It's 2018 and everything is offensive again. Even the once outrageous The Simpsons is debating the merits of politically correct insight into stories, starting with its own character Apu.
The April 8 episode “No Good Read Goes Unpunished” has Marge attempting to force her family to read instead of being glued to their screens. To kick things off, she tries to read her favorite childhood book “The Princess in the Garden” to Lisa in bed. Unfortunately, she realizes that a lot of the story’s details, such as the protagonist Clara owning South African slaves along with crude Irish stereotypes, no longer fly in 2018. What’s a mother to do?
Marge hilariously attempts to sanitize the book to be PC, but the results end up more confusing and pointless than ever - and there is a nod to The Simpsons’ own use of allegedly offensive characters.
Marge: Okay. Here's a new version of The Princess in the Garden. (Tired sigh)
Lisa: Mom, you're exhausted.
Marge: It takes a lot of work to take the spirit and character out of a book. But now it's as inoffensive as a Sunday in Cincinnati. "Once there was a cisgender girl named Clara. She lived in South America fighting for wild horse rescue ...and net neutrality."
Lisa: This new Clara sounds like she starts out pretty perfect.
Marge: You betcha!
Lisa: But since she's already evolved, she doesn't really have an emotional journey to complete.
Marge: Nope.
Lisa: Kind of means there's no point to the book.
Marge: Well, what am I supposed to do?
Lisa: It's hard to say. Something that started decades ago and was applauded and inoffensive, is now politically incorrect. What can you do?
Marge: Some things will be dealt with at a later date. If at all.
Of course, it goes back to the Apu controversy, surrounding the character Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, an Indian immigrant running the local Kwik-e-Mart in Springfield. The politically correct argument, which has been going strong for more than ten years now, alleges that he is a racist caricature made even worse by being voiced by the non-Indian voice actor Hank Azaria. More recently, an entire documentary, "The Problem with Apu," was devoted to criticizing the portrayal of the character on the show. Azaria expressed regret for his character in January:
“The idea that anybody young or old, past or present, was bullied or teased or worse based on the character of Apu on ‘The Simpsons’ is distressing. Especially post-9/11 in America, the idea that anyone was marginalized based on it or had a hard time was very upsetting to me, personally and professionally. The intent was to make people laugh and bring joy.”
If Marge’s rewritten story shows anything, it’s how you can never please the social justice warriors, nor should you. All that will get you is an uninteresting mess of politically correct noncharacters. If a show like The Simpsons goes that route, there is no hope for the rest of television. We shall see if it will be dealt with at a later date.
