The Mary Sue: Much is unclear about the fate of Simpsons character Apu Nahasapeemapetilon following the way the character was discussed in the thoughtful documentary The Problem With Apu, by Hari Kondabolu, but one thing is certain: Hank Azaria will no longer voice the character.
4 comments:
This is insane! I am honestly shocked that this happened. First semester I took a class that focused on cultural appropriation in Hollywood and just being able to respectfully represent people from different backgrounds in scripts. A big section of this class we focused on Apu and watched the documentary The Problem With Apu. When learning that a white man has voiced Apu for so long just felt very wrong and incorrect. Apu was always someone who could be a character of diversity in the show, however being such a harmful stereotype especially while voiced by a white man is just so harmful and only adds to this false image and hurtful stereotype. Something interesting in the documentary that even though Apu was such a drastic stereotype, the creator of the documentary, Hari Kondabolu, still looked up to him as an Indian character. I am curious how The Simpsons will include (or not include) Apu in future episodes. It's a big step that should have been taken sooner, either way, I am glad this happened and is now becoming a important talking point.
Last semester, I took a playwriting class about writing in a multicultural world, and The Problem with Apu was the first documentary we watched. At first, I was shocked that so many Indian-Americans felt this way! But afterward, I looked up the documentary on my own, and saw the huge amount of hate it received. So many people criticized it, including lots of Indian-Americans (who, to be honest, could have been lying about being Indian-American) who said Hari was being way too sensitive and ridiculous. After so much backlash, Hari came out and said in an interview with Jimmy Kimmel that he didn't even really care that much either to begin with. This caused even MORE hate to be thrown his way. To quote Phoebe from Friends (who, coincidently, ended up dating a character played by Hank Azaria for awhile): "You just abandoned your whole belief system. I mean, before, I didn't agree with you, but at least I respected you."
I guess I could respect the sentiment of a whole group of people feeling this way, but I'm hesitant to support this change when it looks like it was kind of a BS protest to begin with. I'm Middle Eastern, and have gotten plenty of Achmed the Dead Terrorist jokes thrown my way in life. I have never hated Jeff Dunham for it. In fact, I think he's hilarious. Again, everyone is different, and I respect if lots of people feel offended, but I sure wish more people were more comfortable with being a little offended for the sake of comedy nowadays.
Like Pablo and Bea above, I also took the playwriting class for writing in a multicultural world. I have a very clear stance on live-action actors being true to the race of the character they are portraying, but I have never settled on a stance in terms of voice actors being true to race. Sometimes I am fine with white actors voicing characters of color, other times I am not. Apu is a case in which I am not comfortable with it because it is a white man assuming the affect and vernacular of a person of color, which are usually highly stigmatized by white society, but is somehow okay and funny when a white man does it. What a double standard! There are, of course, a good amount of Indian-American people who thought it fine for Hank Azaria to voice Apu, and in their own respect, they are correct. There is no correct answer for this problem, I think.
Literally just get rid of the character. It feels like the writers are just being needlessly stubborn at this point. For years and years people have expressed how incredibly offensive this character is, and now that Azaria is leaving, it feels like a good stopping point for the character. There's just no reason to have the character anymore. I don't really watch the Simpsons, but from what I understand, he's not that central of a character. It just seems like keeping this character after all the backlash is more trouble than it's worth. On the other hand, improving the character is an option. As the author points out, just because the character's history is problematic, doesn't mean he needs to be completely phased out. I think diversity in the show is really important, but when characters of color are portrayed in a problematic way, that's not diversity. I just think such an influential show as the Simpsons can do better than this. I get that it's a comedy show, but I truly don't think jokes at the expense of an entire race are really funny. Maybe it's just not my taste, but I kinda think it sucks if it is your taste.
Post a Comment