Apu Nahasapeemapetilon

Apu Nahasapeemapetilon
The Simpsons character
Information
Voiced by Hank Azaria
Gender Male
Occupation Owner/Operator of the Kwik-E-Mart
Chief of Springfield Volunteer Fire Department
Computer scientist
Relatives Wife: Manjula
Sons: Anoop, Nabendu, Sandeep and Gheet
Daughters: Uma, Poonam, Priya and Sashi
Brother: Sanjay
Niece: Pahusacheta
Nephew: Jamshed
First appearance
The Simpsons "The Telltale Head"

Apu Nahasapeemapetilon (Bengali: অপু নাহাসাপিমাপেটিলন) is a recurring character in the animated TV series The Simpsons. He is an Indian immigrant proprietor who runs the Springfield Kwik-E-Mart, a popular convenience store in Springfield, and is best known for his catchphrase, "Thank you, come again."[1] He is voiced by Hank Azaria and first appeared in the episode "The Telltale Head".

Role in The Simpsons

Biography

In the episode "Homer and Apu", Apu says he is from Rahmatpur, West Bengal. Apu is a naturalized US citizen, and holds a Ph.D. in computer science. He graduated first in his class of seven million at 'Caltech' — Calcutta Technical Institute — going on to earn his doctorate at the Springfield Heights Institute of Technology (S.H.I.T.).

Apu began working at the Kwik-E-Mart during graduate school to pay off his student loan, but he stayed afterward as he enjoyed his job and the friends he had made. He remained an illegal immigrant until Mayor Quimby proposed a municipal law to expel all undocumented aliens. Apu responded by purchasing a forged birth certificate from the Springfield Mafia that listed his parents as American citizens Herb and Judy Nahasapeemapetilon from Green Bay, Wisconsin, but when he realized he was forsaking his origins, he abandoned this plan and instead successfully managed to pass his citizenship test with help from Lisa and Homer Simpson. Thus, he refers to himself as a "semi-legal alien".[2]

During 1985, Apu was a member of the barbershop quartet The Be Sharps, along with Homer Simpson, Barney Gumble, and Seymour Skinner. Upon the advice of the band manager Nigel, Apu took the stage name "Apu de Beaumarchais" (a reference to Beaumarchais, author of The Barber of Seville).[3] Apu is a vegan, and enjoys the Cheap Trick song "Dream Police" even though he does not know all of the words. He also claims the title of the Fifth Beatle, although Paul McCartney (who first met Apu during The Beatles' stay in India) disputes that claim. Apu is a massive cricket fan, as shown in the episode "Moe Letter Blues".

Family

In the episode "The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons", Apu enjoys a brief period as Springfield's leading ladies' man after being spontaneously drawn into a bachelor auction. He spends the days following the auction on a whirlwind of dates, which suddenly end when his mother announces his arranged marriage to a woman named Manjula, whom he had not seen in years. Apu tries to get out of the arrangement at first, with Marge Simpson pretending to be his wife, until Apu's mother finds her with Homer. However, he is won over when he meets Manjula at the wedding, and the two decide to give the marriage a try, with Manjula noting nonchalantly that they can always get a divorce. Later, the two actually fall in love.

In the episode "Eight Misbehavin'", Manjula receives too many doses of fertility drugs, leading to her giving birth to octuplets: Anoop, Uma, Nabendu, Poonam, Priya, Sandeep, Sashi, and Gheet. This causes difficulties for the family but finally they decide to get on with their life. During the episode "Bart-Mangled Banner", when the town changes its name to Libertyville to be patriotic after it is claimed Springfield hates America, Apu temporarily changes his children's names to Lincoln, Freedom, Condoleezza, Coke, Pepsi, Manifest Destiny, Apple Pie, and Superman.

Apu and Manjula have a mostly happy marriage, despite understandable marital problems caused by Apu's workaholic nature and long hours, and the strain of caring for eight children. A further strain came up when Apu was unfaithful to Manjula, causing him to briefly move out and even making him contemplate suicide.[4] He and his family are devout Hindus, and he particularly venerates Ganesha.[5]

Sanjay (voiced by Harry Shearer), Apu's brother, helps run the Kwik-E-Mart. Sanjay has a daughter named Pahasatira, and a son named Jamshed, all of whom share the Nahasapeemapetilon surname. Apu has another younger brother, who is only mentioned in "The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons", where Apu was shown on a chart as the oldest of three. Apu also has a cousin living in India named Kavi, also voiced by Hank Azaria, who helped Homer while he was in India. Kavi works for several American companies taking service calls using General American, cowboy, and Jamaican accents.[6]

Other appearances

Apu is a playable character in The Simpsons: Hit & Run video game. His quest in the game is to redeem himself for unknowingly selling the tainted Buzz Cola that has made the residents of Springfield insane. Apu also makes an appearance in The Simpsons: Road Rage as a passenger and unlockable playable character. He also is a character players acquire fairly early on in the open-ended online game The Simpsons: Tapped Out.

Character

Hank Azaria voices Apu

Apu first appeared in the season one episode "The Telltale Head". Various accounts of the character's creation claim that while creating the character, the writers decided they would not make him ethnic, as they felt it would be too offensive and stereotypical and did not want to offend viewers,[7] but that the concept stayed because Hank Azaria's reading of the line "Hello, Mr. Homer" received a huge laugh from the writers.[8] Azaria, however, has disputed this account, claiming instead that the writers asked him to create a stereotypical Indian accent for the character.[9][10] Azaria has said that he based Apu's voice on Indian convenience store workers in Los Angeles with whom he had interacted when he first moved to the area. He also loosely based it on Peter Sellers' character Hrundi V. Bakshi from the film The Party, whom Azaria thinks has a similar personality to Apu.[11]

Apu's first name is an homage to the main character in The Apu Trilogy directed by Satyajit Ray.[8] His surname is Nahasapeemapetilon, and it was first used in the episode "A Streetcar Named Marge". It is a morphophonological blend of the name "Pahasadee Napetilon", the full name of a schoolmate of Simpsons writer Jeff Martin.[12] In the season seven episode "Lisa the Vegetarian" it is revealed that Apu is vegan.

Apu marries Manjula in the episode "The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons". Rich Appel first constructed the idea for Apu's marriage.[13] Andrea Martin provided the voice of Apu's mother in the episode, recording her part in New York. She wanted to get the voice perfect, so in between takes she listened to tapes of reading lines for Apu, to make sure her voice could realistically be Apu's mother's.[14]

Reception and criticism

Apu is one of the most prominent South Asian characters on primetime television in the United States.[15] Hank Azaria has won three Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance, winning in 1998 for his performance as Apu, again in 2001 for "Worst Episode Ever", and a third time in 2003 for "Moe Baby Blues" for voicing several characters, including Apu.[16]

Apu's image has been widely licensed, on items ranging from board games to auto air fresheners. In July 2007, convenience store chain 7-Eleven converted 11 of its stores in the United States and one in Canada into Kwik-E-Marts to celebrate the release of The Simpsons Movie.[17][18]

Accusations of racial stereotyping

It has been argued that the portrayal of this character is a racist caricature.[19][20] During the aforementioned 7-Eleven promotion in 2007, some members of the Indian-American community voiced concerns that Apu is a caricature that plays on too many negative stereotypes. Despite this, 7-Eleven reported that many of its Indian employees reacted positively to the idea, but noted that it was "not a 100 percent endorsement".[17][18][21]

According to comedian Hari Kondabolu, in a Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell web exclusive segment, there is a negative reaction to Apu in the Indian American community, as well as the greater South Asian diaspora community.[22] Pakistani-American comedian and actor Kumail Nanjiani has also criticized the character,[23] and has related that early in his career, he was asked to do the "Apu accent" as a stereotypical version of the "Indian accent".[20][24] In a 2007 interview, Azaria (who is of Sephardic Jewish descent) acknowledged some of this criticism when he recalled a conversation with the writers of the show during the inception of the character: "Right away they were like 'Can you do an Indian accent and how offensive can you make it?' basically. I was like, 'It's not tremendously accurate. It's a little, uh, stereotype,' and they were like, 'Eh, that's all right.'"[9][10] In a 2013 interview with the Huffington Post, Azaria said it should not be expected that the character's accent would "suddenly change now" or that the character would be written out, saying, "I'd be surprised if [the show's writers] write him any less frequently because he's offensive."[24]

In 2016, Kondabolu announced his intention to produce a documentary about "how this controversial caricature was created, burrowed its way into the hearts and minds of Americans and continues to exist – intact – twenty-six years later."[25] In 2017, Kondabolu released the hour-long documentary The Problem with Apu. In the film, Kondabolu interviews other actors and comics of South Asian heritage about the impact that the character of Apu has had on their lives and the perception of South Asians in American culture.[26]

In April 2018, in the episode "No Good Read Goes Unpunished", The Simpsons reacted to the controversy surrounding Apu. The episode sees Marge introduce Lisa to her favorite childhood book, but is then shocked by its racist stereotypes and attempts to rewrite it to suit modern sensitivities. Lisa is bored by this revised version, and Marge asks what she should do; Lisa replies "It's hard to say. Something that started decades ago and was applauded and inoffensive is now politically incorrect. What can you do?" She then points to a picture of Apu with "Don't have a cow, man" written on it, and the two characters say that the issue will be dealt with later, if at all. Kondabolu said that he was saddened by the show's dismissive take on the controversy.[27]

On The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Azaria said that he would be "perfectly willing to step aside" from the role of voicing Apu, saying that he was increasingly worried about the character causing harm by reinforcing stereotypes and that "the most important thing is to listen to Indian people and their experience with it ... I really want to see Indian, South Asian writers in the writers room, genuinely informing whichever direction this character takes."[28] Kondabolu had a positive reaction to Azaria's comments.[29]

In an interview with USA Today, creator Matt Groening dismissed the criticism of the Apu character, saying, "I think it’s a time in our culture where people love to pretend they’re offended".[30][31] Dana Walden, the CEO of the 20th Century Fox Television, said in an August 2018 interview in regards to the Apu controversy that the network trusts the showrunners "to handle it in the way that’s best for the show".[32]

References

  1. ↑ Matt Groening (2009). "Apu Nahasapeemapetilon". Channel 4. Archived from the original on 2012-10-26. Retrieved 25 September 2011.
  2. ↑ Cohen, David S.; Dietter, Susie (1996-05-05). "Much Apu About Nothing". The Simpsons. Season 7. Fox.
  3. ↑ Martin, Jeff; Kirkland, Mark (1993-09-30). "Homer's Barbershop Quartet". The Simpsons. Season 5. Fox.
  4. ↑ Swartzwelder, John; Nastuk, Matthew (2002-05-05). "The Sweetest Apu". The Simpsons. Season 13. Fox.
  5. ↑ "I have a shrine to Ganesha, the god of worldly wisdom, located in the employee lounge."
  6. ↑ Castallaneta, Dan; Lacusta, Deb; Kirkland, Mark (2006-04-09). "Kiss Kiss, Bang Bangalore". The Simpsons. Season 17. Fox.
  7. ↑ Jean, Al (2001). The Simpsons season 1 DVD commentary for the episode "The Telltale Head" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
  8. 1 2 Joe Rhodes (2000-10-21). "Flash! 24 Simpsons Stars Reveal Themselves". TV Guide.
  9. 1 2 paltalkscene (2007-12-06), Apu from the Simpsons on Paltalk and DailyComedy, retrieved 2016-05-23
  10. 1 2 "A visitor takes a long look at Apu on a funny, thoughtful Simpsons". www.avclub.com. 2016-01-18. Retrieved 2016-05-23.
  11. ↑ Azaria, Hank (2004-12-06). "Fresh Air". National Public Radio (Interview). Interviewed by Terry Gross. Philadelphia: WHYY-FM. Retrieved 2007-08-15.
  12. ↑ Martin, Jeff (2004). The Simpsons season 4 DVD commentary for the episode "A Streetcar Named Marge" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
  13. ↑ Appel, Rich (2006). The Simpsons season 4 DVD commentary for the episode "The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
  14. ↑ Scully, Mike (2006). The Simpsons The Complete Ninth Season DVD commentary for the episode "The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons" (DVD). 20th Century Fox.
  15. ↑ Turner 2004, p. 321.
  16. ↑ "Primetime Emmy Awards Advanced Search". Emmys.org. Archived from the original on 14 September 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-15.
  17. 1 2 Grossberg, Josh (2007-07-02). "Cowabunga! 7-Elevens Get Kwik-E Makeover". E! News. Archived from the original on 12 October 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-30.
  18. 1 2 "7-Eleven Becomes Kwik-E-Mart for 'Simpsons Movie' Promotion". Associated Press. 2007-07-01. Archived from the original on 4 July 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-03.
  19. ↑ Vij, Manish (16 July 2007). "The Apu travesty". The Guardian.
  20. 1 2 "Let's Talk About the Apu Accent". Vulture. Retrieved 2016-05-23.
  21. ↑ Biswas, Soutik (9 May 2018). "Not all Indians think Apu is a racist stereotype" – via www.bbc.com.
  22. ↑ "YouTube". YouTube.com. Archived from the original on 21 September 2012. Retrieved 2013-03-28.
  23. ↑ "Kumail Nanjiani on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 2016-05-23.
  24. 1 2 "Why Is Apu Still On TV?". The Huffington Post. 2013-09-20. Retrieved 2016-05-23.
  25. ↑ Rao, Sameer (2016-05-11). "TruTV Greenlights Feature-Length Documentary and Pilot From Hari Kondabolu". Colorlines. Retrieved 2016-05-23.
  26. ↑ Ito, Robert (10 November 2017). "You Love 'The Simpsons'? Then Let's Talk About Apu". The New York Times. Retrieved 11 November 2017.
  27. ↑ Harmon, Steph (April 10, 2018). "'Don't have a cow': The Simpsons response to Apu racism row criticised as 'toothless'". The Guardian. Retrieved April 12, 2018.
  28. ↑ "Hank Azaria ready to 'step aside' from Simpsons Apu role". BBC News. Retrieved 25 April 2018.
  29. ↑ "Apu actor 'willing to step aside' from role". 25 April 2018 – via www.bbc.com.
  30. ↑ Keveney, Bill (April 27, 2018). "'The Simpsons' exclusive: Matt Groening (mostly) remembers the show's record 636 episodes". USA Today. Retrieved May 2, 2018.
  31. ↑ Iqbal, Nosheen (5 May 2018). "No laughing matter: how can The Simpsons solve its problem with Apu?". the Guardian.
  32. ↑ de Moraes, Lisa (August 2, 2018). "'The Simpsons: Fox TV Group Chairs Trust Creative Team To Deal With Apu Controversy – TCA". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved August 3, 2018.
Bibliography

  • Turner, Chris (2004). Planet Simpson: How a Cartoon Masterpiece Defined a Generation. Foreword by Douglas Coupland. (1st ed.). Cambridge: Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0-306-81341-2. OCLC 670978714.
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