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[Documentary]The Problem With Apu

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout' started by zeeshan2, Nov 17, 2017.

  1. KingCheetah

    KingCheetah Contributing Member

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    [​IMG]
     
  2. Buck Turgidson

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    aaaaaand...you've been brightsided.
     
  3. smitheygerard

    smitheygerard Member

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    If this backlash happened to South Park they would just make an entire episode of this:

     
    Dankstronaut likes this.
  4. BMoney

    BMoney Contributing Member

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    [​IMG]
     
  5. tinman

    tinman Contributing Member
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  6. ths balla

    ths balla Member

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    problem is no matter what way somebody portrays a section of people someone is always going to be offended unfortunately...the simpsons play off stereotypes, get over it...Im smart enough to know not all us Texans where cowboy hats and say yeehaw, I still find it funny
     
  7. kevC

    kevC Contributing Member

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  8. zeeshan2

    zeeshan2 Member

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  9. CCorn

    CCorn Member

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    Good for the simpsons. This is dumb.
     
    GRENDEL likes this.
  10. Sweet Lou 4 2

    Sweet Lou 4 2 Contributing Member
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    The problem with Apu isn't that the Simpsons wanted to have a convenience store and have an Indian as the proprietor. The Simpsons aren't racist for that.

    The problem is the way Indian Americans are viewed in this country and overall portrayed by the media as a caricature. The roles that Indian men have tended to get are gas station owner, taxi driver, hotel owner, etc. People say that it's because that's where you see Indians. Well, show me an ER without an Indian doctor and yet you won't see an Indian male doctor on any of those shows.

    So it's not a matter of being offensive so much as just a clear indication of bias as to what the expected role of a group of people is - the stereotype. I just would say that no one is asking anyone not to have their laughs, just take a second and try to see the other perspective.

    I don't have a problem with Apu, to me it's just a reflection of how narrow-minded Americans are about Indian Americans.
     
    durvasa and HeWhoIsLunchbox like this.
  11. StupidMoniker

    StupidMoniker I lost a bet
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    Kumar's dad is a doctor in Harold and Kumar go to White Castle. Kumail Nanjiani plays an Indian engineer in Silicon Valley. The Big Bang Theory has Rajesh, the Indian Astrophysicist (whose father is a doctor, for that matter). That's a movie and a hit TV show with Indian doctors specifically, with an engineer and an astrophysicist thrown in for good measure.

    American film and television especially are made for an American audience, which is still majority white. As such, the majority of roles are played by white people. That has been changing somewhat more recently, but Asians still make up a small minority of roles, so sometimes they will be doctors, sometimes Pakistani restaurateurs, and sometimes own the Kwik-E-Mart.
     
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  12. Nook

    Nook Member

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    My Indian buddy Raj named his son Apu after the Simpsons.

    Guy has a great sense of humor, loves Texas and quite the hunter.

    His wife wasn't really happy about it, but his other suggestions were pretty out there too....... Marcinko, Jesse (after Jesse James) and Hoodoo (after an outlaw).... his wife didn't want her son named after an outlaw or someone that has killed people....... so Apu it was and is.
     
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  13. KingCheetah

    KingCheetah Contributing Member

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    Elmer Fudd cartoons need to be taken off the air -- the character mocks individuals who have a speech impairment.
     
  14. Mr. Brightside

    Mr. Brightside Contributing Member

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    I agree. They also did get rid of Speedy Gonzales and his cousin Slow Poke Rodriguez I believe due to it being offensive.

    Feeling that the character presented an offensive Mexican stereotype, Cartoon Network shelved Speedy's films when it gained exclusive rights to broadcast them in 1999 (as a subsidiary of Time Warner, Cartoon Network is a corporate sibling to Warner Bros.). In an interview with Fox News on March 28, 2002, Cartoon Network spokeswoman Laurie Goldberg commented, "It hasn't been on the air for years because of its ethnic stereotypes."

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speedy_Gonzales
     
  15. KingCheetah

    KingCheetah Contributing Member

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    However there was a uproar from the Mexican community as they loved Speedy and all of his old cartoons were brought back which I think is just disgusting. Sometimes it is important to help people who do not realize they are being offended.
     
  16. B-Bob

    B-Bob "94-year-old self-described dreamer"

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    Sense of humor in America is going the way of the dinosaurs. Seriously, on the left and right both. None of the young liberals in SF have a sense of humor, at all.

    Thank heavens for the auralnauts and a few other corners of the internet, including our own CF!
     
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  17. justtxyank

    justtxyank Contributing Member

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    Haha!

    The next sentence at your link is about Hispanic people demanding his return and how popular he is in Latin America.
     
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  18. mtbrays

    mtbrays Contributing Member
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    Never mind that Apu is one of the few characters on The Simpsons who is shown as being a good-natured family man; the only thing that matters is that he is voiced by a white guy (one of the more talented voice actors around, to boot) and owns a convenience store. If the creators of The Simpsons were determined to use their show to promote negative racial stereotypes above all else, why did they make Dr. Hibbert a doctor (Cliff Huxtable parody aside)? Why did they send Apu into space or make him a member of the Be Sharps?

    Everyone
    on the show is a caricature of something. Is the humorless outrage squad also protesting the presence of Krusty (Jewish), Bumblebee Man (Hispanic), Carl (black) and Smithers (gay)? The people up-in-arms about this will move onto the next outrage topic du jour after they've stopped giving The Simpsons more publicity than it's had in a decade.

    I'm a liberal guy, but dammit if I don't feel like I'm staring at Saturn Devouring His Son every time I check out what the left side of the Internet is angry about.
     
    #59 mtbrays, Apr 11, 2018
    Last edited: Apr 11, 2018
    hairyme, DonnyMost, Nook and 3 others like this.
  19. B-Bob

    B-Bob "94-year-old self-described dreamer"

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    We need a cartoon where every character is a CEO and very polite and correct in every episode. No accents. Homogeneous uniforms.

    Oh wait... I guess it would be anime THX1138.
     

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