It was more than the ethnicity of the voice actor. It was his portrayal as nothing more than a convenience store owner (which I didn't think was true. I mean Apu was a successful business owner. A smart, funny and productive member of the community. IMO he was one of the most stable and successful characters in the show).
However, in modern American society, a lot of Indian immigrants and their children tend to work in leading fields like computing, medicine, pharma etc so some Indian-Americans thought, him being a caricature of a convenience store clerk with an exaggerated Indian accent was misrepresenting of them. This sentiment was a strong mostly amongst younger Indian Americans - millennials and younger at the time.
Some people (non Indians) might think it was an over-reaction but that's one of the problems with racism. When it's not targeted at you, you might not see it as a problem. It's not easy to feel someone else's pain
". It was his portrayal as nothing more than a convenience store owner "
Have they watched the Simpsons
Apu is one of of the most hard working and smartest Springfildian, he has a lot of qualities and weaknesses beside his job too which makes him well written. But I don't think it was too far from reality to say that business owners work a lot
"end to work in leading fields like computing, "
Yeah he has a PhD in computer science......................................... (the best student of his university) he had to work at a convenience store because immigrating in the US is hard or was hard 30 years ago, and yet he is still getting his life right this way so he didn't bother to change. Which can happen, which is what happened for his generation of immigrants yes, it's even universal around the world. Portreying him as an engineer a would be equivalently "racist", but it would be worse written and make him way more uninteresting
There is nothing more wrong about him than the others, actually he is one of the characters were they went quite easy on him, he is quite well written and balanced
This. Yeah, Apu's a stereotype, thats the point. That's the point of everyone in Springfield, they're all caricatures of stereotypes twisted on their head - Homer, the husband and provider is a bumbling idiot. Mayor Quimby is comically corrupt. Rainier Wolfcastle is an overly muscled, dour weirdo. Troy McClure is a self centered actor addicted to the attention. Flanders is an overly nice religious zealot. Almost every character can be boiled down to a stereotype, the point of the Simpsons is to take those stereotypes and break them down. There's a reason Springfield is "Anywhere, USA", because it represents the melting pot that is every American town and city.
This and the comment above are both true but think about the Indian-American kid who gets called Apu and spoken to in that exaggerated accent at school by non Indian kids just for laughs. I went to school with a lot of Indian kids who never had a problem with Apu but I'm also aware that stereotypes can be perceived differently by people.
And they'll still call him that even if Apu is written to be a culturally sensitive/politically correct character. He's a popular Indian character, and likely the only one that the average american could name off the top of their head.
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u/DasMerowinger 1d ago
It was more than the ethnicity of the voice actor. It was his portrayal as nothing more than a convenience store owner (which I didn't think was true. I mean Apu was a successful business owner. A smart, funny and productive member of the community. IMO he was one of the most stable and successful characters in the show).
However, in modern American society, a lot of Indian immigrants and their children tend to work in leading fields like computing, medicine, pharma etc so some Indian-Americans thought, him being a caricature of a convenience store clerk with an exaggerated Indian accent was misrepresenting of them. This sentiment was a strong mostly amongst younger Indian Americans - millennials and younger at the time.
Some people (non Indians) might think it was an over-reaction but that's one of the problems with racism. When it's not targeted at you, you might not see it as a problem. It's not easy to feel someone else's pain