The Simpsons (Fox) TV Show • Page 23

Is Apu’s character negative towards the Indian culture?

 

Can y’all please go watch the damn documentary if you haven’t done so, as a prerequisite for continuing to participate in this discussion? Educate yourself. If you care enough to engage, then take some responsibility and learn about where this conversation came from.

 

I don't really understand the disconnect here. Watch the documentary, listen to people of color who find Apu to be harmful or at the very least a bad look. I think that we can all agree that a white guy portraying a penny pinching person of color with an exaggerated accent is insensitive. No one is asking the show you like to go away. No one is asking Apu to go away. They're asking for an acknowledgement of the issue and for people to listen to them.

 

I just got Prime yesterday, so I do plan on watching it. Although, I've read a lot on here and on other sites about the different critiques on both sides of the argument and I don't think my mind is going to change. I do acknowledge that it sucks that he's pretty much the biggest Indian celebrity over the last 30 years and it's not fair or right that that's the best we can offer, but I always go back to wondering why people are attacking a cartoon comedy as if they're supposed to be held to some standard when it come to political or societal correctness. For him in particular, I can see if you focus on one or two things it being a negative stereotype with the "thank you, come again" catchphrase or working at a convenience store, but if you look at the entire character, the positives outweigh the negatives.

 

You are ignoring (or not even ignoring, but seemingly uninterested in listening to) the South Asian people who put this issue in the spotlight in the first place by making the documentary. Stop writing your thinkpiece posts on here when you don’t have the full story. Your words make it abundantly clear that you are working with only a fraction of the context that you could easily have, but instead you’re acting like your mind is settled based on other people’s opinions on a documentary you haven’t seen. This is silly.

 

I just said I still plan on watching the documentary, calm down.

 

Surely you're not going to relegate The Simpsons' societal influence to simply "a comedy cartoon". To ignore the impact that popular culture, specifically a phenomenon as large as this one, has had on the general public is to be willingly ignorant. The character of Apu is not inherently bad. It wasn't created with the intention of harm and it's not like they have turned him into a villain or something.

I'm not going to assume your race, so I'll focus on mine. Not once in my entire life have I had someone come up to me and call me the name of a white cartoon character or say a catchphrase or speak an exaggerated accent simply because of the color of my skin. I don't know what that feels like, and I don't know what it's like to have that happen on a recurring basis. The people who are willing to mock a person of color based on such a broad stereotype are surely not going to sit down and think about all of the positive aspects of the character. He's brown, you're brown, I'll make the joke.

You're arguing about something that you don't really have the context or experience to speak on

 

Like, it's very easy to say that The Simpsons is probably the most important, formative piece of pop culture in my entire life and at the same time say "Yeah, maybe they shouldn't have had a white guy do an exaggerated Indian accent and paint with such broad strokes with the character." The solution is to own up to the insensitivity of the character and work with the people of color who have a problem with the character in order to fix the problem, not question why people can't take a joke.

 

It’s really telling that a person of color states that, yes, real world violence does occur as a result of the character and, when a white person steps in to ask for an example and the person of color responds with the exact specific example the white person just asked for, the white person’s response is a dismissive hand wave of “oh well that just sounds like people being assholes and those two things have nothing to do with each other.”

Like...come on. Listen. Just listen.

 

well im glad to hear someone agree on the importance of the simpsons, aka, why I'm even questioning and debating this in the first place. Like, the Simpsons matter to me, which is why I'm trying to get to the bottom of this.

 

Yeah but the "bottom" of it is simply that many people find the character of Apu to be problematic and insensitive and you should probably just listen to/accept what they have to say about it. There's no real questioning to be had.

 

"Just shut up and don't question it"... I'm sorry, I can't do that when it consists of something important to me. I'm more interested in digging deeper and finding out more. Hey, in the end, I'm more likely to learn more than youre shut up and listen approach.

 

I'm not saying shut up. You asked questions, a person of color who has had a specific, real life event directly related to your question answered you and you brushed it off.

 

Kinda feels like "digging deeper" means only listening to what you want to hear tbh

 

I don't expect you or anyone to understand or accept the depth and mechinations of racism in the media and how it furthers structural racism..that takes a long ass time but you'll get there. I will say that I'm glad you're asking, most people lack that ability because they don't care to try.

Maybe this hypothetical will help:

Let's say a young white kid and a young brown kid equally love the Simpsons.
They both turn to the show as an escape from their day to day...something to help them relax and smile, escape for thirty minutes

Let's say young brown kid had someone say to him "Trump wants you out of my country, Apu!"

And he tries to escape that shit by putting on the Simpsons only to hear that in regards to Apu (who he knows is voiced by a white guy who's making more than his dad who works double shifts and has a more authentic Indian accent...but he takes it), the Simpsons now almost sounds like the bigot on the street but saying it in a nicer way.

Now young brown kid has one less thing he can go to.

Without trying to dismantle the above scenario, can you believe that that scenario may have played out somewhere? And then remind yourself that the show you and I and millions care for contributed to it.

 

you're asking the fans to look at everything about the character and accept that he's positive, for the most part. Are you also asking the show writers to look at a very big negative regarding Apu?

 

Thread for Groening's new animated show.

 

2 of my favorite things in one meme.

 

Listening to Mike Reiss on the Everything's Coming Up Simpsons podcast and found out he has a book coming out soon

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0062748033/?tag=absolutepunk-20

 

Probably my most favorite tweet ever

 

Home Sweet Homer: The Strange Saga of the Real-Life <em>Simpsons</em> House in Nevada

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1629375314/?tag=absolutepunk-20

Here's a book you can preorder from the two that run the Everything's Coming Up Podcast