Are there even any indians named Apu?
He's not offensive, but there's nothing wrong with actual Indian people being annoyed about getting called "Apu" all the time.
Urkel wasn't offensive either but almost every black nerd my age had to deal with that label growing up.
He's one of the most well developed multidimensional characters in the show.
Guess we should get rid of Groundskeeper Willie as well since we're going down that road. Oh yeah Mr. Burns has to go too.
Vyrulisse posted...
Guess we should get rid of Groundskeeper Willie as well since we're going down that road. Oh yeah Mr. Burns has to go too.
And Moe, and Chief Wiggum, and Fat Tony, and Comic Book Guy, and Dr. Hibbert, and even Krusty. Possibly also Lenny & Carl.
Absolutely. From the moment his character was given a voice, his character was envisioned as a racist caricature of south Asian immigrants.
hollow_shrine posted...
Absolutely. From the moment his character was given a voice, his character was envisioned as a racist caricature of south Asian immigrants.
Yes and no. Apu is one of many "characters" on the Simpsons that didn't start as one. He was the guy that ran the convenience store and nothing else for at least a few seasons, with the joke more on chains like 7-11 that at the time was stereotyped as being manned mainly by foreigners with thick accents. Then they tried to develop him and had to stick with what had been created before.
I get the offense, but most of the cast is a stereotype of some sort having started as a gag, from grondskeeper Willie's thick scottishness, to Patty's butch unfeminine lesbian, to Edna Krapapple's horny divorcee, to the guy running the sushi place, to crotchety old man Grandpa simpson.
of course he's offensive but not nearly as egregious as almost any seth mcfarlane character
YoshitoKikuchi posted...
lesidesi posted...
of course he's offensive but not nearly as egregious as almost any seth mcfarlane character
The difference is that portraying Mort for example so stereotypically doesn't cause him to be widely perceived as representative of Jewish people, since there are many other Jewish portrayals on TV.
Lol. You're not supposed to take life lessons from tv shows. You can't blame the show for that.
the only other regular indian character on the show is apu's wife
who had 8 kids
so yeah, still not a great track record
Remember also that many people have little interaction with certain groups or types of people, so media portrayal will be the source of their knowledge/perspective on them.
YoshitoKikuchi posted...
lesidesi posted...
of course he's offensive but not nearly as egregious as almost any seth mcfarlane character
The difference is that portraying Mort for example so stereotypically doesn't cause him to be widely perceived as representative of Jewish people, since there are many other Jewish portrayals on TV.
Family Guy makes fun of Jews way too much.
his portrayal results in negative stereotypes about the culture.
