Baljeet, an example for all Indian Children

Stereotypes. They're a big problem in present society, where impressions are always tinged with the slightest shades of personal misconstrued notions. This is a society where you might not know the first thing about derivatives, but you happen to be Chinese, so you can't possibly be horrible at math. This is a society where if you're foreign and your English isn't as coherent, you are considered stupid and ignorant. This is a society that doesn't consider you as the individual, but rather as a part of a mass of faceless, nameless people with similar if not identical characteristics. It's madness...and the madness has even pervaded the innocent programming of Disney Channel.

I was watching Phineas and Ferb, a show about two industrious brothers who imagine the wildest activities, with my little cousin. She adores it, and I didn't mind assuring her repeatedly that I was absolutely loving every minute of it. On this episode the boys, Phineas and Ferb decide to create their very own superhero show, starring themselves and their friends: Isabella, a generic bully whose name I totally forgot, and Baljeet, your quintessential Indian child (so it seems). While Phineas and Ferb decide on their superhero powers, Isabella chooses the power of girlish goodness to defeat the world, Unnamed Bully chooses to become Belch Man, and Baljeet is unsure of what to become...cue the entrance of every stereotype about Indians known to man, well excluding a few, of course.

Phineas: Well, Baljeet...what are you good at? Oh, I know, you're really good at school! You're great at studying, I mean, your parents make you do it all the time! Why don't you be Study Man?

Baljeet: Oh, I know! I will be Hanuman Man, a blue monkey with the power to change his size and carry mountains!

(Gain quizzical stares from the surrounding creeped out children)

Excellent, Disney. Way to portray Indian children growing up in the US as mini clones of their parents with abnormal study habits, no interests (save for school), a queer ability to mention interesting tidbits of their culture at periodic intervals, and a totally ambiguous accent with roots in every country in the world except India. That's definitely educational and appropriate for children within the ages of 6 and 11. What will they think of Indian kids after seeing that? And how is that supposed to make Indian children feel? We're confused enough as it is, what with the clashing individualism of the US and the tradition of India, and now here's one more curveball...

Maybe I should start working on that accent while I study for the next 6 hours, or so.