I was gonna say… What’s offensive about King of the Hill? Especially compared with South Park, where it feels there’s a Cartman Jew put-down almost every episode.
And this episode of Archer, if it’s the one I’m thinking of (the “mole” episode) has Archer beating the shit out of Pam with one of her HR stuffed animals, causing her to get stitches. It’s offensive comedy all around. Personally, I think it’s funny as shit (at least the first three seasons), but I understand why many wouldn’t like it. The whole racist/sexist/classist hero archetype they’re playing around with is hilarious (to my tastes, of course).
Well whether you want to hear it or not Archer IS an insensitive jackass, he keeps calling Lana a quadriloon? or some other outdated term even though she hates it, that is the joke.
Also curry jokes or jokes about Indian food causing gastro intestinal distress or smelling awful are pretty common in American sitcoms etc. Not saying I agree with it(smells bad WTF?) but just saying it is common.
I have a theory that the omnipresent American jokes about the stink of curry are not actually about curry, because I mean it isn’t the 1950s you can go find a wide variety of curries in a grocery in any major US city and smell them and confirm they actually smell good.
I think the joke is referring to asafoetida in particular.
Either that or it is just a general anti-foreign bit of humor, like the Mexican food causing diarrhea jokes.
Yes this characterization bugged me at first, how can he be such an idiot but also so educated on bizarre random topics?
Then I realized that is part of the joke, they will also randomly have Archer accuse one of his colleagues falsely of being insensitive in racial or ethnic terms but he is the biggest offender. Something like the following I made up:
Lana:I love Eskimo Pies!
Archer: Lana,geez! They prefer the term Inuit.
Yup thats it thanks, I could swear they have had more than one call back to it too. I recently watched the Asian pirates episodes.(where Archer becomes the leader).
As a general term for “mixed (African/European) race” she may have European ancestry from her grandparents. The script of the premiere that I linked says that Lana is mixed race when it first describes her:
I don’t know that the accent is there but I assume it was written before casting was decided on.
I definitely support Anaamika’s right not to enjoy the show, though I admit it makes me sad. Funny that I found this thread on the day I’m wearing my Archer t-shirt.
I like Archer, but I am not a racist.
I laugh at Archer because he is an ass.
He run off at the mouth, and offends everybody.
And, in the end, he hurts himself.
Are you for real? As others pointed out, Indian as a term for Native American is still used all the time, including by Native Americans themselves (there’s an “Indian casino” near me for example, and that’s how they market themselves). I’d also be willing to bet you aren’t an Indian or Native American.
And of course as we know the term came about from a misunderstanding, there was and is no hate or malice intended in the term. What makes you think there was ever anything “hate-filled” about the term? (I mean, aside from the mass genocide and exploitation of the people themselves, which had nothing to do with the name used to describe them)
You guys are not seeing the forest for the trees. Sterling Archer is neither a racist nor a bigot. He’s just, an idiot. He’s very good at his trade craft (being a spy) but emotionally, socially and common sense-wise he’s a twelve year old. He thinks the world works they way it does in all the TV shows and even cartoons that he watched while growing up completely neglected by his mother and lacking a father.
His huge ego causes him to be selfish and narcissistic but he’s way too immature to be racist.
“Grover Cleveland called, he wants his watch back. He left two non-consecutive messages!”
