The Worst Simpsons Character

Lisa is amazing for those reasons. She acts as a proxy for the square audience member who comments critically on the absurdity of what's going on. She is a manifestation of the smug audience member who questions continuity. Without her this show would just be Family Guy

I had this post in the back of my mind when I watched last night's episode (I don't often watch new ones, but I've been under the weather and couch-bound all weekend, and it was on). It was about an adult Lisa reflecting back on three of her birthdays--so right away, they're combining three formats that they've often fallen back on in the lean years: flashback episode, future episode and three-story compilation. One of the segments is about Lisa discovering, on her fourteenth birthday, that Marge is planning to leave Homer (blah blah blah scheme to get them back together), and another is about Lisa's eighteenth birthday coinciding with her first day at Harvard, where she meets her freshman-year roommate (hints of a possible lesbian affair to come are dropped). There's a scene where Bart, now a twenty-year-old dirtbag scoring with Harvard girls wanting to piss off their fathers, tells Lisa that if anyone deserves to be at Harvard, it's her. I dunno. The episode wasn't funny, well-written, well-structured or inventive (they've officially run out of clever riffs on the post-Trump, technophile future), but stuff like this really gets to me these days. Despite the ever-fluid temporal setting, I really have come to see Homer/Marge, and Bart/Lisa, as generational avatars, with the former as boomers (read: my parents) and the latter as whatever the post-Gen X, pre-millennial designation is (read: me), and when the series makes even the sloppiest attempt (as this probably was) to suggest anything about the long-term durability of the relationships within this family, well, I guess that's something of a soft spot for me.

So yeah, weak episode, but I was damn near in tears by the end of it.

On the Apu character isn't racist side as well. I suppose these days you'd say it was great they put a fully-rounded immigrant character on TV.

spanish speaking bumblebee man is really just a dumb running joke about the Spanish language in the US.

I always felt there was an affectionate pastiche of Chespirito, whom this was based on:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/nov/29/chespirito-comedian-dies-simpsons-mexico-bumblebee-man

(I watched "El Chavo" mostly, his work was pretty surreal but I'm willing to bet -- without spending a few hours watching this again -- that it captures a certain sorta vibe his work had)

On the Apu character isn't racist side as well. I suppose these days you'd say it was great they put a fully-rounded immigrant character on TV.

you are insane

It seems pretty shitty to dismiss the concerns of the stereotyped/offended group in these kinds of scenarios. I have distinct memories of my Indian/South Asian friends - who were also Simpsons fans - stating in no uncertain terms that Apu was a racist caricature in the mid-90s, and it's pretty clear that the character is built around an offensive stereotype, no matter how nuanced or developed the character came to be. He still has *that* voice and *that* job and *that* appearance. There are still jokes/storylines/gags centered around Apu that I think are great, but yeah at heart we're talking about a racist caricature voiced by a white person specifically for that purpose.

I wish someone would make a documentary or something so we don't have to have this stupid argument

the trailer for which prompted this thread revive

The trailer pretty much lays it all out! I don't understand how anyone can watch the whole trailer and still have more to say about this!

I'm not dismissing your friend's concerns, but its not as if its just someone with a funny accent, no back-story, or that Apu is the butt of everyone's jokes. There is very little cruelty that I could see, and if some arseholes took that as license to make fun in the playground or what have you that's sad but that's how people behave in general, with no sensitivity at a certain age.

Like many I only watched The Simpsons to season 10 or so but in that time and through several eps they put Apu centre stage and specifically developed the character. Like Krusty and Skinner and others too.

saying it "isn't racist" when a bunch of other Indians/South Asians explicitly call it out as racist (like they do in the trailer, which incidentally does not include any of my friends) is literally dismissing their concerns.

Twenty years since they introduced Manjula :o Wonder how many episodes she's appeared in since.

Its the first time I am having this argument. Let me have it in peace thanks.

amusingly enough there's a recent Simpsons episode centering around Apu's nephew who in the end calls out Apu for being a tired and offensive stereotype, I was pretty surprised that they'd go there

dismissal vs disagreement

Ooh they begged him to join the Stereotypes bowling team, begged him.

haha yeah that's from what, season 7 or something?

The trailer pretty much lays it all out! I don't understand how anyone can watch the whole trailer and still have more to say about this!

have you ever uh been online before?

I hear that if a shark stops swimming it dies

i hear that all the sharks swimming in flooded houston freeways died when they stopped swimming

I tot see (now) why Apu is objectionable. I am unsurprised that The Simpsons' creator and staff, having grown up in the '70s, didn't see it that way. "Funny accents" were everywhere in comedy, being done by white comedians.

Considering that the show got its start on The Tracy Ullman Show, I'm a little surprised there weren't more "funny accent" characters from the get-go.

there are things in the simpsons that stick out as dated now (teachers smoking in school, homer strangling bart, the gay panic in the john waters episode) but apu is ott, and stories like Vinnie's are sobering, there's no getting around it. i'm not sure there's anything else in the show that is as offensive and dated

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlRV6yxZUSQ

Well, the other Asian characters might qualify (eg akira(?) the Japanese waiter), certainly in terms of performance

not denying the show used plenty of stereotypes. this was the 90s, this was pre-internet. Apu was very bad, they should not have done that. it really sucks that this show contributed to the bullying of specific people by someone in a more powerful position. from what it sounds like, the voice actor purposefully used a stereotype because he thought it was funny. somewhere else i have read it wasn't that, and that the writers wrote him that way. i am not sure what the story is tbh. does the documentary clear this up? i know Azaria refused to be in it...

I am unsurprised that The Simpsons' creator and staff, having grown up in the '70s, didn't see it that way

didn't Harvard/National Lampoon played w a lot of ironic hate comedy?

https://imgur.com/gallery/H1X8R

https://longreads.com/2017/12/29/the-other-people-in-springfield

That's a really shitty way to respond.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/09/arts/television/the-simpsons-responds-to-criticism-about-apu.html

it's pretty obvious stuff but I loved Paper's takedown of this

http://www.papermag.com/the-simpsons-apu-2558301508.html

RIP The Simpsons

cancel the simpsons

some discussion here LONG DUK DONG

https://www.wpr.org/simpsons-problem-apu-drop-dead

The youtube regurgitation engine recently brought this to my attention and it made me a bit sad

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=p8M2tg2RkIQ

I want the Lisa who rightfully recoiled from the sexist nonsense spouted by Talking Malibu Stacy to come forward in time and talk some sense into this Lisa.

fuck the Simpsons. worst possible response

They had an episode a few years ago where Utkarsh Ambudkar played Apu's hip nephew Pujya who criticized Apu for being a cliche. Then the nephew never returned and Apu remained the same.

I mean, Azaria himself said he was instructed to make Apu's accent "as offensive as possible" when he got the part. I'd almost respect The Simpsons more if they just said some version of "fuck yeah, we're out to offend people".

still not sure where this matt groening went given that he apparently had helped in the writing of this latest

doing deep Simpsons research and noticing a LOT of notes from MG about removing racist/ableist/homophobic jokes pic.twitter.com/JJBl2cCjPy

— Wow, Bob Mackey! (@bobservo) July 27, 2016

good job getting anyone to gaf about a new simpsons episode tho

update pic.twitter.com/wB0CMLvogl

— MGK Hockey 1234 (@mightygodking) April 10, 2018

Lisa is the milkshake duck Simpsons character

i don't like her saying it was "inoffensive". she does not get to decide what is offensive or not. it is a misuse of power. the show is now a bully.