LogFAQs > #900608256

Darmik posted...

For 25+ years a white guy mocked an Indian accent on the biggest TV show and this was completely normal.

Still is, imo. Nothing inherently bad about it. Why the singling out of Apu? That isn't the full context. Again, all the characters on the Simpsons were stereotypes. All of them were mocked with impressions of stereotypes by the voice actors, and more often than not those voice actors did many voices at once. They wore many hats.

Darmik posted...

And at one point blackface was a non-complaint.

This isn't that extreme but the similarities are there. A white guy mocking a minority for laughs. People then using that form of entertainment as the only way to represent a specific minority.

Similar up to a point but not equivalent. There's not exactly a huge tradition sweeping the nation of white voice actors doing vocal impressions of Indians on numerous TV cartoons. One big difference. And again, the unique context being that all the Simpsons characters were stereotypical, and voice acted by people who aren't the same demographic or ethnicity or whatever. Bart's always been voiced by a woman, btw.

Darmik posted...

The funniest thing about this is the response and defensiveness around Apu speak way more than the character itself. The guy doesn't call for the character to be banned. He doesn't call the people behind the Simpson's raging racists. Yet people are responding to him like he is.

All he's saying is "Hey Simpsons is great and all but in retrospect wasn't this representation of Indians in media kinda racist? Here's how it impacted my life and my career. Maybe we can do some things differently to improve things for everyone"

That's it. An Apu centric episode written by Indian comedians alone would mean a lot to a lot of people out there. Sorta like how episodes written by women helped flesh out characters like Marge and Lisa.

Yes, I know he wasn't calling the writers and creators racist and going about demonizing everyone far as I'm aware. I caught him on a BBC tv interview a while back and he's a pleasant bullshitter. Pleasant, but a bullshitter. His agenda and the media's eagerness to report on any old classic and beloved entertainment that could possibly be construed as racist through modern day concept-creep, and by deliberately ignoring all context, reeks to high heaven for me.

If they were to do an episode written by Indian comedians that sounds... fine. That sounds cool. Just keep Kondabolu away from it. It's not like he's entitled to it.
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