Documentary: The Problem with Apu by Hari Kondabolu

I've liked Hari Kondabolu since seeing a YouTube clip (profanity warning) of why he doesn't use an accent in his comedy acts. When Roku and HBO Max finally resolved their differences, the first movie I watched was his 2017 documentary The Problem with Apu. The documentary is an excellent walk-through about the importance of representation in popular culture, a topic which I've covered in this blog's entries on TV shows, movies and documentaries. There were several points the movie made which stand out for me.

The writers on The Simpsons never considered the impact the character Apu had on actual people. When Hari was interviewing a former producer who pointed out that the show's portrayal of the evil oligarch Mr. Burns was stereotypical and Hari pointed out that one couldn't compare the positions of oligarchs and convenience store operators in society, the producer said that the only consideration in the writers' room was whether dialog was funny. Hari then points out that the only reason Apu and his accent are funny is because society is racist.

Veronica Mars, Un-American Graffiti: The White Perpetrator is Forgiven

In "Un-American Graffiti," episode S3E16 of Veronica Mars, a brother of a veteran wounded in Iraq vandalizes "Babylonian Gardens," a restaurant run by naturalized US-citizen "Arabs," no nationality mentioned. There are a number of ethnic stereotypes and tropes the episode uses which I hope producers and writers will avoid in the future. But, in the wake of the Charleston massacre, there's a larger issue of the portrayal of non-white victims of white perpetrators' hate crimes.

Law & Order: SVU - S15E17 - More Anti-Muslim Tropes & Support of Police Misconduct

Most people will remember Law & Order: Special Victims Unit S15E17 Criminal Stories because Alec Baldwin is the guest star. As always in the Law & Order franchise, there is a gruesome crime which forms the background for the episode. In this case, an Indian Muslima named Heba is raped by her brother's corporate bigwig boss and colleague in his office after a charity dinner in which she volunteered. She lies and claims that men shouting anti-Muslim slurs raped her in Central Park. Because of Heba's lies, the case against the perpetrators weakens. Alec Baldwin's character is a reporter, and he publishes a story about the bigwig's father's influence in publicizing Heba's initial lies to the police. Some of the jurors read this story, and the judge declares a mistrial.

Law & Order S01E20 Perpetuates Anti-Arab Stereotypes

I finished watching Law & Order's first season on DVD. I'm sure somebody's writing Ph.D. dissertations about the cultural messages of Law & Order. I've seen a lot of Law & Order episodes over the years, but I'd never seen any of the episodes from its first season. Compared to the last few seasons, this episode had a lot more content related to what I believe is USA White Supremacy's most dangerous remaining tool, the criminal justice system expressed through the war on drugs. The real-life term Law and Order arose in response to the race riots in US cities in the 1960s. The first season of Dick Wolf's Law & Order has the echoes of the 1970s "urban blight", Central Park 5 New York City prior to the gentrified Manhattan of the last several seasons of Law & Order.