Why The Love Interest Is *Almost* Always White...

let's talk about it
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Hey Rummates, today we're here to talk about love interests in media...and why usually for POC characters...they tend to be white. Let's discuss why that possibly is!
Timestamps:
0:00 intro
1:59 the discussion
this video was edited by Charlie at Replayed.co
#imuRgency #commentary #strangerthings

[@yasminechoerryscherry3701]

Elle and Tao from Heartstopper are actually an example of an interracial relationship between two poc

[@saraamin5494]

Yes! Let's have more couples like that. There doesn't always need to be a white person in an interracial couple. Let's mix it up, Hollywood!

[@treshunjackson7391]

Fr!!

[@magdilareina5805]

which is also proof that whichever argument about "relatability" and "marketability" one might make is nonsense - the show was a huuuge success and EVERYBODY loved their relationship. it's not like shows are going to loose their entire potential white viewer ship because a ship doesn't include a white person

[@kaismixtape]

yess i love them sm 😭❤️

[@bexthefairy]

yes! i immediately thought of how they're a great example :)

[@user-hp5cf5kf8k]

yes omg. I remember seeing this dark-skinned brown girl with a black bf on tik tok and everyone in the comments was like, “how is this interracial? you're almost the same colour” and it just highlights how people aren't used to seeing interracial couples that are both poc or where they are of different races but both dark-skinned.

[@javencummins1426]

That is crazy.

[@Akilahfoye]

Yessss

[@aanyamallick7747]

@Mulactik dude I completely get what your saying, is A Nigerian Susu woman is with a Man from Ethiopia or a Khoisan male, that union and baby would be ethically mixed. Race race tho, u less its a northern African and those from the North are more white

[@sapphicvampire8504]

Do they really forget how diverse ethnicity and race is?? I feel bad for them. Its like saying A chinese person and a Japanese person cant date each other because they are “not interracial” or some bs they like to pull. Im south east asian myself and interracial couples are very common in my country bc ppl either immigrate there or are multi racial themselves.

[@B0OBIES]

@@sapphicvampire8504 I was under the impression that interracial couples are couples that date outside their race. So from what I know, japanese and Chinese are of the same race so it wouldn't be interracial. Japanese and Chinese are ethnicities, not races.

[@user-hp5cf5kf8k]

the poc character in the love triangle also usually has to be extremely good-looking while the white one can be average but the white one still gets chosen in the end

[@imuRgency]

this part!!

[@user-hp5cf5kf8k]

@@imuRgency omg you replied. hi!

[@aksharagudipati4094]

exactly, its the idea that poc have to be extremely attractive to even be on the same level as white people and be seen as much as them and it's so bullshit

[@Natsu.dragneel448]

Yall I'll never forget the shit I saw in the kissing booth two😭😭

[@user-hp5cf5kf8k]

@@Natsu.dragneel448 oh yes. the new guy was miles better and good-looking (jacob elordi is fine but they did him dirty in those films)

[@frankii5011]

You forgot one in “To all the boys” laura jean chooses Peter over John Ambrose despite Peter being an asshole to her and still talking to his ex behind her back

[@imuRgency]

wait WHAT? i'm glad i haven't seen that yet bc I'd be so mad

[@hectoriul6135]

SO TRUEEEE peter was not the choice.

[@aaricn04]

Yeah but Lara Jean ends up with Peter in the books, also John Ambrose was white in the books - it’s really not a race thing in this situation.

[@sarahmcgill1676]

This is True, but in the book John Ambrose was described as being like as white as he could be, I'm pretty sure she said his skin was as white as milk and his hair was the color of hay or something like that. I think her choosing Peter was to keep things on track with the book, but I was also upset because how could you say no to Jordan Fisher.

[@madik7141]

And imagine choosing peter over jordan fisher 😭

[@h0e4steveharrington]

My issue isn't necessarily characters of color ending up with white people, it's the fact that it's the ONLY thing we see. I'd have less of a problem with it if we saw more interracial couples with two POC and don't get me started on love triangles with the main (brown) character choosing the white boy despite the other love (also brown) interest being a much better option.💀

[@fg4462]

YESSSSA a la Sex Education. Raheem was SUPERIOR to Adam for Eric. That line at the end of season 2. Something like if you're always there to catch him who's there to catch you.

[@leah9159]

Glad I'm not the only person that notices this. When the brown main character (which is kind of rare within itself) picks the white love interest when they had a better option but they don't choose them and that better option is usually also brown. Like for example, the love triangle between Victor, benji, and Rahim. Rahim was a much better option, in my opinion. They got along much better.

[@nottheonlycammm]

honestly and a great example of this is to all the boys I loved before the second one.

[@aquaaria3489]

@@fg4462 To be completely honest, although I do agree that Raheem is far superior as a love interest, it still makes sense for many reasons… Adam spent years bullying Eric, but they still knew each other for much longer compared to Raheem (who only appeared on S2), which made their first kiss and Adam leaving very impactful. After those two events, Eric just seems emotionally attached to Adam, probably because he just understands him as a fellow LGBTQ+ member that struggles with acceptance, which made Raheem just a simple crush; it also has to be considered that they’re teenagers and that going out with people who don’t deserve you that much is also a reality. However, I like how the writers didn’t make their relationship look like a “happily-ever-after fairytale” in season 3. It just seems and feels that they won’t last and that is possible, considering how many break ups happened throughout all the seasons. Their story goes far beyond just being a representation of queer interracial couples, but that’s just the way I interpret it.

[@ramiyahlee6108]

@@nottheonlycammm and the second tall girl movie

[@hotpeppypepper3294]

I noticed a repeated pattern in Sex Education almost every love triangle a poc was the never picked.

[@imuRgency]

giving love island

[@mkwhite5054]

@@imuRgency it’s also giving Netflix teen movies too. Kissing Booth, Tall Girl, To All the Boys I Loved Before… granted two of those are white leads but it’s interesting the sequel movie always had the ambiguously brown love interest introduced who was always better than the white love interest but never got picked.

[@fg4462]

LITERALLY just commented about Sex Education and how Raheen was wayyy superior to Adam for Eric.

[@fg4462]

@@jasminewadsworth1983 I know thanks. It auto corrected in my phone and didn't care to change it.

[@hotpeppypepper3294]

@@dest_n from what i remember that wasn’t a love triangle and they didn’t even end up getting together.

[@rachie2456]

Let's also talk about the lack of darkskinned monoracial black people as main leads in young adult television. Nearly everytime there is a black character, they are always biracial and lightskinned. This ties into not just racism, but also colorism.

[@FionaA17]

Truee … the love light skinned ppl cause they are “ethnically ambiguous” The

[@goober9156]

It's ok you can say Zendaya and Zoe Kravitz

[@hkgehts9061]

Watch black tv shows instead of Netflix's whitewashed shit then. It's not everywhere, just the high school dramas. Because in most black high schools, making a tv show about them being a show about race and inequality, whereas making it in white rich affluent high school allows the character to have time.for all the bullshit they do

[@plusa6829]

That’s a female issue more than a male issue. Mono-racial Males are largely represented whereas females are more green ambiguous to be literally ANYTHING that the script and stories requires.

[@imxel2193]

@@FionaA17 *monoracial black WOMEN

[@Butterfly_inthesky]

I’ve been thinking the same thing but about how the POC main character always has a white best friend 💀

[@melanieluver2385]

the only time I havent seen that is in dear white people

[@lw1ni_332]

@@melanieluver2385 same thing with boo bitch😭

[@chidinma1722]

Omg, Lupin!!! Everyone around him was white😭

[@Galaxylion_omega]

Yes, that’s so annoying especially knowing that most bipoc hang out with other bipoc

[@cottonhairedaesthetic2005]

It has to be like that or white people won't watch black stories. 😒

[@nicolesherman8974]

Another good topic worth discussing. As a person who loves watching movies and Tv shows, I feel the main reason why love interests are almost always white is because of profitability. Hollywood acts like there isn’t a such thing as Black love (whether queer, straight, or whatever one’s sexual orientation is). We barely get to see love interests be POC let alone dark skin.

[@JulianSteve]

Well said, Nicole. I agree with you!

[@kouros158]

I feel like it's to make the white character look cooler, too. They could be with a white person, but they chose to be with a BIPOC...y'know...'cause they're 'down with the brown'. They're 'the cool white ally' trope, but as a partner rather than as a friend. A white character will get praised for being in a relationship with a non-white character, but I don't see people praising the non-white character. (Ex. 'We love [blank]. I knew [blank] liked chocolate. etc.) Society has made it hard to be in an interracial relationship, but, in media, it's portrayed as if it's harder for the white person to be in the relationship than it is for the non-white person. It's more heroic for the white person to be in the relationship than the non-white person. Am I the only one seeing this...?

[@aanyamallick7747]

Of course Hollywood knows what black love is, the problem is that these relationships are often struggle love. And let's be honest here, even in the black community, specifically the church will tell you to stay and work out your marriage with a cheating man that has not only dogged you out but continuously embarrassed you. I don't want to see that.

[@natasharules770]

Actually, I think it's because they need to keep the white audience by having at least one white person in the relationship. Hollywood is made for white folks, interracial relationships are through their eyes.

[@jakylawillis1419]

@@aanyamallick7747 but even though that is somewhat true there are successful black on black relationships that do need representation so either way it just seems like Hollywood is trying to live up the quote on quote white is the beauty standard

[@Butterfly-ll7mm]

I want to see more interracial love stories/plots where a white person isn’t involved

[@starranderson5]

🙌🏾

[@treshunjackson7391]

Fr!!

[@astoldbynickgerr]

Me too. Especially in the lesbian/sapphic media because it is W H I T E as hell 😭

[@aksharagudipati4094]

@@aahp111 kind of unrelated but have you seen heart shot on netflix? its sapphic and they're both poc and one of them is a black girl with dark skin...but its a 19 min short film 💀which proves all of this

[@alexisfelice]

THIS!

[@selectedshipper8282]

👏INTERRACIAL👏COUPLES👏DON’T👏HAVE👏TO👏INCLUDE👏WHITE👏PEOPLE👏

[@hkgehts9061]

Stop using the clapping emoji, we know babe

[@0nly.bhadbby40]

@@hkgehts9061 what 😂😂😂

[@hkgehts9061]

@@0nly.bhadbby40 what

[@just_mansy]

DO 👏 YOU 👏 HAVE 👏 A 👏 PROBLEM 👏 WITH 👏 WHITE 👏 PEOPLE 👏 ? 👏

[@CR0WBS]

@@hkgehts9061 👏lame👏👏👏👏👏😭

[@ESPDaniella]

I agree. It likely has to do with “relatability” and marketing to a “wider *white* audience” - also let’s take a look at these writer’s rooms real quick too 👀

[@imuRgency]

RIGHT

[@tristiancirca89]

Right. It starts in the writer's room.

[@BellesView]

Exactly. They don’t want to risk losing viewership so they find a way to center whiteness within a series focused on a BIPOC lead(s).

[@elelonger4409]

For some reason white people cant relate to poc but we have been able to do it for years

[@BellesView]

@@elelonger4409 We kinda had no choice because there wasn’t much representation for a long time.

[@leannj.3706]

yess let's talk about it because i'm tired! we always need more romances in media where all the love interests are people of color

[@insertbandherehasmesoftaga2526]

can you please talk about how on a majority of teen shows that the only mono racial black character is usually a darkskin guy? i think it really ties into colorism and racism where blackness is sometimes portrayed as masculine on the big screen.

[@jessinthecomments]

Speaking of seeing yourself represented in media, I can’t help but notice the lack of mono racial unambiguous black female leads especially in young adult media and it’s been that way for years.

[@astoldbynickgerr]

YES, this!!

[@BellesView]

It’s performative diversity. Dark enough to be considered BIPOC but ambiguous to be relatable for the masses.

[@mellamobrittney]

@@BellesView "Performative diversity." Extremely well put.

[@ima.m.1658]

@@BellesView it’s like white ppl can’t be “comfortable” unless they see a POC, esp as main characters, who looks at least a little similar to them. We’re all human and it’s high time everyone gets used to it. But when studios look for profit first, we won’t have a chance of that.

[@alexism7800]

I’ve seen people talk about that with the gossip girl reboot. The main character Zoya is canonically fully black but they still chose a biracial actress

[@Chicobingz]

I think that sometimes its the "white savior" troupe. Due to the poc usually goes to the YT love interest because it seems like they are saving them from their problematic life. Its like the Disney's Pocahontas movie when she choose John Smith because he's new and from a far away land and is saving her from her culture. They usually create poc characters in struggling or problematic roles and give the YT love interest a "white knight" feel, rescuing them from their lives and bringing them to a better place. If you ever noticed the poc life gets better and opportunities are given to them as soon and they get with the YT person. Such as going to college, getting a new job, being happy, leaving their problematic family. Meanwhile if they stay with another poc they will probably deal with them getting fired, a family member dies, gang/ drugs get introduced some how, they feel stuck and not happy incorporated into their storylines. I don't know ...its very sketch if you ask me.

[@icefroze4396]

Nooo bc this is so true

[@mutelarsorhougbe4606]

Mmmm!!!

[@exstellaxoxo6895]

Pocahontas though, is based off of something terrible though.

[@BratzRockAngels]

I agree with your point, but in Disney's Pocahontas, she chooses to stay with her family and land, she doesn't go with John Smith. She's one of the only Disney Princesses who doesn't get to be with her love.

[@itsajahnixoxo]

Omg yess!!!

[@angelle_rose]

One recent example of a movie with a mixed couple that doesn't include a white person is "The Lovebirds" with a black woman and south east Asian man as a couple. Something we very rarely see but that's what actually attracted me to the film. It would be interesting to see a variety of mixed couples in the future and I really hope they drop the "choosing the white person over a poc" troupe because it's getting boring and predictable 🙄

[@javencummins1426]

Yes!

[@oreochocolate_lavacake9960]

Yes that movie was absolutely hilarious but I really appreciated the representation

[@isharaj-silverman2411]

Love that movie! Mostly because Issa Rae and Kumail Nanjiani are both brilliant. Also, not the point, but Kumail Nanjiani is South Asian (Pakistani), not Southeast Asian (Filipino, Vietnamese etc.).

[@Dany_C.]

Yaaaass!! I loved that movie! It was very funny and I loved the main couple!😭💕

[@Galaxylion_omega]

There another like that on Netflix but I forgot the name, but what I do know is that it’s a nollywood movie with a black woman and a south Asian man

[@nycarriapainter270]

As someone who adores romance movies, tv shows, etc. I absolutely wish their was more girls who are the love interest who look like I look. it was something which was definitely something i noticed when I was younger.

[@lizz9896]

this is like the biggest reason why First Kill stands out to me so much and why I love it. There is no whitewashing to Cal and they didn't simply choose a light skin poc with curly hair and button nose. Like she looks and acts like the people that İ know ( and even when she spoke, there was something strangely familiar about it and turns out shes from NYC lol (as i) ) oh and its gay without it being about the tragedy and struggles of being gay, they just are

[@nycarriapainter270]

@@lizz9896 yeah that’s something else is that the POC they choose will be very lighter skinned than a darker person would be.

[@lizz9896]

@Louis Kingsta i didnt like some of the voice overs, and the CGI was something to get used to too lol but I love the main characters enough to let a couple of things slide. i do wish there were a lot more tension, romantically, and still with the elements of fate but I figured every other gay show/movie kills us with enough of this- which is perfect, but then there ends up being only like one kiss in like its entire 2-10hour run lol. so considering this is Netflix and that we might not even get a season 2, I'm glad with the way things went.

[@a1ourqa]

Same as a mixed person you rarely see them w a black guy a example would be spiderman and zendaya (forgot what her name in the movie) it’s kinda boring and predictable

[@94MermaidWisher94]

AND ALSO whenever we have a main bi-poc character they’re usually mixed with white! We rarely see them having the same ethnicity parents it’s so annoying

[@astoldbynickgerr]

Sometimes even if they have parents of the same race / ethnicity, they still cast someone who’s lighter skinned. Or even the actor is biracial/mixed race playing a character that’s supposed to be monoracial.

[@felineartsy]

@@astoldbynickgerr Nah listen here 😂 i like hardly see light brown people that have natural hair. The majority of time it's just mixed people that are light. Not even mixed dark skin people. I'm tired of it tbh lol

[@mypronouniselonmusk4559]

That’s just a lie. There are plenty of monoracial black people on tv

[@mypronouniselonmusk4559]

You’re spreading false facts. It’s very dangerous for mixed race people

[@faerubee]

@@mypronouniselonmusk4559 we’re talking about main characters, like for example Rue from Euphoria

[@angelaluis9937]

always ALWAYS, if you have two Black leads end up together the show automatically gets labeled as a Black show and doesn’t get promoted as a mainstream show

[@just_mansy]

could you give me an example?

[@procreatedara4562]

@@just_mansy like abbots elementary or everybody hates Chris

[@Battyfan23]

I think you should talk about the whole white boy of the month trend too and how these correlate. Because they definitely do!

[@astoldbynickgerr]

This!!! Joseph Quinn is our white boy of the month lmao

[@jonasfilmstudio]

What’s white boy of the month?

[@eprahs1]

not really, we talkin bout hollywood

[@Battyfan23]

@@eprahs1 to each their own

[@kehlanijauregui1017]

@@jonasfilmstudio naming a white boy of the month I don’t know who’s in charge of it I just know it exist

[@kaylakilgore4138]

I feel like there is still a lack of black woman/white man relationship where the black woman isn’t mixed. They love to put mixed women in movies and tv but never full black and especially dark skin women.

[@victoriagrace101]

YES!! this is so true. Every single black woman lead I’ve seen is someone with a loose curl pattern, a lighter skin tone, etc. They just all have the same things in common and it’s sad.

[@aishambengue3024]

THANK YOU!!! Plus I’d love to see that more honestly

[@kaylakilgore4138]

@@aishambengue3024 yes plus I’ve read that white man/black woman and Asian man/black woman are the least common interracial pairs in America by a lot. It would help to break stereotypes seeing these things on screen.

[@Imetwurld_]

@@kaylakilgore4138 that's not true maybe dark skin black women. Definitely not black women.

[@Imetwurld_]

@@victoriagrace101 seriously and it makes me uncomfortable when the dark skin girl is not mid or pretty. Sorry but that's my opinion I'm African but I think it's because of lack of many black people in america . Compared to african nations media like my country especially where u see alot of good looking black people weather dark skinned / brown skin / light brown/ light skin / albino looking in the media alot . In american media they always pick the not so good looking sometimes in a caucasian film

[@ann-catherinedesulme9408]

I also feel like that POC main character is also biracial themselves

[@jackiehouston4461]

Watching this video from a perspective of a Black woman, it would be nice to see Black relationships portrayed on newer shows. I’ve seen a lot of hate on social media towards Black women lately and it is now making people that are not Black women feel comfortable spewing that kind of hate/anti Blackness even in real life. It would be refreshing to see Black women be happy and loved by someone from their community on TV.

[@imuRgency]

THISSS

[@shannonpaci7765]

Unfortunately our own community is the one who treats us the worst sooooooo

[@mellamobrittney]

@@shannonpaci7765 Well, I wouldn't go as far as saying that our own community treats us the "worst," considering that we live amongst all sorts of different people groups who literally *hate* us lol, but unfortunately many of us do treat each other pretty horribly.

[@aliciapinkcotarot]

@@shannonpaci7765 no that’s your experience there are a lot of black men who date marry and love black women.

[@princesschanel469]

@@aliciapinkcotarot you're invalidating many black women's experiences though by pretending it's all rainbows and amazing for every black woman and they are an outlier. Explain why many black women have a harder time dating than non black women. We're always too dark, our ethnic features are "ugly" and our hair is nappy when it comes to black men. But when I date white guys including all of my black girlfriends, they don't deal with that same hatred. I'm not saying white men are the answer to us brown girls problems, but a lot of the time it's black men and other black women spewing this hate specifically

[@camrynjohnson1791]

this is why “the sun is also a star” is one of my FAVS. it has an interracial couple with 2 poc

[@prodhockii]

COURTNEY

[@nerd26373]

I’m also noticing that pattern. It tends to be the white person who is paired with someone of color. Regardless if they’re male to female, male to male, or even female to female. Would love to see two or more people of color falling for each other deeply with no setbacks. I have nothing against white people. It’s just that throughout history white people tended to be the main stars in any tv show, film, etc.

[@miriambrandsma7755]

Not but seriously that's so true, growing up in my area there weren't a lot of people of color, neither where they much in the media. At least not in the starring roles. When I grew up and became more aware of others I really had to deconstruct my way of viewing the world because that view didn't include a lot of POC which is ridiculous. If more POC where given starring roles, this wouldn't be so foreign to people in secluded areas and (hopefully) they'd be less small minded and racist. Just because it would be normal to see all kinds of people including POC. It shouldn't be special, inclusive or progressive thing it should just be the standard.

[@carrotcakeisbombasf103]

I agree there are so few examples that’s why I love season 5 of druck( i think it’s 5 correct me if I’m wrong) that has a sapphic couple that are both POC and there is also no coming out story(which i mean finalyyyy. But there is a little bit of drama which but honestly it was a good cute watch I recommend if ur looking for that sort of thing.( you kinda have to watch season 4 but that season falls into the same thing mentioned problem as talked about in the video)

[@passthedutchie4873]

Batwoman

[@apinchofdisappointment]

Umbrella academy Diego & Lila is pretty cool rep

[@west533]

I honestly don't know why people look at white centered television for poc. It's self sabotaging. There are millions of movies produced in Asia, Africa, South America that don't even have a single white character (really. Not even a random person on the street.) Even in America there are networks that focus on poc. But instead people opt to watch white centred shows to find poc. That's literally like going to China to find a Mexican instead of actually going to Mexico and then complaining when you find no Mexican. Also why are you surprised that white people are the stars of film. For one, they invented film and television. And secondly, of course white people are the stars of white film. Just like Indians are the stars of bollywood, Nigerians are the stars of nollywood, Japanese are the stars of Japanese television etc.

[@strudelh]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed this, it's always bipoc x white person, it doesn't matter if it's a straight couple or an lgbtq+ couple. I can't think of any show I've seen with a bipoc x bipoc couple. Even if there's a bipoc love interest, they don't seem to end up together for long lol. 😭

[@FIRXFLY]

Someone in the comments mentioned Elle and Tao from heartstopper, so there's that, but it's just one example

[@strudelh]

@@FIRXFLY yess I love themm

[@idkhowbutno5023]

olu and jim from our flag means death

[@priscillablount6862]

More of them are dying then being born. They are trying to get those numbers up. They go to the easiest people black and mixed people

[@jiribb9300]

never have i ever has some (kamala, fabiola, aneesa)

[@armt8543]

It’s like there’s nothing inherently wrong with it in fact it’s great to see representation of all relationships … the problem is that they’re all following the same whitewash pattern

[@SAsunshine101]

I agree! Why is the love interest always white? I’ve noticed this pattern too as a movie/tv show lover. Honestly, I don’t think movies/tv shows are ready to have to a full POC cast and writers 😬

[@lai5573]

I was just talking to my girlfriend who I am in a POC Interracial relationship with. I’m black she’s indian, and we are SICKKKK if seeing the POC consistently choose the worst choice who HAPPENS to be white

[@adorknamedashley]

I’ve noticed it too and I think part of the problem is that most of the time, the POC character doesn’t FEEL like a POC if that makes sense. They aren’t really written from a POC perspective or with a POC in mind. Its written from a white lens and the character feels, for the lack of a better term, “white” too. It just feels like the writers wrote the character and threw in some cultural differences (that they may or may not point out) because the person that got the part was a POC. That’s partly why while First Kill is part of this trope, it feels different because Calliope feels like a black character. A lot of the writers were black and they added little nuances to elevate her and her family’s blackness. Not to mention, Calliope is black in the short story.

[@GabesEdtiz]

Spot on. And then those racist incels get pissed whenever a character doesn’t act like a white person, calling it “woke” and screaming “diversity bad!”

[@shantaybearcakes7069]

Yes this! I was super happy they didn't just have a black girl in a role....they made her a BLACK GIRL. Now if they really wanted to up the ante they could a had ole girl with a bonnet for that silk press😭😭😭

[@lavellans]

Really? I will give it a chance! That was my main worry lol

[@piakrut3476]

Tf is a poc mind💀

[@adorknamedashley]

@@piakrut3476 ???

[@JulianSteve]

I been noticing this too, especially in commercials and it makes me uncomfortable. Why can’t I see people of the same race in a relationship on the screen? I wanted to make a video about this topic without offending people, but you handled it well. Thank you, Rumi😄!

[@Bbmoney244]

I'm not sure where you live in the states, but I think the way the country is moving, being in a monoracial relationship isn't the norm anymore (at least in my area), so media is trying to show that. However, they show a false perception that all relationships are with bipoc and a white person.

[@lefromthecity]

I live on the east coast and have family in the south, the majority couples are people of the same race outside of the people with advanced degrees. Interracial couples are normal to see but they are still the minority by a long shot.

[@eprahs1]

offending who? We all see it

[@JulianSteve]

@@eprahs1 You have a point😭💯

[@JulianSteve]

@@lefromthecity I’m from the east coast too, but interracial relationships are frequently where I am from in NYC. I agree that people with higher degrees (to extent) are more likely to interracial date /marry (frequently).

[@kristina1097]

4:40 it’s worth mentioning that Darren Barnett is half Japanese 🇯🇵 HOWEVER, he is white passing; so much so that the creators of the show didn’t even know about his ethnicity until they overheard him speaking Japanese. This also brings up/makes the point that Mindy Kaling originally wrote not one, but BOTH of Devi’s love interests as white boys🙄which wouldn’t be such a bad thing if we had more representation of interracial relationships that don’t involve white people

[@reesewoods9185]

the thing is i feel like back in the day a BIPOC person’s love interest was always another BIPOC person bc interracial relationships weren’t common in the media. and at one point to have an interracial couple on TV was a big deal. which i respect. but now it’s gotten to the point where we don’t see anything else. also what kinda bugs me is when there’s a full white cast and the ONLY two bipoc people are coupled together as if that’s there only option. but don’t get me wrong i loveee to see black on black LOVE. just sometimes i feel like this topic varies in different ways

[@BellesView]

Like Love Simon!

[@ethanhenrichs5677]

What is BIPOC? I know Poc means person of color, but not the B and I.

[@eventplanner461]

Reminds me of HSM.

[@NoeBIchez]

@@ethanhenrichs5677 B- black; I- indigenous. I think

[@ethanhenrichs5677]

@@NoeBIchez Ah, okay. Thanks.

[@kaylakilgore4138]

I agree any time the cast is mostly people of color half the show is about racism and never a simple love story like when there is a white protagonist.

[@lavellans]

That’s another issue, them using race exploitation when we just wanted some fluffy content like everybody damn else

[@faithsamuel5529]

Back in the days movies like love don't cost a thing are truly mixed. Zendaya's roles hardly ever have black love interest. Still love for her though

[@riekiefakude1978]

I noticed that too but it would be nice if you could separate biracial and black. Rue is literally biracial even on the show she had a white dad, same with Sam from Dear white people. For me there's a difference. Black/white biracials date a white person it's interracial but when when they date an unambiguous black person it's not, how?

[@so.many.obstacles]

Speak 🗣

[@StarlessTerrace]

Three words: one drop rule It's not right or fair but it's facts. This exists specifically to maintain "whiteness" as a construct.

[@jamiegibsn7543]

@@StarlessTerrace i don't think anyone sees people who are less than and half (and don't have the features) as black

[@uh8300]

@@jamiegibsn7543 depends on where you are in the world

[@sarahscott409]

it's one of the things i'm so excited for in heartstopper s2... because we can clearly see there is ~something going on between tao and elle, who are a (potential/future) interracial couple where they are both people of colour 🥰

[@The-Aniverse]

another thing i’ve noticed with jenny han’s work is that the asian main character (or honestly any character that’s asian in her books/movies/show) is almost always half white. not that it’s a bad thing to be mixed but i just find it weird that han always makes her asian characters half white even when she herself is fully asian. just something to think about

[@idcman6692]

I would love to see black and Asian love 💕💕

[@idcman6692]

Sadly Hollywood loves to portray white and black love interest 🙄🖕🏻

[@nqvsli]

THIS. I notice that too. Lara jean and Belly are examples of this. The love interests are always white too.

[@hatefulcunt]

I see that in a lot of shows/movies

[@Bree_Bunny]

Yeah, I notice this too in media, a lot of Asian/South Asian women have this weird "fetish" almost for white men & half-white kids(looking at you TATBILB😒). Like even Mindy Khaling's shows, the Indian main girl *always* has a white dude(and I think she's married to a white guy in real life as well). I think a lot of them have a weird affinity for hapa/haifu/Eurasian children. It's kinda sad when you value "mixedness" more than you value your own "mono-racial" existence. Like half-white is """better""" than unambiguous mono-racial or any other non-white mixed-raced ppl. I low-key be wondering how do Asian men feel when they see it😅, cuz it's mostly the Asian women you see in these Asian/White pairings. And don't even get me started on the creepy fetish a lot of white men have for Asian women to begin with.😰 That's a whole dissertation in itself.

[@Valentine-pm3kb]

i’m glad someone is mentioning this. i’m not against interracial relationships or anything but it’s kinda suspicious to me that a relationship not being interracial is surprising to me these days. i’m not the biggest conspiracy theorist but it honesty is so forced in so many pieces of media these days so feel like an agenda is being pushed. i saw someone in these comments say that another thing is that a lot of times PoC characters these days aren’t even written as poc which i think is true so many times ppl will bring out the poc love interest but their entire personality is so white it’s clear that they just made them a poc for diversity points✨. just in general unfortunately a lot of diversity in media is very forced imo it’s no real effort to make poc authentic just make them a poc and everyone will rejoice anyway 😬

[@eventplanner461]

IDK I kind of have an issue with the "white personality" argument. Because I feel like there is a fine line between trying to write an authentic poc character and a caricature that reinforces a lot of negative stereotypes about poc that these authors often run into. Sometimes we have to be very careful when we use the whitewashed argument because it can imply that there is a certain way to be a poc. That being said, it makes no sense to me how they always write poc characters who don't have any poc friends. Like, I get it if it is a predominantly white private school in a secluded area. But if it's a public school in the city of all places I better see some more poc.

[@hell_ohh]

@@eventplanner461 it's not that there is a white or black personality but you can tell the characters are written by someone who isn't black, and by that i mean when a black person experiences a microaggression they'll recognise it as such but a white person would see that and just see it as the person being rude at most. the character will be written in a more 'oblivious' way than if it was an actual black person writing them, whether the black person is 'whitewashed' or portrayed stereotyically is a different matter

[@V_4_Versace]

Lol my old favorite trope of this is when the _only minorities_ on the show always ended up together haha it would be so funny that they would always just pair them up together even if they had no chemistry but at least it was predictable lol

[@oreochocolate_lavacake9960]

Imagine they switched it up and made them the main characters in the TV show and actually gave them character development and chemistry

[@V_4_Versace]

@@oreochocolate_lavacake9960 right?! That was always my dream! I lived off the crumbs of screen time they gave them and created whole storylines for them in my head 🥹

[@Meebees15]

I totally agree with everything you said, I also think you’re being too nice about it hahaha. All these streaming companies: Hulu, HBO, Netflix etc. are all ran on white leadership, black and brown show creators/writers will ultimately have to submit their work to be approved by white people and yea like you said if it’s not “relatable or representative” for white people it’s not gonna get greenlit or get the marketing push it needs to succeed. Are there some shows that are the exception to that? Yes, but they are far and few between. All in all, it’s racism, systemic and internal (looking at you Mindy Kaling and Jenny Han 👀) and blatant colorism

[@TheBestAccEver]

said perfectly

[@Ray03595]

Mindy is a strange one. She'll go critique white men and white ppl in interviews and media, but her tv shows always seem to revolve around a PoC being infatuated with whiteness/a white person. She doesn't seem self-aware and gives off the wrong vibe for me and I've avoided her shows for this reason. And her new "Scooby-Doo" show just... ugh. Trying too hard.

[@beatrizalmeidasantos7746]

i've been thinking about this a while, i want to see diverse interacial couple.

[@astoldbynickgerr]

Yeeesssssss

[@catalinadiaz7235]

Bridgerton suffers from this too. Personally I feel that is a bit forced. Even though Kate and Edwina are a very wonderful representation. How did they fall for Anthony???

[@danarodz3275]

I couldn’t deal with Anthony 🙈he was so bland and annoying.

[@catalinadiaz7235]

@@danarodz3275 he gives flour energy

[@madik7141]

Because of his money lmao it definitely wasn’t his personality or lack thereof

[@jnkazee2526]

Cause the name of the show is "Bridgerton". You can only expect so much.

[@NoName-dx1no]

The fact that Edwina apparently wasn’t even into him in the original books so they have made 2 hot women who are supposed to be having a nice sisterly bond fight over some random man 🧍🏻‍♀️ one is already enough but 2-

[@yaritzaaguilar9522]

The relatability point is very interesting, because there is a need/requirement to make white people feel represented often at the cost of having more POC love interests.

[@jusjvf199810]

There’s a subscription on YT called The Take, and they talk about how often the “Magical Minority” doesn’t get chosen in a love triangle

[@V_4_Versace]

TBH I also think this is such a popular trope because *colorism* it’s great if you make your love interest interracial because now they can have light skinned babies or kids who just look straight up white and played by actors with like 25% whatever the original couple was (looking at you TATBILB!) so flash forwards, spin-offs, etc. can all go right back to catering toward a white audience while just hinting at ‘hey we gave you minorities something, remember?’

[@AlexanderBrando]

People don’t seem to understand there are other kinds of interracial couples that aren’t black and white 🥴 and it’s TIRING

[@user-nj8lu8ld9e]

cause they're dumb and memorize instead of understanding. These people would never succeed at programming and computer science. They rely on their witness into positions like sales, which involves nothing but bullshit and fake confidence.

[@mayaraman645]

Thank you for making this video!!! Like good god, this happens in just about every teen/YA series and I’ve had enough! Why can’t we have more POC couples???

[@niniukato]

i notice a lot of the bipoc + yt person pairings come from shows who usually have a colorblind approach to representing race and the fact race is never really brought up while being an interacial couple is a problem imo. i think its more realistic for there to be open dialouge esp for the bipoc partner abt how their race affects the relationship but this usually never happens :/

[@okdthefmv]

I especially notice this when it comes to women of color. Zoe Saldana always gets paired with yt bois as her love interests

[@Imetwurld_]

What are u saying . It's more common for the men . This video dosent sit right with me. 🤦🏽‍♀️ Me as an african want to see more interracial couples on the media especially with black women . Y is that bad

[@astoldbynickgerr]

@@Imetwurld_ there are men of other races. bipoc women don’t only need to be paired with yt men. that’s the point of this video. we are tired of yt x bipoc pairings. it’s over saturating the pool. we need more bipoc x bipoc representation.

[@jamiegibsn7543]

@@Imetwurld_ there are non black ppl who aren't white

[@PheePheeTV]

I literally just had this conversation with my therapist, it’s exhausting & overwhelming! I need more Black on Black love in my media!

[@tikifreaky5204]

Im curious how u feel about the show Insecure - where they highlight black love but the actors don’t date other black people in real life

[@jeshurundaniel794]

Personally not interested in that fr especially when its never healthy in real life

[@PheePheeTV]

@@tikifreaky5204 I’m conflicted about the actors not having Black spouses, but I can also separate the characters from the actors portraying them! I don’t think it would as much of a shock or betrayal to fans, if we saw more Black love in our media!

[@eventplanner461]

There's a lot of Black on Black love stories, but they rarely cast a dark skin monoracial woman as the love interest. And when they do, they always involve struggle like Queen and Slim.

[@lamis1053]

@Lupoty yes but black people have the worst reputation on that

[@mwoods4608]

They are trying to be "woke", but they aren't showing other relationships like : Asian with Hispanic, Native American with Indian, why is it only black and white??

[@MannyBricks]

That’s so RARE that you don’t see that in Hollywood or anything like that like a Mexican with white or mix it up groups of minorities and skin color but all you have to is add everyone is equal, THAT’s IT…

[@Jazzy115]

Even seeing more poc in the media having their love interest always be white still upholds the notion of white is right as the beauty standard. I really hope to see more poc in relationships with same race as them or another poc. And yes I HATE the love triangle where the two choices is between poc or white person.

[@neivilde.1242]

in the movies too, every netflix teen romcom is introducing a poc love interest in the sequel only to not do anything with them like why bother???

[@auliaazizah3718]

i'm also starting to get sick of this! when they say "romcoms are dead" no please tell stories from different perspectives, for example by having the 2 main leads be BIPOC. also more stories with interracial couple but none of them are white would be great.

[@leah9159]

Thank you so much for talking about this! I've noticed it too. And while there are many white/non-white pairings that I like. (Max and Lucas, belly and Jeremiah, etc.) There are MANY more white/non-white pairings that shouldn't have been together but stayed together anyway. And I can't help but think some writers just do it on purpose or they let their biases dictate what the public would want instead of creating things that make sense.

[@imuRgency]

"what the public would want" is such a key point. like if you're going to choose what sets the culture at least in entertainment....why not push the needle to something a little...ya know...different? but alas

[@leah9159]

@@imuRgency Hopefully we'll get into a point where there'll be more pairings where both ppl are poc. Cuz let's be honest it will probably take a while. (Also thank u so much for replying to me, I almost didn't believe it! I love ur videos keep doing what ur doing!❤️)

[@zaniyyahjacobs2499]

I made a comment Like this on a reaction video to The Summer I Turned Pretty. I basically said that there is a pattern in Jenny Hon books, movies and TV shows that always have her main character of color who also is always mixed ends up with a white guy and half the time that white guy is chosen over a guy of color. I stated that there is nothing wrong with interracial dating/ relationship its just an interesting thing that I noticed. Someone's response to this was "there isn't anything wrong with interracial relationships. Are you saying that everyone has to be with a black guy?"

[@chisaramba-madubuike680]

Yessss jenny has a thing for validation from white people. Every of her book, the characters are always mixed with white

[@kidfresh351]

Zoey and Kevin from This Is Us!!! Used her for character development, booted her, and he ended up with the white woman

[@briuploadshere]

I've definitely noticed this ESPECIALLY when it comes to sapphic/lesbian relationships in media. It's either they're both white or non-white + white. There's only two examples I can think of where both characters are black women and that's Coop & Patience from All-American and Sophie and Ryan from Batwoman. That's it. And it's even more interesting when you go back and look at shows from the 90s or early 2000s and you see how if there was an interracial couple they wouldn't be the main couple, they'd be the side. It's like there's been this huge reversal over the last decade which would've been fine if it wasn't ALL WE'RE GETTING. I honestly think that the reason they do this is because like you said, they (as in hollywood or the creators of these programs) feel like if they have to have that token white character that white viewers can latch on to or else they won't wanna tune in. So essentially they're striving for white viewership even if the show is starring non-white characters while also pushing the narrative that whiteness is the most 'desirable'

[@ninal2098]

no cuz belly did cam cameron so dirty 😭😭😭 but no i agree with you completely cuz this has been on my mind for a hot minute especially bc the last two shows i watched had this same trend (first kill & summer i turned pretty). i need these show writers to switch it up for once like damn 😭

[@victoriagrace101]

cam cameron was so cute tooooo

[@tidesgrl]

Ikrr my poor boricua Cam Cameron 🇵🇷💜

[@ChrisBrooks34]

This reminds me of Tee noir's video about the Femme Fatale. About how in a lot of these like teen/young adult oriented shows that the protagonist will have like a genuinely nice POC love interest and they'll always choose the toxic white character with a nice jawline. WHY? Or worse they'll make the POC unbelievably bland. They'll be nice but they don't have any other characterization they're just nice.

[@adrianaondrejka2062]

omg dude. i literally think abt this all. the. time. im biracial (black & white) and i’ve always been sensitive to biracial couples in media. i would love to hear u talk abt this more, if anything just to rant lol bc ur right, there isn’t any inherent issue with it i guess, but it’s so weird to always see a poc + white couple. I think it’s important to show that u can actually pair poc together in multiracial relationships, like mine :)

[@gamer1X12]

Also notice how there's rarely ever a black woman actually portraying a black woman on the screen. They're either ambiguous "exotical" looking or mixed race with VERY fair skin.

[@liyahjoon4908]

I noticed and I’m tired! lol and the love triangle always has a second love interest who isn’t white and they never get picked even if they’re the best option.

[@maryamesque]

another thing ive noticed is that the POC love interest is almost ALWAYS better romantically and emotionally as a partner for the MC, and yet they always go back to the white character that hurt them...think netlfix's kissing booth, after, etc.

[@Overvineyar]

It's the same with the dating world too, not sure if it's a fetish or a preference some relationships just don't look organic like some times the chemistry is off

[@SJ-sg5iz]

THANK YOU IVE ALWAYS THOUGHT THIS ESPECIALLY IN QUEER RELATIONSHIPS ITS ALMOST ALWAYS INTERRACIAL BUT ONLY WHITE + POC. It’s not a bad thing by any means but it’s never anything different and it’s always to make white people feel included when they will always be. It’s tiring.

[@user-nw3kj4ik5k]

question? why is that a bad thing? the most common interracial relationships are black and white anyway.

[@icewitdarice]

thank you for talking about this omg!! 😭 I swear i’ve been noticing it so much with almost all of the tv shows I’ve watched. This poc + white lover trend frustrates me even more when it comes to queer relationships tho because frfr, the only time i EVER see a healthy, black & gay couple is on youtube (which i definitely appreciate). But oh how i would loveee to see that representation & level of actual relatability on my tv screen (including movies and ads) and in our fav tv shows

[@zackattack9772]

which is why I keep telling people the current interracial obsession in hollywood is antiblack. we’ve actually moved in the wrong direction in the last 20 years when it comes to black representation if we being honest because at least then i could name hella black tv couples. we literally have ZERO

[@tanaazchowdhury1505]

When I was a kid, I genuinely thought that an “interracial couple” was acouple consisting of a black person and a white person. That’s it.

[@lifewithjessi8672]

Fr tho that is so true and I agree with especially with stranger things,Ginny and Georgia,never have I ever and as well as the summer I turned pretty and ahaha stay out of my black business 😂😂😂

[@joeym.4501]

I recently saw an article with Lisa Kudrow, phoebe from friends, who responded to the lack of diversity in the show. She gave a large sum of money to a black college and vowed to make sure black folks were in the writers room. I’m over these blanket statements and actions. I’ve worked in homogenous environments where I was one of few of the “others” it’s tiring. And baybeeee the TRAUMA I have suffered. I don’t think this is the answer either because we end of with this type of representation which is honestly over saturated and I’m tired of seeing it. I don’t want to be an after thought. I want to see black on black love in mainstream media without being fetishized. The 90s to early 2000s popularity of black sitcoms that I grew up with is over and I miss it. One on one, half and half, Malcolm and eddy, living single, the Jaime foxx show, family matters, the proud family, etc.

[@birdiewolf3497]

You are not alone. This trend started popping up in the 2010s. I want to say 2013/2014. Television and movies wanted to prove that they were "diverse" and often times this just meant making the love interest to the white lead character BIPOC. Highkey feel like Candice Patton's casting as Iris West was the nexus event. A lot of the movies and tv shows were being produced with existing IPs that excluded BIPOCs and they started racebending the characters, particularly racebending love interests. Then the push for diversity started including demands for us to star in leading roles. And execs said sure but the character must end up with white person. That is sort of how we ended up here. I hate it for the most part. Especially these choices made now, because it is entirely manufactured by the writers and execs that just HAVE to white characters centered and featured in some way. They couldn't possibly have white characters exist in the peripheral of BIPOC leads just like BIPOCs have been in the backgrounds of white leads. Nope they have to maintain some sort of main character status. That is what upsets me about Never Have I Ever and Ben's character (other than the character being annoying in of itself). Quick recap of what went on behind the scenes. Paxton was originally the only love interest planned and also white (following the new tradition). The casted Darren and the found out he was half Japanese, so now their white love interest was only a half white/white passing love interest. Enter Jarren, fully white person, and now suddenly during filming or table reads the powers that be love their chemistry and promote him to being a main love interest. We literally shoehorn in this solo episode to make it happen. And I would love to turn my brain off and pretend that this was all one big coincidence, and not part of some prime directive. But this issue is too pervasive for me to ignore. Honestly I don't buy the idea that this is due to white folks needing white character there in order to watch and relate to the content. That's fucking bullshit. There are several so called "niche" shows where white people are still the major audience. Insecure being one of them. I remember Issa talking about it. To me this is just a way white supremacy is trying to adapt while still asserting it's dominance. We will include more BIPOCs characters and BIPOCs as leads but we will link them to whiteness.

[@WastedBananas]

NHIE is a garbage show fr

[@meashafong883]

Also, the fact that most storylines for movies and TV shows have all different shades of white but then only cast one or two POC. Can we just get more storylines where most of the cast are POC because it's more common than people seem to think.

[@rachaeltang9247]

Love that point. Show non-White interracial couples 👏🏼

[@Hana-hl6cd]

why do so many of these videos keep calling mixed/biracial people their non-white label? rue isn’t black. she’s biracial in the show. belly isn’t asian. she’s biracial in the show. these shows cast biracial actors and make their characters biracial, yet the audience still calls them their non-white label. it’s so weird. this is how monoracial black (or asian, or non-white in general) people get ignored and erased.

[@eventplanner461]

Exactly, like I don't get why they cast biracial actors to play monoracial characters with monoracial parents. Atleast in Euphoria and Ginny and Georgia they didn't deny their biracial heritage and had interracial parents. But most of the time they will take actors who are mixed and use them as representation for one race...like??? Shits really annoying. And don't even get me started on the issue it creates with colorism.

[@blupercs729]

I 100% agree with you. It’d be nice to see an interracial couple without a white person getting In the way

[@semolinalibra]

same thing happens in animated shows where the protagonist is non white, they'll ALWAYS have a white love interest

[@kailahelle2242]

it’s definitely not just you, and i’m GLAD you decided to use your platform to speak about it. every single time there’s a love triangle with a BIPOC lead, a BIPOC love interest, and a white love interest, i roll my eyes because even though it’s so interesting to watch it happen, the writers unnecessarily make us go through that because we ALL KNOW who the main character is going to choose

[@night._.kitten]

so annoying in never have i ever. right when devi was finally with an indian boy (nirdesh) they had to cut him out of the spotlight for yet again some boring white males..

[@newagehero9605]

Omg and let’s not get started on every time there’s an interracial gay couple the poc is the “Top” or dominant one. Then it’s never two different poc like 🤷🏾‍♂️

[@sonya.nguyenn]

please make a deep dive on this!! i’ve been thinking about this recently ever since my tiktok feed has started to show interracial relationships that involve only people of color and it’s been interesting to see!!

[@Deebie19]

I've noticed this for years but people just have brushed the topic off when I bring it up. Glad someone with a platform is bring it to wider discussion

[@hikariuchiha977]

Even European shows have the same thing happening! Elité, Ackley Bridge, and even animated shows like miraculous ladybug !

[@alanasmith4475]

Luvvv - stay out of my Black Business !!!!🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@sleepinggeek]

The Take did a great video on this topic. They called it “the disposable black love interest”. They pointed out how no matter how accomplished or perfect the black love interest is, the main character always seems to choose the mediocre White man for usually ill defined reasons🙄

[@lilimania7530]

Omg yess please make a longer video essay about it. It's a "phenomenon" that I also noticed before.

[@welcomehome1961]

this is why i love all american and all american homecoming (which id love to see you review since its so messy)!

[@michaelalpert8328]

You can’t pressure me into liking the video bc I already liked the video hehehehe

[@imuRgency]

damn beat me to it

[@JulianSteve]

LMAOOOOOOOO same😭‼️

[@zt3853]

gawt dayum that intro had me HYPED

[@maddiebarlow]

so glad you’re talking about this!!! awesome video

[@thegirlwiththetotebag9765]

I’m so glad someone finally talked about this. It’s definitely something I noticed as well.

[@adrianmora6199]

shoutout to the bold type for having a love triangle between three women of color and having the woman in the center choose herself-the show wasn't perfect by any means but i appreciated them doing that

[@Nikki-nt4pt]

I’m so happy that this is the topic ! Because while it’s not new it appears to have been ramped up. A NBC médical drama show made say “AHHH HELL NO!” When a black male doctor rejected the female (could be of Hispanic descent but we don’t know) she turns to him accusing him of having racial bias and it being wrong because he said no to her because he prefer to be with a black woman and that his future children be black. I don’t know how that flew under peoples radar but the show put him with this ? woman. BS.

[@mensahnicole]

i’m glad somebody FINALLY brought this up !!!!!

[@ambientdaze2898]

I’ve honestly been thinking the same thing!! Thanks for talking about this!

[@filmbuffoon]

Lol. I can relate to this in real life too. My ex gf was half white/ half Korean American, and I’m Indian, so interracial still. People are surprised when I tell them about her racial background.

[@Elecktra.g]

This needed to be discussed!! Yes can we get some variety with these interracial couplings

[@Sam-ek5er]

I loved this video because you just vocalised so many of the thoughts that I've been having. Would love a more in depth vid!

[@TaylorTimeTv]

I’m SO glad someone finally said it!!