'''Darrly''': ''So, what are you?''
-->'''Elaine''': ''I'm white.''
-->'''Darrly''': ''So, we're just a couple of white people?''
-->'''Elaine''': ''I guess.''
-->'''Darrly''': ''Oh.''
-->'''Elaine''': ''Yeah. So, do you want to go to the Gap?''
-->'''Darrly''': ''Sure.''
-->--'''{{Seinfeld}}'''

[[folder: {{Literature}}]]

* The short story "LaGitanilla" by Cervantes (known for DonQuixote): Preciosa, the heroine, is described several times as being more refined than the other {{Roma}} girls she is raised alongside. When a young Spanish nobleman falls in love with her, he soon discovers that she is actually Spanish and was kidnapped and raised by a {{Roma}} woman as her granddaughter.
* The novel ''TheSheik'' by E.M. Hull. [[spoiler: Sheik Ahmed Ben Hassan isn't Arab after all.]]
** Also appears in the sequel, ''TheSonsOfTheSheik'': Yasmin, the LoveInterest, is actually French.
* ''TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'' by VictorHugo: [[spoiler: Esmeralda is actually a French girl swapped for Quasimodo.]]
* FantasticRacism example in the {{Dragaera}} prequel novel ''Five Hundred Years After''. Khaavren, the main protagonist has a MeetCute with his future wife, and toward the end of book mentions that while he loves her, he regrets that their relationship won't work because she is of a different House (basically a race) than he is. She then reveals that while [[CultureEqualsCostume she dresses like a member of one House,]] she actually belongs to the same House as him. [[DeliberateValuesDissonance The fictional narrator then comments how great it was that this impediment was cleared up.]]

[[folder: {{LiveActionTelevision}}]]
* {{Seinfeld}}: The page quote comes from an episode where Elaine thinks the guy she's going out with is black, but she's not quite sure, and spends the episode trying to find out without directly asking. It turns out he had been thinking Elaine was Hispanic.
* Jerry falls for a woman named Chang over the phone, believing that she's Chinese - but it turns out she's Jewish. The family name was originally "Changstein."
* ''ColdCase'' had at least one example of the PassFail variation.

[[folder: {{Theatre}}]]
* In ''The Desert Song'' the mysterious rebel leader, supposedly an Arab [[spoiler: turns out to be the son of the new governor]].
* The operetta ''TheBohemianGirl.'' TheIngenue Arline, raised {{Roma}}, is [[spoiler: really a Polish countess]]. This operetta was inspired by ''LaGitanilla.''

-->--'''Seinfeld'''

* ''ColdCase'': had at least one example of the PassFail variation.

* The operetta ''TheBohemianGirl.'' TheIngenue Arline, raised {{Roma}} is [[spoiler: really a Polish countess]]. This operetta was inspired by ''LaGitanilla.''

The short story "LaGitanilla" by Cervantes (known for DonQuixote): Preciosa, the heroine, is described several times as being more refined than the other {{Roma}} girls she is raised alongside. When a young Spanish nobleman falls in love with her, he soon discovers that she is actually Spanish and was kidnapped and raised by a {{Roma}} woman as her granddaughter.

The novel ''TheSheik'' by E.M. Hull. [[spoiler: Sheik Ahmed Ben Hassan isn't Arab after all.]]

* Also appears in the sequel, ''TheSonsOfTheSheik'': Yasmin, the LoveInterest, is actually French.

* This trope, in the form of "White guy, usually from an aristocratic background, who culturally belongs to some "exotic" culture, but at the end of the day is still a European gentleman'" appears in books like {{Voltaire}}'s ''L'Ingenue'', the titular character in the ''Tarzan'' novels by EdgarRiceBurroughs, and ''TheCountOfMonteCristo'' with Dantes in his "Sinbad" persona.

''Version 1. PlayedForDrama.''

''Version 2. PlayedForLaughs.''

In ''The Desert Song'' the mysterious rebel leader, supposedly an Arab [[spoiler: turns out to be the son of the new governor]].

The operetta ''TheBohemianGirl.'' TheIngenue Arline, raised {{Roma}} is [[spoiler: really a Polish countess]]. This operetta was inspired by ''LaGitanilla.''

The 1930 musical ''Whoopee!'' The heroine believes TheHero Wananis to be a Native American. It turns out he was abandoned as a baby [[RaisedByNatives and is a White guy raised by Native Americans]].

* This trope, in the form of "White guy, usually from an aristocratic background, who culturally belongs to some "exotic" culture, but at the end of the day is still a European gentleman'" appears in books like {{Voltaire}}'s ''L'Ingenue'', the titular character in the ''Tarzan'' novels by EdgarRiceBurroughs, and {{[[''TheCountOfMonteCristo'' Dantes in his "Sinbad" persona.{{]]

*
[[/folder]]

* This trope, in the form of "White guy, usually from an aristocratic background, who culturally belongs to some "exotic" culture, but at the end of the day is still a European gentleman'" appears in books like {{Voltaire}}'s ''L'Ingenue'', the titular character in the ''Tarzan'' novels by EdgarRiceBurroughs, and [[''TheCountOfMonteCristo'' Dantes in his "Sinbad" persona.]]

* This trope, in the form of "White guy, usually from an aristocratic background, who culturally belongs to some "exotic" culture, but at the end of the day is still a European gentleman'" appears in books like {{Voltaire}}'s ''L'Ingenue," the titular character in the ''Tarzan'' novels by EdgarRiceBurroughs, and Dantes in ''TheCountOfMonteCristo'' in his "Sinbad" persona.

*

* This trope, in the form of "White guy, usually from an aristocratic background, who culturally belongs to some "exotic" culture, but at the end of the day is still a European gentleman'" appears in books like {{Voltaire}}'s ''L'Ingenue," the titular character in the ''Tarzan'' novels by EdgarRiceBurroughs, and Dantes in ''TheCountOfMonteCristo'' in his "Sinbad" persona.

* This trope, in the form of "White guy, usually from an aristocratic background, who culturally belongs to some "exotic" culture, but at the end of the day is still a European gentleman'" appears in books like {{Voltaire}}'s ''L'Ingenue,"
the titular character in the ''Tarzan" novels by EdgarRiceBurroughs, and Dantes in TheCountOfMonteCristo in his "Sinbad" persona.

the titular character in the '"Tarzan" novels by EdgarRiceBurroughs, and Dantes in TheCountOfMonteCristo in his "Sinbad" persona.

* This trope, in the form of "White guy, usually from an aristocratic background, who culturally belongs to some "exotic" culture, but at the end of the day is still a European gentleman'' appears in books like {{Voltaire}}'s ''L'Ingenue,"'
the titular character in the ''Tarzan" novels by EdgarRiceBurroughs, and Dantes in TheCountOfMonteCristo in his "Sinbad" persona.

* FantasticRacism example in the {{Dragaera}} prequel novel Five Hundred Years After. Khaavren, the main protagonist has a MeetCute with his future wife, and toward the end of book mentions that while he loves her, he regrets that their relationship won't work because she is of a different House (basically a race) than he is. She then reveals that while [[CultureEqualsCostume she dresses like a member of one House,]] she actually belongs to the same House as him. [[DeliberateValuesDissonance The fictional narrator then comments how great it was that this impediment was cleared up.]]

the ''Tarzan" novels by EdgarRiceBurroughs, and Dantes in TheCountOfMonteCristo in his "Sinbad" persona.

* FantasticRacism example in the {{Dragaera}} prequel novel Five Hundred Years After. Khaavren, the main protagonist has a MeetCute with his future wife, and toward the end of book mentions that while he loves her, he regrets that their relationship won't work because she is of a different House (basically a race) than he is. She then reveals that while [[CultureEqualsCostume she dresses like a member of one House,]] she actually belongs to the same House as him.
[[DeliberateValuesDissonance The fictional narrator then comments how great it was that this impediment was cleared up.]]