But While We're On The Subject of The Simpsons...

It's pretty obvious that someone on the Times of India staff just ran SRK and his family through that Simpsons Character Generator. Matt Groening did not draw these, even though the article implies that he did.

What's interesting is that the Times went with the "white" character color. Yes, we know SRK wants to be fair and lovely, but in Simpsons-land yellow = Caucasian.

Meh. Looks like no one does their research, on either side. Apu speaks with an American interpretation of a Brit's faux-desi accent, and the Times peeps assume that everyone on the Simpsons is yellow. ^__^ (Which they sort of are, if one considers that Apu speaks with an American interpretation of a... oh, let's not make a recursive causality loop, my brain will get too muddled.)

Kiss Kiss Beat-Me-To-It!

I promised a post comparing the "real" Bangalore to the one depicted on The Simpsons episode "Kiss Kiss Bang Bangalore."

However, Bangalore Monkey (whom, I hope, is wearing clothing) has already beaten me to it.

Click here for B-Monkey's pics and analysis. ^__^

(My analysis? Groening and his staff didn't draw half enough trees. The dominant color in Bangalore is green, as opposed to Hyderabad, which is... dust color.)

Yes, there were people in the theatre SINGING ALONG to "Spider Pig."

So I saw the Simpsons movie.

It was fine. There were a lot of funny things, and a lot of lame things, and a few stupid things.

And they didn't take half as much advantage of their cinematic format as they could.

Like most Simpsons episodes, the first five minutes were the best.

And as for Apu, well... see for yourself, but I think the other kind of Indians are going to be the ones most insulted by this movie.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

My mother shares her birthday with the opening of the Simpsons film. ^__^

She is totally cool and doesn't comment half as much on this blog as she should.

(Stop lurking, mom!)

I hope she got her present in the mail...

Simpsons Day: Paint It Yellow!

I know, Harry Potter got an entire week and the Simpsons only get a day. Which is funny because I like the Simpsons much, much, much more than I like Harry Potter. (Eight years ain't got nothing on eighteen, after all, and I grew up with the Simpsons but was only introduced to Mr. Potter in my later life.)

Anyway, here's another image to add to my collection of "can I make it look like me?" avatars:

Make your own here!

BTW -- heard Apu has only a line or two in the film. I'll be interested to find out what his particular lines are. We can probably guess what one of them will be.

Worst. Promotional Event. Ever.

So here we are, on 7-11-07, "celebrating" the transfer of twelve 7-11 stores into Kwik-E-Marts, to help promote the new Simpsons movie.

I'm going to let Ultrabrown handle the Apu issue. Manish is doing a much better job of it than I ever could.

However, there is one little nuance I'd like to add to the table.

Those signs you see in these pictures? (Scroll down; they're near the bottom.) The ones that say "our hot dogs are rich in bunly goodness" and "buy our sandwiches, savor their sandwichy goodness?"

Those aren't Apu quotes.

They're Lunchlady Doris quotes.

The first one is from episode #133, "Lisa the Vegetarian." (And yes, I knew that without having to look it up.) I'm assuming the second one is a variant on the first.

In addition to being racially insulting, looks like the Simpsons promotional people think we'll be too stupid to notice, or that we'll assume all of the fuzzy-grammar slogans tacked to the walls are automatically Apu's, because, you know, those Indians speak the crazy English!

But let's deconstruct this a bit, because I took a semester's worth of post-structural theory and I'll be damned if I don't get to exercise my chops once in a while.

If the Simpsons people are passing off Lunchlady Doris quotes as Apu quotes, they're either A. assuming we won't notice (which makes them idiots -- the Simpsons didn't get to become the monolith it is today without its thousands of devoted fans who can parrot every one-liner), or B. creating a promotional event that isn't really for fans of the Simpsons at all.

That is to say, they're creating an event designed for newbies or low-key fans or people who haven't already memorized the film's release date and plan to attend the first showing. (7-27-07, baby!)

They're creating an event for people who aren't already aware of the film.

And thus, what does it matter if Apu's quotes are canon? If all the low-key viewer knows is a general stereotype of Apu, why not play to that stereotype and give Apu as many ridiculous quotes as possible?

The long-term fans know Apu is a much more rounded character than "thank you, come again" (which explains why many of them argue that Apu shouldn't be viewed as a negative stereotype). But the casual people, the ones who are aware of the Simpsons but are uninterested in memorizing the lyrics to Oh, Streetcar!, well... they're the reason why we shouldn't be having this promotional event.

Because all they will see -- and all this branding represents -- is the stereotype Apu, speaking words that really belong to Lunchlady Doris, because the words are funny, and Indians are funny too.

*facepalm*