It’s probably not a surprise that I’m a Simpsons fanatic, and have been since the first days (we collected Matt Groening cartoons in junior high) but it was the evolution of the character of Apu that really clinched it for me.
Now, the first reaction upon encountering or hearing about Apu Nahasapeemapetalan is invariably a groan–yet another stereotypical 7-11 manager/operator–whether when he debuted, or today. But Apu evolved, as most Simpsons’ characters, into someone complex, worthy of both ridicule and empathy. He has a PhD, entered into an arranged marriage (but not before a stint as Springfield’s most happening bachelor, Trans Am and all) with the witty Manjula, sired octoplets, revealed his veganism and his illegal immigrant status, which he fixed by getting that long-awaited H-1 Visa. His worst sins are quirky saying in accented English, his two instances of infidelity to his wife and a tendency to overcharge (nothing compared to miser Mr.Burns or desperate Moe). Despite repeated attempts to run away from the overwhelming demands of his family of octoplets, Apu remains an excellent vehicle for Simpsons writers to explore desi issues. I highly recommend Wikipedia’s detailed biography of Apu here.
But Apu was absent in the most recent Simpsons exploration of desi culture, when Homer gets outsourced to India. Desi culture has become too big even for Apu.The Simpsons characters often spend an episode in another country, gleefully exploding and exploiting stereotypes, and the Indian outsourcing episode is no exception. When Homer gets outsourced by Mr. Burns, he’s naturally incompetant, a fact that the PhD-educated Indian workers quickly catch on to. Fast forward six months–the Simpson have not heard from Homer, until Mr. Burns tells them that Homer has gone “native” and thinks that he is a god.
Enter Apocalypse Now.
I read Conrad’s Heart of Darkness in junior high, and loved it immediately–I read it as an adventure novel, and later as a psychological exploration. I did not think about the inherent racism in the tale–we discussed it in class, but so much of the novel seemed symbolic. It seemed logical that the search for Kurtz was pure symbolism–a search for how power could cripple even the best of men. And the darkness, to Victorian minds, was represented by the corruption brought from plumbing the depths of the Congo. By the time “civilized” man reached Kurtz, he was already lost in the depths of the jungle.
By the time I saw Apocalypse Now (from beginning to end) in college, the racial issues were on the forefront. This movie took the central issues of Conrad’s novel and moved them into the Vietnam war. The result was harrowing–predictable with with sledgehammer director Oliver Stone at the helm. The three-dimensional characters were all soldiers; the masses were all Vietnamese. By the time Willard (an obviously strained Martin Sheen) kills Kurtz (a incoherent, overpowering Brando), Stone can’t resist rubbing in the point, and the scene of Kurtz’s death is intercut with the graphic, ritual slaughter of a bull outside.
Both stories were the same–the exotic Far East as a mindless, corrosive influence on the West.
Leave it to the Simpsons to say–fine. That’s us.
When Mr. Burns and the Simpsons arrive in the “dark jungle” of India, they find a deluded Homer thinking he’s a god–and a crowd of Indian workers who’ve created a union based on all the secrets that the mercenary Mr. Burns didn’t want them to know about: part-time hours, mandatory health plans, onsite day care, one-hour lunch breaks.
Mr. Burns holds his head “You’ll ruin me! You’re fired!” Indian worker: “Woo-hoo! Free golden parachutes for everyone!”
In the spirit of Orientalism, the “heart of darkness” can be the Congo, Vietnam or India, with little change of implication of a mindless, decadent Far East. But, in this episode, the clever Indian plant workers don’t mind placating their Caucasian superiors, letting them think they worship Homer (in a Indiana-Jones-2 “pagan” style)when in reality they’re manipulating his incompetence. Over the years, the Simpsons have leveled the playing field when it comes to desi in pop culture–the exotic “coolie” who worships his oppressors must make way for the very real, very universal concerns of the modern, employed Desi.
But are the tables turned? Originally, the exotic East corrupted the West; now it may be the other way around. As a proud Lisa tells Homer later, he’s managed to export the American worker’s sense of entitlement. Now that the Indian plant workers know that they don’t need to work a 20-hour day the question is–what happens to the Indian work ethic–exemplified by Apu and his 24/7 Kwik-E-Mart? Furthermore, which way is the colonialization going? The plant moves back to Springfield–for obvious plot purposes–but the implication is clear. The Indian worker is on the move.
I recommend Wikipedia’s entry on Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bangalore (yes, I’m a wikipedia-whore). And if you get a chance, catch the episode, I haven’t done it justice.
Francis Ford Coppola directed Apocalypse Now.
Oliver Stone directed Platoon.
No dinner for the
monkeysSM Interns tonight…..Sorry, that should have said “
monkeysSM Interns”.I’m not implying all SM Interns are like monkeys. Or that SM Interns are affiliated to your monkeys as some kind of work experience exercise.
Dammit, your comments section isn’t recognising HTML (the word “monkeys” should have had a “strikethrough”). Serves me right for trying to be snarkey on the new-and-improved SM.
Enough trolling from me. Back to Apu, Oliver Stone, and the phenomenon of transferring much-needed Western jobs to overqualified, underpaid desis back in the motherland.
Okay, time to say something more relevant to the topic 😉
I saw the episode concerned and thought only the reactions of the Indian employees towards the end (“golden parachutes” etc) were particularly funny. Personally, I found the humour in the rest of the show (at least the India-focused segments) to be mediocre by usual Simpsons standards, and it certainly perpetuated a lot of the usual silly stereotypical images of India. I also found the part where Homer’s looking for Apu’s relative as per the description on that piece of paper he’d been given to be quite offensive — the “joke” was basically “all Indians look the same” in a derogatory way. I can’t imagine them trying to pull this kind of stunt if Homer was shown visiting an African city — eg. if he’d been given a generic description of a black person, and the camera then pans back and shows near-identical Africans everywhere.
Apart from that, I thought the Bollywood song & dance sequence at the very end was brilliant, especially when Smithers joins in. Hearing Kishore Kumar singing away over the end credits — the song was from an old Dev Anand film, no less — was also a surreal and highly entertaining experience.
I think the simpsons should do a WU-Simpsons episode. maybe have Bart audition as the 9th member (RIP ODB). I wonder how many 2nd Tier members can be named?
62nd assassin, masta killa, cappadon, shyhiem aka the rugged child (although now he’s an adolescent, so maybe the rugged tween), buddha monk. (there thats somethind desi related)
Also. the chick that wrote this blog, neeraja, is killer cute. anyone else notice that?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BS181X4F3bw
I also found the part where Homer’s looking for Apu’s relative as per the description on that piece of paper he’d been given to be quite offensive — the “joke” was basically “all Indians look the same” in a derogatory way.
That wasn’t the joke – the joke was that is how Indians describe themselves. Check the marriage listings – medium hight, black hair, etc. The joke is then twisted when Homer finds Apu’s cousin Kavi after asking only 2 people, but still says, “Finally!” as if he were looking forever.
Besides – the Simpsons poked fun at African cultures too – when they went to an unnamed African nation and found that the leadership was being overthrown every few minutes. In China, they were walking in Tianamen Square, where a sign read “On this space in 1989 – nothing happened.” They go after everybody.
Another in-joke from an earlier episode is when Apu and Manjula invite Homer and Marge over for dinner, and one of the records on display is “Concert Against Bangladesh” with a mushroom cloud as the cover art.
How do people compare Simpsons to “The Colbert Report” as far as ethnic jokes are concerned? There was this one episode of the latter in which people are shown playing holi and throwing colour and another picture of some other ‘weird’ custom from another culture and he made a joke about ‘ancient customs.’ I remember having a WTF moment, but it was too quick to register anything else. I always find I am a little restless, a bit uncomfortable, waiting in breathless anticipation to see if I am going to laugh or roll my eyes in despair. Difficult tightrope that. The Simpsons makes it work by gleeful equal offending all around. They also use stereotypes consciously, turning them on their head, and that’s critical.
Is there anywhere we can find the episode online? 😀
And cuter cuz she writes snarky. (funny how on blogs that are geared towards kick ass writing skills, people still feel the need to comment on ‘cuteness’ of women than on the hotness of their writing- sorry, feminist rant, didn’t mean to derail)
If memory serves right, you can write the episode and submit it to the Simpsons. I had a friends friend submit a script to the show and it got picked up to turn into an episode. Write that WU-Simpsons!
: funny how on blogs that are geared towards kick ass writing skills, people still feel the need to comment on ‘cuteness’ of women than on the hotness of their writing- sorry, feminist rant, didn’t mean to derail)
whats even more funny is that in 10 years she, you and every other woman would be begging guys to comment on their cutness. personally I think blogs are a..what do the folks call it in india, a timepass?
Uh oh, I sense Sepia Destiny Part III…
I’ll just save us the trouble…
Taz — You forget that all of this has happened before. And all of it will happen again….
Hey, what a coincidence. In ten minutes, (6pm EST, Tuesday) Fox is going to rerun “The Sweetest Apu” (2002).
Correction: “The Sweetest Apu” is airing on UPN. Easy to confuse those.
I know this quote is from a totally different entry, but what the hey
“Enjoy the ‘you’re sexy’s and ‘hi sweety’s while you can – you won’t hear them forever. I don’t see why they are demeaning.” – dharma queen
But finally a woman who admits the truth. Every woman enjoys it at some level, their hypocrasy is inversely proportional to how much they admit it. The entire cosmetic industry wouldn’t exist unless women had these “goals” in their minds. And like many discussions, we must quote from one of the most erudite members of the human race, Chris Rock
“Sexual harassment is ‘fuck me or you’re fired’, That’s sexual harassment, that’s it, everything else is just trying to get laid. In 10 years you’re gonna WISH you get ‘harassed'” -Chris Rock.
Sorry to go off on this topic so much. but I don’t see how you can be feminist and straight at the same time. If so, isn’t there too much fraternization with the enemy?
OMG, vat? Apu cheated on his doe-eyed Manjula, she of the thick black braid?
When did this happen? With whom did he cheat?
(eyes narrowing) Life is a cynical tale. Real love doesn’t exist. That was one arranged marriage that seemed like it was a match made in heaven, that arranged marriages could work. And look. Even that isn’t real. I no longer believe.
My fave Neeraja post!
Apu cheated on Manjula with the Squishee machine lady in the episode “The Sweetest Apu”. It was all caught on the Quik-e- Mart surveillance tape.
a much needed correction:
Apocalypse Now was indeed directed by Coppola. I was eager to take another potshot at Oliver Stone, who I admire but find to be a little simplistic and sledgehammer-y (e.g. Natural Born Killers).
I stand by the “harrowing” part–the first time I saw Apocalypse Now, it seemed like someone had filmed a a nightmare as a war movie. Which, I’ve heard, the filming was. Coppola had a heart attack and Sheen had a total mental breakdown. Proof that traveling down the heart of darkness is not for everyone.
Were they actually on acid the whole time or is that an urban legend?
It is widely known that Sheen was drinking very heavily and was actually drunk during the scene (for it) in the beginning, alone in his hotel room. Dunno about the acid thing.
Actually, Martin Sheen had the heart attack. Though the 16 months of shooting did take a toll and Coppola lost a bunch of weight.
The wikipedia entry on Apu really is great. But I find the following hard to believe :
Pahasaneemapetilon ? Has anybody heard that name before ? I’m having trouble thinking of an Indian name that sounds anything like it.
Wu-simpsons,
Glass houses, not sure what you’re refering to but okay, and neer, if you’re gonna post on your own blog entry the least you could do is ack the compliment you secretly want more and more of.
Wu-Simpsons, do you always persist with women who clearly aren’t interested?
What does “ack” the compliment mean?
acknowledge
Wu-Simpsons, I heard you’re a “friend” of Al Salami, whose comments I enjoyed on a previous thread. It would be a shame if I had to delete and or ban one of AS’s buds, ya heard? But if comments get more obnoxious…
Wow, you cats are good. Unless you run some type of script to continually cross-reference IPs. Hmm that could be a possibility.
Tip my hat to you on that one. So you police this shit pretty well I take it.
Whats the big deal? Are the people so PC that nobody can give some good compliments anymore?
Not at all. What’s your point?
Oh, you thought it was good…? Perhaps if he had stopped after comment number six, because the rest of that threadjack was garbage. And I’m quite the fan of the Wu.
SM would suck like a Kirby if we didn’t. 😉
taz (#10):
Hear hear.
get back to the brilliance of Apu already
Oh, I’m terribly sorry I interrupted– I guess I should have ignored the potential shitstorm that was brewing here. Normally, the blogger who writes a post is responsible for monitoring it, but occasionally they aren’t available. That’s when another one of us who doesn’t want this blog to go lame intervenes.
I’d say 35 comments is fairly average for an “average” post, i.e. one that isn’t about a hot-button-issue (Kaavya, relationships/sex, immigration, religion et al).
: Wu-Simpsons, do you always persist with women who clearly aren\’t interested?
Not that I\’m defending this guy, but it isn\’t like he asked her to go on a date or get married. Take it easy guy. Unless she\’s yours, then I\’m with you
Carlos Mencia just did a “desi manager of a 7-11″ skit. I don’t think he’s nearly as gifted as Dave Chappelle or the Simpsons when it comes to racial spoofs, and, in this case, I don’t think he has that much to say. Kind of reminds of that scene in Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing where all the races are yelling epithets at each other….
Mencia’s manager skit was pretty hilarious, he is not as gracious but some of his spoofs are hilarious
I heard Dave Chappelle on the radio (he was promoting his new DVD Block Party) the other day where he hung up on them cuz the show’s hosts were making fun of him gettin high, going crazy and moving to Africa etc. Funny when the tables are turned. the horror
I totally see your point–if he can dish it, why can’t he take it–but I think it’s pretty different to be confronted with your weak moments during a publicity interview. Those things are negotiated pretty heavily in advance, especially in Chappelle’s case, and I bet the hosts had agreed not to discuss it, and then sprung it on him. Even if that’s not the case, I wouldn’t stand there and hold the phone while some DJ’s trashed me either. I can get that kind of abuse from my family. 🙂
but chapelle doesn’t dish it on any one person, except rick james, prince, and george bush. all of which totally deserve it 🙂
They merely asked him if he was high early in the morning, he answered by saying “my publicist is in my ear, telling me to hang up on these people”. He called THEM to plug his DVD, they didnt call him. I was waiting for good comebacks from Chappelle but all i heard was click
I am not taking the show’s (Miss Jones in the morning) side either, cuz they suck. But after he hung up on them she still promoted his dvd once before moving on.
still love chappelle, just mad at him for pulling a bitch move
Miss Jones??!?!? Isn’t she the bitch who did that tsunami song?
yup thats her…its a shame she is still on air. Hope they dont bring back StarnBuc Wild
Whoah, that’s going too far. The Purple One deserves no dissing, may God bless his funky blue guitar.
What! Prince and Dubya lumped together as deserving of the same kind of ridicule? BLASPHAMY! He never meant to cause us any sorrow, never meant to cause us any pain. He only wanted one time to see us laughing, to see us dancing in the purple rain. IS THAT SO BAD? scurries back to watch Chappelle’s Prince b-ball skit
Yeah but Prince is kinda pompous. He’s continually denied Weird Al Yankovic the right to parody him. Thats unnacceptable. And the symbol thingy? please.
Ah, The Purple One needs no defence. His music speaks for itself, along with his live concert performances.
Come on, man; he can write lyrics like “Now move your big ass round this way so I can work on that zipper, baby. Cos tonight, you’re the star…..and I’m the Big Dipper”.
Poetry worthy of Shakespeare and Mirza Ghalib 😉
Jokes aside, okay the symbol business was a little off-target, but he is an exceptionally talented musician. No Michael Jackson-type eccentricity with regards to his personal life, and in terms of his personality he comes across as a fairly normal guy (if you’ve ever seen him being interviewed).
The ladies seem to like him too. Have you seen the kind of gorgeous girls he’s, er, been associated with ? Jai salutes Prince
I don’t think he’s nearly as gifted as Dave Chappelle
Are you kidding me? Carlos is way more funny, personable and smart. His comedy has overtones of some very intelligent social commentary particularly on topical issues such as immigration. South Park comes to mind. I am a fan. Go Conan! Go Carlos!
Keep saluting bro, but hate to tell you, saying one’s good qualities is “They’re not as weird as Michael Jackson” is like saying, “They’re not as insane as Ann Coulter.” You’re setting the bar pretty dang low. Prince, &, %, or @ or whatever the hell he is now, is totally fair game. GO CHAPELLE.