Back when I was a kid, cartoons meant the Looney Tunes and Hanna-Barbera franchises rather than Dora the Explorer, Simpsons & Spongebob and they occasionally carried less than model minority stereotypes.
A friend of mine recently posted this cartoon on his facebook wall. Although originally published in 1971, I’ve got hazy memories of it still being on the air in the late 70s / early 80s (dating myself.. I know) –
Classic animation short from Sesame Street’s third broadcast season. An Indian guru counts from 1 to 20 on his four arms, accompanied by sitar music and a lot of psychedelic visuals. As a bonus, there’s a recap in Spanish!
One other desi portrayal I remember from the era was Johnny Quest’s sidekick Hadji – an arguably positive character. On a similar note, although mistaken for Afro-American, Little Black Sambo was actually about a Tamilian boy but, AFAIK, was never made into a TV toon. A different, non-PC example I particularly remember wasn’t desi but definitely pushed ill Mexican stereotypes was Slowpoke Rodriguez (Slowpoke was Speedy’s less famous, less athletically-inclined cousin and although he appeared in fewer cartoons, for some reason I recall him a bit better).
So, I thought I’d cast the net open and see if mutineers had examples of non-PC desi portrayals in TV cartoons back in the day? Before 3rd grade name callers invoked Apu, what other ill desi cartoon characters fed our childhood angst?
Not a cartoon but you have no idea how many times I have had to tell kids “No, I can’t do a yoga flame. Nope, not a yoga fire either. No I can’t stretch my arms or my legs that far.” I hate Dhalsim.
This was outlawed before many of us started watching tv but frito bandito
and who could forget the mammy in Tom and Jerry? – so cringeworthy.
And I didn’t know what to make of “Punjab” in the movie “Annie” – a black man, with probably very little hair, wearing a red turban.
not a cartoon, but the desi dude in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom that ripped peoples hearts out messed up my childhood.
What about India’s first gay cartoon character? http://www.fakingnews.com/2009/01/indias-first-gay-cartoon-character.html
not a cartoon, but the desi dude in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom that ripped peoples hearts out messed up my childhood.
That was so wrong! I was pretty disappointed in Steven Speilberg, but then again his wife, darkened her face and straightened her hair and played the half-caste (part white) Indian Princess in the HBO movie the Far Pavilions. .
But I admit MM Kay was a guilty pleasure of mine.
3 · Puliogre in da USA said
That was Amrish Puri! He was actually a legitimate Hindi actor too.
But really Temple of Doom wouldn’t have been so intolerable if not for that damned dinner-table scene.
“But really Temple of Doom wouldn’t have been so intolerable if not for that damned dinner-table scene.”
I had to sit there watching people eating ground cow and pig intestines while I ate a veg sandwich listening to people make fu of me about indians eating “disgusting foods” like “chilled monkey brains”….sigh.
listening to people make fu of me about indians eating “disgusting foods” like “chilled monkey brains”….sigh. ha, ha, the irony
hmm. I don’t know if this would count as old enough – but funny as it was, Asterix and the Magic Carpet – the summer that I read it, was full of it.
I can’t remember but doesn’t Tintin go to India in one of his books?
Oh currently, Transformer’s Animated’s main character is a little girl with the name of Sari and her dad is (what else) a research scientist.
Oh my GOD I’m so glad other people have issues with the Temple of Doom. I’ve felt so lonely, all these years, being the sole voice of condemnation, the only one I knew who legitimately disliked Indiana Jones.
Do you realize Deepa Mehta was involved in the making of that film? DEEPA FUCKING MEHTA. shakes head
From the other side… I remember singing this song as a kid but never, ever registering the cartoon guy was supposed to be “Indian” until this moment.
Of course, I didn’t register Punjab as “Indian” either. He wore a turban because he could do magic, and his name had “jab” in it because he went around punching and kicking things. OBVIOUSLY.
It’s funny that you mention that, Vinod, about Little Black Sambo. So many black folks during Jim Crow were called Sambos, although the story took place in India, and that Sambo was chased by a tiger. Either those folks didn’t know or didn’t care that tigers are in Asia/India, not in Africa…but I guess back then, trying to distinguish between blacks and dark-complected Indians is like distinguishing between a head of cabbage and a head of lettuce.
Damn. I had no idea Sambo was one of us… I think maybe I was a little too young for this Sesame Street clip, but I definitely got teased for Dhalsim/Temple of Doom/Apu… oh, the cruelty…
is it ? never knew that it was a mammy – for me it was an american lady – maybe i need to go back and watch and tom and jerry. the only cartoon strip that i can watch as an adult
It is not surprising that american desis find certain movies / cartoons objectionable – the same ones were bland or exciting for a dbd. eg to see amrish puri in an english film was terribly exciting. I grant this to the PC crowd – the same “culture” can be viewed differently by different poeple based on their past. But does that mean no “culture” can be created coz it offends someone. Just wondering would it be appropriate to insult a black man as a sambo 🙂
“culture” refers to literature / music / dance etc.
Try it sometime and tell us how you fare.
What I remember as a kid was not specifically cartoons (although the Indiana Jones thing was a pain in my ass too, as was the movie ‘Gandhi’ which came out when I was about 10 or so IIRC)… the real problem was being confused for Native American, being asked what tribe I was, did I live in a teepee, etc. And the other thing I endured was the assumption that of course I had to be in love with the sole other Indian kid (a girl) in class and that we would end up getting married (of course this led us to avoid each other completely, avoid all eye contact and never even have a decent conversation). This stuff was worst in elementary school but continued in some form until middle school or so. NJ in the late 70s/early 80s was not the desi haven/heaven it is today. A lot of kids in my town were Anglo, Irish, German, or Italian background (many generations removed of course) and were totally unsure what to make of me. I remember a lot of the Irish families still had big families with several children. Things have really changed.
Another early memory…this goes back to 1st grade or so…the teacher asked me to bring in some music from home to play for the class. I brought in ‘Kabhi Kabhi’, and I remember the kids saying that Rakhee (who was on the album cover along with Amitabh Bachchan) was too light to be Indian!
Just a reference to the Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom movie, go to your local library and find Gunga Din done by RKO pictures in 1941. Speilburg was heavily influenced by this movie. The whole cult of Kali thing and the villainous leader were all picked up from this movie. It is incredibly offensive. I wrote a whole paper about it.
Re 16: The answer is damn skippy. And now you can stop wondering. However, if you’re still curious, just take a little trip to Oakland, CA and try it. We’ll send flowers, we promise.
Mowgli, of course.
Most cartoons shown in India were not PCfied, so any Indian Characters were sterotyped (typically maharajah’s begger’s, etc.). Cartoons based on Victorian era novels (Around the world in 80 days comes to mind) retained their prejudiced view of India
Comics were always full of sterotypes. (Phantom is supposed to be based in India. — never figured out who the Bandar log were supposed to be.) Not just ones like Tintin and Asterix, but desi ones like Tinkle, Target, even Amar Chitra Katha, etc.
Somehow never found sterotying particularly offensive. Unless it was not interesting or funny. On the other hand when I see PC fied cartoons (Like Donald Duck fighting the ‘nips’ with the racial refernces cut out), I feel something has been lost.
Boy -I sure did ruffle some feathers. Thanks for the confirmation – I may actually try it next time I am in Texas.
If I remember correctly, Sambo was South Indian in his original British incarnation but was recast as black for American readers.
The Belgian comic Suske en Wiske used to have some stereotyping of non-Western cultures(and maybe some Western cultures, including the Dutch) as well. Nothing too bad though as I recall, since I have a decently sized collection of the comics. They’re probably unknown to America but immensly popular in the Benelux and possibly France. They have been published in English as well though.
Temple of Doom…arrghh…my COLLEGE freshman year roommate, who majored in anthropology and considered herself an expert on all things ‘ethnic’, always felt compelled to ask me about Kali and what is was about her that made people so evil. I hope Spielberg gets his…
I don’t know if the French comic Asterix with his little dog, Idee Fixe, ever did Indians, but their take on every other ethnicity(mostly various European and Middle-eastern types) known is brilliantly hilarious. A lot of word play. There is one gathering of ladies at a tea party circa 200 AD chattering away, 20th c. cliches popping out in those balloons over their heads. I recall the English lady (replete with lots of teeth and cocker spaniel curls) asserting that she preferred boiling water for cooking as it gave a tres bon gout to everything.
When I came to the US for the first time in 1992 I hadn’t watched the Temple of Doom and found it disconcerting when more than one of my new (American) co-workers asked me, in all innocence, if India was anything like what was shown in the movie.
Who knows, now they might start asking me how authentic the Millionaire movie is!
The things about Desi portrayal in Western media that I personally find offensive is Apu from the Simpsons, Peter Sellers in the party and Kabir Bedi in Octopussy.
“things I find offensive
isare”When I came to the US for the first time in 1992 I hadn’t watched the Temple of Doom and found it disconcerting when more than one of my new (American) co-workers asked me, in all innocence, if India was anything like what was shown in the movie.
I think it was banned in India and remember it was during the early VCR days for India. I think such a ban provides motivation, for the likes of Spielberg and his production company, to start boning up on non-racist portrayal of cultures. India wasn’t a small market then and definitely isn’t now.
Is it kosher to mention good examples in recent animation?
There’s a very obviously Indian guru in Avatar: The Last Airbender. Pretty authentic, solid and good character, capable of cracking jokes and imparting wisdom without invoking any malicious stereotypes.
And not explicitly Indian, but in The Pirates of Dark Water, which is set in an alien world, the character designs all draw from a number of ethnic sources–there are few “white” characters in the show, and this was in the early 90s! The lead female character especially–Tula’s her name–draws from Indian and Middle Eastern influences in her character design.
Idee Fixe aka Dogmatix, Asterix and the Magic Carpet was the first solo Uderzo effort. It was also the first time the old gang visited India. Read it long back. Don’t remember anything particularly offensive other than the usual cultural smoothie, which threw everything from the continent in the mix. Old school fans like me were more upset about the dip in quality in the post-Goscinny Asterix.
I loved the movie Annie when I was little, and the character of “Punjab” always puzzled me. He also apparently had mystical powers, because he could miraculously cure injuries by waving his hands over the afflicted body part and could make things float in the air.
30 · umber desi said
What about him do you find offensive?
Should have been the first solo Uderzo effort I read. The first Uderzo one was The Great Divide.
As a child of the ’90s/’00s who grew up on Street Fighter, I loved that Dhalsim was included, but hated that he was SO SLOW. Sagat was my weapon of choice.
I can’t remember too many Indian characters that haven’t been mentioned already. Maybe Street Fighter: the Movie, with Dhalsim as a doctor. See! Even he is a doctor, moneh.
Does anyone remember the Popeye cartoon where he punches a circle of Native Americans who then roll over into one large Gandhi!! From the ’30s
I found the episode of Popeye here it happens at about 5:40
1 · Sid W said
On a good note he is one of the better characters in Street fighter, But I can understand where you are coming from.
“Idee Fixe aka Dogmatix, Asterix and the Magic Carpet was the first solo Uderzo effort. It was also the first time the old gang visited India. Read it long back. Don’t remember anything particularly offensive other than the usual cultural smoothie, which threw everything from the continent in the mix. Old school fans like me were more upset about the dip in quality in the post-Goscinny Asterix.”
Olala. I’ll have to check it out. The Gauls go to India! But I’m not too sanguine. Goscinny was so funny because he stuck to what he really knew — his readers funny bone.
Melbourne- word to the wise, Oakland would be a picnic compared to Texas. And we don’t send flowers to Texas. Hell, we don’t even go there. And now that Bush is back, there’s a big ole blank on that there map where Texas used to be, yessiree bob.
i do vaguely remember seeing this genie like counting character on sesame street in the 80’s. as a small girl i always thought genies were genies and could grant magic wishes and puff into air.
i only later at age 5 or so learned that the image of the genie was also a racist caricature. we had gone to dinner as a family somewhere or another, and a little (white) girl sat at the table next to ours and pointed to my turbanned dad and called him a genie and loudly asked for her 3 wishes. i was so mad i could not eat my grilled cheese sandwich. i wanted to tell her my dad was not a genie, he was my dad, but i was quieted down.
i think the orphan annie poonjab character also came across as a very benign benevelent character when i first saw him at 4 and it was only after i started kindergarten that i became aware what the image of poonjab meant to my fellow kindergartners when they saw my dad drop me off in the mornings and subsequently asked me funny questions which made no sense to my small home-centered head.
The fakir/yogi guy was part and parcel of growing up in the US in the 1970s. As a little brown boy in Palo Alto a the time, it just made sense to hum along to the yogi counting in Spanish, get exposed to the sitar from George Harrison, see my parents follow yoga on TV from some guy called Richard Hittleman, and make tie-dye shirts in kindergarten. What did I know as a kid, but it felt like India was simply groovy, along with an eclectic bunch of things. Great times. Got my girls the Sesame Street Old School DVD collection, including counting fakir — doesn’t quite work with the Dora generation.
Actually my sister and I still count to that tune sometimes. We really liked it!
Ah, Asterix and the Magic Carpet. From what I recall, it seemed more Arabesque and it did feature a fakir/yogi called Owzat (unintentional(?) cricket reference for the win!). That said, I was somewhat impressed when Owzat and Watziznehm traded curses with each other, invoking scores of Hindu gods (correctly!).
40 · Dasichist said
Wow…I just finished watching the clip. They insulted not one, but both groups at the same time…Indians (South Asians) and the so-called “American Indians” (Native Americans). Popeye punches the Indian chief so hard, that he flies out of his clothes and turns in to Gandhi…that makes you wanna dig up Christopher Columbus, bring him back to life, kick his ass and kill him again.
20 · daycruz said
I very recently saw that movie, and i didn’t find it that offensive as Temple of doom. Especially when it was made in 1939 and had more class to it than temple of doom. Sure there were some condescending scenes and brown faces, but at least it wasn’t completely out there with monkey brains. At least Gunga din was shown as the village idiot who saves the British army.
Here’s a history of Golliwogs, & BengalTigrr (#11), here is a scan of Tintin in Tibet when Tintin & the Captain travel through Delhi leaving a lot of mayhem in their wake. Gunga Din is way better than IJ&ToD. It was the Stateside answer to Alexander Korda’s rousing tales of the empire, like Four Feathers, The Drum, Elephant Boy, Sanders Of The River etc., & to its credit it was a huge hit in 1939 (not 41). Korda Also gets the credit for the creating the first desi movie star in the West – Sabu.