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michaelArc
Guest
That’s the crux of it right there.
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michaelArc
Guest
I don’t want to be a stickler, but where will it end?
We’ll then have a minority who will complain that his skin tone is offensive, or that his accent doesn’t respect a certain region, or that he works at a convenience store, that he has too many children, that he is bloated or find his haircut offensive.
We’ll then have a minority who will complain that his skin tone is offensive, or that his accent doesn’t respect a certain region, or that he works at a convenience store, that he has too many children, that he is bloated or find his haircut offensive.
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Alex337
Guest
I think it would likely end when a person of that minority is involved. The folks from this minority get to say what is an offensive depiction of their group; that is for them to define, not us. And inclusion is a good thing, this could be a chance for the Simpsons to update their roster and have some character growth; lets be frank the show has been growing stale for years now, some growth would be nice.
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michaelArc
Guest
It will never end. Political Correctness is more akin to a disease if anything. It just grows and festers.
I agree that the show is stale. After 29 years, they don’t care about growth. They’ve done all that’s need to be done. It’s all about squeezing as much milk out of it as they can before someone dies.
I agree that the show is stale. After 29 years, they don’t care about growth. They’ve done all that’s need to be done. It’s all about squeezing as much milk out of it as they can before someone dies.
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HarryStotle
Guest
As Thomas Sowell pointed out, Harlem was a much safer place for both blacks and whites in the 1920s -1950s when people individually weren’t so easily offended by slight and unintended behaviours that may or may not have been racist in nature. White actors and musicians routinely went to Harlem and hung out there. Today, the area is unsafe for everybody. That, I suppose, is “progress” if you wish to see it that way.
Put another way, if your criteria for purchasing a car, or any other product or service depends upon the proportionate representation of all races and ethnicities, you are a fool. When I purchase a car, I personally don’t even think about the races of those who built it. I don’t care if it was built by black people, white people or purple people as long as the design and build quality are superior.
By the way, pretty much every character on the Simpsons was stereotyped, including Bart as a troublemaking boy, Lisa as an intelligent and creative girl, Homer as a clueless white man/father, Ned Flanders as a credulous Christian, etc., etc. that even includes the stereotyping of clowns, news anchors, scientists, business executives, police chiefs, you name it.
Why are you not advocating on behalf of white heterosexual males who were poorly misrepresented by Homer? Or scientists? Or black doctors? Or mayors and police chiefs? Or boys, in general?
I swear this society has lost any sense of humour and ability to laugh at its own foibles that it may have once had. How is that for a stereotype?
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Augustinian
Guest
That’s about right. TV shows eventually run out of ideas, the Simpsons certainly have done that- what else is for them to do.
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Joe_5859
Guest
Exactly. I actually wrote a paper about this in college 20 years ago. It was about how “The Simpsons” employs stereotypes as a means of satire to undermine those stereotypes.
The title of the paper was borrowed from a Simpson’s episode: “Much Apu about Nothing.” Which is pretty much what this story is.
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HarryStotle
Guest
Then the questions will turn into: “Why this particular representative of this minority and not that one?” And why is it that this particular minority is represented and not that one?
There are, after all, an almost infinite set of criteria for identifying oneself as part of some minority or other. Why does skin colour or place of origin or sexual orientation count as status-making traits, while other considerations such as height, baldness, hair colour, homeliness, clumsiness, visual acuity, skin condition, etc., etc., do not?
The same level of envy and disaffection that is dividing us now by race or ethnicity will become the divider within races and ethnicities because a false and irrelevant standard has been applied in areas where that criteria just isn’t applicable.
This will lead to no good, at best. It may even be a replay of the Gulag Archipelago, at worse. No, strike that, perhaps even worse than that given the irrationality and monomania that is currently driving this thing.
The fact that this culture can murder off its unborn and defenseless at a rate unknown to any civilization and still preen its moral feathers on innocuous nonsense is not a good sign with regard to the future.
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Joe_5859
Guest
Right. I mean, you might criticize “The Simpsons” for their initial decision to hire all white voice actors, but 30 years into the show, it’s still the same 6 people doing (almost) all the voices. And they voice characters of a wide variety of ethnicities. Do they need to re-cast all the voices for all the different groups being represented? For what purpose?
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HarryStotle
Guest
Perhaps to virtue-signal to a (hopefully) small minority of racist types who seem to think that skin colour is the criteria above all others that should determine every feature of society.HarryStotle:
Right. I mean, you might criticize “The Simpsons” for their initial decision to hire all white voice actors, but 30 years into the show, it’s still the same 6 people doing (almost) all the voices. And they voice characters of a wide variety of ethnicities. Do they need to re-cast all the voices for all the different groups being represented? For what purpose?
Tis_Bearself
Patron
This is a cartoon show that has been around for 30 years and cannot hire a separate actor to voice every single character on the show. That’s not how cartoon shows work from a practical standpoint. If one had to go hire a voice actor that matched the race, ethnicity, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, etc. of every separate character on a cartoon show with an entire townfull of characters, I can see this getting to be a budget problem really fast.
In addition, the viewing audience does not see the voice actor, so it is not a case of someone having to be made up to look like an ethnic character when actual ethnic actors are available.
Also, when it is a case of an actor of a certain race or ethnicity playing the role of a person who in real life was white (e.g. Hamilton) or has been traditionally played by a white person (e.g. most of Shakespeare’s roles) we get the exact opposite argument - that roles should be open to all.
Can’t have it both ways, and given that this show has been running for 30 years now with Apu as a regular character, it’s a bit late to start making a fuss. I guarantee that if the show hadn’t been such a huge success, we would never hear about this.
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HarryStotle
Guest
What is so bad is that the prescription is dictatorial by its very nature. These types want to take creative control over everything and dictate to the entire culture how things ought to be because of their half-baked ideology.
The producers, writers, animators and voice talents on the show made it what it is because all of these individuals together had the creativity and talent to make the show what it is.
After the fact, the perpetually offended crowd comes along and presumes to itself the power and authority to tell the writers and talents on the show along with all of society how things SHOULD be. Not providing anything like a substantive case, mind you, for why things SHOULD be that way, but merely shouting down and lobbing nasty epithets at anyone who disagrees with them.
If they believe so much in what they are doing, why don’t they put their money and talents where their mouths seem to be and produce their own show the way they would have it, instead of perpetually telling others how things SHOULD be?
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Arkansan
Guest
The question is what kind of recognition they should receive.
Generally, people who get offended simply for the sake of being offended, should be met with contempt. Any other form of recognition will only encourage them.
blackforest
Well-known member
I think they’ve missed the entire nuance on of the show, i.e. stereotyping to mock stereotyping.
The arts are an open marketplace. What’s to stop these offended parties from creating their own show? Given the awful direction that The Simpsons has taken after Season 8, I, for one, would welcome it.
The arts are an open marketplace. What’s to stop these offended parties from creating their own show? Given the awful direction that The Simpsons has taken after Season 8, I, for one, would welcome it.
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exnihilo
Guest
I do. In the last decade or so a major movie was made using whiteface. That didn’t bother me nor most people. So blackface is fine too.
It is a very dark society. The madman takes everything seriously. The amount of drug use and mental problems is no surprise.
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KnightTemplar
Guest
Why aren’t yellow people doing the voices for The Simpsons?
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0Scarlett_nidiyilii
Guest
I saw a really interesting use of “blackface”–at a school where there simply weren’t any black students, they did a play and one of the secondary actors was the black maid (yes, it was an older play).
They chose a white student, put a slightly darker shade of pancake on her face, and she had a very slight black/southern accent.
In other words, she was playing a maid who happened to be black, but her being black wasn’t the main point of her character.
Her performance wasn’t parody or farce or mocking.
I didn’t hear that there was ever any pushback for the young lady’s performance.
They chose a white student, put a slightly darker shade of pancake on her face, and she had a very slight black/southern accent.
In other words, she was playing a maid who happened to be black, but her being black wasn’t the main point of her character.
Her performance wasn’t parody or farce or mocking.
I didn’t hear that there was ever any pushback for the young lady’s performance.
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KyPerson
Guest
Pardon me while I retrieve my eyeballs. I have rolled them so much they have danced across the floor. In what universe is Apu racist? He’s a successful small businessman. Even in my neck of the woods - small town Kentucky - a lot of the minute marts and gas stations are owned and operated by Indians. And good for them!!
I am so glad I am conservative. I can laugh at The Simpsons and not feel a darned bit guilty.
I am so glad I am conservative. I can laugh at The Simpsons and not feel a darned bit guilty.
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KnightTemplar
Guest
Exactly! When I’m driving through the Cleveland GA area, there’s a gas station owned by an Indian I stop in. It’s like wherever you go, you can expect that. Just because somethings a stereotype doesn’t mean it’s not true. 
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HarryStotle
Guest
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