Apu To Be Dropped From The Simpsons

[sdp]

Originally Posted by Galactus

Y'see that wasn't what Hari Kondabolu's documentary was about. That was what reactionary idiots jumped to the moment they heard about it but it's made clear that Apu is not a racist character and people are not bad for liking him.

Well I never watched it or had any intention but the few videos I saw on the subject which summarized it telling you why it was a porblem sure seemed to go in that direction as well as the endless "Geek" news blog cycle posts did. Simpsons is a comedy show Apu is a better character than most of their caricatures, I see horrible portrayals of cultures in tv shows all the time that offend me but without a cool documentary to be progressive about it, people just don't care and yet they like to go on SJW tirades over the cool thing to complain of the week.

No they didn't. The way the Simpsons handled controversy (at least back when I used to watch it) was always with a detached coolness. I can't help but think the shows writers in its golden age would have handled this a lot better.

Well you don't think they did, I thought they handled it well so I guess that's subjective. I mean yeah, the golden age simpsons is what we all love, of course they would've handled it much better. And yes the VA of Apu obviously doesn't like being associated in a negative light and has been totally understanding, that doesn't mean the complains are correct, especially when most don't even come from indians.

This is a problem with nerd culture in general

There's a lot of assumptions there and I don't want to get into it in general so I'll keept it as short as I can. There really isn't a problem, the problem came from elsewhere, it became "cool" to be a geek and now the current mainstream trend wants to change this sub/anti-culture and being attacked for questioning it and not accepting the norm. There's a correlation between nerd culture being extremely progressive in the past and now turning on it, it wants freedom.

[Utrommaniac]

The big thing I can say is that it's probably not going to be an off-hand departure. There would be an entire episode around it.


My guess is that he might have to go back to India for whatever reason (get notice that his aging parents need his help, open a Kwik-E-Mart franchise in his hometown, both...), and the Simpsons might struggle with it considering how, at least in the Golden Era, he was practically family.

They gave him a place to stay when he lost his job, they helped him hide from his arranged marriage and then immediately helped him with the wedding itself (of course with interruption along the way), they offered help in the conception and raising of his octuplets, they struggled with the family when he had an affair and then helped him and his wife through that; he was Lisa's biggest supporter in her decision to become vegetarian but was also her greatest source of "don't be so loud about it" wisdom in the same breath.

Had this been the Golden Era, it would have been handled with class, but the modern day has no class. (I also get the feeling that this is less of a "caving to the demands of a few" and more of a "attempt to get a boost of viewership by taking advantage of a "controversy" that only a meager few care about.)

[Leo656]

Apparently, according to the producers, the character's already been more or less "retired" and only appearing in non-speaking roles and crowd shots for some time... ever since the initial "controversy" started being talked about.

That was their way of "handling it". If it's to be made "official and permanent", it's as simple as, we're not going to see him again. They'd already committed not to feature him anymore, now it's just official policy, on-paper. They're definitely not giving him any send-off. The episode with him reacting to his upstart nephew a while back apparently WAS the send-off, according to the Powers-That-Be.

I'm guessing everybody in Springfield just stops going to the Kwik-E-Mart. THAT, they'll probably do a whole big thing about. Like someone replacing the Kwik-E-Mart with something else, and they'll lampshade it a bit but never mention Apu's name.

I expect it to be kinda snarky and bitter, with some fourth-wall breaking, essentially telling the audience, "We don't like this anymore than you, but eight people wrote letters and now we have to do this."

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Leo656

I expect it to be kinda snarky and bitter, with some fourth-wall breaking, essentially telling the audience, "We don't like this anymore than you, but eight people wrote letters and now we have to do this."

SJWs are the worst.

[Galactus]

Originally Posted by sdp

Well I never watched it or had any intention but the few videos I saw on the subject which summarized it telling you why it was a porblem sure seemed to go in that direction as well as the endless "Geek" news blog cycle posts did. Simpsons is a comedy show Apu is a better character than most of their caricatures, I see horrible portrayals of cultures in tv shows all the time that offend me but without a cool documentary to be progressive about it, people just don't care and yet they like to go on SJW tirades over the cool thing to complain of the week.

Presumably youtube reactionaries, am I right?

It's made clear no one (bar perhaps one person) involved in the documentary thinks the character is racist or that anyone is wrong for liking him but that they all had varying degree of negative experiences in their personal and professional lives which are directly traced back peoples perceptions of Indians being largely based on Apu.

As I said Apu is a great written character, in many ways one of the most progressive characters in television in the 90s but it's strange that so many peoples perceptions of Indians for a while from came from this one cartoon character. I would actually put it down to there being practically no representation at the time of South Asians in general for people to draw on apart from this one character. In that regard it's not really shows fault other than the fact the dared use the character to begin with which was largely positive but had some negatives.

Here's the kicker though no one in the documentary comes across that they are angry or even see it as a big deal anymore, after all The Simpsons doesn't hold the grip on the wider culture as it used to but rather it's something they felt had to get off their chest.

And that was it. I doubt anyone involved expected anything to come of it and when it was announced that a year on the show would address "the problem with Apu" it was largely met with a positive response.

Well you don't think they did, I thought they handled it well so I guess that's subjective. I mean yeah, the golden age simpsons is what we all love, of course they would've handled it much better. And yes the VA of Apu obviously doesn't like being associated in a negative light and has been totally understanding, that doesn't mean the complains are correct, especially when most don't even come from indians.

But it does originate from Indian people.

Your right that opinions on how well the show handled it are subjective but I would argue there is one objective measure to argue how they messed up.

It had been a year since the documentary and no one was really talking about it anymore. The possibility of them course correcting was even met with a positive response which they pissed away. They turned a complete non-issue into an issue.

There's a lot of assumptions there and I don't want to get into it in general so I'll keept it as short as I can. There really isn't a problem, the problem came from elsewhere, it became "cool" to be a geek and now the current mainstream trend wants to change this sub/anti-culture and being attacked for questioning it and not accepting the norm. There's a correlation between nerd culture being extremely progressive in the past and now turning on it, it wants freedom.

Being a nerd isn't really cool. If your physically and/or socially awkward and have an obsession with sci fi or fantasy stuff chances are you're probably not the coolest kid in school.

Nerd culture sorta is but it's a version heavily filtered through a mainstream lense. Actuall nerd media is still very niche hence why comics still sell poorly and there's still a lot of resistance from fans to marketing them to wider audience.

I'd argue there are two main things that has changed about nerd culture. The first is how they can now interact with each other and have an instant public reaction via the internet. Were once discussion was kept almost soley on each fandoms favoured franchise now discussion on other issue creep in and divisions start.

These divisions come from within though. No one made Jason Aaron make Thor a woman but he did and people loved it enough that a very temporary change was extended for three years and all the people writing think pieces on it were largely long time comic book readers. Of course some fans hated the very idea and rather than wait it out and see where it went get very vocal about it very quickly.

Where outside forces do come into it is that seeing this anger from fans that try and co-opt it into their wider movement to. Do you think anyone at Breitbart cares about video games or Fox News about comic books? They do care about angry young boys they can convince the things they don't like are part of sinister conspiracy though. I can only imagine if X-Men: Gold Loves Man Kills had been published to day and the narrative would be it was an attack on white Christian men. I'm sure some comic fans thought along those lines even back then they just didn't have the outlets to say it or people with political agendas boosting them up.

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

SJWs are the worst.

Yeah remember when SJWs sent pipe bombs to assassinate politicians they didn't like or the time they shot and killed a bunch of Jewish people at a Synagogue or how about that one who drove a car and killed a young woman back up by a bunch of them with tiki torches chanting "white power" and "Jews will not replace us".

...oh wait.

[Sumac]

Originally Posted by Galactus

Yeah remember when SJWs sent pipe bombs to assassinate politicians they didn't like or the time they shot and killed a bunch of Jewish people at a Synagogue or how about that one who drove a car and killed a young woman back up by a bunch of them with tiki torches chanting "white power" and "Jews will not replace us".

...oh wait.

What if I give you list of pedophiles from Democratic party?

[Coola Yagami]

Originally Posted by Sumac

What if I give you list of pedophiles from Democratic party?

Does this forum have a character limit?

[Xav]

Originally Posted by Galactus

Do you think anyone at Breitbart cares about video games or Fox News about comic books?

Actually yeah I do. Breitbart posts game reviews and news and I know comic fans have worked for Fox News in the past.

[sdp]

Originally Posted by Galactus

Presumably youtube reactionaries, am I right?

negative experiences in their personal and professional lives which are directly traced back peoples perceptions of Indians being largely based on Apu.

Here's the kicker though no one in the documentary comes across that they are angry or even see it as a big deal anymore,

And that was it. I doubt anyone involved expected anything to come of it and when it was announced that a year on the show would address "the problem with Apu" it was largely met with a positive response.

I don't watch reaction video trash, but it was all over the place in the comments sections of everything about Apu being racist and needed to be rid off and all that which apparently isn't even in the documentary. So yeah, people being outraged over something they didn't even watch apparently and who aren't the actual people affected. I do think it was done to cash-in on outrage culture, anyone can get outrage over anything and it gets people talking about it or if you're on the other side of the fence you make a post being outraged over other people being outraged and boom, clicks, money, 5 minute fame, but there's no way to prove either of our views on it so we can just agree to disagree there.

But it does originate from Indian people.

Your right that opinions on how well the show handled it are subjective but I would argue there is one objective measure to argue how they messed up.

It had been a year since the documentary and no one was really talking about it anymore. The possibility of them course correcting was even met with a positive response which they pissed away. They turned a complete non-issue into an issue.

Well animation takes a long time, this isn't South Park where they can be politically relevant, how long did it take for the Bush episode to come out on the Simpsons during its golden age? But I guess here we can agree that golden age Simpsons would've handled it better.

Being a nerd isn't really cool. Nerd culture sorta is but it's a version heavily filtered through a mainstream lense.

Exactly, as far as your other points I disagree but don't really care to debate. I do think we that political movements from are taking advantage of the situation and I'm fed up with it.

[Sage Ninja]

God this is stupid. I actually really like Apu and his wife. People are too freaking sensitive these days. Simpsons's is just a zombie at this point. I think it should have been canceled after that theatrical movie it had way the hell back in 2006. Please just can the show already!

[BartAllen]

Originally Posted by Leo656

Thinking the saaaame thing.

Sometimes, I like to watch "Eddie Murphy: RAW" and wonder how the hell we fell so far so fast.

Like, HOW did we go from "Saying we have bigger lips isn't racist, it's true" to "You can't point out that people with accents have accents, that's offensive"?

Eddie, Richard Pryor, and Carlin would have never even been handed a mic in this day and age. F*cking shameful.

Carlin's daughter is a nutcase. Have you ever heard some of her nonsense?

Blazing Saddles wouldn't be allowed in today's world either.
This is the world the SJW crowd want. Everything is sanitized and all the risque stuff is relegated to the dustbins of history.

[BartAllen]

Originally Posted by Galactus

Yeah remember when SJWs sent pipe bombs to assassinate politicians they didn't like or the time they shot and killed a bunch of Jewish people at a Synagogue or how about that one who drove a car and killed a young woman back up by a bunch of them with tiki torches chanting "white power" and "Jews will not replace us".

...oh wait.

I do remember when SJWs sent death threats to the Rabbi who said it would be fine for Trump to visit the site of the shooting. Throwing terms at him that sounded downright similar to the actual shooter

I also remember the SJW that sent ricin to Republican congressmen and members of the Trump family.

Oh, and I also remember when an SJW type shot at Republican Congressmen in Alexandria VA.

I also remember a group of SJWs scalped a kid and, somehow, blamed Donald Trump for the fact that they kidnapped and scalped a guy.

[Leo656]

Originally Posted by BartAllen

Carlin's daughter is a nutcase. Have you ever heard some of her nonsense?

No, I have not, but now you've got me curious. Do tell.

I'd heard that George's life at home was... tumultuous, so I wouldn't be shocked if his daughter was affected by that. I know absolutely nothing about her, however.

[Egon1982]

Can't believe this rotting decaying zombiefied shambling corpse is still on the air.

I've been a fan of the Simpsons since i saw them on Tracy Ullman in 87 and 88 when i was 5 and 6 years old and loved those shorts and i taped every episode of the show from 1989 to 2000 and the show should had DIED in 2001! It was a biting satrical show with intelligence, heart (mother Simpson for example), humanity, soul, anti-authority/anti-hollywood social satire and excellence with a proper use of celebrity guest voices. Even quality writing with wit/snark/sarcasm and intelligence especially by Conan O'Brien and relatable characters.

I mean Lisa was a voice of reason, Marge was a lovable sexy mother, Homer was a dumb but likable father who had heart, Bart was a brat with heart and all that. I mean you had the brilliant touching episode of Mother Simpson which was the most moving animated thing i saw at the age of 13 along with Grave of the Fireflies, i mean Alf's score to that episode was very moving and memorable. You also had classics like Old Money which is one of my favorite episodes as that had heart, realism, sincerity and a good use of humor as i felt bad for Grandpa for losing his love interest yet had a uplifting ending on how Grandpa properly spend that money. There was Lisa on Ice which had a touching climax that had heart and sincerity to it as did Lisa's Substitute which is one of my fave episodes as that episode moved me as a kid even with "You are Lisa Simpson" note on it. On the "Bart sells his soul" episode, it had some excellent sarcastic smart well timed humor like the cleaner machine sequence.

I also remembered such quality episodes like my personal favorite episode being Krusty gets Kancelled which was an ingenious satirical episode that mocks celebrity life and had a proper use of celebrities than worship that culture as it was done the right way. That song "Send in the clowns" moved me when i heard that song sung from Krusty which was more from the heart than just for laughs like how when he sang badly during that "sending our love down the well" song. I also remembered when i was 10 when Itchy And Scratchy The Movie episode came out as that is one of my favorite episodes i loved, such a well written episode about Bart learning a big lesson and Kamp Krusty which is my third favorite episode of the show was a ton of fun. Then after 99, something was happening with the show as the characters were not the same ones i knew from my childhood/teenhood and i kept watching in 2000/2001 yet noticing more changes and all even in 2002.

I gave up on this show in 2003 and i moved on to other adult animation as the show was getting soured/stale since 2000 as i feel anything past season 10 is NOT The Simpsons but Zombie Simpsons! I feel The Simpsons is a product of the 90s that belongs in it's own time and has no place in today's world when it should had died in 2001 with Futurama as it's replacement.

Fox aka 20th century Sucks ( a formerly great studio ran by people who care before they went for greed/caring about money more than quality just like Sony as they are so incompetent). I bet TRUE fans of the show who grew up in the late 80s and 90s like me who gave up after 2002 or 2003 or 2004 knew it was an abomination because gone was the intelligent satire, writing/soul/emotion/heart/intelligence is replaced by a living dead corpse of a show puppeted by the greedy Fox who only cares for money than quality as Simpsons is now just another Sitcom than a meaningful intelligent show with emotion/heart/intellgence/soul as Zombie Simpsons feel irrelevant nowadays compared to the 90s Simpsons and of course other adult animation nowadays.

I tried to watch an episode of Zombie Simpsons in 2014 where Krusty's dad died and man oh man i felt my brain was melting and wanted to punch the TV. Even seeing the Lady Gaga episode in clips nearly gave me cancer.

Yet if the show ends next year, it's better to kill something than let it suffer for it's losing more viewers and merchandise sales are going down the drain. This show has became a wounded fatally dying soldier that was shot a bunch of times in a war field and seeping behind a building with other soldiers and is asking "please kill me! please kill me so i won't suffer anymore" or like a i feel like someones badly taxidermied a beloved dead family pet and now they're waving it around outside my window going "LOOK HES FINE". The Simpsons had their time in the sun but since 2001 enough is enough, time to give up Fox and end this show next year! time to rest in peace, move on and done more than enough and more than enough episodes and more than enough episodes as it's becoming a joke of itself and Fox is hurting it's legacy, i feel like it's damaging things and i'm tired of it. I feel like Tom Atkins at the end of Halloween III with "Stop it, stop it, STOP IT!!!!". Plus had a good run in the 90s.

It's not only beating a dead horse, it's also beating a dead childhood/teenhood friend friend who needs to be buried. It's now a shambling soulless unfunny poorly written husk of a show and here's a video that sums things up and i love the Dead Homer's Society blog site which is one of my fave sites:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqFNbCcyFkk

By almost any measurement, The Simpsons is the most influential television comedy ever created. It has been translated into every major language on Earth and dozens of minor ones; it has spawned entire genres of animation, and had more books written about it than all but a handful of American Presidents. Even its minor characters have become iconic, and the titular family is recognizable in almost every corner of the planet. It is a definitive and truly global cultural phenomenon, perhaps the biggest of the television age.

if you flip on FOX at 8pm on Sundays nowadays, you will see a program that bills itself as The Simpsons. It is not The Simpsons. That show, the landmark piece of American culture that debuted on 17 December 1989, went off the air more than a decade ago. The replacement is a hopelessly mediocre imitation that bears only a superficial surface resemblance to the original. It is the unwanted sequel, the stale spinoff, the creative dry hole that is kept pumping in the endless search for more money. It is Zombie Simpsons.

It's better to kill this undead rotting corpse of a show by shooting it in the head so it won't shuffle around anymore searching for new life and move on! this isn't the 90s anymore as we moved on and glad the ratings are down, i mean face it, it's no longer a draw anymore.

it's no longer a relevant show anymore. Now Regular Show, Rick and Morty, Bojack Horseman, Bob's Burgers, Archer or whatever nowadays for more relevant adult animation than Zombie Simpsons. Now for example, Bojack Horseman has the same heart/soul/intelligence/spirit/anti-hollywood satire/excellent writing and wit of The Simpsons (aka the real simpsons), not like Zombie Simpsons.

I also feel with Conan and some of the other writers left even Phil Hartman's death, the show went downhill. The first 10 seasons had life and since 2000 it's been on life support. But you know wht, as i'm a futurama, Regular Show and King of the Hill fan, i'm very happy and glad they ended on good notes and didn't become shambling zombie corpses as it's better to let them rest in peace and move on to make new fresh adult animation.

I'm glad i stopped watching the show 16 years ago and moved on to other adult animation. I even saw the awful Simpsons movie in theaters which i had been waiting years to see after hearing in magazines since 1991 about it and it should had been made in the 90s and released around there or in 2000, now that would had been one hell of a thing instead of waiting too long as it's just Zombie Simpsons The Movie. 16 years ago, i finally did said "so long childhood partner, i will miss you" as i knew the show is dead and i moved on to cherish this show on DVD on Simpsons 1 to 10.

Someone once said that being a Simpsons fan is like having a beloved relative or childhood/teenhood friend who's been on life support for years and you've accepted they're gone so you're just waiting for someone to realize they need to pull the plug on them.

[TheBlueTurtle1]

I listen to this on text to speech, since it was so long, but you are so right, but it's the sign of the awful times we leave in. Sucks I know.

[Egon1982]

Originally Posted by TheBlueTurtle1

I listen to this on text to speech, since it was so long, but you are so right, but it's the sign of the awful times we leave in. Sucks I know.

How did you make it into speech? what is the trick?

[TheBlueTurtle1]

when I am short on time or have to multi-task, and there is a long post just use this https://www.naturalreaders.com/online/

[Egon1982]

Originally Posted by TheBlueTurtle1

when I am short on time or have to multi-task, and there is a long post just use this https://www.naturalreaders.com/online/

Thanks and you agree with everything i said and there is more relevant adult animation nowadays like the ones i mentioned and you like my analogies?

[Leo656]

I'm officially past the point where people whining about The Simpsons annoys me way more than anything The Simpsons ever did.

[ZariusTwo]

Originally Posted by Leo656

I'm officially past the point where people whining about The Simpsons annoys me way more than anything The Simpsons ever did.

Peeing on the seat yet?