Basic Trope: A black character who's angry with The Man.
- Straight: Bob will quickly get angry at evidence of systematic racism against black people.
- Exaggerated:
- Bob flies into a Suddenly Shouting "The Reason You Suck" Speech if someone as much as stares at him for too long.
- Bob is a Single-Issue Wonk about black people's rights with No Indoor Voice.
- Downplayed: Bob is passionate about the rights of African Americans (and other oppressed minorities), but tries to also have a life outside of it.
- Justified:
- Bob (or a member of his family or True Companions) has suffered some injustice in the past because of racism and it was a formative moment for his world view.
- Bob is impoverished, his health is deteriorating, and he's generally desperate; dealing with racism is still another stressor on top of all of the rest of it.
- Bob is a Malcolm Xerox or similar archetype, and the injustice is historical oppression of black people.
- Inverted:
- Bob is a white man with unapologetically racist views, but keeps them quiet to avoid being outed as such.
- Bob is black, but he comes across as an Extreme Doormat, even when confronted by a blatantly racist individual.
- Bob is an Angry White Man.
- Gender-Inverted: Alice is a Sassy Black Woman who loudly preaches the importance of intersectional feminism.
- Subverted:
- Most of the time, Bob is well-mannered and kind enough to let any Double Standards slide.
- Bob isn't so much angry as passionate. He doesn't want to stir up old conflicts, but rather to stimulate black pride by reminding them of what they've accomplished, what they've overcome and what they've contributed to society. All he wants from his white neighbours is for them to be aware of what blacks have contributed.
- The only reason Bob is angry so often is because of what and who he has to put up with; racism being his favourite subject to rant about. When he's given a chance to relax, he isn't so quick to see racism.
- Double Subverted:
- He gets very angry when an overtly racist character shows up, gives them a "The Reason You Suck" Speech and goes out of his way to make them pay for their moral failings.
- He's much calmer, but he'll still talk your ear off about the systematic racism black people face in Western society.
- Parodied: Bob is set off by innocuous comments, or words which have a far-removed racist connotation.
- Zig-Zagged: The writers have varying positions on race, so Bob's degree of anger about his positions varies.
- Averted: Racial issues never come up.
- Enforced: The author wants a straw man against racial activists.
- Lampshaded: "Bob doesn't like racism, and I get that. I also understand his anger in the abstract; it just makes it more difficult to work with him than I'd like."
- Invoked: Bob cultivates such a persona so nobody dares give Alice a hard time for fear of upsetting him.
- Exploited: Alan, an Angry White Man, tries to provoke Bob so he can have him arrested and discredit the (well-deserved) accusations of racism that have been levelled at him.
- Defied: Like many professional black men, Bob has had coaching which includes keeping an even tone to avoid being perceived as this stereotype — not that he's happy about it.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: "Why do are black men on TV all Single-Issue Wonk-y about racism? They have other personal and public concerns, too, don't they?"
- Deconstructed: Even though Bob's concerns about racism are justified, nobody listens to him because they disapprove of his aggressive tone.
- Reconstructed:
- The fact that people talk about how Bob speaks rather than what he says is not a counterargument to his concerns in itself. And if they're exhibiting a Double Standard, being less willing to tolerate Bob's style than they would if he were white, it just reinforces his point.
- Bob delivers his speeches against racism in a Tranquil Fury, which leaves a more lasting impact on people than if he screamed at them.
- Implied: Bob is The Ghost but somebody else describes him as this.
- Played for Laughs: The resident Butt-Monkey is always being Mistaken for Racist and setting Bob off.
- Played for Drama: Bob has legitimate reasons to be angry or upset, but his frustrated outbursts make his situation even worse.
Back to "Angry Black Man" Stereotype
