>>96714513I at least read interviews where he talks about his viewpoint.
He's NOT saying to remove Apu from the Simpsons. He's simply saying that in the 80s, Indian representation in American television was largely nonexistent and the first real character that happened to be known also happened to be a stereotype. If this was still the 90s I think you guys could understand his frustration, and it still is mostly true. Cartoons tend to glorify Indians as being precocious, nerds who like math or who value strict structure, and being medically-inclined. It's not a negative stereotype, but it's still a stereotype. Sanjay or whatever his name is from Fairly Oddparents, the Indian kid from Phineas and Ferb who really, really likes math, etc.
Imagine if a group of people know you for one thing, and put that ONE thing above everything else. It isn't necessarily negative, but it overrides every other part of who you are. They tell you they respect you and it's clear that they're not antagonistic towards you, but in spite of the rest of your personality and what you can do, they keep insisting on seeing you in a certain way. Make sense?
Fortunately, because Indians are now gettin involved in shows' productions, we can get more intelligent and nuanced depictions of Indian characters on TV in the future, the trend is changing. And the sooner everyone's on the same page and the sooner all groups are given depth and nuance, the sooner we can all go back to making fun of everyone for their personalities, their bad decisions and their vices.
