A new point of apu
Over a year and a half ago I wrote my first post for British site Pickled Politics, entitled ‘Much Apu About Nothing’ and it concerned my love for Springfield’s favourite shopkeeper. I sought to explain why I feel Apu is a positive character, having heard opinions against him. This has proved easily to be my most widely-read post.
Recently a publicity campaign for the upcoming Simpsons movie has developed into a contentious issue in America and Ultrabrown’s Manish has quickly become the go-to man for all things Apu. What Manish probably doesn’t realise that it was his view of Apu that inspired my article; I wanted to highlight how the British perception of Apu is so different from the American. So I figured I should chuck my two cents in, but I’ll try not to duplicate my reasons for being an Apu fan this time.
The recent ‘Apu controversy’, having made national American and Indian news, may have started as a debate about the ad campaign, but it has grown into a new dissection of Apu’s character.
It is thus fundamental to separate the 7-Eleven issue from related discussion. Examining the former first, Manish has, in several posts, argued succinctly why this promotional strategy irks him. Central to my defence of Apu has always been his context. The Simpsons parodies all its inhabitants and Apu is not a racist stereotype but a rounded, human figure.
This advertising campaign removes Apu from that context. Apu, like all the caricatures in Springfield, exists on two levels. Every character has a superficial exterior, which personifies a stereotype; they also have a rich personality which undermines all of those clichés.
I have learnt that unfortunately the fact Apu has a memorable catchphrase has resulted in it being used as a racist taunt in America. Critics of Apu argue this shows that he is the sole troubling character, which is why he draws so much flak. However I feel that sadly racists in the US would still be abusing Indians without a convenient convenience store catchphrase. The fact some Indians in the US dislike hearing “thank you, come again†reveals more about how American society has latched onto tormenting Indians than the racism of Apu.
Upon initially viewing the dozen-or-so Kwik-E-Marts, I loved the idea and I still do. The one point upon which I agree wholeheartedly with Manish is his criticism of the role the real-life shopkeepers have played in this saga. The majority of 7-Eleven employees affected by this campaign seem to be of Asian origin. Almost all seem game for a laugh, but dressing them up as Apu can surely not be in their best interests.
I think the Brits reading this will feel the way I initially felt, that there’s no harm in assuming the role of Apu for the month. But once again context is paramount. My view of the American experience for an Indian, shaped predominantly from the writing of Indian Americans and Harold and Kumar is one where Indian shopkeepers can frequently be the subjects of abuse. If this is indeed the case, the dumb racist’s conflation of a stereotyped Indian and a real one will only be reinforced by an Apu outfit and name badge.
However, if Indian shopkeepers aren’t subject to more abuse than others, then I can’t see any difference between the UK and the US, so I once again see nothing wrong with Apu. The basis for criticising him or his place in this advertising is grounded in the assertion that America is inherently racist, whether this is true, you decide.
I do not buy the argument that Americans are not familiar with Indians, which is cited as making Apu more harmful than other stereotypes. Firstly, I think “Americans don’t know any Indians†doesn’t wash anymore, secondly many of the stereotyped minorities are those Americans might be unfamiliar with like the Scots or the Japanese. Lastly, and most importantly, no special familiarity is needed. The vast majority of Americans will be familiar with the Indian shopkeeper and that is the very reason he is in The Simpsons. He effectively needs those stereotypies so that he can be recognised in his place in the town’s makeup, and to act as a framework to flesh him out.
Another sore point for those who dislike Apu is his accent. It’s a comical accent but they say it is racist. Why? Because he is voiced by a non-Indian. This is nonsense. Are we seriously suggesting that only brown-skinned actors can voice brown cartoon characters? A blacked-up white man playing an Indian on screen would be wrong. But only a bigot would complain if a Pakistani played an Indian, because they “look rightâ€Â. What of the analogous “sounding rightâ€Â? The Indian voice is not dramatically different in timbre or pitch.
I think saying there is a racial barrier to voices as well as skin is dangerous ground. If a white man should not do an Indian accent, then can an Indian comedian not impersonate a white celebrity or voice a black cartoon character? The accent itself is criticised as unrealistic, but if based on a genuine thick Indian accent, opposition to Apu would not stop.
Annoyance at Apu’s accent is based on a false double standard, exposed by today’s multicultural society. The white West and the brown East are now intimately intertwined. When Western, but brown actors adopt ridiculous accents, such as Kal Penn in Van Wilder (the actor credited with trying to reclaim Apu’s phrase), there are few complainants.
But there is no reason why someone born and raised outside India is more qualified to attempt an Indian accent simply due to the fact his skin is brown. Those who don’t like Hank Azaria voicing Apu don’t ask for a test of ‘Indianess’ in a replacement candidate, they would be appeased by just Asian heritage. I have British Indian friends who do a more fake Apu-like Indian accent than some white friends. Indian actors make fun of regional accents in Indian films, but it’s OK cos that’s brown-on-brown. This is all phoney. The belief that “only our kind can make fun of us†is unhealthy and reactionary.
Most Indians, in whatever country, like Apu. Comments on British, American and Indian blogs have overwhelmingly favoured him, so Manish is firmly in the minority. It seems somewhat condescending to insist Apu degrades convenience store employees if they themselves have no problem with the character. It would be more condescending still if their views were dismissed as being insecure eager-to-please immigrants.
Levelling the notion that if we are party to the Apu joke, we are condemning future generations of brown-skinned people in white countries to racism is unwarranted. Forced attempts to reclaim a phrase or reject a cartoon character are laying the onus on us to change our ways instead of those guilty of racism.
I feel I haven’t addressed everything, so I will do my best to participate in comments. If you wish for a more detailed examination of Apu, please do read my first piece. Manish and I have both written plenty about Apu. His massively commented-upon Comment is Free article criticised the 7-Eleven campaign. He and I are agreed that the subtle nuances of Apu’s character are lost in the adverts. But we remain in disagreement about just about everything else to do with Dr Nahasapeemapetilon.
Many of the CiF comments are along the lines of “I’m X and my community is mocked as well, but I don’t complainâ€Â. Not all of these statements can be explained away by Indians being less familiar to Americans, and while I do not think Indians complain more (as has been alleged), I am not sure I fully understand why Apu is so much more of a talking point than any other character. I cannot help but feel some of it is due to the fact he is a key main player, which is a testament to his importance, not his subjugation.
on Monday, July 16th, 2007, 9:58 pm in Blog, Simpsons › 
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I actually haven’t seen anyone take an essentialist position on this. The accent is so badly done as to be insulting. The singsong has nothing to do with most real Indian English accents.
For example, nobody says only Puerto Ricans can dance salsa, only that it should be done well. The ‘brown man doing a white man doing a brown man’ line is about how blurry the accent is after multiple copies. Azaria isn’t doing desis, he’s doing Sellers doing desis.
This promotion ends in 15 days, but Apu will live on. It’s worth looking more closely at him.
The British context with 8 gazillion desi TV presenters on Channel 4 is very different from the U.S. context.
Quite refreshing to see a healthy debate here-different opinions on the same blog.
NO, its NOT ok! its quite disgusting actually! Atleast in my narrow view, it is. Its not fun to see a Punju doing “balle balle” and a Tamil doing “Ayyo Rama” etc. etc…..there are a million such subcultural caricatures in Hindi Cinema-and they are really not OK.
I have no personal disagreement with this statement. but then, i was born and brought up in India…..am not sure how things were 20-30 years ago in the US. May be the people who were born here did face some prejudice. The most common Indian stereotypes i have encountered are the doctor, good at Mathematics, software guy etc. It may be because i mostly interact with people in my own profession. But i am pretty sure that it hurts a lot when you are ridiculed in the school as a kid.
and on only brown skins doing desi accents:
Well, there’s no guarantee that they won’t mess up with it. Sendhil, for all his cuteness, didn’t do it well…..it was a mix of British, American and desi accents…..there are plenty od desi English accents btw. Anyone can do desi accent or for that matter any accent…..they just have to do it right. asking for too much?
oops, i meant no personal disagreement with the following statement!
Nice article, Rohin.
I don’t think Manish would have a problem with Apu’s accent if it were authentic, regardless of the voice artist’s skin color. Apu’s fake accent does bother me (not the the extent it bothers Manish obviously!), so I went out of my way to use voice artists capable of authentic accents in my own film. Predictably, all the voice artists I ended up hiring are desi, but I auditioned a few pasty-Americans too, with an open mind (none of the pasty-Americans made the cut though; one of them affected a terrible fake Apu-style accent, and it really bugged me he claimed he was qualified). If the Simpsons producers could go back and give the original Apu a proper accent, I imagine they would. They’re in a bind now though.
The legacy of Apu is that actual desi actors are asked to do Sellers at Hollywood auditions. Bring a bad turban and do a bad accent. Shuffle and smile. Get paid.
Bravo. Nice post.
@manish: The legacy of Apu is that actual desi actors are asked to do Sellers at Hollywood auditions. Bring a bad turban and do a bad accent. Shuffle and smile. Get paid.
This is rather unfortunate, but not likely to be universally true, and i don’t think that it can be attributed in whole to the persistence of Apu’s character. Granted, the accent is not particularly accurate, but it is part and parcel of the representative stereotype. Ranier Wolfcastle’s austrian accent is way overblown, any eastern euro accent is nowhere near accurate “it’s taking away my horny..” In fact, placing a realistic accent on Apu could very well serve to reinforce some of those outward stereotypes as reality. The accent as it is keeps Apu’s outward manifestations firmly tongue in cheek.
oh, and check out ABC news in chicago on the weekends…another desi anchor/reporter pushing his way through to the front… while there may not be the hundreds as in the UK, we’re getting there one at a time….
Well, exactly none of the desi actors I auditioned did that. Only that one pasty-American guy, who called himself a “professional comedian” and who I consider lame on his own merits. Another pasty-American auditioner worked with a lot of Bangladeshis and so could do a specific Bangladeshi accent, but I had a lot of great auditions and not enough roles, and she didn’t make the cut. Everyone I hired turned out to be second-gen, trained actors, whose everyday speaking voices were standard American accents, but who had decades of practice imitating their parents’ authentic Indian accents. The actors’ accents in the film are in fact a conscientous blend of Indian and Nebraska-bland American; accents were flattened out somewhat to increase intelligibility. On the other hand, even more time in the film is devoted to unscipted, improvised conversation between genuine bona-fide Indians, including your friend and mine, Manish Acharya, who is depicted as a shadow puppet. It doesn’t get more real than Manish A. yakking away at lightning speed. Test audiences can’t understand every word he says (the man talks fast) but they get the gist - and they love those segments. But I digress.
I am not the one to sound the alarm on cultural rudeness but the deleterious effect of Apu on generations of desis in the US cannot be understated.
At some level it does not really matter whether the character of Apu is racist or not. I have no way of knowing whether the Simpson producers/7-11 execs are racist or just callous about perpetuating/in fact creating racist caricatures of Indians or whether they just wanted to generate some laughs/sales.
Nobody however in his right mind (especially if the person has spent some time in the US) will argue that Apu has helped the image of the desi minority in the US. It has been used to ridicule desis and will be continued to be used as such as long as Apu remains in public conciousness. Of course this not to suggest that no desi will ever be subjected to racism if Apu never existed.
To my mind, I think that the objection to having a white dude voice Apu is not about whether or not he is doing it well or poorly. I think it’s sensitive ground because of the legacy of racism in America. I accept the theory that people who are oppressed have special knowlege of their oppressors, knowlege that is invisible to their oppressors. (An example of this is the way that many black women have special knowlege of hair — the dominant aesthetic value in America is straight european-style hair — and many black women feel the need to conform to this aesthetic value through special steps, relaxer, etc.) Incidentally, I think this is why it’s ok for non-white comedians to act white for laughs — they have special knowlege of the privileges that whiteness entails.
In America, there is a history of white people re-writing the stories of the oppressed — it feels like puppetry — white people pretending they know the ins and outs of black experience, an experience which they cannot have first-knowlege of. In the past, white folks have used their media power to re-write the experience of those they oppressed — you have WD Griffith portraying black people as fried-chicken-eating people with no manners in Birth of a Nation, to pick an extreme example.
To relate this back to Apu, one could argue that an Indian-American actor would be better able to express the complex emotions associated with being an Indian in America — the Indian-American actor would presumably have a better understanding of Apu’s emotional life, hopefully creating a more nuanced character.
Finally, I think there is also an issue of media bias against non-white non-males at hand. Apu and his wife are the only Indian characters on the show — this ought to be a natural “gimme” to get Indian-American actors involved. I haven’t looked at the racial and gender makeup of actors on the show, but I’m willing to bet that they’re mostly white and male. It’s probably hard enough to be a non-white actor trying to make it big — potential roles are already limited by entrenched societal predjudice — without having white guys play brown people.
Have you traveled outside the major cities of America? This is a gross inaccuracy, at best. While a substantial South Asian population exists in metropolitan areas/surrounding suburbs and areas of academia, rest assured there are still VAST areas of the United States that have yet to encounter any people of South Asian descent. My experiences alone in the states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Rhode Island are positively frightening, and I guarantee the experience is similar in any state west of the Mississippi and east of California. Many people outside the United States think that this country is bursting with diversity, but in truth this diversity is restricted to certain locations. Being a South Asian in the U.S. is extremely different from being one in the UK, and any attempts to draw a conclusion for one based on the other will be fundamentally flawed.
ERS, by that logic the character of Apu would need to not only be voiced by a brown actor, but be written by brown writers and produced by brown producers. In effect, it’s saying a show by mostly-white mostly-male creators has no business including any non-white non-male characters. Which means whites should only be allowed to write about whites, otherwise it’s “re-writing the stories of the oppressed”.
Nina P:
I agree that the logic does get confusing and contradictory. If we only allow white folks to produce art about white folks, then we’d effectively be white-washing culture, so the question would become “what’s more racist — a show with a potentially racist representation of a brown character, or a show without any brown characters at all?”
From my POV, I see no need to make production of brown characters an “all or nothing” venture. Yes the producers and writers of the Simpsons are largely white, but I think TV is a collaborative medium. Surely we could give white folks a pass who had made a genuine and good faith effort to understand the culture they are trying to represent — investigating the culture they are writing about, running their finished work by someone of that culture — basically including non-white folks in the process wherever possible/pertinent. I certainly don’t contend that white people should only be allowed to write about white people, but I do think that, given the legacy of racism in America, white writers need to be very careful when assuming cultural identities that are different. Have the creators of Apu done that? I don’t think I’m really in a position to judge — but I do think that the question is worth asking.
ERS and Nina:
I don’t really think it’s a huge problem having Apu written by non-brown people. My problem is with the promotion and the denigration. Also, while I think a good portion of the Simpsons-watching audience can appreciate its irony and understand the intended stereotyping of Apu and other characters, a good portion of the audience doesn’t get it and thinks this is some form of reality (i.e. younger folks). And so that’s when you have to ask, like ACfD brought up, does APu do more harm than good?
What annoys me, as demonstrated by some comments on here and on the Guardian blog, is how SO many white people seem to categorically deny and dismiss any accusations of racism from brown people. It’s like, when you say, “Well, people used the Apu caricature and accent to mock me in high school,” people get really defensive and upset for some reason. Why is it so hard to see how Apu can be used against desi folks? Why does this threaten people so much? It’s like pulling teeth.
Its not that much about accent but it is whatManish wrote that is sad..
“But The Simpsons has long irritated some Indian-Americans because of the thickly stereotypical character of Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, the effete cornershop owner with fractured English, excess fertility, bizarre religious practices, illegal immigration status and a penchant for cheating customers”
projecting Apu as some cheating, doing all wrong things is wrong..
And making seven eleven customers dress up and talk like Apu is wrong…
I was just thinking if Apu was a scientist cartoon indian character or a software engineer cartoon character cheating, doing all wrong things and if I as a scientist or software engineer was asked to wear his costume and talk like him for some science or computer based movie promotion I would be offended and would never do that…we are professionals and even if it is a cartoon character projecting professionals as cheating people or doing wrong things is not right..
Just for a movie promotion doing all this is wrong..
some seven eleven managers as seen in interviews seem ok with all this bec,. they are making money, but making money is not everything..
I can understand why people like Apu..I have to admit I rarely watched simpsons…
I like seinfelds Kramer a lot..I know kramer does a lot of wrong things and if I had a real life neighbour like him I will be tired..but I have soft corner for the character because I watched it for over ten years..same with people watching Apu for ten years probably…they just got used to him and like him..
I think thats why people , some Indians are sympathetic to Apu, like Apu and dont mind all this controversy because they are used to it by now for ten years and dont think there is anything wrong with it.
I pretty much agree with you, ERS. An even better remedy, I think, is for brownz and everyone else to make the kind of media they’d like to see. An American “Goodness Gracious Me” would be most welcome. As the old saying goes, “don’t just criticise the media - BE the media.”
“The British context with 8 gazillion desi TV presenters on Channel 4 is very different from the U.S. context.â€Â
We’re agreed on this Manish. But my argument is that the fact that Americans don’t know desis is not that important. Americans DO know Asian shopkeepers and that’s all they need to know because Springfield’s meant to be a stereotyped small town with the usual mix of punters. If America was as familiar with Indians as we are here, your criticisms of Apu would remain, but in the UK your views are not echoed.
Musical, Sendhil Ramamurthy was told to do “an Indian educated in the UK, living in America†accent. I thought he did pretty well. But if he hadn’t, so what? Brown people raised outside India aren’t automatically better at Indian accents than white people, so when you say “Anyone can do desi accent or for that matter any accent…..they just have to do it rightâ€Â, it pre-supposes that Apu would cease to be a negative character is his accent was accurate.
I don’t think Manish and those that agree with him would say that.
Nina your comments are particularly appreciated as you put voices to your Indian characters. It’s interesting that your actors all ended up being brown, but I’m glad you did keep an open mind. I would hazard a guess (perhaps incorrectly) that your decision to do audition white people too is that you are white. Maybe not, but I do know that Asian radio producers here only seek Asian voice-artists for Asian characters (I don’t know any cartoon-makers!)
Let’s take Akira in The Simpsons, who has been voiced by George Takei (Japanese American) and Hank Azaria (Greek American) in different episodes. How many people noticed the change?
“The legacy of Apu is that actual desi actors are asked to do Sellers at Hollywood auditions. Bring a bad turban and do a bad accent.â€Â
The poor put-upon Indian actors! This is a condemnation of the US casting system and film/TV industry, not Apu. Indian actors keep taking the roles (“well they got to pay the billsâ€Â) making them as culpable as the casting directors, or Matt Groening. It’s not one-way traffic. Neela Rasgotra, Mohinder Suresh and whoever else people more knowledgeable than me are testaments that Indians don’t just have to do The Party accent anymore.
Savitre you also said something important – it’s slightly unsettling to see legions of white commenters on CiF automatically dismissing allegations of racism in The Simpsons because they don’t see any. I AGREE with them, but I can’t be sure each has had the same thought process as me.
That could mean any number of things. I prefer to think I equal-opportunistically auditioned anyone who showed up, which turned out to be mostly brownz and a couple pasty-Americans. (I’m pushing pasty-American as a more PC term for “white,” since “white” often refers to culture and heritage as well as skin tone, and there’s a lot more diversity in the former than people who bandy about the words “white”, “whitey” and “white culture” acknowledge. Plus no racial purist would consider me white, but I am pasty.)
The work itself trumps all other considerations. I want to make it as good as I can, which means collaborating with people who can do the work the project needs, and who are available and interested. Indeed all the voices turned out to be desi, but the composers and musicians are a mix. I have one contemporary quasi-Indian sounding song by a second gen desi, but the most heavily Indian-influenced melodies are by a pasty-American and a French band. And the modern jazz, a rarified Western genre, is by an Indian. I look forward to confusing people in the credits. A small part of me would have preferred to have more desi names associated with the music - it gives the project more PC cred, more of a “white folks’ pass” as ERS says - but the work itself doesn’t care about musicians’ names or skin color.
I only meant it to mean that casting non-brown voices as browns is something that might not occur to someone who was brown. Nothing else.
I like the sound of that, cool!
PS - I’m fairly pasty, perhaps we could form a new hybrid cross-cultural race of people who should get more sun?
Rohin, from what i read in Sendhil’s interview with Nirali magazine, Sendhil just mentioned that he was first told to do an Indian accent, but soon after the directors asked him to add a touch of British accent, to make him sound “educated”-he didn’t indicate that it meant educated in Britain. If that were the case, i would have no issues with it. Even Erik Avari, who portrays his Dad didn’t have a clear accent, neither British, nor Indian…..anyhow, i meant my arguement in favor of the following statement:
Thata’s the whole point. Sendhil’s being brown doesn’t ensure that he’ll do it right. I have no issues with Parminder Nagra doing British accent in ER, because her character Neela requires her to do so.
Also accent is not the most important issue with Apu…..and am sure you’ll agree with me on that. so no, there’s no pre-supposition that Apu would cease to be a negative character if his accent was accurate.
Musical,
Isn’t Parminder British IRL, I am not sure why there should be an issue in the first place
brown,
Parminder is British fo sure. But i was talking about the accent of the character Neela. She’s British as well, so Parminder’s natural accent suits her beautifully.
I don’t think that’s true outside the coasts. There are desi hotel owners in the South though.
The accent is grating, but it’s not the only portion of the Apu sterotype. Here’s the key point again: There is no other Simpsons character I’m aware of that is a crude ethnic stereotype of a relatively unknown minority.
It’s worse than that: desi actors doing actual desi accents are asked in Hollywood to ‘do the Apu accent’ or ‘make it more Indian,’ meaning the director’s conception of Indian. And struggling actors do pollute the commons, but they’re also much poorer than most 7-Eleven franchise owners.