@PonyPon
Apparently, Hari Kondabolu, a stand-up comic who I’m sure is
just hilarious, says that Apu is racist because:
“He was created by a room of white men solely to mock first-generation Indian immigrants running convenience stores, an easy and voiceless target that couldn’t necessarily fight back against that representation. Apu embodies every stereotype about Indians and leans in to these stereotypes even when they contradict each other: Apu has a Ph.D, yet he’s also running a convenience store [which seems more like a commentary on how higher education doesn’t guarantee you a high-paying job or at worst, on how America isn’t always super-good to immigrants]. Even his origins are blurry, lending the character a monolithic quality and a sense that the writers really didn’t care about getting his heritage right; Apu is at times Bengali, South Indian, possibly Tamil, and Kannadigas.”
Also “Most South Asian actors speaking in the film agree that they’ve been damaged by Apu in some way. Many are commonly asked to put on “the Apu accent,” and if they don’t comply, they would lose the job to the next willing South Asian actor. Even [Aziz] Ansari recalled men driving by him and his dad, shouting, ‘Hey, I need to get a Slurpee, can you tell me where the Kwik-E-Mart is [where they sell Squishies, not Slurpees]? Thank you; come again!’” And then there’s stuff about lack of diversity.
(source:The Verge, who also called “The Simpsons is like your racist grandfather. And if he can’t change, maybe it’s time for him to die. And you can just remember the good stuff about him” a punchline for some reason. bracketed comments by me)
So, basically:
-Created by white people. How
dare those racists add ethnic diversity to their show?
-Voiced by a white guy. Making Hank Azaria ‘answer for’ Apu came up a few times in the article. That a woman voices Bart, Nelson and Ralph, or actors like Phil Lamarr and Kevin Michael Richardson having voiced white and Asian characters did not. As they shouldn’t.
-Is a caricature with stereotypes and stuff, unlike any other Simpsons characters. No comment for totally not stereotypes like Ned Flanders or Comic Book Guy. Nor for caricatures of specific people, like Drederick Tatum, mayor Quimby or Rainier Wolfcastle.
-Sometimes people use Apu when they’re being assholes and refusing to do what a casting person asks for usually doesn’t get an actor the part. Which is clearly the show’s fault.
-Jokes about Indians working at convenience stores are easy. Which…I guess, but so is every joke involving Comic Book Guy. They’re not all gonna be witty and insightful, folks. Also, Indian-Americans can be mocked because they have no voice with which to object. Well, except now. And when this came up before over a promotion for the movie. But aside from when they had voices, they were voiceless.
-Apu portrays Indian people negatively. He’s usually a nice guy, as good a father as can be expected given the situation, has a better work ethic than the majority of Springfield, graduated top of his class, has a good sense of humor, kind of invented computer games, seems pretty well-liked by others and has a religion that he usually honors, but it doesn’t define him. What a scumbag?
-Over the course of 30 or so years and soooo many writers coming and going, a b or c-list character’s exact region of origin
hasn’t stayed entirely consistent! They’d never do that to someone like, say, groundskeeper Willie! Hank Azaria will hang for this!
-Nothing to say about Manjula, I guess.
