BFF or BBF

Race is a very common way for people to organize the world. Media, as a representation of the world, often uses race as a shortcut for evaluating characters. In doing so, media commonly uses a character stereotyped as the "black best friend."

In a Gender Studies class at Indiana University, my professor asked the class to name movies and TV shows that include a "black best friend." After a list of about 20 examples (Clueless, 10 Things I Hate About You, and Scrubs to name a few), I realized just how regularly the media uses these shortcuts. In his article, "The Matter of Whiteness," Richard Dyer argues stereotyping characterizes "the representation of subordinated social groups and is one of the means by which they are categorized and kept in their place, whereas white people in white culture are giving the illusion of their own infinite variety." Dyer means that while the white race has an infinite variety of images associated with it, other races have a finite number. This causes stereotyping in the media.

The "black best friend," or BBF, is one of these finite images and is represented again and again in media. Greg Braxton from the Los Angeles Times explains on NPR's Talk of the Nation, "Black actresses seem increasingly to be relegated to this role of being the best friend of the white heroin; the one that will be giving them advice, and be sort of sassy, and warn them about hooking up with that guy, or taking that job, or anything that's going to put the white heroine in jeopardy...they don't seen to have much of a life outside of helping that friend...a BBF not a BFF." Braxton continues that it is very uncommon for the reverse to occur.

The BBF also is true for male characters, however, Braxton argues that not only is the relationship more equal, the black friend can be dominant over the white friend. I agree, but only to a point. Men BBFs are, indeed, more equal to their white counterparts, however their character still serves as the second to the white male lead. In the TV show, Scrubs, Turk has his own life and is not exclusively there for his white best friend,JD. However, he is quite frequently used to help JD or to be a comedic relief. Though they are more advanced than female BBFs, I don't see male BBFs to be as advanced as Braxton claims they are.

These stereotypes continue to pop up in the media, but do they really represent the true world? When black women have a white best friend, are they exclusively there to serve the friend and give advice? Are black best friends only there for comedic relief? No, the true life black best friend would be considered a BFF, not a BBF, to the white best friend. This racial stereotype, like a lot of others, is bogus, and media's use of racial stereotyping is not going to end until we find a new way of organizing our world.