Hollywood’s idea of diversity often means a single Black character with no depth, no story, and no purpose.
In an effort to appear diverse and culturally aware, TV and movie directors will occasionally throw in a single Black character with no substantial personality traits, relationships, or narrative of their own.
Typically, these characters embody racial stereotypes and enforce the harmful image of the Black sidekick only being there to the white lead. These characters have little to no personal details but are always there to the hero or main character’s journey, enforcing the harmful narrative that Black characters should take a backseat to their white counterparts.
Unfortunately, this “effort” is just not good enough. Firstly, failing to provide these characters with a narrative backstory equal to those they share the screen with is just bad writing. But more consequentially, Black children grow up with their primary cultural representation as a half-baked attempt at inclusion.
An example of this blatant tokenization is Gabrielle Union in Ten Things I Hate About You (1999) and She’s All That (1999). Her characters, Chastity and Katie respectively, are both there as best friends to a white lead, but the audience is unaware of their interests, hobbies, other friends, or family .
Not only present in the rom-com genre, Scream 2 (1997) features the surprise addition of Sydney Prescott’s supposed best friend, Hallie, though she was mysteriously absent in part one. Hallie—you guessed it, is Black—s the entirely white cast for no apparent reason, exhibiting no interests or unique personality traits.
Tokenization isn’t just a phenomena of times past, many Gen Z childhood favourites have been infected by this lazy attempt of diversity. High School Musical (2006) features the love story between Gabriella and Troy, accompanied by their respective Black best friends Chad and Taylor. Chad and Taylor add very little to the plot but are always there to assist their white friends in times of need.
Perhaps the most glaringly obvious example of a Black character only serving the white lead is in the film edition of Sex and the City (2008). Despite having little to no people of colour present in the entire six seasons of the show, Carrie hires a Black personal assistant
for the movie. Louise, played by Jennifer Hudson, offers sage wisdom during critical junctures in Carrie’s complex life, with only morsels of personal details thrown in.
In my Vancouver suburb, and again at a primarily white university, I listen as Black friends express the struggles of oftentimes being the only member of their race in the room. Forcing Black characters onto the screen with only white people to accompany them pushes the harmful idea that these singular characters, founded on stereotypes alone, embody an entire race of complex, diverse people.
Token Black characters are often the embodiment of a racial stereotype, forcing that image on an entire community, does far more harm than good.
One of the most frustrating aspects of the trope is the narrative potential these token characters have. Dionne in Clueless (1995) was charming and funny, an instant fan favourite. However, without a proper storyline outside of minor plot developments with her boyfriend and being an ever-present wingwoman to the lead, the audience is robbed of what could’ve been.
Looking past poor representation, tokenization does a disservice to incredible Black actors forced into terribly written roles as their only foothold in the industry. Black characters need to be written better, and that comes from thoughtfulness and precision, as well as encouraging diversity in the predominately white field of screenwriting.
Thankfully, the ability to write compelling characters does exist, and it’s time directors and screenwriters applied it to all cast members equally. Eric, from Sex Education (2019), for example, is a well-rounded character who happens to be Black, not the other way around. This is likely because Sex Education has a more diverse writing room than your typical Netflix original. Mary Lamb, in The Holdovers (2023), is another incredible example of a complex and interesting Black character who thoughtfully contributes to the narrative.
Tokenization isn’t only poor representation but also harmful and degrading to an entire race. Directors and screenwriters need to provide the same care and attention to detail to Black characters as they do to white ones. Shows, and movies, will be better for it.
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