The Problem With Apu
The Simpsons has recently become the longest running scripted show in primetime American television history, as of April 2018 the show had aired 636 episodes since its debut in December 1989. The show has been ever present for millions of people growing up around the world and has influenced viewers from far and wide. Hari Kondabolu is just one of the people whose life has been shaped by The Simpsons. In 2017, Kondabolu wrote and starred in the documentary The Problem with Apu (Michael Melamedoff, USA, 2017) which details how The Simpsons, specifically the character Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, impacted his life as a young South Asian growing up in America.
Kondabolu argues that Apu is a racist stereotype which therefore leads to the viewers of The Simpsons maintaining these stereotypes in the ‘real world’. Kondabolu has several issues with the character of Apu and the implications of the stereotypical depiction. The film highlights how the characterisation of Apu is just one of many issues surrounding the character. Apu is an Indian immigrant that owns his own convenience store but Apu is not portrayed as a proficient small business owner, he is shown to be lazy and foolish. The film also highlights how throughout the show that Indian traditions or stereotypes become the punchline of the episode when Apu features, for example, his arranged marriage or his wife giving birth to octuplets. By highlighting the flaws of Apu’s character, the film immediately establishes its motive and intent. Kondabolu seeks to show audiences how a character that is a walking-talking stereotype can have a negative impact on its viewers and how these issues contribute to the wider issues of representation on television. To explain why he has an issue with the stereotypes that Apu embodies, Kondabolu states: “They stereotype everything…the drunk, over-achieving daughter, etc. But the issue with Apu is there was no other Indian representation on US TV at the time, the most popular show on television showed Indians as goofy.” To further this point, Kondabolu interviews other South Asian actors where they detail their experiences as an actor. Actors such as Aziz Ansari detail how many of the roles that are offered to them involve portraying an Indian stereotype. By including these interviews of well-known people, Kondabolu shows how this is an issue much wider than Apu and concerns representation in the media as a whole.
The film explicitly highlights that many of the Indian characters we see on TV are not true reflections of South Asian people, by doing this Kondabolu forces the audience to acknowledge our own compassion fatigue. Compassion fatigue is most commonly used to describe how our relationship with images of human rights violations can often become excessive due to over-exposure to the point where our reaction to the images creates no social change or is completely non-existent.[1] By detailing how many Indian characters we see on TV are stereotypes, Kondabolu forces us to consider how we have become immune to these characters and accept them into our home no-questions asked, thus, he highlights to the audiences that we have become inundated with false representations of a minority without taking action. By calling out audiences like this, Kondabolu hopes to achieve one of his aims of this media campaign: changing public opinion and perceptions. By highlighting the audience’s lack of reaction to Indian stereotypes in other tv shows, Kondabolu gives the viewers the opportunity to look at these characters in a different light.
The film addresses not only the issues of racial stereotypes but is also concerned with the people that allow these stereotypes to be broadcast. Throughout the film, Kondabolu explicitly states that one of his main issues with Apu is his accent. But he does not just have an issue with the accent, he has an issue with the voice actor that created the accent: Hank Azaria. Hank Azaria is a white-American actor and has voiced Apu on the show since its debut, for Kondabolu this is an immediate problem as he argues that a white man voicing an Indian character is brownface. Kondabolu uses another famous face, this time Whoopi Goldberg, to compare the history of minstrelsy with Apu and as a result Goldberg agrees that Azaria is participating in brownface. By including this section in the film, Kondabolu is calling again for a change in public opinion as he aims to suggest to audiences that Hank Azaria in brownface as Apu is just as bad as minstrelsy – something that is now widely condemned. By looking to the past, the film shows how social change can enhance representation in the media.
Throughout the film, Kondabolu seeks to interview Hank Azaria in order to get his thoughts about Apu. However, Azaria does not agree to be interviewed which angers Kondabolu to the point where he claims that the film is now pointless. By including Azaria’s constant refusal to be interviewed and by including many clips of Azaria talking in Apu’s accent outside the recording studio, Kondabolu attempts to mobilise shame. Thomas Keenan argues that if a criminal act can be caught on camera then it should evoke shame in the perpetrator and lead to actions of social change.[2] It is clear that this film wants Azaria and producers of The Simpsons to consider the consequences that many South Asian people have suffered because of their actions. In order to mobilise shame, the film asks for the audience to help create social change by promoting a hashtag #Apu2016. By doing this, the film aims to create social change by creating a storm on social media that Hank Azaria and The Simpsons cannot ignore. The level of success that the film has in mobilising shame is debatable. Hank Azaria acknowledged that people have issues with the accent and has stated that he is willing to “step aside” from the role. Furthermore, The Simpsons acknowledged the messages of the film in an episode called “No Good Read Goes Unpunished” where they argue that the controversy surround Apu is a result of everyone wanting to be politically correct. These reactions show that the film was successful in creating social change as it created a discussion which involved the ‘perpetrators’. It has recently been announced that Apu will be axed from the show which is something that Kondabolu explicitly stated in the film he did not want to happen. This action from The Simpsons shows how films that aim to create social change cannot always control what the end-product of their film will be and the social change that results may not always be what they aimed for.
[1] Sam Gregory, Transnational Storytelling: Human Rights, WITNESS, and Video Advocacy (New Jersey, Wiley-Blackwell, 2006) p.197
[2] Thomas Keenan, Mobilizing Shame (North Carolina, Duke University Press, 2004) p.437