CMV: Removing or changing Apu in The Simpsons isn't constructive to South Asian stereotypes

This post stems mainly from the developments around Hari Kondabolu and his view of Apu (in essence, for those unaware, he made a documentary called "The Problem With Apu", where he and a bunch of guests talk about their experiences of Apu and how it affected them). He talks about the fact that Apu should be made less of a stereotype and given more character development e.g. via getting ownership of the Kwik-E-Mart, as well as not having racist undertones e.g. Hank Azaria voicing him, being replaced by a South Asian actor instead. Also worth pointing out here and now (not that it should change anything) that I'm also of South Asian ethnicity, living in the UK.

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So my view is this: focusing on the "Apu problem" entirely misses the wider point on racism and stereotypes. Almost every character on The Simpsons is satirical, being an exaggerated version of a real-life archetype. But we aren't having the discussion about the "Fat Tony/Luigi problem" or the "Groundskeeper Willie problem", or the "Bumblebee man problem". The list goes on basically forever. So why is that? Maybe it's because those are coming next. But I'm thinking it's because (to use the Fat Tony/Luigi example) other archetypes have representation in a non-caricatured way in popular media (or at the least, in a more varied way - think "The Sopranos"/"The Godfather" for more gritty representations, through to "Happy Days" for benign comedy). South Asians, on the other hand, have very few. When Apu first appeared on screens, there was virtually no other representation; nowadays, there are more actors representing (e.g. Kal Penn/Aziz Ansari/Mindy Kaling). Even so, the characters tend to be either outright plays to the established tropes, or in comedy roles. It's also relatively unusual to see South Asian actors/actresses on screen in roles that don't showcase their ethnicity.

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So, in essence, my view is this: Apu is a caricature on a show full of caricatures. The reason we get racist slurs as a minority (the standard "thank you, come again" etc.) is because there is little to no representation outside of comedy, as with other ethnicities/populations. Removing Apu/editing him serves no purpose here, and misses the point of The Simpsons; the way to improve things is to make characters that aren't just ethnic props. CMV.

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Edit: Woah this got a lot more attention than I expected! Thanks so much to everyone for keeping it civil. I'm falling behind on replies, but will try and get to you all eventually.

submitted by /u/Samuravi to r/changemyview
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