Part 3: Myself and the Indian Stereotype
The stereotypes surrounding Indians include smelling bad, being dirty, being bad at sports, and having no life outside of academics. Growing up in a diverse area, I thankfully did not experience a lot of blatant racism, but these stereotypes contributed to the microaggressions that I faced in my everyday life.
Whenever people would make fun of my name or ask me to speak in an Indian accent, I felt ashamed and embarrassed of my own culture. I stopped speaking my native language in public and I refused to wear traditional Indian clothes. I constantly felt judged as I could tell people were making assumptions about me based on the way I looked. It wasn’t until high school that I began to accept my culture and started wondering where these stereotypes came from.
In American television, I believe that Indians are underrepresented. Therefore, the few times that we are represented have a much larger impact on the viewer’s perception of Indians. This is most clearly seen in the Netflix show Never Have I Ever.
Never Have I Ever follows Devi Vishwakumar, a first generation Indian American as she navigates life in high school. Many Indian people that I know, including myself, have not watched and will never watch the show because of the several stereotypes it perpetuates. The show features the typical overbearing parents, book smart children, arranged marriages, and judgmental relatives. For example, Devi’s cousin Kamala breaks up with her boyfriend after she is pressured into an arranged marriage. Additionally, Kamala’s parents have extremely thick Indian accents. Even my non-Indian friends who have watched the show describe some moments as “cringey” and painful to watch. The show is extremely popular and is one of the few shows that follows an Indian protagonist, so it undoubtedly has had a large impact on society’s view of Indians.
Quantico is another TV show that follows FBI agent Alex Parrish, played by Priyanka Chopra. Although Alex’s role does not perpetuate Indian stereotypes, it also fails to really acknowledge her Indian identity. Alex joins the FBI because her White father was in the FBI and she wants to learn more about him. In fact, very little information is known about her Indian mother.
Overall, the portrayal of Indians on TV shows either perpetuates negative stereotypes or completely ignores Indian culture. Considering that very few shows feature Indian protagonists, TV shows play a large role in how others perceive Indians. This representation has made me and many others feel so ashamed that we reject our own identity. However, the media has the potential to reach a large audience and has the power to dismantle these stereotypes. It is my hope that more Indian Americans will be represented on TV so that young Indians learn to appreciate their own culture and society rejects these negative stereotypes.
Next: Recognizing the Relationship Between TV and Stereotypes
Works Cited
Never Have I Ever. Created by Mindy Kaling, and Lang Fisher, Netflix, 2020.