In the wake of comedian Hari Kondabolu’s documentary The Problem with Apu, there is growing pressure on the part of The Simpsons creators to retire the character. Hank Azaria, the voice of Apu, appeared to be resigned to the issue while giving a contrite interview with Stephen Colbert, proclaiming:
“I really want to see Indian, South Asian writers in the room, not in a token way but genuinely informing whatever new direction this character may take, including how it is voiced or not voiced.”
Jesus man, stand up for yourself. It’s just internet buzz. Do you have any thoughts of your own on the matter or are you just a gimp for whomever dubs themselves most politically correct?
It has been remarked upon by most anyone who hears of this story that singling out Apu as a harmful stereotype carries with it the possibility of appearing to miss much of the comedic premise of the show, which is that all of the characters are archetypes which embody various stereotypes.
The Simpsons is beyond self aware of this and embraces it. In fact, one episode of the show featured a bowling team called The Stereotypes which was made up of an Italian-American named Luigi Risotto (also voiced by Hank Azaria), along with Cletus Spuckler, Captain Horatio McCallister, and Groundskeeper Willie.
Kondabolu, a genuinely cerebral and funny comic, who by his own admission and to his vast credit doesn’t “really give a shit” about any of this (presumably outside of his own catharsis), differentiates between Apu’s stereotypes and that of the other characters in the show for a variety of reasons.
Namely, prior to recent years, South Asians had virtually no portrayal in the world of western entertainment, and also, Kondabolu takes umbrage with the fact that Apu is voiced by a white guy, which he has deemed a form of “brownface.”
I’d rather not delve into the rabbit hole of ethnicity in regard to casting. Blackface was a real problem which has long been abandoned. Everything since is much more nuanced. Actors by definition play characters. Sometimes they are different colors. Conventional wisdom is that a white person shouldn’t play any non-white character, whereas with all other ethnicities it’s basically a free-for-all culminating in the casting of Keanu Reeves. When progressives insist that an Asian play an Asian character, they don’t really care if a Korean or Chinese actor plays a Japanese character, even though all of those cultures are vastly different, which seems to me, kind of racist. Same goes with Spaniards playing Mexicans and so forth.
Here’s where I think Kondabalu is missing the point: I believe that, some thirty or so years ago, the creators of The Simpsons went out of their way to not portray Apu as a negative, mean-spirited stereotype or a punchline.
In fact, Apu is one of the coolest characters on the entire show. He is a successful business owner, is sharp-tongued, has cool hair, and is an accepted member of the community, having at one point even joined Homer, Principle Skinner, and Barney Gumble as a member of Homer’s Barbershop Quartet.
Before I continue, here are a list of characters that appear to draw on much more negative stereotypes then that of Apu, characters nobody is complaining about (not to mention the show’s lead, Homer Simpson, is a slovenly, stupid middle-class white male):
Smithers (the passive, neat, ineffectual closeted homosexual beta male.)
Groundskeeper Willie (a slow-witted, sodden, alcoholic Scotsman with a maniacal temper.)
Fat Tony (the baggy-eyed Italian American who runs the local mafia.)
Bumblebee Man (the show’s only latino character, who is the star of a slapstick sitcom on Channel Ocho in which he dresses as a bumblebee, and speaks only in simple, over enunciated Spanish sentences such as “Ay ay ay, no me gusta!”)
Cookie Kwan (the cutthroat and hyper-aspirational Asian realtor with a thick accent she has been trying to lose since childhood.)
Abe Simpson (the senile, worthless old man who is a burden to society.)
Lindsey Naegle (first known as the “Generic Female TV Executive”, a soulless corporate climbing shrew.)
Brunella Pommelhorst (the aggressive butch lesbian gym teacher who gets a sex change operation and returns as Mr. Pommelhorst.)
Cletus and Brandine Spuckler (the illiterate hillbilly yokel couple who are rumored to be brother and sister and have 45 children. Brandine also fought in the Iraq War.)
These characters could all be accused of harboring bigotry toward the elderly, Asian, Italian-American, Latino, LGBT, feminist, and incest survivor communities, if you got your panties in enough of a bunch, and this makes you wonder, what if all of these communities mounted a campaign to have each of these characters removed from the show, or to have Caitlyn Jenner voice Mr. Pommelhorst or Neil Patrick Harris that of Smithers etc etc?
What would happen is the show would be stripped of any comedic value. Comedy is not supposed to be politically correct. In fact, it is supposed to be the opposite, and it scares me when comedians take the opposing side.
The Simpsons shouldn’t be concerned about what South Asians think of Apu, or what esoteric jokes he should be involved in that would ring true to the South Asian community. Sharp quips about the distinction between the regional cuisines of Delhi versus Punjab is what I’m picturing, and it’s truly nauseating.
The stereotypes on The Simpsons are not meant to play to the group being parodied, they are meant to play to society at large, which likely has misconceptions about said group, and that, right there, is the entire point of most every character on the show, which is to say that the comedy is derived from the fact the show, tongue-in-cheek, rolls with the perceived stereotyping of its audience.
Everyone knows that South Asians are more likely to operate convenience stores than Scottish people. There’s nothing wrong with that. If every character was nuanced and approved by a governing body, the comedy of the show would cease to exist. The Simpsons made Apu cool. They did their due diligence, and they shouldn’t have to answer to anyone.
Indeed they appear to be at a precipice of the PC movement, and it’s unclear whether they will swallow their artistic integrity, or submit to making Apu the show’s only true-to-life character for the whims of a few snowflakes.
The only solution I can see is for the creators of The Simpsons to develop a character based on the most annoying progressive person you can think of in the year 2018. His name will be Indigo. He is a vegan male feminist who attended Stanford because his father (who works for Halliburton) made a sizable donation to the Poetry Department. He spends most of his time crafting a true-to-period 17th century spinning wheel out of salvaged wood and retweeting Lena Dunham articles from The Huffington Post. He is blissfully unaware of international politics or the struggles of working class people and believes the most important progressive cause of the day to be that the cafeteria is engaged in cultural appropriation because they are using too much dark meat in the General Tso’s Chicken.
Every episode, he briefly appears to voice a complaint about something offensive on said episode, and before he gets one sentence in, is immediately murdered, Cartman style. He could be shot in the face by Fat Tony or Mo, suffocated by Bublebee man’s butt, or even strangled to death by a yoga move on the part of Apu.
That would be funny.
As it is, with all that’s going on, it’s sad that we’re talking about Apu.
RIP.
He Was Cool.
So was The Simpsons.
Get ready for the forced laughter.