I have a pretty dire prediction to make. I predict boiled potatoes and tofu are going to be the metaphor for all comedy, or other forms of art. It's happening now. Soon we will be wading through a thick, murky creek of total blandness, and that blandness will mirror boiled potatoes and tofu. You know what I mean, folks. Have you had boiled potatoes? I LOVE spuds. I was a real little spud-gobbler as a kid, but the thing is: boiled potatoes are boring. They have no flavour. They need a little zing, even just a few grains of salt. The same with tofu. I occasionally eat tofu, but it needs to be practically napalmed with flavourings, or it just tastes like a lump of wet paper. This is where we are going with comedy, and other forms of art, but I fear it's mainly comedy.
The reason we are reading down that boring path like the bereft characters in the Wizard of Oz ('Follow the boiled spud road! Follow the boiled spud road! Follow, follow, follow, follow, follow the boiled spud road! Follow the now monochromatic post-rain weather phenomenon over the stream...', sorry, just a vagary that went through my mind) is largely due to Social Justice Warriors who get offended on behalf of just about everybody. I agree it is important to be respectful and mindful of people's cultural needs, or other's beliefs. The thing about comedy is that there is always going to be a victim somewhere. Someone is going to find the work either offensive, or just cripplingly unfunny. People who know me well know I yell obscenities at the television should Everybody Loves Raymond appear, because I find the show not only unamusing, but the character of Ray Barone offensive. Being a grown woman with opposable thumbs and free will, I pick up the television remote and change channels.
This is the routine in which I would engage should I not wish to watch The Simpsons. I haven't been watching the show very much lately, but I've always enjoyed it. Now, it would appear the producers are getting rid of Apu, following backlash about what is deemed offensive racial stereotyping. Once the beloved sub-continental businessman is gone, I'll bet a major bodily organ the same SJWs are going to be groaning about the lack of racial and cultural diversity in The Simpsons.
The thing about this show is that a major number of the characters are a piss-take on some stereotype or trope. We have the fat, lazy husband (Homer). We have a fat cop swilling donuts (Chief Wiggum). We have a frazzled teacher smoking in the classroom (Edna Krabappel). We have a fat, sweaty, no-mates loser running a comic book store.
Some of the criticism levelled at the show is that the actor who voices Apu is a Caucasian American man. This criticism really makes me feel very combative indeed. Voice acting is an art, and Hank Azaria is damn fine at it. He also voices one of the African-American characters in the show, so should he now drop this character from his repertoire, too? Do the producers have to shell out for ethnically congruent actors to play the characters whom they are actually VOICING, even though nobody actually sees them, instead of having talented people playing several roles in the show, as is the current practice? I'm certain the production company can afford the actors, but why should they have to yield to the pressure? Do the twits complaining think Bugs Bunny was voiced by an actual smart-arsed talking rabbit, and that Yosemite Sam was voiced by a gun-happy cracker, and that Daffy Duck was voiced by some water fowl with a speech impediment? This just in: they were voiced by ONE talented man.
One of the complaints levelled at Apu is that some people in the Indian community have experienced bullying from twits who mock the character. People who behave in this manner are lower than the amoebas at the bottom of Satan's fish pond. They have proven themselves to be fuckwits. THEY'RE the ones with the problem. Besides, if they're not picking on someone based on an ethnically diverse character in a comedy, they would probably be drawing their inspiration from another source. They'd probably be groping at women based upon their viewing of Benny Hill type comedy. These clowns will always find a victim, and their behaviour should be addressed, but let's not have characters written out of television shows. Please.
Let's not make art an anodyne banality because there are fuckwits in the world. Please.
Ah, rant over.
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