do you really care about south asian representation?

hi, so i wanted to upload this quick video about my thoughts on all the anti-indian sentiment that's been floating around online because of the new velma series, and i think it's important to be more considerate with your word choices when speaking about indian and south asian people in general as they do not have much representation on western entertainment.
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[@harriyanna]

btw this is all i'm saying about the series. i will not be talking about it anymore after this. and any racist comments about indian/south asian people will be deleted and you will be blocked.

[@devontamosley4487]

Spare yourself from this show, Harri. It's not good... at all. Lol. Awesome video by the way. Edit: Clarification: I'm talking the writing and storytelling, not the race/ethnicity of the characters. The show does have potential, it just need a lot of improvement.

[@khv12345]

as a south asian you don’t understand how grateful and appreciative i am for you and your channel and also for making the comments feel safe and respectful for us thank you so much

[@gamecitysavior2910]

I love South Asian stuff I just wish more movie imported here & more of there movie were translated to English. There's too much Korean shi+ on every other app. I watched "spin" but the predictable white boy love interest literally put me to sleep

[@Keith_Norman]

Honestly as soon as I saw the trailer and heard that they got rid of Scooby I new the show was going to be bad but I didn't expect it to be horrendous barely finished episode 1 I don't like what they did too any of the characters and the jokes are reminiscent of the new Saints Row game. How did this get a green light for season 2? This show is just garbage then I will not be finishing it

[@shhshduejajeiwkfbuwtsvxhg]

I LITERALLY LOVE YOU THANKS FOR STANDING UP TO THHIS

[@jourdonpatron212]

Thank you for saying what you said on POC being racist towards each other. Just because we're a marginalized group does not mean we can't be just as nasty hateful and racist. I've seen it happen so many times on Twitter. Especially toward Asian people for some reason.

[@toasturhztoastbunz896]

Yeah. Not trying to throw sh!t at anyone or cancel anyone here or anything like that, but I'm really sick and tired of people acting like Black people are complete saints to racism. I know Asians and other minorities kinda get this privilege to a certain extent, but I noticed Black people tend to get away with it to a much greater extent. Likely due to how obsessive mainstream media has become about pushing Black representation and undoing the negative stereotypes about them to the point that other Minorities kinda just become an afterthought. Not that that's a bad thing, but when it gets to a point where people are literally defending the actions of the black people who carried out those Anti-Asian attacks back in 2020 and even start blaming the Asians themselves for the attacks via accusing them of Anti-Blackness whilst never taking any responsibility of their own... yeah I think you can tell why I think this is all starting to become a little overkill.

[@Kenny-zv2wk]

@@toasturhztoastbunz896 No bc it infuriated me how no one even cared abt all of the asian hatecrimes.

[@shhshduejajeiwkfbuwtsvxhg]

ong

[@jourdonpatron212]

@@toasturhztoastbunz896 exactly that whole black people can't be racist thing is dumb.

[@42seven]

i remember watching something that talked about turning Black and Asian and Indigenous people against each other

[@littlemisstfc]

Velma (2023) manages to do one good thing: getting *everyone* on the planet to band together and drag it to the GROUND.

[@AaronJL]

I mean the show is terrible. I honestly wanted it to be good but the writing is atrocious. The only positive about the show is the animation. The animators really brought Velma, Shaggy, Daphne, and Fred to life.

[@devontamosley4487]

Alpha Jay covered this show from his channel and he said something that stands out to me: "Representation cannot replace storytelling." I don't know if this should be an unpopular opinion or not, but I do agree what he said. There needs to be an equilibrium of good diversity, good representation, and good storytelling. When it comes to diversity and representation, it's good when it's done right; but it's bad when it's done poorly. I don't mind watching a show that has good storytelling and little diversity and representation as long as the diversity and representation is done right, I'm okay with it. Now when it comes to South Asian representation, it's very lacking just like with Indigenous representation. The only show that I think had good South Asian representation was Sanjay and Craig with the lead protagonist, Sanjay, who is Indian, well actually, he's biracial. He's half Indian and half Caucasian. From the most part, Sanjay was a good Indian character who didn't fall into the cliché shy, nerdy Asian/Indian stereotype. In conclusion, South Asian people, along with Indigenous people deserve better.

[@ErinEpica]

There's also Raj from Craig of the Creek who comes from an Inidan family. He's basically the show's Elton John stan and he's one of my favorites on the show X3

[@kennaw4210]

Apparently Connie from Steven Universe is Indian. Tho maybe she falls into the nerdy stereotype, she's mostly shown to be a regular kid and later a knight.

[@egg_bun_]

Thank you for this comment, I'll make sure to check that video out.

[@devontamosley4487]

@@egg_bun_ You're welcome.

[@devontamosley4487]

@@kennaw4210 Connie is Indian. I like Connie. In the beginning, she did fall into the stereotypical nerdy, shy Indian and the girl unhinged trope because she was raised in a strict Indian family; but as time goes on, she came out of her shell and became confident by standing up to her parents where they realized how much pain they were inflicted on her, so they were able to be more lenient and considerate to her. She probably has the most amazing character development on the show in my opinion.

[@MaeArt725]

Honestly I’m fine with Velma being portrayed as South Asian, but I am annoyed with just how it’s really treated in the show. Like the insults/general comments towards her are icky.

[@Val17282]

Same. I think it isn't wrong to make characters into poc as long as they aren't problematic about it, like saying they "fixed" the design when the character's original design wasn't offensive at all. Look at Black Panther 2. They changed Namor, who was a white man, into an indigenous mexican man. And as a brown mexican myself, I adored it.

[@v.xien.]

They make south Asians look so bad

[@Vartis1270]

For me, I hate the show over the fact that it’s very inappropriate by sexuality minors as a joke and making cringy outdated jokes out of nowhere that don’t make no sense at all in scenes And I also hate the fact that they made Velma be such an insufferable person , because I have no problem with her being south Asian or Indian but the problem is the fact that they made her be an Indian girl, but had her be such an unlikable person and also if they were gonna make shaggy black they could’ve at least made him look like himself,at least they didn’t even try

[@sabreenasnow119]

thank you so much for speaking about the lack of south asian representation. i hope there's better and more representation for us in the future

[@cmgvillager]

Thank you for this video, the only videos I’ve seen that added more to the conversation was Salem Tovar and Kat Blaque video on this. They made valid points while still giving criticism and noticed how people were shitting on mindy only. Yet, when you look up who came up with the idea of velma it was a white man and he’s the head writer too but, mindy is getting backlash for the show only.

[@tonyalfo]

It’s bc her name is advertised with it, all the promotional material she’s acting like it’s her show

[@ashen_roses]

People will deny it to death but that's how it is. The type of people called SJWs sleep through SO many shows and projects by shitty white dudes but once it's a shitty WoC, queer person, woman, or any minority, they're on full alert to tell you that you flat out are irredeemable if you partake in xyz. That's bc being against the shitty majority is HARD while having groups coming down on identically bad minorities is easy and these types of people don't think they should have to put in work. Like I can't imagine we went seven seasons of a show ran by an abusive pedophile without substantial hitch but the only hate I've seen towards it or him before are passive bc that requires work and it's just easier to scream at marginalized people who are dying in the desert for representation. WE know where we can't comfortably get it but get yelled at and misblamed anyways.

[@i.nv.u]

i also recommend the video done by graysons projects!

[@thelingeringartist]

I’m so glad you’re speaking on this. It feels similar to when other people were shitting on the Little Mermaid remake……People be criticizing the wrong shit and be trying to cover up their blatant (or subtle) discrimination biases under the guise of “criticism”. 😕 They always the loudest when people bandwagon hate on smth especially.

[@imthebossmermaid3648]

Except the little mermaid isn’t problematic like Velma is.

[@thelingeringartist]

@@imthebossmermaid3648 Yeah. But people will always find ways to make something problematic-Even if it isn’t-Just to shout their ignorance.

[@theextralifewithethan4846]

@@imthebossmermaid3648big on this ! I saw the movie it was cute Halle did amazing and she really talented at singing I understand what mindy was trying to do with making Velma and the other characters people of color but the some of things that happened in the series and writing

[@Em-bq3gs]

I always get nervous watching shows and movies like Velma because I just know that the majority of critics are going to say that the problems are with the "wokeness" and diversity in the show rather than the actual problems with the writing. Like, instead of criticizing the actual problems with how the characters are written, and how there's a lot of racist jokes and stereotypes portrayed in the show, it's about Velma, Daphne, and Shaggy being characters of color. The problem is that most of these people aren't actually making analysis on why the show is bad, but just chalking it up to whatever fits their agendas. The problem with Velma isn't that she's portrayed as south-Asian, it's that she's a hypocrite, mean, toxic, and often makes statements that are misogynistic, racist, etc. while trying to sound like a supporter of the minorities that she ends up making fun of.

[@BurgerBoi1]

THIS!!! I am a white hispanic, so I don't know if I should have a say in this matter as I am not South Asian, but I agree. I have seen many criticisms against "Velma", but too few of them focus on Storytelling problems. Literally, out of everyone I've watched only like 2 of them focused more on Storytelling issues more than "wokeness", most of the takes have very obvious racist undertones. I'd personally like to hate the show for tearing apart the siblinghood sense of the gang making it so they can't even be in the same room, portaying all the characters as jerks because......adult cartoon i guess, and also for literally *evaporating Scooby, a core piece of the gang, out of existence* without having to rub shoulders with the weirdos that hate it BECAUSE some members of the gang are POC now.

[@NYCTOSEE]

Yes absolutely! I see a lot of people complaining about the “wokeness” but when I saw the first two episodes there was a lot of like, anti-“woke” commentary while also trying to seem like an ally. Like that line Velma said in ep 2 that was something like “I speak only the truth, like a comedian before cancel culture” or some weird shit like that?? I saw the trailer and was actually really excited for the show because it was a pretty good cast and I love Glenn Howerton, but wow.. for a show that was supposed to be a “dark, adult Velma” it doesn’t deal with dark themes very much.. it was supposed to be more of a murder mystery but all of the actual murder takes a back burner for jokes that fall flat almost all the time and the horrible personalities of the main characters. Shaggy’s, sorry- NORVILLE’s almost r*pey blackmail personality switch halfway through the episode was a complete 180 and made me do a double take. Literally all the characters suck, are horrible people, and the gross-out humor falls flatter than a lot of the jokes. I also feel like it would’ve been better if it were set in a college? I like Velma’s design, I think she looks really cute but the art style really threw me off. Her and Norville are really the only good-looking characters that fit with the art style. I remember one of the trailers (I think, maybe this was for Mystery Inc or a seperate film) actually showing Velma having a different woman as a love interest. I think this could have been done really well, if it were written by different people, possibly had a different art-style, and focused more on the crime aspects. This could’ve been a really cool idea.

[@imthebossmermaid3648]

And not a word about Velma no longer being a lesbian in this product despite the Scooby Doo writers fighting tooth and hard to make her one but always getting shut down. In addition the way they slandered all of the characters, has nothing to do with the race-bend of course, but the way they made Daphne nothing more than the cliche popular shallow mean girl who only cares about her looks just because she is girly the show is obsessed with the not like other girls trope. Fred was also casually racist towards Velma and characters in general. And Daphne sells crack apparently.

[@BurgerBoi1]

@@imthebossmermaid3648 YES Scooby Doo was one of my core parts of my childhood so this series in general felt like a kick in the stomack to me. Why did they have to ruin the gang like that😭

[@Em-bq3gs]

@@BurgerBoi1 Exactly! I've only really watched Brittney Reacts really because she actually talks about the issues with the show without making it about the diversity in it, but I'm too afraid to watch any other reviews (mainly from YTbers that I know are cishet white men)

[@LegendaryAsexual]

Love the throwback to your old theme song💙 and yeah, Indian people truly do deserve better.

[@ievolcisum]

Same, I was jamming out with my cat.

[@itsgabbybtch5587]

I've actively avoided the discourse on this show because of how reactionary most videos are. I've only seen Kat Blaque's video because I trust her to not say racist shit like a lot of these weirdo anti-"woke" assholes online. I actually have to tell KZbin to stop recommending that shit to me too, KZbin on some ish I swear

[@toasturhztoastbunz896]

One thing I hate about Mindy's racist haters is how they hog the spotlight away from genuine critique of her. Like her very blatant biases towards non-white people, East Asians and Dark-Skinned men in particular.

[@imthebossmermaid3648]

And Black people.

[@technicolorbarf6734]

And trans people

[@technicolorbarf6734]

@@imthebossmermaid3648 are you talking about her making Shaggy -whos character can be more or less summed up as being a stereotypical stoner- black? Or are you talking about something to do with her time on the Office (which i refuse to watch)?

[@imthebossmermaid3648]

@@technicolorbarf6734 I wasn't talking aobut any show in particular and I don't watch Mindy Kaling like that but I do know that she is anti-Black and her writing is too. But Shaggy is a part of that especially with what you just said. Also woah! How do you do the slash thing??!

[@imthebossmermaid3648]

@@technicolorbarf6734 Oh yes.

[@hachisufran9239]

Y'all really need to watch spin its so good and it's good representation. Y'all got no excuses

[@harriyanna]

exactly yall be watching everything else on disney plus. you can watch spin.

[@imthebossmermaid3648]

I don’t have Disney plus but when I do get it again I will watch Spin.

[@BeauxBeetles]

@@harriyanna I haven't been able to pay for Disney plus (money have been tight for me recently) but once I get it, Spin will be the first thing i watch. Ty for the recommendation! Hope you're having a good day!

[@litttlepigboy]

spin was such a good movie bro

[@marajones1828]

Omg I'm 8 minutes in and I'm already jamming! This is really good!

[@hosuloml]

as a maldivian, when you said "not all south asians are indian" I FELT THAT. idk if many ppl even know maldives is a south asian country but yeah. it really bothers me when ppl forget india isnt the only country in the entirety of south asia it also rlly sucks how we literally get zero representation whatsoever but its not surprising and im used to it. still wish we could get more south asian rep in general tho

[@devonmunn5728]

Maldives is one of my top 5 countries I want to visit. I'm an aspiring writer myself so I would like to work with writers to help get their stories out there so if anyone who is Maldivian wants to be a writer I hope I can help getting that story out there

[@clarisacalderon9555]

I like you bringing that up about word choice. I mean...I don't really like how they handle the characters but people start really making it personal or like the problem is the race swapping, when if it was written well the race swapping wouldn't be an issue. some people do bring up some other very good topics about it.....but it does feel like it get swamped down where some people are definitly using it to vent in some pretty bad ways. like...people be threatening real people about it or shitting on people's entire carreers over this one show. and its so soon to. why does everyone have to dogpile at once. your also right people tend to dogpile on certain cartoons as a collective...and not all of them are actually worth that. I'm still upset people went after the aquaman cartoon when that was actually pretty funny and it might have contributed it in not continuing.

[@stages_of_mania]

Harriyanna I can’t thank you enough. Ever since High Guardian Spice, I’ve always had to block out like 85% of the complaints for shows like because it’s not criticism, it’s just people losing it becuase a series is made by women and/or poc. The people complaining don’t care about South-Asian folk, they just don’t want them on tv, and I can’t thank people enough for calling out this behavior

[@NYCTOSEE]

The fact that I haven’t even HEARD ABOUT SPIN is insane. I don’t keep up with Disney but there has been so much speak on Velma and literally none on Spin. I just saw the cover art and it looks absolutely gorgeous! Definitely gonna watch it tonight.

[@screamingwhales4031]

such an amazing movie!! some of the best ive seen from the dcoms in years :,)

[@devonmunn5728]

I mainly know of Spin because Cheyenne Lin mentioned it in a video of hers

[@despicablepenguin]

Same! I had never heard of this until and I'll probably watch it later (although I just realized I just cancelled my Disney+ subscription. Damn). I also think why people say "we wish we had more new characters that are South Asian and any other kind of minority" is because they aren't promoted and yes, you look for them, but let's be honest, nobody will because of several reasons and I feel that it's not their fault for it not being promoted to them at all or not even knowing about it.

[@tashibalampkin8555]

14:07 You make a good point about how people aren't looking for other shows with South Asian main characters. Not a lot of people care enough to find those type of shows and actually supporting it. Me included. When Velma first was announced, I was like orginal South Asian characters for shows should be made and I did not make not one google search.

[@offbeatkiki]

Thank you for always doing your best to be an ally to Indian individuals - I've always loved your video on anti-indian sentiments in Disney's Jessie - and using your platform to advocate for others while remaining aware of your place and perspective on this topic as a black woman. As one of the only Indian creators in the cartoon community, I have been horrified by the public outcry response to the choices made in casting and designing the characters for Velma - something that I was delighted to see after 181 iterations of an all white cast. True colors, ignorance and stereotyping have been exposed in people who I thought were allies, and I have felt backed into a corner in terms of speaking about the show. Some of this is based in ignorance due to less common education on Indian historical and current struggles, and some of it is due to the fact that people just have not unlearned racism against us yet. I am hoping that some good can come of this awful discourse in terms of people acting in good faith beginning to understand Indian perspectives. I am considering making a video of my own on this topic, and I am bolstered in that decision by hearing you speak about it. Bless you harri.

[@marajones1828]

Do you feel like Mindy represents the south Asian experience in a negative light? There seems to be a lot of self hatred in Mindy that she projects onto her characters.

[@ellapastoral]

thank you for making this video! i have been so confused about this velma discourse, i watched it myself and didn't like it but i just move on. i feel so bad for the animators because despite me not liking the script, the animation is still pretty good. most of my friends are indians are seeing people's critiques about velma scream racism, it's disgusting !!

[@solarmoth4628]

I didn’t watch Spin because of the repetitive woc/white male lead trope and at the time it came out I was just tired of seeing that most interracial couples in media include a white person but, i’ll give it another chance on your recommendation because I was really interested in the familial relationship at the center of the movie. Even as a non south asian person it’s noticeable lot of the criticisms of Velma stem from racist intentions and not actual care about the harmful tropes. Someone took the opportunity to make art of white velma slapping the new velma and it made me extremely uncomfortable.

[@imthebossmermaid3648]

White Velma would never do that Ugh.

[@screamingwhales4031]

no spoilers but i really like the avenue the writers of spin took when it came to the romance subplot, i hadn't seen a disney movie do what it did in a long time.

[@imthebossmermaid3648]

@@screamingwhales4031 that sounds great!

[@starsandmoonsabove]

That's a good point. If you're going to criticize a show with representation of poc or women or lgbt+, then recommend a better alternative. I think it's similar to when people criticize eco-activists for doing controversial stunts, but never offer an organization that's better, or an eco-activism method that works better. Not that these things are the same. But it's like people are helping the conservative haters and are piling on, instead of spending that energy on something like promoting an alternative or calling out the bigoted critiques

[@ThatGreenMach1ne]

Harri idk if I've mentioned this in my discord, but I love how you make your artwork look super traditional! Like it looks like it was scanned in, it's excellent!

[@i.nv.u]

i'm one of the south asians who was mildly interested in velma when the trailer dropped (never cared much for scooby doo so i didn't really care much about the "woke" and "oh no diversity" controversies). though when the show did come around, it was disappointing how bad it was in terms of writing, humor, weird sexual jokes about minors etc. what was more disappointing were the people online criticizing the show for being woke and diverse instead of it just being plain bad on a storytelling level. i saw so many people just casually being racist and misogynistic towards south asians, just gross and out of pocket shit they probably wouldnt have the guts to say irl. also, i have watched spin! i thought though a bit rough around the edges, it was a cute movie and i liked the non-romance ending. it's kind of sad to realize though, that the only reason i watched it was because my elementary school sister was on disney channel. otherwise, i likely wouldve never even heard of it. south asian representation truly sucks in this country, i just hope that the response to velma doesnt further stunt other south asian projects that deserve to be recognized.

[@tashibalampkin8555]

I remember Mammy Two Shoes. I know the character and seen her in Tom and Jerry. But this is the first time I ever heard her name and I'm appalled yet not surprised. Tom and Jerry is one of favorite cartoons and I never noticed they was being disrespectful straight in my face.

[@okayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy]

There's definitely some legitimate criticisms to be made about the series, and I've tried to be careful about what discussions I have given any amount of my attention, and even then I've seen pretty few people speak up about specific problematic issues instead of just general "writing bad" and "its cringe" takes. While I'm not a fan of the series either, I can't help but notice how series that try to promote marginalized identities are held to such a higher standard and the target of so much bad faith criticism by people who just want to dunk on something "woke". Idk if this is the best example, but I can't help but remember the insane backlash against High Guardian Spice. Like with Velma, there were some genuine criticisms to be made about the series, both production and content. But oh my god I saw so many instances of people mixing in blatant misogyny, racism, and queerphobia while parroting the usual handful of lukewarm criticisms they'd see on twitter or whatever. I was far from surprised that the western anime fandom at large would take the opportunity to tear apart a series like that, but I didn't anticipate the degree to which so many people would feel empowered to say their bigotry with their whole chest. Again, I've seen similar stuff before, but never to *that* much of a degree so openly. It felt like it got worse, too, the longer people kept talking about it - like the bigots realized how easy it would be for them to get away with saying their real thoughts if they disguised it with the usual talking points.

[@shirlecemcghee]

It is always refreshing to see this perspective especially in media. There is a lack of South Asian media. I appreciate that this is not a hate video. But it is a good point to reflect and ask ourselves what are we doing as individuals. As much as I enjoy media, I am aware that it is not perfect. So much food for thought and so little time. Thank you for your perspective.

[@hithere5039]

I made the mistake of watching some reviews of Velma and almost every one of them made some stupid comments about the races of the characters or about feminism, exc. Like, people are trying to claim this show is racist against white people because Fred is portrayed as a manbaby. I really love the video "Sacrificial Trash" which talked about how media featuring minorities get overexaggerated backlash whenever they end up being mediocre, which oftentimes ends up being socially acceptable ways to complain about characters being POC or having female leads without outright saying it. Also everyone is blaming Mindy for making Velma a "self-insert" for racial reasons even though Mindy was not even the one responsible for conceiving the idea of this show nor is she the only one responsible for it. People also seem to think that because Velma is the lead character, she must be applauded for her actions. This show has an obvious arc where it is going to follow these characters who are jerks and show their development into stronger, likeable people who become friends. Velma is a teenage straw feminist, essentially, who admits that she doesn't know how to be a woman without judging other women and is called out multiple times by other characters for making shitty comments and having a restrictive view of womanhood. She makes shitty comments and is just as shitty as the other characters. And yet everyone is just treating this show as if it's "woke" (ugh) and hates men. Like this shit is so obvious, it's just poorly done. And yet people don't pick up on it because they will see whatever they need to see to complain about this "SJW" show that hates men and white people. Thank you for this video. Thank you for being one of the only people talking sense about it. People are being so stupid right now about this show. Like be mature y'all and stop complaining about how someone made Velma Indian.

[@sprinklejinx3178]

I think people do that so much because we're so used to the old Velma. She's usually the character who's always right about everything, so to hear her say so many hateful things feels more personal. Having everyone be in love with Velma despite her horrible behavior doesn't help either. I do expect her to have some sort of character development down the line especially since she keeps being proven wrong about Fred and Daphne is calling her out on her bullshit. It will just be a slow and agonizing process because she's narrow minded and lets her ego get in the way all the time.

[@hithere5039]

@@sprinklejinx3178 Okay, what's made the Velma controversy even more stupid for me is that I realize all the things that people gave Velma shit for, literally was done in Mystery Incorporated first. Like.... I mean literally everything. The only thing they didn't do in MI? Make the main cast Indian, black, or Asian. Take that how you will.

[@sprinklejinx3178]

@hithere5039 I thought Velma was pretty annoying in mystery incorporated too. Especially when she was all jealous of scooby and was controlling of Shaggy, but at least she was somewhat competent and she didn't assault Daphne in the shower during her first scene.

[@hithere5039]

@@sprinklejinx3178 Velma is my least favorite in MI but pretty much no one had a problem with her even though she was arguably the worst person in the gang as characterized. But funny how all of those characteristics are now a problem once Velma is Indian. Hmmmm.

[@giancarlojacobs9982]

As someone who is half Black and half Bangladeshi I can honestly say from a lifetime of experience that I've seen so many South Asians mistreat and degrade Black people that did nothing to them. Yet those same South Asians showed more kindness and compassion to whites (sometimes even to openly racist/anti-Asian whites). If South Asians want better support / treatment from Blacks then they(South Asians) need to overcome their own racism towards Blacks and their own internalized racism towards themselves. Mindy Kaling and Isiz Ansari are the two biggest South Asian actors in Hollywood and they both have histories of creating shows where they as the main characters pursue white romantic interests. Just messy tbh

[@something-fisher]

My thing is, even if yes, velma is a bad show and i understand why its such a big deal as a scooby doo fan myself, dog piling on it and having SO many people talk about it really just ends up giving a platform to people who dislike it for the wrong reasons (racism) its probably best to just move on and stop giving it so much attention

[@vivifoxysdaughterandchild544]

I don't like the show but I knew that the hate directed towards it was not only gonna be overblown, but that certain kinds of KZbinr would dogpile on it for being woke as opposed to the actual problems with the show. But even people who claim to be more progressive fall into the same trap. There are actual problems with the show, don't get me wrong. But isn't it strange how media that tries to be inclusive in any way shape or form gets particularly harsh criticism compared to contemporaries?

[@nfsiiihp]

I can't stand how people only focus on Velma's skin change while not mentioning that the "adaptation" 's episodes and new Fred and her are a collection of problematic things...

[@lewa3910]

Thank you for this, even if im just half south asian. I didn't know about the film Spin, tho still kinda disappointed how little more than adequate south asian animated rep there is, like Raya was ok, and I still have my issues with the writing but love the artwork for Velma. Its why Connie from Steven Universe still feels important to me even if I wish they cast an Indian VA for her

[@Chowderchef]

Its so sad. I love the idea of an adult Scooby Doo show, but this was an absolute mess. Velma being indian in this version isnt the issue, the nasty writing is

[@FancyAlly]

You’re so right. How some people calling themselves allies of the South Asian community but they haven’t seen Spin or Ms.Marvel?

[@sundaylovesyoutoo7469]

I feel people using the show being bad for an excuse for being racist. There are some really big issues with the show, but people race and the change of the characters has nothing to do with the shows bad writing please stop

[@gamecitysavior2910]

I won't watch Velma cuz even if I ignore the part that is so called saying it's Scooby-Doo, I don't like this Velma's personally.

[@curesaul5749]

The creators really could have just made their own original mystery animated show instead.

[@whiteasparagus4331]

I didn’t have a problem with the characters races, the issue is that the writing is terrible and the humor is bad too (SERIOUSLY WHO THE FUCK THOUGHT IT WAS OK TO HAVE COCKROACHES SCREWING IN THE FIRST EPISODE WTF?!) and some of the characters are horribly mischaracterized too, it’s just a shitty show that will probably be forgotten in a few months or so

[@afrolens9532]

There are…..a lot…..of valid criticisms for this show and other Mindy works(she’s unfortunately known to be racist and antisemitic in her writing, which ugh) But sadly you’re not going to see those valid criticisms, because the vast majority of comments regarding the show are more focused on dissing it for racebending. As though that should be the main takeaway here. I don’t trust a majority of people’s reviews of this show because of it Especially when so many of y’all describe it as “woke” as though y’all not stealing whole BLM slogans just to ridicule a cartoon It’s a bad show “adult” show filled with so many problems that need to be addressed But so do a lot of other shows like Family Guy and The Simpsons. Bring that same outrage to these shows. Oh no wait, when The Simpsons make fun of Indian people, it’s apparently funny, and shouldn’t be brought up (sarcasm)

[@jessinthecomments]

I’m literally learning about the different south Asian people as I’m teaching my students in social studies. Last week our unit was on South Asia and this week’s until is on south east Asia. We started with Central Asia.

[@EezhamDemon]

You made a lot of great points. It's very frustrating as there's such a dearth of South-Asians in western media. The counter is that as an Eelam Tamil, to have one of the most popular Tamils (she's also Bengali) in Hollywood be Kaling is very depressing. Like basically what we have is her and Aziz Ansari, so that's yikes for us. The problem with representation is that it's often antithetical to liberation. So we need to refocus our attention on that rather than the safe non-white people that Hollywood raises up. Interesting that you touched on The Problem With Apu because I did a video on it a bit ago: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bIi1mZVvfcd2eKM

[@egg_bun_]

Thank you for the recommendation, I didn't see nearly enough people talking about Apu! I'll be sure to check it out

[@munstahmummah6468]

DANG harryina what took you so long, Ever since I heard this show announced I knew you were gonna have some Hot takes

[@Lilothestitch]

I’ve seen hate for Velma as well and it’s very disgusting. I don’t understand how anyone can hate Velma for having South Asian Representation?

[@francostevo9939]

You obviously haven’t watched the reviews. No one hates Velma for changing the race. They hate the characters being made into nothing but douchebags and archetypes.

[@nikkiralaniakea9527]

Because there’s no need to change her race. Just make another character instead of leeching off the Scooby-Doo franchise.

[@dramaticroses94]

I am up to date with the series as off today. My take on it is that the show has a lot of cringe in it, but it feels similar to a lot of the other adult series like Brickleberry. The characters in the show are weird and no one is standing above each other in sanity. If this show came out in am earlier time period, people would be all over it. It's not an original show and it's not gonna win awards. Too bad that a lot of good series were cancelled on HBO/Warner Bros for series like this

[@whoknows9085]

A lot of y’all getting a bit too comfortable in the comments section calling Black people the only racists against the entire Asian community

[@deargotti2615]

shutup

[@whoknows9085]

@@deargotti2615 If I gotta call out the antiblackness I will, idk why you mad

[@bats1312]

The Velma hate train is making me annoyed too ngl. i literally can't escape

[@v.xien.]

The most annoying and disappointing thing about south Asian rep is that they always overdo it make it cringey or one dimensional. I get so hyped when we get into big hero roles or villains, main characters etc but they ruin it every time. So far I’ve seen a good villain on the flash but his name is so lame BLOODWORK? Really?

[@jessinthecomments]

My problem with Velma begins and ends with the writing. The animation is great for the most part the character concepts are good and I like the reimagining, though I miss Scooby but the writing is just BAD. It seems to have no clue what audience it wants.

[@shadowmist9093]

Agreed. Only coming out the woodworks to hate on something rather than to find something new to love isnt the move.

[@lesbukashka]

That sad that such videos aren't trending unlike biased videos by hive-mind subscribers of popular commentary youtubers

[@idontgiveaff]

I clicked so fast. I always look forward to your uploads🫶🏾💕

[@DetNate]

Hey, just came across this video! Was drawn in by the title and I'm so glad you made it! The way people have been talking about Velma and everything around it has been saddening. South Asian people do deserve better representation as do all people of color, but I'm just gonna say (as a white person myself lol) bad shows by and for white people do not get this amount of vitriol towards their creators. People maybe dunk on their creation a bit, turn it into a meme, move on. It's awful what creators of color have to deal with; making a bad show should never draw this kind of hatred and racism. Especially if we want to be allies we need to stand against that kind of reaction and you are setting a wonderful example we can all strive for. On a positive note, I looked up "Spin" (had never heard of it before) and it looks absolutely adorable, thank you for the recommendation! I'm also gonna look for your friend's KZbin channel that you gave a shoutout to; maybe a link in the description would be a good idea to make finding them easier? I also love that you are painting in your video, it's just something nice to watch while listening.

[@audreytheausllyologist502]

I’ll be honest- I’m actually very curious to watch Velma just to see if it qualifies for “so bad it’s good” or if it’s just plain bad. Is that bad?

[@jourdonpatron212]

There are so parts that make you laugh but the humor was horrible most of the time and feels like she copy pasted tweets and wrote them into the script

[@strudelh]

Plain bad, like its not the worse show I've seen, but it's not good either. I also don't like how they sexualize the highschoolers on the show. If they wanted go make an adult Scooby-Doo show it couldve took place in college (which is one of the main criticisms) That's a problem with a lot shows tbh.

[@strudelh]

@@jourdonpatron212 Yeah it's just Twitter the show, and not in a good way lol, like a forced way.

[@slavicandsapphic7446]

Imagine the entirety of the worst parts of twitter Twitter were animated. And put into a show.

[@lauren6509]

Velma is lowbrow for for sure but people are acting like she broke into their home and stole money from under they mattress.

[@Yorokobi224]

I watched this show... I thought it was cringe. It started with cockroaches screwing. I don't care about the races represented. It was just bad

[@Goldenfly737]

majority of time she did not even talk about south asians 🤣🤣🤣

[@sophitiaofhyrule]

"If you're an ally consume their media" I will if the genre or topic interests me, but people shouldn't be forced to watch something they're not interested in just because it was made by a person of color... As someone with ADHD and autism I have specific interests. If a person of color makes something that matches my interests, I will likely check it out! But I'm not going out of my way to consume something I don't care about just because a person of color made it.

[@OpticalSorcerer]

I was never a fan of racebending in the media (I've seen enough whitewashing for a lifetime), but I am sad that Velma couldn't give a good amount of representation to SA's. Hopefully with time, we'll get more positive SA, SEA, and WA representation.

[@baylordiamond5611]

Honestly my problem with Velma being south Asian is that it’s supposed to be a “scooby doo prequel series” and she looks nothing like Velma. She also acts less like Velma and more like mindys self insert character. If this was a completely new ip and a better written show I would have no problem with the rep. However this is a new installment in an established franchise with established characters. It would be like making the proud family white, or Mexican all of a sudden. It’s not like the little mermaid or mystery begins where where it’s live action and hailey Bailey or hailey kolioko was the best role for the job. Velma’s animated, if mindy kaling wanted to be Velma she should make the cartoon character look at like Velma. As a black person I’d be saying the exact same thing if Velma was black.

[@drippiink4972]

thanku for speaking on racism against south asian people. im part of the indian diaspora (caribbean) and most of the racism ive experienced have been from other racial minorities, especially the black community. seeing that velma was indian (and also a terrible person/mounthpiece) had me bracing for the new wave of anti-seasian racism. at this point it's like we only exist in the public conscience as cow worshippers and gas station owners smgdh

[@whoknows9085]

All created by a Southeast Asian woman

[@zuzualjamal9462]

I think the best role mindy kayling (I’m probably spelling her name wrong so MK from now on-) was disgust from inside out and then everything else was problematic the office,never have I ever,velma idek what else she’s been in

[@AnimationFreak91]

Not all criticism about Velma is about racism, at least not alone. It's about originality and the fact that creators and writers race swap already established characters just to appear progressive and the show being overly bad. Had this been an original idea inspired by Scooby-Doo, it wouldn't have rubbed people the wrong way. Velma to me feels like it's DC Comics' "I'm Not Starfire". A self insert story that disregards everything that was already established about the characters in a bad attempt to appeal to a certain demographic. I agree about two wrongs don't make it right when it comes to poc being "allowed" to be racist towards white people/characters" because at the end of the day, nothing really changes.

[@sprinklejinx3178]

Oh my gosh! I was thinking the same thing. It DID feel like I am not Starfire!

[@kyungshi6740]

I wish I had Disney+ but it is literally unavailable in my country (Brunei). :(

[@grecia3146]

This and what happened with splash mountain really makes you realize things.

[@ickicynicky4890]

It’s kinda sad grown adults are crying over a ride theme change nothing else is even changing about the ride and it’s so weird since Disney rebrands allot of their rides often lmafo

[@jessinthecomments]

The show is just a bad show, even if all the characters were still white or any color. It’s feels offensive for no reason.

[@Missmagazinebura]

Never have I ever has the best south Asian representation

[@xyzabc-nu3vd]

Not rlly

[@jessinthecomments]

I just watched Spin (per your recommendation) I loved it!

[@purplezombie4940]

I didn't hate the show because there are queer and poc characters, I hate the show because it's not funny, the characters suck, and the story sucks which is more important to me than if there are queer and poc.

[@azrieldreamer]

What was that cliip in the beginning of the video?

[@bopeybef]

genuinely think this show was a psyop to see how much money a network could make purely off hatewatching. i struggle to find even one demographic it doesn’t make mad or at least caters to?? ironically…it is the definition of equality

[@arcie3716]

The discourse surrounding this show was wild. People kept saying this show was “woke” because most of the main cast are POC and are LGBT+. But at the same time the show wasn’t as liberal because it was insensitive about subjects like the Me Too movement and mental health. Wild.

[@Strawberry_Angelic]

Spin the Disney movie right? That one was cute

[@eternaImidnight]

As a south asian myself, I never liked being indian, but seeing as it is 2023 and the world is in shambles, the self-racism is the last thing we need.

[@v.xien.]

Fr being south Asian sucks most of the time

[@tvgamerstan6180]

The cartoon community found another cartoon to bully. Watch this show go on for multiple seasons, and we'll never hear the end to how bad it is from people. First, it was Teen Titans Go. Now, it's this.

[@drawingwinxstyle9193]

Idk about that, I feel like people aren't going to bother watching the second season and it's going to have a massive dropoff, also I barely hear anyone talking about teen titans go anymore, I thought that show got cancelled.

[@starrysuu]

Honestly, as a south Asian, you are totally right and I have been thinking about this for a hot minute too. I’m not saying that the Mindy Kailing cartoon was good, but a lot of the criticism is really sus. And I’m not Indian but this stuff has affected me growing up because the representation we get are goofy as shit and it was hard growing up as a brown person, and mind you, I didn’t live in a predominantly white neighborhood. I actually lived in diversity and other POC were always coming at me.

[@AYAM.M]

idk mate maybe watch actual south asian movies

[@samlosophy5894]

Yo

[@deargotti2615]

KARMA IS GOING TO COME FOR YOU!

[@SurvivenTerry]

Let's fight bro! Lol