Yeah, we hear you, enough with Bollywood. So we'll go from the city of Anjalis to the City of Angels and focus our attention on Hollywood for a second.
For some reason, Indians love seeing themselves on TV and in movies, even if those representations are offensive to the community at first glance. Stereotypical depictions of other minority groups have been denounced by those derisively portrayed for as long as Civil Rights has been an issue in this country.
For example, when the producers of Miss. Saigon insisted on casting a white man to play the role of a Vietnamese character for the show's debut on Broadway, the Asian American community stood in protest. The Black American community has an even longer history of protesting the dramatic techniques of Black Face and Minstrelsy.
Indians, on the other hand, don't seem to really mind the perpetuation of stereotypes on behalf of the community in the realm of popular culture. A brown face, it would seem, is better than no brown face at all (see exception #67). Perhaps that is true and justifies the delight Indians take in watching their likeness portrayed on the big screen, no matter how putrid or offensive. Examples below:
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2 comments:
whoa, what the blog? you can't leave bollywood in the dust yet. i been waiting anxiously for a "kem cho? majama" reference. oh i see. you can mock the gujus for their shrewd business skills in the motel industry but can't highlight their glorious on-screen moments. sala.
I don't think it's that Indians love seeing themselves represented on t.v, it's just that Indians just don't care. They don't take things to heart like many race of people do. Maybe they're just very easy going and don't mind being portrayed badly and that's why Hollywood takes advantage of that fact and movies that are offensive and even some what racist to Indians come out every year. I was quite surprised though how little Indians took offense to Slumdog Millionaire. Because of that movie racists have one more bad word for us after curry muncher and fob the new word is slumdog.
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