History Main / LeadYouCanRelateTo

Compare VanillaProtagonist (which is about the more general use of ancillary characters who are more interesting than the lead), FirstPersonPeripheralNarrator (which is built on some of the same logic as this trope and also involves focusing on a character who isn't actually the protagonist), AudienceSurrogate (where one character is designated to ask the sort of questions the audience would logically be asking during the story), EscapistCharacter (where the protagonist differs from the audience, but in positive, wish-fulfilling ways that the presumed audience finds relatable) and ThisLoserIsYou (when the executives believe that a character with major flaws will be easier for the audience to identify with, because the audience members themselves are similarly flawed). Also compare with TheWatson (whose job in the narrative is to ask the questions that the audience is likely to have so that another character can explain them) and contrast TheEveryman (where the main character is so bland they have no character). See also ButNotTooForeign and ButNotTooGay (or ButNotTooBi), where a character is part of a demographic that's not the same as the majority of the audience, but is still pretty close to being in their demographic.

* ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpiresIII'' has the Black family:
** Morgan, an English Hospitaller Knight, [[SecretHistory in a secret mission]] to the New World at a time when there weren't English colonies there (the Hospitallers are only playable in campaign mode).

** Nathaniel, John's half-Iroquois son fighting in UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution (his campaign is the Iroquois civ's one).

** Chayton, Amelia's half-Lakota son during the Great Sioux War (Sioux civ campaign).

* This is why most ''{{Transformers}}'' shows have the giant alien robots hanging out with human kids.

* ''Series/{{OnceUponATime}}'': Emma Swan grew up in our world and is introduced to the fairy tale world alongside the viewers.

Compare VanillaProtagonist (which is about the more general use of ancillary characters who are more interesting than the lead), FirstPersonPeripheralNarrator (which is built on some of the same logic as this trope and also involves focusing on a character who isn't actually the protagonist), AudienceSurrogate (where one character is designated to ask the sort of questions the audience would logically be asking during the story), EscapistCharacter (where the protagonist differs from the audience, but in positive, wish-fulfilling ways that the presumed audience finds relatable) and ThisLoserIsYou (when the executives believe that a character with major flaws will be easier for the audience to identify with, because the audience members themselves are similarly flawed). Also compare with TheWatson (whose job in the narrative is to ask the questions that the audience is likely to have so that another character can explain them) and contrast TheEveryman (where the main character is so bland they have no character). See also ButNotTooForeign, ButNotTooBlack, and ButNotTooGay (or ButNotTooBi), where a character is part of a demographic that's not the same as the majority of the audience, but is still pretty close to being in their demographic.

* Even though many of the real people involved in the Stonewall riots were black or Latino and a number of them were UsefulNotes/{{transgender}} women, ''Film/{{Stonewall}}'' focuses on a fictional cisgender white teen from Indiana. The specific justification given was that a WhiteMaleLead from the American heartland would be more relatable to the audience. [[AudienceAlienatingPremise Unfortunately, audience reaction (and thus box office reaction) to this justification was... shall we say...]] [[BoxOfficeBomb poor.]]

Compare VanillaProtagonist (which is about the more general use of ancillary characters who are more interesting than the lead), FirstPersonPeripheralNarrator (which is built on some of the same logic as this trope and also involves focusing on a character who isn't actually the protagonist), AudienceSurrogate (where one character is designated to ask the sort of questions the audience would logically be asking during the story), EscapistCharacter (where the protagonist differs from the audience, but in positive, wish-fulfilling ways that the presumed audience finds relatable) and ThisLoserIsYou (when the executives believe that a character with major flaws will be easier for the audience to identify with, because the audience members themselves are similarly flawed). Also compare with TheWatson (whose job in the narrative is to ask the questions that the audience is likely to have so that another character can explain them) and contrast TheEveryman (where the main character is so bland they have no character).

* Even though many of the real people involved in the Stonewall riots were black or Latino and a number of them were UsefulNotes/{{transgender}} women, ''Stonewall'' focuses on a fictional cisgender white teen from Indiana. The specific justification given was that a WhiteMaleLead from the American heartland would be more relatable to the audience. [[AudienceAlienatingPremise Unfortunately, audience reaction (and thus box office reaction) to this justification was... shall we say...]] [[BoxOfficeBomb poor.]]

* ''The Tyra Banks Show'': Tyra would often disguise herself and go undercover for a day to see what life was like for non-supermodels. She put on a FatSuit, she dressed as a man, she went homeless, and was a stripper.

* ''Series/{{TheOffice}}'': Jim is a laid-back, sensible young man in a firm populated by lunatics, fascists, and buffoons.

Common subtropes of this are HomegrownHero, where a 'representative' for the makers' (or audience's) culture or country fills some screentime for no other reason than familiarity, ForeignCorrespondent, where a person from "our country" goes to "their country" and gets involved in local affairs and issues, WhiteMansBurden, in which the protagonist (usually white) works to uplift disadvantaged people of the outside group, and BlackLikeMe, in which a member of the audience's group goes undercover as a member of a different group to discover what life is like for the other group. Examples that are purely one of these subtropes should go on those pages.

Compare VanillaProtagonist, which is about the more general use of ancillary characters who are more interesting than the lead; FirstPersonPeripheralNarrator, which is built on some of the same logic as this trope and also involves focusing on a character who isn't actually the protagonist; AudienceSurrogate, where one character is designated to ask the sort of questions the audience would logically be asking during the story; EscapistCharacter, where the protagonist differs from the audience, but in positive, wish-fulfilling ways that the presumed audience finds relatable; and ThisLoserIsYou, for when the executives believe that a character with major flaws will be easier for the audience to identify with, because the audience members themselves are similarly flawed. Also compare with TheWatson, whose job in the narrative is to ask the questions that the audience is likely to have so that another character can explain them. Also contrast TheEveryman, where the main character is so bland they have no character.

* Even though many of the real people involved in the Stonewall riots were black or Latino and a number of them were {{transgender}} women, ''Stonewall'' focuses on a fictional cisgender white teen from Indiana. The specific justification given was that a WhiteMaleLead from the American heartland would be more relatable to the audience. [[AudienceAlienatingPremise Unfortunately, audience reaction (and thus box office reaction) to this justification was... shall we say...]] [[BoxOfficeBomb poor.]]

In a mainstream Hollywood film, for example, the protagonist is likely to be a [[WhiteMaleLead white male, middle-class, heterosexual, hetero-/monoromantic, cisgender, able-bodied, high-school and college educated person]], while the majority of the characters are anything but those categories. A film aimed primarily at black people will substitute "black", etc for "white", a Japanese film would have a Japanese person as the point of view character, and so forth. Sometimes this can be stretched a bit; a mainstream Hollywood film might have a middle-class able-bodied black man as the protagonist in a story about wheelchair-using urban youth, for example.

In a mainstream Hollywood film, for example, the protagonist is likely to be a [[RidiculouslyAverageGuy white male, middle-class, heterosexual, hetero-/monoromantic, cisgender, able-bodied, high-school and college educated person]], while the majority of the characters are anything but those categories. A film aimed primarily at black people will substitute "black", etc for "white", a Japanese film would have a Japanese person as the point of view character, and so forth. Sometimes this can be stretched a bit; a mainstream Hollywood film might have a middle-class able-bodied black man as the protagonist in a story about wheelchair-using urban youth, for example.

While this storytelling device is often used in situations involving race or ethnicity, it is not confined to those by any means.

* ''Manga/SuperdreadnoughtGirl4946'' is about, obviously, a CuteGiant named Mana who fights monsters of a similar size. Because it's a {{shonen|demographic}} manga, though, Mana's page time is split with her love interest, the TinySchoolboy Tobita.

* Yami Sukehiro of ''Manga/{{BlackClover}}'' is a Japanese man living in a western-styled country.

In a mainstream Hollywood film, for example, the protagonist is likely to be a [[RidiculouslyAverageGuy white male, middle-class, heterosexual, hetero-/monoromantic, cisgender, able-bodied, high-school and college educated person]], while the majority of the characters are anything but those categories. A film aimed primarily at black people will substitute "white", etc for "black", a Japanese film would have a Japanese person as the point of view character, and so forth. Sometimes this can be stretched a bit; a mainstream Hollywood film might have a middle-class able-bodied black man as the protagonist in a story about wheelchair-using urban youth, for example.

In a mainstream Hollywood film, for example, the protagonist is likely to be a [[RidiculouslyAverageGuy male, middle-class, heterosexual, hetero-/monoromantic, cisgender, able-bodied, high-school and college educated person]], while the majority of the characters are anything but those categories. A film aimed primarily at black people will substitute "white", etc for "black", a Japanese film would have a Japanese person as the point of view character, and so forth. Sometimes this can be stretched a bit; a mainstream Hollywood film might have a middle-class able-bodied black man as the protagonist in a story about wheelchair-using urban youth, for example.

* ''Leverage'': Nate Ford is an honest man who runs a crew of thieves. He talks about living a normal life and having a normal job throughout the show.

Compare VanillaProtagonist, which is about the more general use of ancillary characters who are more interesting than the lead; FirstPersonPeripheralNarrator, which is built on some of the same logic as this trope and also involves focusing on a character who isn't actually the protagonist; AudienceSurrogate, where one character is designated to ask the sort of questions the audience would logically be asking during the story; EscapistCharacter, where the protagonist differs from the audience, but in positive, wish-fulfilling ways that the presumed audience finds relatable; and ThisLoserIsYou, for when the executives believe that a character with major flaws will be easier for the audience to identify with, because the audience members themselves are similarly flawed. Also contrast TheEveryman, where the main character is so bland they have no character.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'' episode "Rhonda's Glasses", Rhonda, the most popular girl in school, becomes a geek after getting glasses and explores the geek world.

In a mainstream Hollywood film, for example, the protagonist is likely to be a [[RidiculouslyAverageGuy, male, middle-class, heterosexual, hetero-/monoromantic, cisgender, able-bodied, high-school and college educated person]], while the majority of the characters are anything but those categories. A film aimed primarily at black people will substitute "white", etc for "black", a Japanese film would have a Japanese person as the point of view character, and so forth. Sometimes this can be stretched a bit; a mainstream Hollywood film might have a middle-class able-bodied black man as the protagonist in a story about wheelchair-using urban youth, for example.

In a mainstream Hollywood film, for example, the protagonist is likely to be a [[RidiculouslyAverageGuy, male, middle-class, heterosexual, hetero-/monoromantic, cisgender, able-bodied, high-school and college educated person]], while the majority of the characters are anything but those categories. A film aimed primarily at black people will substituted for black people, a Japanese film would have a Japanese person as the point of view character, and so forth. Sometimes this can be stretched a bit; a mainstream Hollywood film might have a middle-class able-bodied black man as the protagonist in a story about wheelchair-using urban youth, for example.