Everyone loves The Simpson, well.. a lot of people do, well… the first 10 seasons at least but the show is a staple of pop culture today for its satirical take on culture, society along with race and religion. The characters themselves are often the butt of the jokes in many cases, often satirized and mocked whether its based off their socio-economic or ethnic background. One character in particularly has been the subject of racial satire through the years, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon. Apu may be iconic but the show has been accused of portraying him as a mere racist stereotype. It looks like we might be able to do something about that as actor/producer Adi Shankar is running a screenwriting contest centered on the character of Apu.
Through this, he intends to have the character of Apu taken in a much different direction from the show’s depiction. The contest is titled Apu Screenwriting Contest: Crowdsourcing The Cure For The Simpsons. Shankar is a prominent Youtube personality and producer in the film industry having served as executive producer for various films such as The Grey, Dredd and Lone Survivor along with acclaimed animated series, Castlevania.
In a video posted on Adi Shankar’s Bootleg Universe Youtube channel, he provided an animation similar or at least closely similar to the animation of The Simpsons. In the animation, Apu does his usual Apu thing as Shankar’s own animated character berates him and takes a few jabs at the writers of the show for its stereotypical portrayal of the character through the years. At the end, he provides a submission page for an Apu screenplay competition urging audiences to provide an intelligent take on the character that doesn’t rely on mere racial caricatures. The best screenplay will be selected by a panel of judges which will then be delivered to Fox, the show’s network company. Shankar’s own Bootleg Universe will adapt the screenplay as the seventh entry in the Bootleg Universe One-Shot series.
Some would consider this another SJW stunt but it’s best to just look at it as a different take on the character. Sure, the characters of The Simpsons universe can be regarded as caricatures of various social and ethnic aspects and that does have a lot to do with what made The Simpsons great in the first place. However, there is a reason why The Simpsons have been dwindling in quality after season 10. There are a variety of factors that could attribute to this and one of it would be its reliance on cheap humor in later seasons.
Perhaps through this, a scriptwriter could emerge and change things. Shankar’s competition would not only allow for some creative interpretation of an iconic albeit controversial character but will also be able to save The Simpsons. It might provide a much more nuanced representation of an American Indian without sacrificing much of the humor associated with the show. Even if Fox doesn’t go with it, let’s see what Shankar can do with it.
Submission page: Apu Screenwriting Contest: Crowdsourcing The Cure For The Simpsons
Submission closes at 30th June
Source: Adi Shankar’s Bootleg Universe
