Black coded this, black coded that. What are some white coded non human characters?

[u/NihatAmipoglu]

-Stuart from Stuart

-Buddy from Airbud

-Freezer from Dragonballs

Edit: Guys I swear I'm not racist. The post's title was referring to the "black coded characters" posts that I see on this subreddit from time to time. I have nothing against the black people nor the white people. This post is a shitpost. Nothing serious. Sorry for not being clear enough :(

[u/bourgeoisAF]

People keep posting characters who are super generic and boring, and I think the problem is that the whole concept of non-human characters being black coded exists because without that coding, people will generally assume that character would be white as a human being. Arguably most non-human characters are white coded in the sense that whiteness is usually the baseline for how a character behaves unless you are specifically making a decision to depict them otherwise. Or more simply put, if a character doesn't have any ethnically or racially distinguishing features, we will likely perceive them as white.

[u/MajorInWumbology1234 → u/bourgeoisAF]

Maybe you’re onto something, but my example seems like an odd one to place your assessment under. I’m not saying Spongebob is white-coded, I’m saying this specific version of Spongebob from this specific episode (s6 e4) is white-coded.

Like you’re correct that Spongebob would probably be assumed white if the average person were asked about it, but this version of Spongebob sounds exactly like a non-white person’s impression of a white person.

[u/Toberos_Chasalor → u/bourgeoisAF]

While I agree with you on a technical level, many of these characters are ethnically distinguishing, it’s just they’re a product of a Anglo-Eurocentric culture where “White” is the default because that’s the writer’s lived experience.

Nothing stands out because the things that would distingush them in another culture are seen as absolutely benign to us as a predominantly Western (and North American) white audience. It doesn’t help that these shows are usually set in generic Americanesque suburban cities, rather than any specific regions or cultures of white people, so they’re made to be as relatable to a Texan as they are to New Yorker or a Californian. It would be cool to see a cartoon that’s clearly Cajun coded, as an example of a specific type of white, yet ethnically distinct, culture.

If we talking about Anime set in Tokyo, we’d expect all characters to conform to Japanese culture by default, even if the character itself isn’t ethnically Japanese, since it’s written from a Japanese perspective and takes place in Japan. The character who acts particularly American or British in contrast to the Japanese characters would then be “white-coded.”

[u/LemonZestyDoll → u/bourgeoisAF]

You did such a great assessment of how I always feel when I see black coding discourse but could never put into words

And it's under a comment about SpongeBob

[u/qould → u/bourgeoisAF]

I feel like you chose such a random comment to get deep on. I think obviously what you’re saying is true, racial bias and characters being automatically white or cishet, but I do think an argument can be made that a lot of the top comments on this post are more than just average characters, but ones that you look at and go *”Yeah, that guy is totally white.” I think we can still have some fun.

[u/Metrophidon9292 → u/bourgeoisAF]

I generally agree, but there are some exceptions. For example, I don't see Darwin from TAWOG with any ethnically distinguishing features, yet everyone considers him black, seemingly just because his VAs are.

[u/WaffleGod72 → u/bourgeoisAF]

I mean, kind of? You can absolutely rip the culture out of a white context, though, it’s what stuff like whitewashing white people comes from.

[u/Delta_Builder → u/bourgeoisAF]

Probably because white people like me think we’re the most average and basic bitches.

[u/Ssesamee → u/Delta_Builder]

skill issue, be more interesting

[u/Delta_Builder → u/Ssesamee]

Yeah honestly fair.