Simpsons 7-Eleven Apu promos criticized

Harry Mok
July 25, 2007

Whether Apu's character, who, among other things, speaks with a heavy accent, is offensive or not has been debated since he first appeared. The 7-Eleven promos for the movie have started some new chatter on the blogsphere, and CNN aired a report on the stores. (See the YouTube video above.)

Here's an analysis of the CNN report at Racialicious.

Manish at Ultrabrown is a longtime critic of Apu and weighs in on the movie promos. He's also quoted in the CNN report.

There's always a fine line between satire that's funny and satire that offends, especially when it deals with race or ethnicity. I've not seen the movie, but Rob Schneider's Asian minister character in I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry may also fall into this category.

Apu and most of the other ethnic humor in movies and TV tend make a particular group the butt of the joke rather than lampooning stereotypes in an enlightening way. Are you laughing with Apu or at him? That's the question.

Contributor: 

Harry Mok

Editor in chief

Editor in Chief Harry Mok wrote about growing up on a Chinese vegetable farm for the second issue of Hyphen and has been a volunteer editor since 2004. As a board member of the San Francisco and New York chapters of the Asian American Journalists Association, Harry has recruited and organized events for student members. He holds a master’s degree in journalism from the University of California, Berkeley, where he was also a graduate student instructor in the Asian American Studies Department.

Comments

Comments

Jason wrote on Wed, 07/25/2007 - 10:52am
I understand the concern about the Apu character, and I'm not Indian so I'm not going to tell Indians whether or not they should be offended by the character, but something that people tend to forget is that the Simpsons makes fun of EVERYONE: every race, rich & poor, "cool" and dorky, young and old, liberal and conservative etc... And certainly Apu has been portrayed as more than just a stereotype -- he has had real story lines and is not just there to provide easy jokes.
ella wrote on Wed, 07/25/2007 - 2:33pm
Having it on the show (where everyone is made fun of) is one thing. I don't have problems wiht Apu on the Simpsons. But taking it into real life as part of a marketing campaign is another. I think that's when it crosses the line.
Neela wrote on Wed, 07/25/2007 - 4:28pm
I am personlly quite proud of Apu. Remember the vegetarian episode? When Apu got married? Without Apu, what would Homer do?
anuj wrote on Thu, 07/26/2007 - 12:58pm
The character Apu is and always has been, someone to ridicule on The Simpsons. He is the archetypic immigrant, broken english and all, and the audience laughs at him and everyone he represents because they are familiar. His kind are everywhere. They are the newer immigrants, often brown, struggling to make a life in the US. After numerous seasons Apu has become a fully developed character with a back story and all, almost as a justification of what can only be called modern minstrelsy. Sadly, he exists as an unfortunate contradiction to The Simpsons' brand of generally subversive humor.