History Main / PrejudiceAesop

* The FantasticRacism episode from ''WesternAnimation/LloydInSpace'' has a lesson about the nature of prejudice. Kurt and Douglas's families get caught up in a legendary feud between their species and it affects their children's friendship. Kurt and Douglas quickly realise that holding onto past prejudices is a silly notion and scold their parents for it.
-->'''Douglas:''' "My ancestors might have been from Cerebellian, but ''I'' am from Intrepidville. And I choose to be friends with Blobulans, Earthlings, Verdigrians or what have you."

* "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJiNYFBwaMI Cherokee Highway]]" by Western Flyer is about two boys, one white and one black, who are close friends. They watch the white man's father commit a hate crime; in revenge, the target of the hate crime burns down a house with the two children still inside. [[spoiler:Both kids die, leaving the white father uncertain as to which body belongs to his son.]]

* ''Series/TheJeffersons'': A few episodes dealt with this a bit seeing how the leads were African-American during the 70's. One of the most notable was ''Sorry, Wrong Meeting'' where George, Bentley, and Tom go to what they think is a Neighborhood Watch meeting when really it's a [=KKK=] chapter who're trying to to force the Jeffersons out of the building. The leader suffers a heart attack while arguing with George who saves him via [=CPR=]. But when told he did, the leader bluntly state "[[UngratefulBastard You should have let me die]]" before being wheeled off to a hospital. Needless to say the leader's son and the men of the chapter see how toxic prejudice can be if he isn't even willing to be grateful his life was saved at all and they leave the meeting en masse.

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* ''Series/TheGoodDoctor'' includes this trope in an episode featuring a transgender woman and, while the show ''is'' LighterAndSofter than its predecessor ''Series/{{House}}'' (from the same creator), it went DarkerAndEdgier and had the protagonist Shaun (The Good Doctor in the title) [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone thinking about when]] ''he'' [[HeelRealization was the victim of prejudice for being autistic]]. Unlike some examples on this page, this is more down to being InnocentlyInsensitive (which is part of his character), rather than a {{Jerkass}}, although towards the end of Season 3, he temporarily TookALevelInJerkass during the RomanceArc.

It may also be combined with FantasticRacism or AnimalJingoism where characters are afraid or annoyed because of another species due to believing stereotypes (such as mistakenly believing that dogs hate cats or that [[AlwaysChaoticEvil all gnomes are evil]]), but then learning that the stereotypes aren't true.

* ''WesternAnimation/PoohsHeffalumpMovie'' reveals that the Hundred Acre Wood citizens were misguided in their fear of Heffalumps. Roo befriends a Heffalump boy named Lumpy and the characters learn that Heffalumps are harmless.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'': "Dear Adil" is about Arthur having assumptions about his Turkish pen pal (assuming he wears a turban, lives in a tent, etc) and learning that he shouldn't make assumptions about cultures.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'': This is a major underlying theme within the series. At first were lead to believe the evil forces were monsters from Star's homeland, Mewni, trying to seize power for themselves. But as the series goes on, we start to see plotlines that showcase the monsters aren't as bad as Star was lead to think, some even just want better living conditions for their families due to actually being ''oppressed'' by the current regime. [[spoiler: The prejudice was so bad, that, during Eclipsa's rule, she fell in love with a monster and birthed a daughter, a half-breed. The Butterfly monarchy absolutely rejected the notion of having a partial monster for a ruler and, after Eclipsa was imprisoned in crystal, went so far as to secretly switched her daughter out for a normal Mewnian.]] Season three goes into this much more as the series moves into the other realms and we explore more of Mewni. Season four takes it full throttle and showcases how prejudice can have devastating consequences if left unchecked.

Usually results in the bigot becoming a FormerBigot. Can happen in a GirlsVsBoysPlot. YouGoGirl and GayAesop are sub-tropes. Sometimes is a VerySpecialEpisode. If an established character is established as prejudiced when they previously were not, that's a kind of CompressedVice.

* ''Manga/OnePiece'': The main lesson showcased in the ''Fishman Island Arc''. Fishman and mermaids are considered a major minority race within the series, with many having suffered enslavement from humans. The caused a few fishman such as Arlong and Hody to have grudges against the human race and go out of their way to kill and enslave those they can catch themselves, regardless if they've done anything to them or not. Hody himself even admitted humans never did anything to him, he just grew up in a negative environment that taught him humanity were lesser beings. After the Straw Hats defeat him and his crew, the royalty of the kingdom, already trying hard to make relations with humanity, promise to take steps so this won't happen again and teach their people that not all humans are evil.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'': This is a major underlaying theme within the series. At first were lead to believe the evil forces were monsters from Star's homeland, Mewni, trying to seize power for themselves. But as the series goes on, we start to see plotlines that showcase the monsters aren't as bad as Star was lead to think, some even just want better living conditions for their families due to actually being ''oppressed'' by the current regime. [[spoiler: The prejudice was so bad, that, during Eclipsa's rule, she fell in love with a monster and birthed a daughter a half-breed. The Butterfly monarchy absolutely rejected the notion of having a partial monster for a ruler and went so far as to secretly switched her out for a normal Mewnian.]] Season three goes into this much more as the series moves into the other realms and we explore more of Mewni. Season four takes it full throttle and showcases how prejudice can have devastating consequences if left unchecked.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}'' is a film about racism in a WorldOfFunnyAnimals. Predators, who are the minority, are often discriminated against because of their "biological urges," and the titular city is often seen as a safe haven. However, it is quickly seen that people still have their prejudices. Judy's family is afraid of foxes in particular, and her father tries to give her a fox taser before she leaves to become a cop. Over the course of the film, however, she learns that stereotypes are not all as they seem when she befriends conman fox Nick Wilde, [[spoiler:who as a child had been muzzled by a group of prey Boy Scouts during an initiation ceremony]]. In addition, [[spoiler:the villain, Assistant Mayor Bellwether, is a meek sheep who had been drugging various predators with night howlers, a plant which, when eaten, makes ''any'' animal vicious]]. By the end of the film, Judy learns to understand everybody more, and Zootopia seems to be more harmonious.

* Although not a series ''per se'', BBC News 24 had a small one-off interview around 2012-2013 featuring how New Zealanders in Australia sometimes faced hostility despite the nations being friendly to one another, and post-2017, how American expats in Canada faced hostility due [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment to the new president]].
** Similarly, BBC News 24 presenter Karin Giannone also released a [[MissingEpisode now-deleted YouTube video]] in 2014 detailing her own experiences of prejudice; she is white South African, but lived in England most of her life.

* ''Series/TheGoodDoctor'' includes this trope in an episode featuring a transgender woman and, while the show ''is'' LighterAndSofter than its predecessor ''Series/{{House}}'' (from the same creator), it went DarkerAndEdgier and had the protagonist Shaun (The Good Doctor in the title) [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone thinking about when]] ''he'' [[HeelRealization was the victim of prejudice for being autistic]]. Unlike some examples on this page, this is more down to being InnocentlyInsensitive (which is part of his character), rather than a {{Jerkass}}, although towards the end of Season 3, he temporarily TookALevelInJerkass during the RomanceArc.

* ''Series/HolbyCity'' has this an OmnipresentTrope in its LongRunner history (21 years), so listing all the examples would take up too much room, but this [[AnAesop aesop]] is more of an EnforcedTrope due to [[ExecutiveMeddling the BBC's public service commitments]].

** In "School Raze", Twilight wants to start a school for learning how to make friends and get along. However, Chancellor Neighsay disallows it because she's allowing non-pony creatures to enter and believes they're dangerous.

* ECComics: In the classic story "Judgement Day" a human astronaut visits a planet of robots to determine whether they are qualified to join the FederationOfPlanets. He learns that the robots come in two colors, orange and blue, and the orange robots discriminate against the blue ones. He judges the planet unready to join the Federation because of this. In the last panel he removes the spacesuit helmet he had been wearing throughout the story, revealing that he is a black man.

* This is largely the overarching aesop of ''Franchise/FireEmblem'''s [[VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance Tellius]] [[VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn duology]]. There is a deep divide between Beorc (traditional human characters) and Laguz ([[LittleBitBeastly animalistic humanoid shapeshifters]]) due to past tensions and racial prejudice. Ike, the protagonist, grew up without knowledge of such racial divides, and his journey throughout the games basically beats the player over the head that "racism is bad."

* This is largely the overarching aesop of ''Franchise/FireEmblem'''s [[VideoGameFireEmblemPathOfRadiance Tellius]] [[VideoGame/RadiantDawn duology]]. There is a deep divide between Beorc (traditional human characters) and Laguz ([[LittleBitBeastly animalistic humanoid shapeshifters]]) due to past tensions and racial prejudice. Ike, the protagonist, grew up without knowledge of such racial divides, and his journey throughout the games basically beats the player over the head that "racism is bad."

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* The moral of ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'' is not to judge somebody by their appearance because the "beast" is actually a man under a curse.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}'' is a film about racism in a WorldOfFunnyAnimals. predators, who are the minority, are often discriminated against because of their "biological urges," and the titular city is often seen as a safe haven. However, it is quickly seen that people still have their prejudices. Judy's family is afraid of foxes in particular, and her father tries to give her a fox taser before she leaves to become a cop. Over the course of the film, however, she learns that steretypes are not all as they seem when she befriends conman fox Nick Wilde, [[spoiler:who had been muzzled by a group of prey Boy Scouts during an initiation ceremony]]. In addition, [[spoiler:the villain, Assistant Mayor Bellwether, was a meek sheep who had been drugging various predators with night howlers, a plant which makes ''any'' animal vicious when eaten]]. By the end of the film, Judy learns to understand everybody more, and Zootopia seems to be more harmonious.

* ''Don't Be a Sucker'', released on 1943 and edited four years later, on 1947, was a BackedByThePentagone short movie for the use of its servicemembers and attacking fascism and racial prejudices.

* ''Series/HappyDays'':
** In "The Best Man", Howard is the best man to his black friend, but the neighbours are racist. Fonzie sums up the moral best, "It's not about the colour of your skin; what matters is if you're cool."

* "The Syereotype Song" by ''Your Favorite Martians'' showcases the stereotypes that Americans have about other cultures, but shows in turn that [[EagleLand everyone else thinks that Americans are fat, arrogant slobs in cowboy costumes with flag-patterned shirts.]]

** Even the penultimate two parter, "The Ending of the End" uses this as a plot point. The villains sow distrust among the pony races that all unicorns, pegesi and Earth ponies end up segregating themselves. So much that it weakens the defenses around Cantorlot, the villains figuring the prejudice and fear of each other would be enough to keep aid from coming to the Mane Six when they go after them (though likewise unwittingly summoning the Windgos as well which only appear when there's major strife between the pony races). But thanks to the lessons taught in Twilight's school in this and the previous season, the students of said school rally their respective races to come together and fight for their kingdoms. And indeed, all manner of races do so at a critical moment in the battle against Tirek, Chrysalis and Cozy Glow, saving the Mane 6 and Spike. What's more, this unity of the races is what Twilight realizes is the true power that the Elements of Harmony embody and [[ItWasWithYouAllAlong were always with them]] despite the tree and accessories being destroyed at the beginning of the season. Ultimately it's what de-powers and stops the villains' plans once and for all.

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