Locating South Asians in 21St Century American Popular Media
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Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 2013 Just Like Everyone Else? Locating South Asians in 21st Century American Popular Media Bhoomi K. Thakore Loyola University Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss Part of the Sociology Commons Recommended Citation Thakore, Bhoomi K., "Just Like Everyone Else? Locating South Asians in 21st Century American Popular Media" (2013). Dissertations. 549. https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/549 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 2013 Bhoomi K. Thakore LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE? LOCATING SOUTH ASIANS IN 21st CENTURY AMERICAN POPULAR MEDIA A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY PROGRAM IN SOCIOLOGY BY BHOOMI K. THAKORE CHICAGO, IL MAY 2013 Copyright by Bhoomi K. Thakore, 2013 All rights reserved. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation would have not been possible without the guidance of my committee members. First, I would like to thank my chair, Dr. J. Talmadge Wright. During the 2+ years that we have worked together, I have learned a great deal from you about audience studies and the very unique world of media sociology. In the fall of 2012 leading up to my dissertation defense, I had the privilege of meeting with you on a weekly basis to talk about my research, my teaching, my job market status, and everything in between. That time proved invaluable for me and I greatly appreciate it. Without you, this product here would not exist in its present form. I would also like to thank Dr. Laura Miller, one of the longest-serving members of my committee. While I missed your presence locally, I appreciated the opportunities to learn from you and to discuss my research with you in detail. (And, thanks for lunch!) To Dr. Adrienne Massanari, thank you for taking me on in the middle of my dissertation. My analysis benefitted greatly from your expertise in communication and media studies. Finally, I would like to thank Dr. David G. Embrick for his professional and personal inspiration to me and to all of the Graduate Students of Color at Loyola. We are all stronger and highly equipped scholars because of your guidance. I would like to thank my survey and interview respondents. Many colleagues and friends helped me out in recruitment and participation, and for that I am forever grateful. This research was generously funded and supported by Loyola University’s Graduate iii School through the Advanced Doctoral Fellowship, the Research Mentoring Program, and the Dean’s Merit Award. Thanks to Dean Samuel Attoh, Assistant Dean Jessica Horowitz, Associate Dean Patricia Mooney-Melvin, and the rest of the staff. Special thanks to a few of my colleagues – specifically Rebecca West, Victoria Brockett, Kasey Henricks, Dennis Watson, Saher Selod, Derrick Brooms, Crystal Jackson, and Chez Rumpf for their help in everything from conversation to IRB proposals, writing groups, peer review, inter-rater reliability, and collaboration. Thanks to my PI at Northwestern, Rick McGee, and my Pathfinder colleagues Michelle Naffziger- Hirsch, Jennifer Richardson-Stovall, and Simon Williams for their support and for our weekly writing group. It is to them that I dedicate Chapter 2. I would also like to thank my primary care doctor and my other doctors in the surgery, endocrinology, and nuclear medicine departments at Loyola University Medical Center for dealing with my thyroid cancer and making sure that I could see this through to the end. Finally, I would like to thank my family near and far. Your support and love has been forever felt and appreciated. My love and respect go to my father, Kirit J. Thakore, who brought me into this world but left it long before he could see this beginning and end. I know he would be proud. My mother, Daya K. Thakore, lives for me. Without her, I would have not been possible. iv To my Mom – who gave me everything so that I could have something. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii LIST OF TABLES viii LIST OF FIGURES ix ABSTRACT xi CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1 “The Rise of Asian Americans” 5 Overview 9 CHAPTER TWO: THEORETICAL REVIEW 13 South Asian Immigration 14 A Brief History of South Asian Immigration to the U.S. 14 South Asian Assimilation and Acculturation 18 Racialized and Gendered Relations for South Asians 20 The Racialization of South Asians 21 Immigrant Perceptions and Stereotypes 24 Gendered Perceptions of South Asians in the United States 26 Media Representations of South Asians 29 A Brief Overview of Media Studies 29 South Asians in American Media and Popular Culture 33 Conclusion: Locating South Asians in the 21st Century 37 CHAPTER THREE: ASSIMILATED OTHERS 38 South Asians in Popular Media 38 Survey Data 42 Findings 45 Rags-to-Riches: Slumdog Millionaire 45 Forever Foreigner: Apu 49 Race-less: Kumar 51 Just Like Everyone Else: Kelly and Tom 54 Conclusion: Defining Trends 57 CHAPTER FOUR: RACIALIZED REPRESENTATIONS OF SOUTH ASIANS 60 Representations of a Stereotype 64 The New Stereotype 72 Breaking Stereotypes, Breaking Culture 77 Second-Generation Media Diaspora 87 Conclusion: The Future of Representations 90 vi CHAPTER FIVE: THE MORE THINGS CHANGE, THE MORE THEY STAY THE SAME 94 Reflections of Gender in South Asian Media Representations 97 South Asian Women as Exotic 98 South Asian Women as Erotic 102 The Case of Kaling 104 Perceptions of South Asian Men 108 Perceptions of South Asians as Actors 112 South Asian Americans as “American” 118 Conclusion: South Asians as Non-Ethnic 121 CHAPTER SIX: WHAT’S THE MATTER WITH OUTSOURCED? 125 The Analysis of a Television Show 126 Outsourced: The TV Show 127 The Outsourced Stereotype 132 South Asians’ Perceptions of Outsourced 134 Outsourced from the Outside: Perceptions by Mainstream Audiences 139 Outsourced as Offensive 143 Conclusion: Outsourced as “Too Soon”? 149 CHAPTER SEVEN: CONCLUSION 153 A Summary of Data 153 (South) Asian-Oriented Representations 158 Implications on Stereotypes 159 APPENDIX A: METHODS 162 Dissertation Data 165 Online Survey 166 Online Survey Recruitment 168 In-Depth Interviews 170 Coding and Inter-Rater Reliability 172 Limitations of Methodology 174 Benefits of Methodology 175 APPENDIX B: ONLINE SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE 178 APPENDIX C: INTERVIEW QUESTIONNAIRE 184 BIBLIOGRAPHY 191 VITA 205 vii LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Select Frequencies of South Asian Characters by Survey Respondents (n=155) 43 Table 2. Key Demographics of Online Survey Respondents (n=155) 167 Table 3. Media Consumption Habits of Online Survey Respondents (n=155) 168 Table 4. Descriptive Data of In-Depth Interview Respondents (n=50) 171 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. The cast of The Mindy Project. 1 Figure 2. Dr. Mindy Lahiri and her co-workers go to a club on a recent episode of The Mindy Project. 3 Figure 3. The three main characters of Slumdog Millionaire as children in the slums of Mumbai, India. 46 Figure 4. Jamal (played by Dev Patel) and Latika (played by Frieda Pinto) pictured in an emotional scene in Slumdog Millionaire, filmed in Mumbai’s famous Chhatrapati Shivaji train station. 47 Figure 5. Apu at the Kwik-E Mart in The Simpsons. 50 Figure 6. Kumar (played by Kal Penn) and Harold (played by John Cho) in the film, Harold and Kumar go to White Castle. 52 Figure 7. Kelly Kapoor, played by Mindy Kaling in The Office. 55 Figure 8. Tom Haverford, played by Aziz Ansari in the show, Parks and Recreation. 56 Figure 9. A scene from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. 64 Figure 10. A Hindu wedding between Manjula and Apu in The Simpsons. 66 Figure 11. Dr. Neela Rasgotri, played by Parminder Nagra in ER. 74 Figure 12. Dr. Suresh, played by Sendhil Ramamurthy in Heroes. 75 Figure 13. Divya, played by Reshma Shetty, with her boss Hank in Royal Pains. 76 Figure 14. Taj Badalandabad, played by Kal Penn in National Lampoon’s Van Wilder. 78 Figure 15. Kal Penn as Lawrence Kutner in House. 80 ix Figure 16. Tom and his Entertainment 720 business partner Jean Ralphio in Parks and Recreation. 83 Figure 17. Kelly (as Snooki) and her on-again/off-again boyfriend Ryan (as Justin Bieber) in a Halloween episode of The Office. 89 Figure 18. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, medical correspondent on CNN. 99 Figure 19. Alli, played by Melinda Shankar in Degrassi: The Next Generation. 100 Figure 20. Reshma Shetty as Divya in a promotional shot for Royal Pains. 101 Figure 21. Padma Lakshmi, host of Top Chef. 103 Figure 22. Figure 22. Kelly Kapoor (Mindy Kaling) slaps Michael Scott (Steve Carrell) for his racist comments in The Office. 105 Figure 23. Raj Koothrapalli, played by Kunal Nayyar in The Big Bang Theory. 110 Figure 24. Kalinda Sharma, played by Archie Panjabi in The Good Wife. 115 Figure 25. Asha, played by Rebecca Hazelwood in Outsourced. 117 Figure 26. Kal Penn as Dr. Kevin Venkataraghavan, a psychiatrist in How I Met Your Mother. 119 Figure 27. Neal, played by Maulik Pancholy, and his fiancée Lily in Whitney. 123 Figure 28. The promotional poster for the NBC show, Outsourced. 129 Figure 29. Left, Asha and Todd from the 2006 film Outsourced; Right, Asha and Todd from the 2010-11 television show. 130 Figure 30. Todd says, “You guys have got some pretty crazy looking hats yourselves” in a scene from Outsourced. 136 Figure 31.