History Main / IntimidatingWhitePresence

The OppositeTrope of ScaryBlackMan, this is the intimidating white presence. While the ScaryBlackMan will usually be intimidating because he is big, strong, and [[AngryBlackManStereotype angry]], the intimidating white presence is generally more nuanced. Earlier media featuring the intimidating white presence will favor the outwardly racist, prejudiced type. In later examples, though, the intimidating white presence is as likely to be [[CondescendingCompassion condescending]], [[YouAreACreditToYourRace patronizing]], [[WickedCultured well-educated]], and of course, will [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial aggressively deny being racist]], though secretly [[FeelingOppressedByTheirExistence feel oppressed by their existence.]] The AngryWhiteMan may be a participant, but he's far from the only one. Sometimes the presence can be architectural rather than human, in the form of StepfordSuburbia.

** In his HBO special ''Bigger & Blacker'' discussed being afraid of white teenagers in the wake of the UsefulNotes/{{Columbine}} school shooting.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

The OppositeTrope of ScaryBlackMan, this is the intimidating white presence. While the ScaryBlackMan will usually be intimidating because he is big, strong, and [[AngryBlackMan angry]], the intimidating white presence is generally more nuanced. Earlier media featuring the intimidating white presence will favor the outwardly racist, prejudiced type. In later examples, though, the intimidating white presence is as likely to be [[CondescendingCompassion condescending]], [[YouAreACreditToYourRace patronizing]], [[WickedCultured well-educated]], and of course, will [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial aggressively deny being racist]], though secretly [[FeelingOppressedByTheirExistence feel oppressed by their existence.]] The AngryWhiteMan may be a participant, but he's far from the only one. Sometimes the presence can be architectural rather than human, in the form of StepfordSuburbia.

The OppositeTrope of ScaryBlackMan, this is the intimidating white presence. While the ScaryBlackMan will usually be intimidating because he is big, strong, and [[AngryBlackMan angry]], the intimidating white presence is generally more nuanced. Earlier media featuring the intimidating white presence will favor the outwardly racist, prejudiced type. In later examples, though, the intimidating white presence is as likely to be [[CondescendingCompassion condescending]], [[YouAreACreditToYourRace patronizing]], [[WickedCultured well-educated]], and of course, will [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial aggressively deny being racist]], though secretly [[FeelingOppressedByTheirExistence feel oppressed by their existence.]] The AngryWhiteMan may be a participant, but he's far from the only one.

->''"All I know is sometimes, if there's too many white folks, I get nervous."''

This is TruthInTelevision. However, as a stereotype trope, '''no real-life examples, please!'''

* ''Film/{{Emergency}}'': Kunle, Sean, and Sebastian immediately agree that the cops and majority-white college environment will not be sympathetic to them if they seek help with Alice, the white girl passed out in their shared house. It's then played with, because their increasingly desperate flight from Alice's sister Madison looks completely different on both sides, before finally being played straight when they finally get to the hospital and get Alice help, where the police turn on them and hold them at gunpoint.

Often overlaps with [[CopHater a distrust of police]], due to suspicions of {{Profiling}} and PoliceBrutality disproportionately affecting minorities. The MinorityPoliceOfficer may be called on to defuse the tension somewhat.

The OppositeTrope of ScaryBlackMan, this is the intimidating white presence. While the ScaryBlackMan will usually be big, [[AngryBlackMan angry]], and intimidating, the intimidating white presence is generally more... diverse. Earlier media featuring the intimidating white presence will favor the outwardly racist, prejudiced type. In later examples, though, the intimidating white presence is as likely to be [[CondescendingCompassion condescending]], [[YouAreACreditToYourRace patronizing]],
[[WickedCultured well-educated]], and of course, will [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial aggressively deny being racist]], though secretly [[FeelingOppressedByTheirExistence feel oppressed by their existence.]] The AngryWhiteMan may be a participant, but he's far from the only one.

The OppositeTrope of ScaryBlackMan, this is the intimidating white presence. While the ScaryBlackMan will usually be big, [[AngryBlackMan angry]], and intimidating, the intimidating white presence is generally more... diverse. Earlier media featuring the intimidating white presence will favor the outwardly racist, prejudiced type. In later examples, though, the intimidating white presence is as likely to be condescending, patronizing, well-educated, and of course, will aggressively deny being racist, though secretly [[FeelingOppressedByTheirExistence feel oppressed by their existence.]] The AngryWhiteMan may be a participant, but he's far from the only one.

-->-- '''Chris Washington''', ''Film/GetOut2017''

!! Examples:

[[folder:Comic Book]]
* ''ComicBook/TheBlackMage'': Tom Token finds himself accepted into a prestigious magic school to be their first black student. But naturally with all the students and facility being white and the former going off of second hand information about black people, Tom's not exactly pleased about his situation. It's only Lindsay who at least tries to make him feel welcomed (though he needs to get over his own prejudices first).

[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]

* ''Film/GetOut2017'': Black man Chris attends a party thrown by the family of his (white) girlfriend Rose, which is entirely populated by white people (with black servants). He describes to Andre [[spoiler:who is actually the cult's victim]] that he gets nervous when there are too many white people around, and the combination of microaggressions and downright creepy behavior proves him right, leaving Rose the TokenGoodTeammate. [[spoiler:And she's possibly the worst of the lot.]]

--->I'm getting in the elevator, and these two high-school white boys try to get on with me...and I just dove off. I said, "Y'all ain't killing me!" I am scared of young white boys. If you white and under 21 I am running for the hills!
** Another standup routine had him talking about how the most dangerous thing wasn't being a white man in a poor black neighborhood, it was being a black man in a poor white neighborhood, because they'd blame ''everything'' on him.
--->''The Space Shuttle exploded! That n***er must have done it!''

-->'''Loquareeous's mom''': If you don't start using your common sense and acting right, these white people, they gonna kill you. ''Kill. You.''

* ''Series/MidnightMass2021'': Hassan Shabbaz is Muslim, which appears to be a bigger barrier to his acceptance on the very Catholic Crockett Island than his race. The islanders are also generally more accepting of his son Ali because Ali starts attending Mass and turns away from Islam. However, the intimidation across racial lines is pretty clear when Hassan tries to intervene to save Ali from them. Led by the explicitly racist Bev Keane, she encourages the white congregants to [[spoiler:hold Hassan down, sadistically forcing him to watch as Ali kills himself.]] Even the (white) heroes in the congregation are helpless and don't stop it.
* ''Series/TheTwilightZone2019'': [[Recap/TheTwilightZone2019S1E3Replay "Replay"]] is an allegory for this experience. Nina is unable to get BigotWithABadge Officer Lasky and the other white cops to leave her son Dorian alone on the road, no matter what course of action she takes. Even when she uses the camcorder to escape completely and the story moves decades into the future, Dorian leaves home one day and Nina has an OhCrap moment as she sees a police car coming around the corner.

[[folder:Webcomics]]

* ''Film/GetOut2017'': The black Chris attends a party of his (white) girlfriend Rose, which is entirely populated by white people (with black servants). He describes to Andre [[spoiler:who is actually the cult's victim]] that he gets nervous when there are too many white people around, and the combination of microaggressions and downright creepy behavior proves him right, leaving Rose the TokenGoodTeammate. [[spoiler:And she's possibly the worst of the lot.]]

* [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] in an episode of ''The Golden Palace'', the sequel series to ''Series/TheGoldenGirls''. Blanche hosts a meeting of Southern women at the hotel and hangs a Confederate flag in the lobby, much to the chagrin of the Black manager Roland. The two have an argument over the flag's meaning--to Blanche it's a symbol of Southern pride and a reminder of her childhood, and to Roland it's something ''very different''--but it isn't until another woman makes a racist comment about Roland that Blanche realizes her mistake. When she apologizes, Roland explains that the flag is a living reminder of the discomfort he and his Black friends feel whenever they're in a predominantly-white area.

* In ''Film/KnivesOut'', main character Marta is a Latina-American woman of unspecified heritage; it's a RunningGag that every member of the all-white Thrombey clan refers to a different home country whenever they talk about her. Marta is the nurse to Harlan Thrombey, and it's clear that while she likes him, she's deeply uncomfortable around nearly everyone else in the family, especially when they use her as a prop for their arguments or treat her with CondescendingCompassion. Things take a turn for the serious when Harlan is revealed to have left Marta the entirety of his vast estate and publishing company, and the Thrombeys turn on her with a vengeance.

* [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] in an episode of ''Series/TheGoldenPalace''. Blanche hosts a meeting of Southern women at the hotel and hangs a Confederate flag in the lobby, much to the chagrin of the Black manager Roland. The two have an argument over the flag's meaning--to Blanche it's a symbol of Southern pride and a reminder of her childhood, and to Roland it's something ''very different''--but it isn't until another woman makes a racist comment about Roland that Blanche realizes her mistake. When she apologizes, Roland explains that the flag is a living reminder of the discomfort he and his Black friends feel whenever they're in a predominantly-white area.

* ''Film/{{Karen}}'' is a thriller/horror film based on the suburban white woman ObnoxiousEntitledHousewife as the main antagonist. Her menacing of the lead couple Imani and Malik ranges between knocking over trashcans to trying to kill them.

* Parodied in ''Film/BlazingSaddles'' when Bart gets surrounded by the hostile racist townsfolk. He ends up [[RefugeInAudacity taking ''himself'' hostage]] to get away.

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone2019'': [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/TheTwilightZone2019S1E3Replay "Replay"]] is an allegory for this experience. Nina is unable to get BigotWithABadge Officer Lasky and the other white cops to leave her son Dorian alone on the road, no matter what course of action she takes. Even when she uses the camcorder to escape completely and the story moves decades into the future, Dorian leaves home one day and Nina has an OhCrap moment as she sees a police car coming around the corner.

[[folder: Comic Book]]

[[folder: Jokes]]

[[folder: Webcomics]]

Like with ScaryBlackMan, a villain simply being white is not enough to qualify them for this. There has to be an emphasis on the fears of people of color (generally Black people) surrounded by white people. The intimidating white presence doesn't have to consist of explicit bigots, and they may not even be racist. They may be simply currying in the fear that can be generated by the racial clash, not necessarily a true believer in such ideology. Pragmatists who understand how to turn the fears of their subjects against them are also covered by this trope. Due to how ingrained this is in popular culture, the white person in question doesn't even [[FeelingOppressedByTheirExistence need to do anything]], necessarily, to justify fear of them; their mere presence can be enough.

This trope has been largely associated with the 2010s and 2020s due to a growing focus on diversity in front of and behind the camera in media, particularly American media. However, needless to say, this is a trope that is OlderThanTheyThink, dating back to anti-slavery literature. Though this pattern is most easily observed with Black characters, it can apply to any non-white dynamics.

* ''Film/GetOut2017'': The Black Chris attends a party of his (white) girlfriend Rose, which is entirely populated by white people (with Black servants). He describes to Andre [[spoiler:who is actually the cult's victim]] that he gets nervous when there are too many white people around, and the combination of microaggressions and downright creepy behavior proves him right, leaving Rose the TokenGoodTeammate. [[spoiler:And she's possibly the worst of the lot.]]
* ''Film/{{Master}}'': Zoe gets flooded by white people chanting the N-word at a college party, and Gail struggles with being the Black master of a college where the upper echelons are almost all white. [[spoiler:Liv is arguably the ultimate example if, as is heavily implied, she's actually white but posing as black, given that she menaces Zoe for making a complaint against her, and possibly kills her.]]

* ''Series/{{Atlanta}}'' has several examples. In general, much of their intimidating white presences are of the "well-meaning liberal" type, such as when Van's friend is shown to be married to a white man who fetishizes Black people, and when a gang of white people turn on an (also white) woman at a party in an angry mob after she tells Darius than a lot of Black men are attracted to her (which doesn't bother him at all). However, the two clearest examples of them all are the wives from "Three Slaps", who are white women with eight adopted black children that they abuse, starve, and work like slaves before trying to kill them in a car accident (and are assisted by an also white, well-meaning, liberal school system), and Teddy Perkins, who is in eerie [[WhiteLikeMe whiteface]] who holds Darius at gunpoint, nearly kills him, and abused his brother. Also invoked by a student in Van's class who paints his face white and defies Van.

* Reconstructed in ''Series/LittleFiresEverywhere''. Elena doesn't seem intimidating, but she is the classic ObnoxiousEntitledHousewife in the all-white suburb of Shaker Heights. It seems to be subverted in the relationship between Pearl (who is Black) and Elena, which seems at times closer than Pearl's own mother Mia. However, Elena gradually shows her true colors when she and the remainder of her white friends, specifically the wealthy doctor Linda, conspire against Bebe Chow, who is Asian, to make sure that she loses any chance of regaining parental rights to her daughter, who is also Linda's adopted daughter. At the girl's party, Linda gives her an entire party that is all-white (in food, decoration, and attendance).

** Bob, a Black man from New York, spends most of the show scared that he would get robbed, shot, or killed for making the slightest wrong move, and highly suspicious of the residents. He wasn't written as Black, but then a Black actor was cast, and his character fell into place for the actor as someone who is very insulated and keeps to himself out of extreme(ly justified) fear of white people.
** Ali, an Egyptian Muslim, is wary around people who treats him like he has committed a crime. He says as much in an unsubtitled phone call to his mother right before two white Plane People jump on him and accuses him of being a terrorist "telling [his] Muslim friends where to bomb next". A hijabi Muslim American who comes to his defense is a Black woman born in Connecticut.

Like with ScaryBlackMan, a villain simply being white is not enough to qualify them for this. There has to be an emphasis on the fears of people of color (generally Black people) surrounded by white people. The intimidating white presence doesn't have to consist of explicit bigots, and they may not even be racist. They may be simply currying in the fear that can be generated by the racial clash, not necessarily a true believer in such ideology. Pragmatists who understand how to turn the fears of their subjects against them are also covered by this trope. Due to how ingrained this is in popular culture, the white person in question doesn't even need to do anything, necessarily, to justify fear of them; their mere presence can be enough.

Like with ScaryBlackMan, a villain simply being white is not enough to qualify them for this. There has to be an emphasis on the fears of people of color (generally, Black people) surrounded by white people. The intimidating white presence doesn't have to consist of explicit bigots, and they may not even be racist. They may be simply currying in the fear that can be generated by the racial clash, not necessarily a true believer in such ideology. Pragmatists who understand how to turn the fears of their subjects against them are also covered by this trope. Due to how ingrained this is in popular culture, the white person in question doesn't even need to do anything, necessarily, to justify fear of them; their mere presence can be enough.

[[/folder]]

* ''ComicBook/TheBlackMage'': Tom Token finds himself accepted into a prestigious magic school to be their first black student. But naturally with all the students and facility being white and the former going off of second hand information, Tom's not exactly pleased about his situation. It's only Lindsay who at least tries to make him feel welcomed (though he needs to get over his own prejudices first).

* ''ComicBook/TheBlackMage'': Token finds himself accepted into a prestigious magic school to be their first black student. But naturally with all the students and facility being white and the former going off of second hand information, Token not exactly pleased about his situation. It's only Lindsay who at least tries to make him feel welcomed (though he needs to get over his own prejudices first).

-->--'''Chris Washington''', ''Film/GetOut2017''

-->'''Chris Washington''', ''Film/GetOut2017''

The OppositeTrope of ScaryBlackMan, this is the scary white person (and it can apply to white women as much as men). While the ScaryBlackMan will usually be big, [[AngryBlackMan angry]], and intimidating, the scary white man is generally more...diverse. Earlier media featuring the scary white person will favor the outwardly racist, prejudiced type. In later examples, though, the scary white person is as likely to be condescending, patronizing, well-educated, and of course, will aggressively deny being racist, though secretly [[FeelingOppressedByTheirExistence feel oppressed by their existence.]] The AngryWhiteMan may be a participant, but he's far from the only one.

Like with ScaryBlackMan, a villain simply being white is not enough to qualify them for this. There has to be an emphasis on the fears of people of color (generally, Black people) surrounded by white people. The scary white man/woman doesn't have to be an explicit bigot, and they may not even be racist. They may be simply currying in the fear that can be generated by the racial clash, not necessarily a true believer in such ideology. Pragmatists who understand how to turn the fears of their subjects against them are also covered by this trope. Due to how ingrained this is in popular culture, the white person in question doesn't even need to do anything, necessarily, to justify fear of them; their mere presence can be enough.

This trope has been largely associated with the 2010s and 2020s due to a growing focus on diversity in front of and behind the camera in the (largely, American) media. However, needless to say, this is a trope that is OlderThanTheyThink, dating back to anti-slavery literature. Though this pattern is most easily observed with Black characters, it can apply to any non-white dynamics.

Though neither demands racism, BigotWithABadge and ObnoxiousEntitledHousewife are ''very'' common subtropes, generally on either side of the gender line.

This is TruthInTelevision. However, as a stereotype trope, '''no real-life examples, please!'''

* ''Series/{{Atlanta}}'' has several examples. In general, much of their scary white people are of the "well-meaning liberal" type, such as when Van's friend is shown to be married to a white man who fetishizes Black people, and when a gang of white people turn on an (also white) woman at a party in an angry mob after she tells Darius than a lot of Black men are attracted to her (which doesn't bother him at all). However, the two clearest examples of them all are the wives from "Three Slaps", who are white women with eight adopted black children that they abuse, starve, and work like slaves before trying to kill them in a car accident (and are assisted by an also white, well-meaning, liberal school system), and Teddy Perkins, who is in eerie [[WhiteLikeMe whiteface]] who holds Darius at gunpoint, nearly kills him, and abused his brother. Also invoked by a student in Van's class who paints his face white and defies Van.