whitesploitation

Etymology

From white + -sploitation.

Why this word is great

WHITESPLOITATION — [Noun] A genre of film that depicts white people in a stereotypical or sensationalized manner, often for lurid or lowbrow appeal. From white (referring to Caucasian people) + -sploitation (a suffix denoting exploitation, as in blaxploitation). Unlike "blaxploitation" (which mines Black cultural tropes for pulp entertainment) or "hixploitation" (which narrows its lens to rural Southern caricatures), whitesploitation casts its net wider, targeting the absurdities of suburban ennui, urban decadence, or bourgeois hypocrisy. It is the sunburned frat boy vomiting into a pool, the wine mom unraveling at a book club, the tech bro’s hollow TED Talk—a funhouse mirror held up to whiteness, revealing not just its follies but the quiet horror of its banality.

noun

  1. A type of film that portrays white people in a stereotypical manner, intended to appeal to lurid or lowbrow tastes.“While the Pam Grier Collection has "Foxy Brown," "Coffy," and "Friday Foster," The Elvis Gift Set (Paramount, $59.80) offers five classic whitesploitation flicks: "Fun in Acapulco," "G. I. Blues," "Paradise, Hawaiian Style," "Blue Hawaii" and "King Creole."”