Are Azns and Indians the new minstrel performers?

[OldSkoolball#52]

I've noticed the explosion in Asian and Indian self parodying in mainstream entertainment.

It reminds me of how blacks used to perform minstrelsy, as a way of just gaining the acceptance to perform anything in the mainstream.


You've got the villain in hangover and the gangnam style guy having huge success basically by playing characters that purposefully seem funny and counterintuitive coming from an Asian guy. There was a sitcom called "outsourced" about a bunch of accented Indians at a call center ( i think that was the premise), you've got anziz ansari basically doing entire sets of "let me make jokes about my indian heritage, white people you do not understand!" etc. and that "axis of evil" comedy tour which is basically just revolves around making jokes about muslims stereotypes or the people who stereotype muslims. There was that movie with owen wilson and vince vaughn recently working at google for some Apu-sounding Indian dude.


There's nothing wrong with incorporating race or social issues into your comedy. Like Chappelle can joke about black people, but he's a great overall comedian so its not like hes just a token minstrel. It seems like right now there's a lot of comedy out there that isn't creative or funny, just strictly about going for cheap laughs based on Asian and Indian stereotypes which seems like a safe thing to parody right now.

First it was blacks, obviously. Dating all the way back to minstrelsy. Then we had a waive of mainstream guys like Carlos Mencia and George Lopez, and the "Latin Kings of Comedy" etc. that the media tried to capitalize on as a trend. And now we are into the era of Asian/Indian comedies where we all get to laugh at the ways their culture is different without it being too politically incorrect yet.


Which culture will be next, mewonders. Samoans?

[JEFFERSON MONEY]

Yeah IMO Russell Peters and the Asian guys are AT BEST only good for light-hearted dinner conversations just to elicit a "that's so true."
Nothing else. Nothing groundbreaking or clever or satirical or dark or ironic about that brand of humor.

For the record, Aziz Ansari is kind of decent though. He pokes fun at social conventions in a fairly fresh way.

Obviously less easily amused minds would be wise to dwelve into the lands of Stanley Wright and the likes.

[lefthook00]

Self-deprication, it's just a step in the process of mainstream acceptance of these cultures. Assimilation and accommodation, adaptation and acceptance, shout out to the late great psychologist Jean Piaget. Adding/replacing information to the schema of these cultures.

[outbreak]

yeah I've noticed it as well. the asian and indian stereotype is really being over used for cheap laughs at the moment and no one seems to have an issue. You get characters on hows now who talk in an over the top indian accent, talk about curry, drive a cab/work in a call centre and no one seems to raise an eye brow and people laugh, try putting a black guy who talks in broken english, talks about watermelon and fried chicken and is a thief and see if that's treated the same.

[niko]

PSY is lampooning traditional korean culture and korean idols. He's not doing a character for western audiences. So the interpertation of him being a minstrel in said culture makes no sense.

[OldSkoolball#52]

PSY is lampooning traditional korean culture and korean idols. He's not doing a character for western audiences. So the interpertation of him being a minstrel in said culture makes no sense.



He has a bigger ***** than you doe

[MavsSuperFan]

For some reason making fun of asians isnt seen nearly as bad as making fun of Latinos or Black people.

I think its because they are such small percentage of our population, that they are too powerless to do anything about it. Also there is growing resentment at china for economic and geopolitical reasons.

[niko]

He has a bigger ***** than you doe

You write 2,000 words and you dont even check one of the two examples you give. That's not my fault, that's you just pretending you're an expert on everything.

[BrooklynZoo]

For some reason making fun of asians isnt seen nearly as bad as making fun of Latinos or Black people.

I think its because they are such small percentage of our population, that they are too powerless to do anything about it. Also there is growing resentment at china for economic and geopolitical reasons.


i notice this as well. whenever there is a story about racism against asians there is an overwhelming amount of "lighten up", "PC police" comments, while we know other races don't get the same response lol

[longtime lurker]

Well maybe if writers didn't rely on sticking to one note caricatures there would be more roles for Asians and Indians. These guys are just trying to eat.

[OldSkoolball#52]

You write 2,000 words and you dont even check one of the two examples you give. That's not my fault, that's you just pretending you're an expert on everything.


U mad cuz PSY's four inch peen is twice the size of urs doe??

[flipogb]

Aziz doesn't have a heavy amount of Indian jokes, dude is pretty much a white guy in an Indian shell. just listen to his voice without looking at him

[niko]

U mad cuz PSY's four inch peen is twice the size of urs doe??
i wouldn't know, i'm not really up on other man's *****.

[Swaggin916]

Self-deprication, it's just a step in the process of mainstream acceptance of these cultures. Assimilation and accommodation, adaptation and acceptance, shout out to the late great psychologist Jean Piaget. Adding/replacing information to the schema of these cultures.

And that's a universal thing too. If you are willing to self deprecate and have a lot of humility, you can assimilate anywhere. There will be assholes and idiots out there who will give an overbearing amount of crap because they feel threatened/insecure, but you will win over the masses.