[Comic Book Guy] Um, excuse me but I believe (by which I mean I know) that Apu was never a member of that particular* team*. He merely lamented that they had “begged” him to join after his own team, the Pin Pals, had* lost* to them. And by the way … for that* blunder*, you are now fired. Good day. [/CBG]
This reads as if you stopped watching the show after the 1st or 2nd season when it stopped being the Bart show and became the Homer show.
Why does no one lament the stereotype about adults who are into comics?
Even casual viewers like me have seen enough to appreciate that Apu started out as a stereotype joke and quickly became a complex character.
What they could do would be to have some other Indian characters who go against stereotype. If they did it funny. If not then no.
From the NYT "At the end of 2017, Hank Azaria, the voice behind Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, a convenience-store owner on “The Simpsons” with a thick Indian accent, responded to a recent groundswell of criticism that the character was racist. "
Cite one thing he’s said that’s racist.
:rolleyes:
At this point I think we can all agree that tv shows should only have all white members lest non-white people are shown incorrectly. This way white people can not offend non-white people. And all tv shows that have a non-white member should have that member white-washed from the shows history so that only white members are only shown from the very past and into the future. Then everyone will be happy.
When the episode set in Australia came out, way back when, I was somewhat annoyed at how they made fun of the Australian stereotypes and got basically everything wrong, making them the butt of jokes. I was about 20 years old at the time.
Then as I rewatched the series repeatedly I realised they make fun of everybody, poke fun at all stereotypes, across the world, and most specifically in America. Nothing gets in the show without being skewered by a joke.
I’ve never felt Apu has been treated poorly as a character. The stereotype is harmless and accurate, and though exaggerated and the role played by a non-Asian actor, it’s not inherently offensive just for that reason.
I don’t want to belittle anybody’s issue with it, I am not Indian and have no real insight into this specific character’s portrayal really, but I can’t see that it’s worth getting upset about either. Do the Scots get upset about Groundskeeper Willy? Is anyone upset by Lou the cop?
IIRC didn’t Apu buy the Kwik-E-Mart?
He’s steadily moving up and becoming more successful. He’s respectful to his customers but he’s not subservient to anybody.
Many immigrants retain strong accents. I would find it dishonest for Apu to talk like Mo or Homer. Apu is an immigrant from India. He has an accent.
Deal with it.
They could introduce a child character that is a 2nd generation immigrant. He or she wouldn’t have the accent the parent use.
Um…he famously has octuplets.
Well, they should be typical American kids.
It’s been my experience. I went to school with kids that had immigrant parents. I can recall being surprised when I finally met them. A good friend of mine was called Jimmy at school. His parents used his Filipino name at home.
Its the Simpsons, they stopped doing jokes 20 years ago.
Why do the offended always feel like they are entitled to a response? “Fuck you” should be the default answer to every crank with an axe to grind.
…why are you characterizing Hari’s thoughtful, well reasoned critique as being “offended?”
Hari isn’t a crank. ISiddiqui, who posted earlier in the thread
is not a crank.
The Simpson’s creators are entitled to say “fuck you” to anyone they like. But if they are saying “fuck you” then they most certainly aren’t going to be admitting “Apu was and is problematic”, which was the entire point of the snippet you quoted of me.
Kondabolu did point out that if Apu had been just one of many Indian characters on television it wouldn’t have been an issue and he would have found it funny. But having Apu the caricature as the pre-eminent Indian character - and thus the one being seen to represent a billion people - is entirely the problem.
So perhaps we just need more well-rounded South Asians as regular characters on television and in films, and Apu will fade away. (And Koothrapali doesn’t really count as a “well-rounded character”.)
Like any art, if the Simpsons can’t stay relevant in changing times, it will fade and become irrelevant. The times they are a-becoming quite different.
How about Kelly Kapoor on The Office? She wasn’t defined by her ethnicity, but it was used as a plot point from time to time.
I can empathize with Hari’s frustration over the lack of indian characters on TV, but the Simpsons arent under any special obligation for creating the “first”.
Tom, from “Parks and Rec.” His ethnicity is never even mentioned.
My issue with the Simpsons response was not that they are saying “Apu isn’t problematic.” The problem is they are saying “20 years ago we didn’t think Apu was problematic so it’s not our fault if people are taking offense now.”
…but…but…you can’t…
IIRC, Hari Kondabolu’s main goal was that wanted to start a conversation about the use of South Asian stereotypes in media. Aziz Ansari does that in a fantastic Master of None episode as well. It wasn’t necessarily about what the Simpsons in general could do - however, he does mention that they could introduce additional South Asian people who didn’t correspond to the stereotype (probably like a relative of Apu who can show up time to time). What the Simpsons did instead was just dumb.