History Main / SuddenlyEthnicity

* ''YoungAvengers'' did this in their first issue. Patriot's original costume covered his entire body, head and all. When the kids are questioned by the adult Avengers, Eli takes off his mask and reveals that he's not only black, but the grandson of Isaiah Bradley, hero of the graphic novel ''Truth: Red, White, and Black'' and the first Captain America. Why yes, you ''should'' go read it.

[[folder: Theatre ]]

* In BertoltBrecht's ''Mother Courage'' (''Mutter Courage''), Anna reveals that her children all have different ethnicities, although one of them is "half a German".

* In ''ThatSeventiesShow'', Hyde is revealed to be half African-American.

These days it tends to be a DiscreditedTrope. Compare SuddenlySexuality, SamusIsAGirl. Contrast ButNotTooForeign where a seemingly foreign character is revealed to be at least partially a member of the target audience's nationality.

* In ''MobyDick'', Ishmael is shocked to discover that his bedmate, Queequeg, is a native from the South Seas. However, they quickly become best friends and treat each other as equals (a pretty revolutionary idea during the time the book was written). He's also a cannibal, though we never get to see this aspect of his personality.
** Ishmael isn't shocked that Queequeg is a Pacific Islander - and, really, wouldn't be, since those who worked on sailing ships were used to dealing with foreigners of all types. What shocks him is that Queequeg is (implied to be) cannibalistic and is also a pagan. (The book starts out in Nantucket, a town in which ''all'' the whalers attend the same church.)

* ''ElfQuest'': A fantasy version is found in a RunningTheAsylum arc: Kahvi (leader of the Go-Backs, a tribe of "pure" but magicless elves) is revealed to be a Wolfrider (a tribe of forest elves with animal heritage). Widely considered DisContinuity because of its rampant plot holes. Still, the series' original authors have woven it into official canon.

* Deconstructed in ''Guess Who's Coming to Dinner'', about a white girl who introduces her black boyfriend to her family. Deconstructed again, with Ashton Kutcher meeting his girlfriend's black family, in the 2005 remake ''Guess Who''.

This trope can be played two ways: either the fact that the character is not what the audience would assume is used for a cheap shock effect. Sometimes the fact that the other characters are surprised is parodied or [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstructed.]] In some cases, the audience is called out for assuming that all characters have a certain ethnicity unless otherwise specified.

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Blackmantaunmasked_2705.PNG [[caption-width:180:[-Apparently not just named by helmet color.-] ]]

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Blackmantaunmasked_2705.PNG [[caption-width:180:Apparently it wasn't just because of the color of his helmet.]]

The other characters are surprised, or (in some cases) ''shocked''. More importantly, the audience is expected to be surprised as well.

This trope can be played two ways: either the fact that the character is not what the audience would assume is used for a cheap shock effect (which has obvious UnfortunateImplications and should be a DiscreditedTrope), or the fact that the other characters are surprised is parodied or deconstructed. In some cases, the audience is called out for assuming that all characters have a certain ethnicity unless otherwise specified.

Compare SuddenlySexuality, SamusIsAGirl. Contrast ButNotTooForeign where a seemingly foreign character is revealed to be at least partially a member of the target audience's nationality.

[[AC:ComicBooks]]
* In DCComics, Black Manta was revealed to be black in 1977, providing the above picture.
* The classic (if {{Anvilicious}}) ECComics story [[http://asylums.insanejournal.com/scans_daily/54803.html "Judgment Day"]], in which an examiner comes from Earth to see whether a planet inhabited by sentient robots is ready to join TheFederation. It's revealed that the robots are split into two groups, identical except for the color of their outside casing, and the educational programming given to each color. One group of robots is given less useful programming, forced to live in inferior housing in a segregated part of the cities, relegated to less desirable jobs, etc., all based on the casing color. The examiner is forced to flunk the civilization, and the guide whines that he is "only one robot" who can't change the system. The examiner consoles the guide by mentioning that Earth used to be like this, too, until its people got their act together. Then the examiner gets into his spaceship, takes off his helmet, and is revealed to be black.
* A fantasy version is found in a RunningTheAsylum arc of ''ElfQuest'': Kahvi (leader of the Go-Backs, a tribe of "pure" but magicless elves) is revealed to be a Wolfrider (a tribe of forest elves with animal heritage). Widely considered DisContinuity because of its rampant plot holes. Still, the series' original authors have woven it into official canon.
* Parodied in [[http://i42.tinypic.com/2zi8090.jpg this]] Gummbah strip:

** He ''is'' from a circus. The circus in its modern form was supposedly developed by Roma, and circuses have historically provided employment opportunities for foreigners of all types (the Zacchinis, for example, who were Italian, or the German tiger-tamer Gunther Gebel-Williams).
** Many modern Roma are only recognisable as such from their names. Pity that "Richard Grayson" is most definately not a Roma name.

[[AC:{{Film}}]]
* Deconstructed in the 1967 film ''Guess Who's Coming to Dinner'', about a white girl who introduces her black boyfriend to her family. Deconstructed again, with Ashton Kutcher meeting his girlfriend's black family, in the 2005 remake ''Guess Who''.
* Since this trope isn't titled "Suddenly Non-White," here's a non-white to non-white example: In ''RomeoMustDie'', Black and Chinese gangs engage in an ongoing turf war. At one point Han (Jet Li) chases down a helmeted motorcyclist who he assumes is a black man. The "black" cyclist eventually takes off "his" helmet to reveal....[[SamusIsAGirl a Chinese woman]]. Han is shocked.
* Played for comedy in ''[[MeetTheParents Little Fockers]]''. Jack has been studying the Byrnes family genealogy and while they do indeed seem to be mostly of Irish descent, Bernie and Roz do a little research of their own and discover that Jack is "one twenty third" Jewish. They proudly present him with a yarmulke for Christmas and start calling him by his 'Hebrew name', much to his bemusement.
* In {{Dogma}}, when Bethany's heritage is revealed, instead of picking up on the fact that [[spoiler:Bethany is descended from one of Jesus's siblings and is carrying the next Messiah,]] Jay exclaims, "Bethany's part black?"

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]
* In RobertAHeinlein's early novel ''MagicInc'', a wise and respected character, Dr. Royce Worthington, is revealed to be black. The main character spends about a page getting over the shock, then decides it doesn't matter.
** Heinlein did this all the time. The protagonist of StarshipTroopers is revealed to be Filipino in one line, and similarly the protagonist of "Tunnel in the Sky" is revealed to be black in one sequence where other characters admit they couldn't tell him from another character (a Zulu girl) apart from a distance. In both cases it's been obvious to all from the beginning and in neither case does anyone comment on it before or again.
* In Anthony Burgess' ''M/F'', the main character is revealed at the end to be black.

* The twist in the SherlockHolmes story [[spoiler: ''The Yellow Face'']] is [[spoiler: that the yellow-masked creature is actually the client's wife's first child--from a relationship with a black man. The wife's been hiding her in fear of what her husband would say, keeping the child in a nearby house and masking her so her dark skin wouldn't be noticed. It gets a CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming when the client lifts the child onto his shoulder and carries her out of the room, implicitly accepting her as his own.]]

[[AC:{{LiveActionTelevision}}]]

* In ''AllInTheFamily'', Archie is in the hospital and befriends the patient in the bed next to his, not realizing (because they're separated by a curtain) that the guy is black.

[[AC:{{Theatre}}]]

* In Gotthold Lessing's classical German play ''Nathan the Wise'' (''Nathan der Weise''), Nathan's adopted daughter Recha (who was raised Jewish) and her suitor (a Christian templar) both turn out to be the children of Saladin's brother - a Muslim. The moral of the play is that all three religions are like different brothers of the same family.

* In BertoltBrecht's ''MotherCourage'' (''Mutter Courage''), Anna reveals that her children all have different ethnicities, although one of them is "half a German".

[[AC:{{Webcomics}}]]
* In ''PicturesForSadChildren'', Paul (who is a ghost) is revealed to be Chinese.
----

** He ''is'' from a circus. The circus in its modern form was supposedly developed by Roma, and circuses have historically provided employment opportunities for foreigners of all types (the Zacchinis, for example, who were Italian, or the German tiger-tamer Gunther Gebel-Williams).

* On the television version of ''RedDwarf'' Lister and Cat are played by black actors. The novel the series is based on never specifies an ethnicity for either character (it does say that Cat's a cat, but it doesn't say what ''color'' cat) but it wasn't entirely uncommon to assume that, being British, Lister, at least, was white.
** The TV show wasn't ''based'' on the novel, the novel was written when the TV show was two or three seasons in. So there's no "reveal" here.

* On the television version of ''RedDwarf'' Lister and Cat are played by black actors. The novel the series is based on never specifies an ethnicity for either character (it does say that Cat's a cat, but it doesn't say what ''color'' cat) but it wasn't entirely uncommon to assume that, being British, Lister, at least, was white.

* Slightly mocked in {{''Exiles''}}, where an alternate version of Sasquatch (who turns back into a white male in normal continuity) turns out to be a black woman. Alternate versions of Spider-Man and She-Hulk are surprised by this; the former by the very male-looking Sasquatch being a woman, and the latter by a white-haired beast being black.

* On the television version of ''RedDwarf'' Lister and Cat are played by black actors. This could be RaceLift instead of SuddenlyEthnicity, except that the novel the series is based on never specifies an ethnicity for either character (it does say that Cat's a cat, but it doesn't say what ''color'' cat).

* In RobertAHeinlein's early novel ''Magic, Inc.'', a wise and respected character, Dr. Royce Worthington, is revealed to be black. The main character spends about a page getting over the shock, then decides it doesn't matter.

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Blackmantaunmasked_2705.PNG [[caption-width:180:Apparently it wasn't just because of the suit.]]

* Since this trope isn't titled "Suddenly Non-White," here's a non-white to non-white example: In ''RomeoMustDie'', Black and Chinese gangs engage in an ongoing turf war. At one point Han (Jet Li) chases down a helmeted motorcyclist who he assumes is a black man. The "black" cyclist eventually takes off "his" helmet to reveal....a Chinese woman. Han is shocked.

* In ''MobyDick'', Ishmael is shocked to discover that his bedmate, Queequeg, is a native from the South Seas. However, they quickly become best friends and treat each other as equals (a pretty revolutionary idea during the time the book was written).