Screw you, don’t come again
Everybody has watched “The Simpsons” at least once in their lives. And anyone who doesn’t live under a rock probably knows who Apu is. When “The Simpsons” aired, Apu was presented as this Indian character who in charge of the local convenience store, and his catchphrase is “thank you, come again.” This all doesn’t seem so bad, but now throw in a poorly done Indian accent impression done by a white guy into the mix and now there is a slight problem. Hari Kondabolu, a comedian known for his political and social commentary comedy, takes us through the subtle racism behind Apu and how this character has influenced how Indian people are viewed today in his new documentary, “The Problem With Apu,” which is on TruTV. Hari breaks down layer by layer why this character has created a lot of trouble for Indian people living in America. He interviews many well-known Indian figures such as Kal Penn, Aziz Ansari, Hasan Minhaj, and even brings in a non-Indian figurehead, Whoopie Goldberg, into the mix to discuss the portrayal of minorities throughout history.
This documentary does a really good job of melding comedy with the sort of seriousness that goes into a conversation dealing with race and discrimination. Hari does an amazing job of never forcing information down the audience’s throats and really lets the facts speak for themselves. It was really interesting how the documentary included clips from the show with Apu and seeing how something that was once considered hilarious to now be cringe-worthy and uncomfortable. One really interesting thing about this film is that when it was announced, Hari received so much backlash from fans saying things like he is being too sensitive and calling him a social justice warrior. But what this film did was really enlighten the audience to a concept that they normally would not be aware of. Apu isn’t a main character on the show, nor is he a major secondary character. However, he has impacted the way that Indian people are treated today; Apu has singlehandedly stereotyped a whole group of people at a time where Indian people were not present in pop culture to contrast these stereotypes. This is not a “woe is me” movie like many people think it is. This film is a thought-provoking piece which has a lot of potential to shape how Indian people are viewed today. And for that, we wish to thank Hari for making this documentary.
We screened the film at Doc NYC.
