Mindy Kaling Isn't the Only Brown Girl 

Mindy Kaling popped off after her role as Kelly in The Office, chasing after the noncommital, nonchalant Ryan of, I guess, every girl's dreams. My late teens were imbued with Mindy Kaling growing into the Desi girl icon of the era, and honestly, I didn't mind it too much. I mean, any representation is good, right? And, at the time, there really wasn't any South Asian representation that I'd heard of. It was nice to see a brown girl killing the Hollywood game.

But, then The Mindy Project came out, and I don't know, I started noticing a pattern. It only grew by the time Never Have I Ever came out, and I had to stop and actually ask out loud: is Mindy Kaling a good thing for brown representation? Because, quite honestly, at times, it feels like a regression.

#browngirlsarecrazy

Kaling's whole spiel, starting with Kelly in The Office and then planting itself firmly in her character as Mindy Lahiri in The Mindy Project, is that she is just a normal American who happens to have an Indian background, trying to become one of the protagonists in a romcom. On the surface, there is nothing wrong with this— she's funny and the plot is refreshing. Plus, it's a brown girl protagonist. However, the problem comes to light as the seasons continue.

"The TV shows Kaling produced, including “The Mindy Project,” “Never Have I Ever” and “The Sex Lives of College Girls,” share a commonality with their love interests: they are led by white males who are rude to the Indian-American female leads" (Tahsin, Janjabill, and Anjali Darji).

The above quote is really important (I did some research because I wanted to make sure I wasn't the only one being crazy here). When I first watched these show, and granted, I watched all of them, I started feeling intuitively that there was something problematic in the narrative. I mean, Kaling is known to crack jokes that hover just on the verge of controversy. But something about the main characters and the storytelling felt diminutive. I didn't realize what, although I pointed fingers at a lot of things trying to find it, but I realized that there was a lot of internalized racism in the way she portrayed her South Asian leads. It wasn't anything blatant enough for me to quote, but notice how a lot of her characters avoid the subject of race and, in turn, hyper-idealize Western role models.

"Kaling’s South Asian characters epitomize the Indian loser stereotype, as her characters are often portrayed as being extremely critical of their background and refusing to embrace their identities, opting to assimilate themselves into society through the use of American pop culture in order to fit in among their peers."

It works for The Office because Kelly is supposed to be this ditzy, overly-obsessive character who just wants the one guy who clearly does not want her. The whole joke is that she blatantly disrespects herself. Then, that persona trickles into Mindy Lahiri, who is this supposed doctor ready for love. Except, she only dates white guys. Also, she hates anything Indian— okay, I mean, she doesn't actually say it, but in her quest to embody the romcom lead, she manages to avoid any conversation surrounding it. Which, is fine until it becomes an issue. That is to say, implicitly, she separates herself from her cultural background... And also surrounds herself with people who just don't get it, and even sometimes crack insensitive statements against it. Okay, whatever, she's just playing into the romcom trope and making a statement... Right? Right?!

The early season of The Mindy Project, for example, spelled out exactly what she was attempting to do: she wanted to be the white girl protagonist of her dreams. The show was supposed to play heavily into the tropes with the promise that it might even just satirize it. So I buckled in and I watched it all. I thought, cool, that's relatable; she's trying to become someone she's idealized because that's all that she's been exposed to, but can't because it isn't who she is. I waited for the revelation, the change of heart, even the slightest hint at a revelation that maybe this belief isn't as golden as it seems.

"With constant Eurocentric ideals and the avoidance of race confrontation, Kaling ignores the integral parts of being a South Asian woman" (Tahsin, Janjabill, and Anjali Darji).

Then Never Have I Ever happens and the joke really stops feeling like a joke anymore. We get Devi Vishwakumar, and she's not only unapologetically messy, causing drama with every turn of her head, but also, she never learns. If this was supposed to be the diverse show of the era with a brown girl lead, it failed all brown girls — like, who even is Devi? What is the point of her? Although the show starts strong, exploring Devi's character as she grapples with grief and learns through her mistakes, by the third season, Mindy returns back to her old ways. It's like Kaling forgot that there's supposed to be a shift in Devi's character. She just throws a bunch of more different characters from different cultures together, doesn't develop any one of them and, also, Devi regresses back to her old ways.

We got Mindy Lahiri finally hooking up with Danny Castellano, and although the relationship is weirdly reminiscent of Kelly and Ryan's, at least this hyper-traditional Italian man likes her natural beauty and personality (kind of). Similarly, forget the Paxton dude who learns and betters himself for Devi; she ultimately decides Ben Gross is the one for her (a guy who also is perpetually mean to her). I mean, it's nothing bad choosing the white dude, but the issue comes to light when the entirety of her personality relies on it.

Am I Crazy, or Am I Racist?

Okay, so at this point, I started really thinking about an example of a good brown girl representation. I mean, other than Mindy Kaling.

The first one, of course, was Bend It Like Beckham directed by Gurinder Chadha.

I mean, what can I say other than it is an absolute classic? The movie was far ahead of its time, and although it did fall into stereotypes and themes that might not necessarily stand the test of time, it is still one of the comparatively more nuanced depictions of the brown girl protagonist. That is to say, the jokes don't ostracize Indian culture; rather, the movie works to interrogate the ways in which race and culture are perceived, and how they can be reconciled.

Then I hit a bit of a wall.

Was that it?

It took me an embarrassingly long time to draw up a few more examples.

Ms. Marvel, starring Iman Vellani and created by Bisha K. Ali.

Polite Society directed by Nida Manzoor.

Deli Boys created by Abdullah Saeed.

The Queen of My Dreams directed by Fawzia Mirza.

The Long Goodbye directed by Riz Ahmed.

It took me aback, the amount of time and research it took to name only a few, and two of them are brown male leads from a completely different genre. I mean, it led to a bit of an existential crisis — was I racist? I don't know. Probably, somewhat. What I realized, though, was that nothing that I listed above had the same popularity as Kaling's works do.

I fell in love with the Ms. Marvel series while taking a comic book class. The original series was created by Sana Amanat and Stephen Wacker, and let me tell you, it is such a wholesome, coming-of-age story that respectfully embraces the Pakistani-American experience. Plus superhero stuff.

It's one of the few shows where we get a relatable, awkward teenager, just trying to figure things out in a way that celebrates her unique identity as a first generation immigrant. Yet, the creator of the show: Bisha K. Ali, is nowhere near Kaling's legacy. And, the show itself, was kind of devalued because of a few things, mainly its kiddish tone. Fair enough, although I still think it is a great show worth watching.

But it's not the only one. There are so many shows and movies out there. Polite Society, The Queen of My Dreams are just a few examples with brown female leads. They investigate culture and identity in a really tasteful way that doesn't overwhelm the story. On top of that, there are so many short films, including The Long Goodbye, that I think deserve more popularity. What I mean by this is that, sure, it is not our responsibility as brown people to write narratives specifically on the topic of race, but it is also our responsibility to acknowledge it at the very least. There is a balance, and Kaling toppled over to the other side of it.

And yet, she rules the world of TV.

The Edible Brown Girl

Which leads me to my final reflection: I started wondering about what was selling. Are Kaling's characters more digestable because they are so separate from culture? Is it easier to relate to the awkward, cringey Kelly, Mindy, Devi, or even Bela (from the Sex Lives of College Girls) because they present as nonthreatening and are easier to consume? You can pity the brown girl trying desperately to be a part of the group. She is consumable.

You can't pity the one who knows who she is.

Works Cited

Tahsin, Janjabill, and Anjali Darji. “‘doing More Harm than Good’: Mindy Kaling and the Problem of Representation.” The Holly Spirit, WordPress, thehollyspirit.org/6918/arts-and-culture/doing-more-harm-than-good-mindy-kaling-and-the-problem-of-representation/.

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