Will There Be No More Apu?

[Revoltingest]

In the news, Hank Azaria to stop voicing Apu.
Not all Indians think Apu is a racist stereotype
Excerpted.....
"As I see it, there are two primary products that second generation Indian American comedians sell - the ridiculousness of their parents' 'culture' (arranged marriage and 'my son, the doctor' are the commonest tropes); and the racism of white Americans," Professor Chakravorty, who teaches at Temple University in Pennsylvania, told me in an email interview.

"It is not hard to see why these two lowest hanging fruits are plucked all the time. This is very standard fare. Apu is also very standard fare. What Kondabulu has done is nothing new. He picked almost the most identifiable Indian project possible in the US. And he plugged into the market for identity-based outrage."

Prof Chakravorty adds that he loves The Simpsons.

"As far as I am concerned: Apu is one of three likable characters in The Simpsons - Lisa and Marge are the others. Homer, a caricature of the ignorant, blue collar white male, is actually the most offensive."

Back in Apu's native land, fans of The Simpsons appear to have no problems with the character.

"I like Apu, in fact I love him. He has a PhD in computer science, but enjoys running his store, he is a valued citizen of Springfield, a ladies man and adores cricket and is funny," Sidharth Bhatia, Mumbai-based founder-editor of The Wire, told me.

 

[epronovost]

Shouldn't the Simpson die? I love that show, but at some point the cast is old and getting tired. There will be other sitcoms...

 

[Revoltingest]

Which ethnic/racial/cultural stereotype is next....

Groundskeeper Willie...who is Scottish, but voiced by a guy from Chicago
Hans Moleman....who is elderly & stereotypically frail, & mocked for it
Patty Bouvier....the gruff voiced lesbian voiced by a hetero gal
Julius Hibbard....the middle class doctor, a black guy voiced by a white guy
Clancy Wiggum....the fat & stupid police chief who looks like a pig
Fat Tony....the Italian gangster
Luigi Risotto....the Italian restaurant owner
Cletus Spuckler & family....poor ignorant hillbillies
Ooter...the German elementary school student who loves chocolate
Bob Terwilliger....the criminal ginger
Krusty The Klown....the greedy Jew
Ned Flanders...the intolerant Christian
Cookie Kwan....the ambitious asian real estate agent..."#1 on the west side!"
Akira....waiter at The Happy Sumo restaurant
Crazy Cat Lady....the mentally ill old woman with (of course) all the cats
Generally....
The boys are typically the bullies & the stupid ones.

 

[Revoltingest]

Shouldn't the Simpson die? I love that show, but at some point the cast is old and getting tired. There will be other sitcoms...

But should it die because so many of the characters are stereotypes of some sort?
If so, then Family Guy is doomed too.

 

[Nakosis]

Which ethnic/racial/cultural stereotype is next....

Groundskeeper Willie...who is Scottish, but voiced by a guy from Chicago
Hans Moleman....who is elderly & stereotypically frail, & mocked for it
Patty Bouvier....the gruff voiced lesbian voiced by a hetero gal
Julius Hibbard....the middle class doctor, a black guy voiced by a white guy
Clancy Wiggum....the fat & stupid police chief who looks like a pig
Fat Tony....the Italian gangster
Luigi Risotto....the Italian restaurant owner
Cletus Spuckler & family....poor ignorant hillbillies
Bob Terwilliger....the criminal ginger
Krusty The Klown....the greedy Jew
Ned Flanders...the intolerant Christian
Cookie Kwan....the ambitious asian real estate agent..."#1 on the west side!"
Akira....waiter at The Happy Sumo restaurant
Crazy Cat Lady....the mentally ill old woman with (of course) all the cats
Generally....
The boys are typically the bullies & the stupid ones.

It's a skill to be able to laugh at yourself, a caricature of yourself without taking offense. Maybe that will die too.

As one of the few White guys in SoCal, I've occasionally been associated with Homer.

 

[Guitar's Cry]

I remember reading this a couple of years ago. From what I understand, amongst many Indian Americans, Apu is actually well liked. Despite being a stereotype, he is not necessarily a negative one.

 

[Revoltingest]

I remember reading this a couple of years ago. From what I understand, amongst many Indian Americans, Apu is actually well liked. Despite being a stereotype, he is not necessarily a negative one.

A friend of mine from India likes Apu.
Together, we work on our imitations of his voice.

One of the criticisms I read was that all the humor is
in his funny accent. That's so wrong...Apu is one of
the most fleshed out characters on the show. And
many many other accents & speech quirks are mocked,
eg, French, Australian, Japanese, Scottish, English.
southern USA, rural USA, hippies, Boston, beatnik,
German, gay, Spanish, African.

 

[Twilight Hue]

In the news, Hank Azaria to stop voicing Apu.
Not all Indians think Apu is a racist stereotype
Excerpted.....
"As I see it, there are two primary products that second generation Indian American comedians sell - the ridiculousness of their parents' 'culture' (arranged marriage and 'my son, the doctor' are the commonest tropes); and the racism of white Americans," Professor Chakravorty, who teaches at Temple University in Pennsylvania, told me in an email interview.

"It is not hard to see why these two lowest hanging fruits are plucked all the time. This is very standard fare. Apu is also very standard fare. What Kondabulu has done is nothing new. He picked almost the most identifiable Indian project possible in the US. And he plugged into the market for identity-based outrage."

Prof Chakravorty adds that he loves The Simpsons.

"As far as I am concerned: Apu is one of three likable characters in The Simpsons - Lisa and Marge are the others. Homer, a caricature of the ignorant, blue collar white male, is actually the most offensive."

Back in Apu's native land, fans of The Simpsons appear to have no problems with the character.

"I like Apu, in fact I love him. He has a PhD in computer science, but enjoys running his store, he is a valued citizen of Springfield, a ladies man and adores cricket and is funny," Sidharth Bhatia, Mumbai-based founder-editor of The Wire, told me.

Breaking news....

Apu isn't taking this very well.

 

[Guitar's Cry]

A friend of mine from India likes Apu.
Together, we work on our imitations of his voice.

One of the criticisms I read was that all the humor is
in his funny accent. That's so wrong...Apu is one of
the most fleshed out characters on the show. And
many many other accents & speech quirks are mocked,
eg, French, Australian, Japanese, Scottish, English.
southern USA, rural USA, hippies, Boston, beatnik,
German, African.

Agreed. Actually, some of the funniest scenes are the other characters showing their ignorance of Indian culture.

 

[Revoltingest]

Agreed. Actually, some of the funniest scenes are the other characters showing their ignorance of Indian culture.

View attachment 37596

One such funny episode was when Apu wanted to
become a citizen, & over-did the assimilation thing.
A white Ameristanian guy voicing an Indian character
pretending to have a mid-west-Texan accent...funny.

 

[Guitar's Cry]

One such funny episode was when Apu wanted to
become a citizen, & over-did the assimilation thing.
A white Ameristanian guy voicing an Indian character
pretending to have a mid-west-Texan accent...funny.

I was thinking of that one! "The Nye Mets are my favorite team."

 

[Revoltingest]

At least Apu was portrayed as much smarter than Ameristanians.

Immigrants aren't the ones being mocked.

 

[sun rise]

'my son, the doctor'

I can hear the Jewish mothers of my parent's generation proudly saying that along with "my son, the lawyer" (take your pick).

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

Which ethnic/racial/cultural stereotype is next....

Groundskeeper Willie...who is Scottish, but voiced by a guy from Chicago
Hans Moleman....who is elderly & stereotypically frail, & mocked for it
Patty Bouvier....the gruff voiced lesbian voiced by a hetero gal
Julius Hibbard....the middle class doctor, a black guy voiced by a white guy
Clancy Wiggum....the fat & stupid police chief who looks like a pig
Fat Tony....the Italian gangster
Luigi Risotto....the Italian restaurant owner
Cletus Spuckler & family....poor ignorant hillbillies
Ooter...the German elementary school student who loves chocolate
Bob Terwilliger....the criminal ginger
Krusty The Klown....the greedy Jew
Ned Flanders...the intolerant Christian
Cookie Kwan....the ambitious asian real estate agent..."#1 on the west side!"
Akira....waiter at The Happy Sumo restaurant
Crazy Cat Lady....the mentally ill old woman with (of course) all the cats
Generally....
The boys are typically the bullies & the stupid ones.

Maybe it's time to ban acting altogether -- I mean, after all, it's totally cultural appropriation! (For the record, anyone who agrees -- just shoot me now!)

Darn it all, I like the Nutcracker, but everybody in the world is getting upset about the caricatures in the Chinese Dance or the Arabian Dance. Or the now-denigrated "chinoiserie" of Puccini's opera Turandot. Yet these are great works of art!

Folks, all you have to do is realize that a long time ago, that's what people thought, and they portrayed what they thought. You don't have to agree with them to like the portrayal! Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird is still a work of surpassing genius and beauty -- even though it uses the "N" word, and expresses things that we deplore now. Context...context...context!

 

[Revoltingest]

Maybe it's time to ban acting altogether -- I mean, after all, it's totally cultural appropriation! (For the record, anyone who agrees -- just shoot me now!)

Darn it all, I like the Nutcracker, but everybody in the world is getting upset about the caricatures in the Chinese Dance or the Arabian Dance. Or the now-denigrated "chinoiserie" of Puccini's opera Turandot. Yet these are great works of art!

Folks, all you have to do is realize that a long time ago, that's what people thought, and they portrayed what they thought. You don't have to agree with them to like the portrayal! Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird is still a work of surpassing genius and beauty -- even though it uses the "N" word, and expresses things that we deplore now. Context...context...context!

Dang...everything is racist.

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

I need to add a point to make myself clear -- to acknowledge how our those who preceded us thought is not to agree with them! It is just to know that that was the limit of knowledge, or of culture, or of societal norms or whatever else, at the time. To forget that people once thought in ways we no longer do is to leave the door open to those who would love to go back and think the same things again.

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

Dang...everything is racist.

No! Everything is NOT racist. Only people are racist. And you can look at history, know how people once thought, admit that they did so, not fault them for it because they lived in the context of their own time -- and still not be racist.

 

[Revoltingest]

I need to add a point to make myself clear -- to acknowledge how our those who preceded us thought is not to agree with them! It is just to know that that was the limit of knowledge, or of culture, or of societal norms or whatever else, at the time. To forget that people once thought in ways we no longer do is to leave the door open to those who would love to go back and think the same things again.

Aye, changing norms resulted in Betty Boop getting the boot.
I watched her on TV back in the 50s. But now she's too racist
& erotic. Amos & Andy...can't watch them anymore either.

 

[Revoltingest]

No! Everything is NOT racist. Only people are racist. And you can look at history, know how people once thought, admit that they did so, not fault them for it because they lived in the context of their own time -- and still not be racist.

Well, I agree with you.
But everything is still racist to someone.

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

Well, I agree with you.
But everything is still racist to someone.

Only if they're not thinking -- if they don't consider the context.

Possibly one of the best examples of this, by the way, is a work of real art that has been truly lost to us -- and that is Disney's "Song of the South." Try to find a copy of that anywhere, if you can. And yet, if you actually see it in the context of the time in which it was produced, you'd think that the Disney folk were the least racist people anywhere -- if you set aside you current prejudice.