History Main / StereotypeFlip

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[[AC:{{Film}}]]

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

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[[AC:VideoGames]]

[[AC:WebComics]]

[[AC: Western Animation]]

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<<|RaceTropes|>>

* In one of the most memorable scenes in ''RememberTheTitans'' one of the black football players is visiting his teammate who lives in a white neighborhood. A police car pulls up and an officer eyes the youth. You think it's going to be a classic Rodney King-esque scene (it is taking place in the 1960's South). But....the officer simply congratulates the youth on a well-played game and wishes him good luck for an upcoming game. The black player, and presumably the audience, are pleasantly surprised.
** Actually Virginia; not exactly the DeepSouth.
*** Same perils and consequences, nonetheless.
** Well, the Confederate Capitol ''was'' Richmond.

* One hilarious scene in ''{{Airplane}}!'' shows [[strike: a little old white lady]] [[LeaveItToBeaver June Cleaver]] acting as an interpreter for two black youths who speak only Jive. She, of course, [[PardonMeStewardessISpeakIambicPentameter is fluent]] in [[JiveTurkey the language]].

** Worf's lover K'ehleyr, a fellow Klingon, actually cracks jokes, smiles, and seems to actually have other interests other than finding excuses to 'fight in glorious battle.'
*** She IS half human, though.
*** The mere fact of the [[StarTrekTheOriginalSeries original Enterprise]]'s crew was a historic stereotype flip. A black woman who was actually not a servant. A Russian treated sympathetically ''at the height of the Cold War''. One of Trek's great accomplishments was all the stereotypes it flipped.
* ''HannahMontana'''s [[TheLibby libbies]] Amber and Ashley are played by a black girl and an Asian girl. Amber is the hottest girl in school and a RichBitch, a role usually restricted to [[BlondesAreEvil blondes]], and Ashley is TheDitz as opposed to "model minority" AsianAndNerdy. So, less of an UnfortunateImplication as much as a case of not restricting the ethnic kids to BlackBestFriend and TokenMinority.
** In Ashley's case, she might fall straight into another [[AsianAirhead trope]].

* Senor Chang on ''{{Community}}''.
** One episode showed he has a Jewish brother, Rabbi Chang.
*** Senor Chang may himself be Jewish. His brother is a rabbi, and his first name is Benjamin.
* [[StargateSG1 Colonel Samantha Carter]]. Gorgeous, sexy, hot blonde. Who also possesses an IQ approaching Stephen Hawking's and has kicked several planets-full of asses in ''two'' galaxies.
** And killed the gods of ''a third galaxy''.

*** Daniel Jackson fits the bill as well. He is undoubtedly an academic and a nerd, who in the course of the show, has kicked his fair share of ass, and is far too good-looking to be a standard nerd.

* [[TheSuiteLifeOfZackAndCody London Tipton]].
** Uhm...AsianAirhead?

* In ''{{Futurama}}'', Hermes Conrad is many things the exact opposite of a stereotypical Jamaican.
** He still plays it straight many, many times.

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
* In an episode of ''StarTrekEnterprise'', a Vulcan greets Captain Archer....with a warm and hearty handshake, something the Vulcans of that era (pretty much any era) don't do. She also asks Archer about her quarters, T'Pol assumes she's displeased with the smell as Vulcans have a more heightened sense of smell than humans. Rather, she wants Archer to thank the crewman who loaned it to her.

* [[DoctorWho The Time Lords]] are a [[PlanetOfHats Planet Of Dull, Stuffy Hats]]. The Doctor is an adventurous, [[TheMessiah friendly]] CloudCuckoolander who ran away from his home planet for this selfsame reason.

* TheZerothLawOfTropeExamples strikes again. In ''{{Othello}}'', Shakespeare flips not one, but ''three'' DeadHorseTropes: the brutal, lascivious, and treacherous Moor; the promiscuous, cunning, venal Venetian lady, and the honest soldier. Othello is honorable, cool-headed, and chaste; Desdemona is almost a PuritySue in her simplicity; and Iago…

** Uhm...AisanAirhead?

* On ''SouthPark,'' [[MeaningfulName Token Black]] (yes, [[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer that's his name]]) is the richest kid in town, and his parents seem to be more educated than just about anybody else. The entire episode "Here Comes the Neighborhood" plays on this idea: as more rich and successful black people move to town, the poor white characters begin to get angry, but over class rather than race -- until the very end, where Mr. Garrison basically outs himself as a racist.

*** Cartman: Alright, Token, play the bass.
*** Token: Cartman, I told you I don't know how to-
*** Cartman: Token, you're black, you can play the damn bass.
*** Token: Cartman, that's a racist-
*** Cartman: TOKEN PLAY THE DAMN BASS!
*** (Token plays the bass perfectly)
*** Token: ...Goddamnit.

** Pretty sure that after a later series' retcon, he's now called "Token Williams". Token does actually fulfill some pretty funny stereotypes himself though: He has an astounding soul voice (Then-Mrs. Garrison claimed that it got her wet), and this little gem...

* ''{{The Dark Knight}}'' - [[ScaryBlackMan Massive, terrifying, black convict]] taking the detonator for the other boat we assumed to blow up the other boat and save himself [[spoiler: instead throwing it out of the window.]] "Give it to me, and I'll do what you shoulda did ten minutes ago." CrowningMomentOfAwesome?? Hell yes!

** Well the Confederate Capitol was Richmond
* The ''RushHour'' movies milk this trope for all its worth. Consider the scenes where Carter reveals he actually knows Chinese and Lee reveals that he actually speaks flawless English.
* ''InTheHeatOfTheNight'': The black guy in town, played by Sidney Poitier, is not just a ScaryBlackMan, he's also a respected detective from Philadelphia. And in case you're wondering '''[[MemeticMutation They call him Mr. Tibbs!]]''' Not a big deal in 2009, but a huge deal in 1967.

* One hilarious scene in ''{{Airplane}}!'' shows [[strike: a little old white lady]] [[LeaveItToBeaver June Cleaver]] acting as an interpreter for two black youths who only speak Jive. She, of course, [[PardonMeStewardessISpeakIambicPentameter is fluent]] in [[JiveTurkey the language]].
* The film ''AmericanGangster''. The success of Frank Lucas' all-black Harlem based drug ring in the 1970's was apparently so unheard of that when RussellCrowe's cop character tries to tell the Feds that Lucas is the one behind the drugs, they flatly refuse to believe that "a nigger" could pull it off.

** [[WesternTerrorists This one isn't really all that rare]].
* The Green Mile plays IS this, as the Huge Muscular Black Man who supposedly raped two young girls and killed them with his BARE hands actually has a heart of gold (and is innocent.)

*** The mere fact of the [[StarTrekTheOriginalSeries original Enterprise]]’s crew was a historic stereotype flip. A black woman who was actually not a servant. A Russian treated sympathetically ''at the height of the Cold War''. One of Trek's great accomplishments was all the stereotypes it flipped.

*** Daniel Jackson fits the bill as well. He is undoubtedly an academic and a nerd, who in the course of the show, has kicked his fair shair of ass, and is far too good-looking to be a standard nerd.

*** And, in the [[StargateAtlantis spinoff]], we have Rodney Mckay. Arrogant, rude, hypochondriac, generally a pain in the ass... who said all Canadians were nice?

** Devon "Captain Awesome!" Woodcomb combs like a typical 'frat boy'. And while he has that silly catchphrase, played football, and loves to say 'bro' and 'dude'; he is also an accomplished doctor, and a genuinely caring husband and friend.

* ''TheATeam'' 's Mr. T. fool! ScaryBlackMan with a mohawk and a chest full of chains. You wouldn't think it, but he was actually the one the kids loved, both in the show's universe and in RealLife.
** Mr. T. actually performs as SantaClaus at the White House for Nancy Reagan in 1983. Yep.

* Lisa Turtle from SavedByTheBell was written as a stereotypical "Jewish Princess" and cast as Black (gentile?) before the show went on the air. She was still materialistic and high maintenance, but managed to avoid many of the UnfortunateImplications of the SassyBlackWoman because of her class (somewhere between RichBitch and SpoiledSweet) and CloudCuckoolander tendencies. Her character was the only female lead to survive the ReTool.
* Whitley Gilbert, TheLibby on ADifferentWorld was a brash, [[{{CloserToEarth}} far-from-earth]] SouthernBelle at a (functionally) all-black college. She was played by a trained dancer and stage actress Jasmine Guy, who's acerbic characterization and well-paced slapstick soon made Whitley the BreakoutCharacter. HarsherInHindsight WallBanger / HilariousInHindsight FairForItsTime, because during TheEighties, it was ''seen as a step forward for a Black Woman to play a ComedicSociopath convincingly.''

[[AC:{{Manga}} and {{Anime}}]]
* In ''AzumangaDaioh'', Osaka breaks Tomo's expectations that the new Osakan student is going to be a loudmouth who's always trying to sell stuff. This is emphasized in the English manga, where Osaka's speech is translated with a New York City accent, which has a similar "loud and pushy" stereotype associated with it.
* In ''{{Monster}}'', Runge's painstaking research of Tenma's past results in little more than him ascertaining that the latter is not "stereotypically" Japanese.
* A {{hikikomori}} is stereotypically a creepy, misanthropic guy, and ''SayonaraZetsubouSensei'' instead has [[PunnyName Kiri Komori]], who is female and really friendly and something of a YamatoNadeshiko and a hikikomori.

* ''OrderOfTheStick'' often does this with various professional/race stereotypes of ''DungeonsAndDragons'' and the like. Belkar is a halfling, a race generally known for being carefree and jolly, but he's ChaoticEvil; Crystal is a pretty, young assassin who works for a half-Orc- but she's the DumbMuscle and he's quite cunning

* On ''SouthPark,'' [[MeaningfulName Token Black]] (yes, [[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer that's his name]]) is the richest kid in town, and his parents seem to be more educated than just about anybody else. The entire episode "Here Comes the Neighborhood" plays on this idea: as more rich and successful black people move to town, the poor white characters begin to get angry, but over class rather than race. Until the very end, where Mr. Garrison basically outs himself as a racist.

* Francine from AmericanDad was angry at her adoptive Asian parents for leaving all they had to their [[{{TheGhost}} unseen]] birth daughter, Gwen. It turns out that they actually have more respect for Francene, and that Gwen is an AsianAirhead who [[{{ArsonMurderAndJaywalking}} isn't even good at math]]. Stan and Francene's father both agree it's [[{{CrossesTheLineTwice}} terrible for children to disrespect their parent's stereotypes.]]

<<|RaceTropes|>>

* The Green Mile plays IS this, as the Huge Muscular Black Man who raped two young girls and killed them with his BARE hands has actually a heart of gold
** [[CompleteMonster Wait, the rapist-murderer is the good guy?]]
*** He didn't do it. [[DidNotDoTheResearch The real murderer and rapist is revealed later in the book.]]

* ''{{Leverage}}'' made TheSmartGuy [[BlackAndNerdy]] black and TheBigGuy white.

** [[Complete Monster Wait, the rapist-murderer is the good guy?]]

** Strip 590 (How do you do a link?)