Afrida Ahmed
Comedian Hari Kondabolu made a documentary about the simpsons and how problematic the character of Apu is. The character Apu haunts him but he also thinks he’s pretty funny. ‘It’s interesting because it’s clear white people wrote this, said Hari.’ It’s not like those characters are given any degree of humanity. They don’t have a certain degree of freedom. They are always going to be seen first as the convenience store owner. Cnn reporter, Ahiza Garcia said Apu is a little subversive. Hari thinks he is one of the smarter characters on the show. The character is extremely funny. He also says the character is based on a stereotype. ‘Like when I go on stage, it’s not like I am doing a character and like softening the audience up with the stereotypes, said Hari Kondabolu.’ He is being a full human being and he doesn’t want anyone to look down on him. Hari also said he is a human being and he is equal. ‘If you’re going after the Simpsons, you better funny otherwise you’re wasting everyone’s time.’ Cnn reporter asked Hari what he hopes to get out of this project and he replied ‘The Tv show.’ He said in the short term he hopes they get the conversation. The reporter asked if they change the storyline, if the tweak or drop the accent, can Hank Azaria still voice the character or is that problematic? To this Hari repllied that the accent cannot be changed and he doesn’t think that’s possible since it’s been 30 years. He said what anyone can do now that it’s too late. Hari thinks that’s the question. He asks what the best solution is now. He loves the fact that this year, the big sick came out and Hasan Minhaj’s “Homecoming King” came out on Netflix. Another season of Aziz’s show and Mindy’s show also aired in Netflix. He said before there was only one Indian show but now there are so many because people want to watch it and they want to hear more voices. And they are starting to see the nuance of the voices.
Source: BBC