Was Raj The Apu Of "The Big Bang Theory"?

I came to the "Big Bang Theory" party late (as did my wife, with me) in its 12-year run on CBS.  That didn't stop either us from enjoying it immensely, and appreciating the fact that it celebrated the "safe space" that geeks now have in the larger American culture.  When one or more of the characters talked about being beaten up as a child, boy, that was something I could relate to all too easily.  And, if the discussions about physics, engineering, and biology went over my head, as much of it did, the many references to popular movies, TV shows, and comics books most certainly did not.  Even if I'm forced to disagree with Raj on the subject of Aquaman:  I don't think that he sucks at all (and the success of the recent film based on the character suggests that a lot of people agree with me).

Raj.  Aye, there's the rub, to borrow a phrase.

Last week's TBBT series finale left me with more than a minor sense of disappointment, and not because I was sorry to see the show come to an end.  The past season's episodes had, with a few exceptions, a vague sense of deja vu in its comic set-ups and payoffs.  Dialogue that once seemed inordinately clever no longer seemed to live up to the deserved reputations of its earlier seasons.  So, as is always the case with any series, it was time for it to end.

And there were payoffs for most of the major characters.  Sheldon and Amy won the Nobel Prize for Physics, and, in the process, Sheldon finally found the freedom to acknowledge that friendships had not only made the moment possible, but sweeter as well.  Howard ended up not only with Bernadette, and a trip to the ISS, but a son and a daughter as well.  Leonard made peace with his love-withholding mother, and Penny found a successful career; they married and ended the show expecting a child.  Even Stuart, the comic-book-store guy, ended the show with a girlfriend.

And then there was Raj  Still stuck on an H1-B visa; not even a green card for the poor guy.  Still without a girlfriend.  Even worse, the final season gave him an engagement that broke up within a few episodes of the end.  All he gets in the last episode is a random encounter with Buffy the Vampire Slayer, who seems to be none too happy about the experience.  In short, he's basically the same, vaguely Harpo-Marxist, happy-go-lucky, token Indian character he was at the beginning of the show.

And the word "Indian" is what I feel is at the heart of this.

Prejudice is a pernicious thing.  It's not always completely obvious.  It becomes engrained in our thoughts and actions sometimes without our realizing it.  We often don't intend to think of members of various cultures in stereotypical terms.  We see a member of a particular demographic group depicted in a work of either fiction or non-fiction, and, perhaps because of our own laziness, or our unspoken need to feel good about ourselves, we accept that depiction as accurately applying to every member of the group in question.  Speaking for my part for a moment, I think that it has taken years of experiences with Indians, first in New York, and then as law clients, and then ultimately as a visitor to the country itself for a week to see not just a "people," but the full range of individuals that make up that people.

So, I find myself thinking about Raj's 12-season arc (or, perhaps, lack thereof), and wondering:  is he the Apu of TBBT?  Is he the character who ultimately, while never failing to be likeable or even sympathetic, leaves the viewers with just a faint taste of close-to-racism in their mouths?  And that might not be even fair to Apu; at least he, on "The Simpsons," got married and became a U.S. citizen.

It's not my purpose here to point an accusatory figure at anyone involved with TBBT, or damage its legacy, which I think deserves to be celebrated.  But I have to say that, at the very least, there's a certain laziness in the way in which Raj was all-too-frequently used as a vehicle for cheap humor, much of which focused on his ethnicity and not his individuality.  If that fact alone doesn't bother more of us than I think it does, then the problem rests not with TBBT or anyone involved with it.  It may rest with all of us, for being content to see Raj as a stereotype, and not as a human being.  If we had asked for more, I think the show would have delivered more.  We didn't.  I think that's on all of us.

In the meantime, best of luck to Kunal Nayyar, who deserves a chance to shine in a role that will give him far more to work with.  And best of luck to everyone involved with TBBT; you made this geek very, very proud.