Are You Even Indian?

     Mindy Kaling is best known for her work as a writer and producer for the popular comedy The Office, but she also plays the funny Indian American co-worker Kelly Kapoor within the show. Introduced in episode two, she initially plays a minor role as just another static character of the office in most of season one. As part of the somewhat racially mixed cast that also includes African American sales representative “Stanley” and Latino accountant “Oscar”, Kelley usually finds herself at the end of Michael’s (Steve Carell) racial jokes throughout the season for the effect of comedy, but like the rest of the workers she puts up with the pranks and quirkiness of her manager. It is not until season three that Kelly develops a much more complex character exemplifying, although generally, an Indian American.

     Kelly’s portrayal as a product of polyculturalism in America is best featured in the season 3 episode “Diwali” where the episode starts off with her extending an invitation to the office to attend the “Indian Halloween,” but to Michael’s disbelief, she is not able to explain the deeper significance of the holiday. Michael was initially “appalled” at the office workers for not being knowledgeable enough of the Indian festival and was hoping for an excellent explanation from Kelly, but she amusingly plays it off as just being an “awesome” celebration with food and dancing. I think Michael’s disappointed response represents some of the audience member’s reactions to her very uninformed reply to his question, but I think this was the reception that Mindy Kaling wanted to create to say something about Asian American participation in Asian traditions through the genre of comedy shows. Just because someone is Asian, or even of another racial background, does not mean they understand what a festival so closely connected to the “motherland” is truly about because they grow up in America where older traditions tend to not guide the whole of their lives. Also, by using comedy, Mindy is able to get audience members to easily understand such a complex subject as identity. For Kelly, Diwali and other festivals might be special to her in defining herself to be Indian American in some small way, but it certainly does not seem to have the same amount of meaning as it does with her older generation parents who are introduced later in the episode. Even so, she willingly chooses to participate in that cultural space among her relatives and even tries to friendly invite her co-workers to have fun while in attendance. This then may bring up the question, what makes someone an Asian American? Kelly’s character continues to develop throughout the seasons of The Office by being largely contradictory of the properly behaved Indian American stereotype with her exaggeration for her love of shopping or lack of knowledge of Indian culture. Yet, she informs audiences of what it means to be polycultural because, as not stereotyped as she is portrayed in the show, it is very difficult for anyone to define the boundaries that make Kelly an Indian American or not. Kelly is certainly ethnically Indian, but the way she portrays herself as an Indian American and to what extent, is ideally up to her.

     Mindy eventually plays off her own character’s lack of knowledge by having Michael and Dwight hilariously teach the office in detail about Diwali and the “weirder” side of Indian culture in the beginning of the episode because they “don’t want to be embarrassed when they attend” the Diwali celebration. However, the important concept to take away from this episode from an Asian American point of view is that Kelly, like Raj in "The Big Bang Theory", is a product of both her Indian parents and her life in America. By participating in Diwali she still shows that she wants to try to remain connected to her Indian heritage despite often contradicting the Indian American stereotype in comedic ways. Because the episode is primarily written for comedy as well, humor also allows audience members to understand these complex concepts in an easier way.

Be sure to comment below! I would like to hear your thoughts whether in agreement or disagreement! I think it is important to discuss these even in the context of speaking about comedy shows!

Video link to the scene: http://www.spike.com/video-clips/2ud21r/the-office-dwight-explains-diwali