Hello Meltingpot Readers,
Are any of you Simpsons fans? I’m talking about the animated series that has been on the air since 1989 and holds the record as the longest running American sitcom on television. I’m not a fan, simply because I never found the humor on that show funny. Instead, I found it hurtful, mean-spirited and kind of stupid. I always kept these thoughts to myself because there was a time when EVERYBODY seemed to love The Simpsons and I didn’t want to rain on anyone’s parade. Quite frankly, I didn’t even know the show was still on the air until recently when the controversy over Apu erupted.
THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT APU
Apu Nahasapeemapetilon is an Indian-American character on The Simpsons, voiced by Hank Azaria, a white actor. Apu speaks with an exaggerated Indian accent and runs a convenience store.
Here are some basic bio stats about Apu sourced from Wikipedia; (I know, it’s Wikipedia, but Apu isn’t real.)
“In the episode “Homer and Apu”, Apu says he is from Rahmatpur, West Bengal. Apu is a naturalized US citizen, and holds a Ph.D. in computer science. He graduated first in his class of seven million at ‘Caltech’ – Calcutta Technical Institute – going on to earn his doctorate at the Springfield Heights Institute of Technology (S.H.I.T.).”
“In the episode “Eight Misbehavin’”, Manjula [Apu’s wife] receives too many doses of fertility drugs, leading to her giving birth to octuplets: Anoop, Uma, Nabendu, Poonam, Priya, Sandeep, Sashi, and Gheet. This causes difficulties for the family but finally they decide to get on with their life. During the episode “Bart-Mangled Banner”, when the town changes its name to Libertyville to be patriotic after it is claimed Springfield hates America, Apu temporarily changes his children’s names to Lincoln, Freedom, Condoleezza, Coke, Pepsi, Manifest Destiny, Apple Pie, and Superman.”
DOCU-DRAMA
Needless to say, many people in the Indian-American community (as well as other people who just care about human decency) think Apu is a walking, talking racist stereotype and after nearly 30 years on television, something should be done about his existence. Stand-up comedian, Hari Kondabolu decided the best way to make this happen, would be to make a documentary explaining why Apu is so offensive and showcase the harm he’s done to Indian Americans who live under the shadow of this animated stereotype. Here’s the trailer for that documentary called, The Problem with Apu.
The film debuted in 2017. In response, Simpsons creators addressed the issue with the barest hint of acknowledgement. You can read about that here. But just last week, rumors started to swirl that rather than work on a way to make Apu less of a brown-face caricature, they were just going to write him off the show. But these rumors were swiftly denied by Simpsons writer and show runner, Al Jean.
WHAT TO DO, ABOUT APU?
At this point, it doesn’t seem like anybody knows what’s going to happen to Apu. In the meantime, people will continue to argue over the character’s role in popular culture and whether or not he’s helping or hindering Indian American people and their status in American society. Sadly, people like Hari Kondabolu are getting slammed on social media for starting this conversation and asking for a nuanced depiction of a character who looks like him. The racists are bringing all the hate to his Twitter feed. Ironically, these are mostly white people railing against Kondabolu because they love Apu so much. Also ironically, there is a huge contingent of Argentinians who are rabid Simpsons fans who are also harassing Kondabolu online – in Spanish – over this issue as well. They love Apu and don’t want him to change.
Tonight, I’m taking part in a panel discussion at Temple University on this very issue. We’ll be screening Kondabolu’s film and then talking about the issues it raises. If you have a chance, leave me a comment with any questions or ideas you’d share if you had an audience. Do you think Apu is racist? Why or why not? What would you do to fix his character on The Simpsons?
You know I’m listening.
Peace!
