You may have heard of the Black Best Friend trope before. Think Stacey Dash's Dionne in "Clueless," or Angela in "Boy Meets World." These characters existed to be the glorified foil and sidekick to their white best friend. They happily nodded along or acted as an all-knowing conscience for their misguided white friend. But television and film are more progressive than that now. So let me introduce you to what the internet has coined as the newest variant — the Disposable Black Girlfriend.
The way Brandy Monk-Payton, an assistant professor at Fordham University who specializes in race and representation in film and television describes the Disposable Black Girlfriend trope is similar to the former Black Best Friend trope. She told Salon that this character is typically brought into a film or television show to allow the main character to grow and change but then is discarded after they have served a purpose.
