Task 6 - Introduction and First Paragraph

In Film, a token character is one who is only present to attain minimum conformity with the assumed normality for the environment described in the story. Token Black characters are usually added in films in order to make them seem anti racist the producers’ way to avoid racial issues regarding their Token Minority. These token characters usually aren’t important to the plot but are there for show. The main texts that I have chosen to look at in this investigation are, Friday the 13^th (2009) and Doghouse (2009).

In an attempt to be anti racist, two token minorities have been casted in Friday the 13^th. A black character called (Lawrence) and an Asian character called Chewie.

The character of Lawrence is a ‘Token Black Guy’. He has little importance in the plot but seems to make an attempt to break free from the stereotypes associated with black people, he doesn’t dress like a typical black person and often uses the phrase ‘it it because I’m black’. The phrase connotes that he doesn’t want to be stereotyped because of his skin colour and suggest that his character wants be treated like everyone else. However, later on in the film we find that even though he may want to break free from the stereotypes he is to some extent a stereotypical character.