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Positive Discrimination Cleanup

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AlleyOop Since: Oct, 2010
#1: Sep 15th 2015 at 12:47:44 PM

First off, there's a lot of justifying edits and natter on the page which definitely needs to be cleaned or tightened up.

Second of all I think the trope is being misused and applied too broadly. The gist of Positive Discrimination is "when the Token Minority(s) are disproportionately competent, Mary Sues or can do no wrong". However, in a lot of the below entries are applied too broadly to include cases where the most talented character happens to be female or a minority even though there is a justified reason for their ability (e.g.special training), there are other female or minority characters to counterbalance who are not put on a pedestal, or just general examples of works where female or minority characters are portrayed as competent.

edited 15th Sep '15 12:52:32 PM by AlleyOop

AlleyOop Since: Oct, 2010
#2: Sep 15th 2015 at 12:51:10 PM

At a glance, but keep in mind I haven't seen many of these so the entries may be presenting things out of context:

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  • Oven cleaning product: Counts but needs significant rewriting.
  • Butterfingers: Counts.
  • Flash: Aversion, not an example.
  • Mario Kart 7: Counts.
  • AT&T commercial: If the one white male is shown as the foolish one, then yes.

    Anime and Manga 

    Comics 
  • Black scientists entry: In the context provided, probably fair, though it should be specified as a time-specific trend.
  • Black Panther: Wakanda zig-zags the trope. At times it is this (especially under Hudlin), other times it's a balanced enough portrayal not to count (Priest). At the least, the entry should be rewritten to clean up natter.
  • Captain Marvel and Storm: Probably counts.
    • Black women as leaders: Probably does not count. Many of them such as Amanda Waller are portrayed as three-dimensional characters in their own right. There might be something else here but unless they're shown to be more competent than their teammates, not this trope.
  • The Simpsons: Mostly natter.
  • Sonic the Comic: Counts with cleanup.
  • Batman:
    • Harvey and Renee: Counts in the initial example, needs cleanup.
    • New 52: Counts.
  • The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Needs more context.
  • Archie Comics: Needs to be rewritten.

Fanfiction: Can probably remove this entry altogether.

    Film 

    Literature 

[down]You're probably a lot better at doing this than me so I appreciate the help grin

edited 15th Sep '15 1:44:39 PM by AlleyOop

Rjinswand Since: Apr, 2015
#3: Sep 15th 2015 at 1:10:16 PM

That sounds like more of a TRS thread... in fact, a TRS thread that I wanted to make but then the TRS lockup happened grin

The trope does need some cleanup, but I also think the definition itself needs some tweaking. The title itself is a much broader phenomenon than what it describes. E.g. "positive" stereotyping is also a type of positive discrimination, but it's not included in this trope's definition.

I'll post my more specific thoughts on some examples later.

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