CULTURAL DYSPHORIA

What Is Cultrual Dysphoria

Cultural dysphoria is a term used to describe the discomfort which stems from living in the West while struggling to maintain a strong connection to one’s original cultural heritage. This includes struggling to maintain pride and self-acceptance in one’s own cultural identity due to contrasting beliefs, values, and cultural customs from the culture of their environment. This is often experienced by immigrants who are trying to adjust and adapt to a new environment as well as first-generation individuals from ethnic households. Often seen in children and young adults, cultural dysphoria makes it hard for an individual to interact with and relate to their peers of different cultures while also feeling ashamed of their own heritage. This sense of discomfort comes from the feeling of otherness and not belonging. This issue isn’t spoken about enough, since people don’t really speak up about it or recognise it as an important issue, however, it affects a person’s self-confidence and mental health which could make it hard for an individual to interact with their surroundings; ultimately affecting their mental health. It is important that the media as well as the public accommodates people of different cultures through acceptance and understanding, and the media has a huge role in depicting the way a cultures represented since it forms attitudes and perceptions to society.

Impact On Societal Perceptions

The media has a large influence on public perception as it contributes to forming attitudes, beliefs, and cultural understanding. Satirical portrayals like Apu may lead to ignorance towards the Indian culture as a lot of his portrayal is based on stereotypes we’ve seen previously in Hollywood, therefore shaping the perceptions of Indian culture as his character. This reinforcement of existing stereotypes creates misconceptions and solidifies previous ideologies which doesn’t really have much truth to them. While satire can be a strong tool for comedic purposes, the media industry must approach characterisation with caution to prevent unwittingly propagating harmful stereotypes. This can be done by encouraging more informed and inclusive depictions in the media. Recognising the power of the media and embracing diversity can contribute to the prevention of isolating and negatively representing a culture or group of people by breaking down barriers and developing a common sense of cultural appreciation as well as authentic representation and knowledge of a culture and its people. It’s a known fact that society bases its perceptions on what they’re exposed to on a regular basis, which, in this case refers to the media. Therefore, it’s important for content creators and people in the media with a platform to responsibly represent characters or minorities in a way that is accurately a representative to a culture or context that they are covering, since these have real world implications and affects.

Apu And Cultrual Dysphoria

As seen previously, Apu’s character contributes to cultural dysphoria among South Asian groups in the West due to his exaggerated accent to stereotypical mannerisms and traits (such as his work as a convenience store owner). Many argue that his mannerisms and traits seem racist due to the fact that his character was voiced by a white person which is where most of the distaste towards the character comes from. Many people growing up in the 90s and early 2000s can relate to Apu being used as a way to bully them as South Asians, which in turn could lead to cultural dysphoria. While “The Simpsons” is known for its use of satire, Apu’s character is a prime example of the need for more accurate depiction in media in order to prevent accidentally propagating damaging stereotypes. It is important that media companies treat the characterisation of ethnic minorities respectfully even from a satirical standpoint since these contribute to societal perceptions, maybe they could use satire as a way to combat these stereotypes by addressing them instead of using them as superficial character traits. Satire is a very powerful tool to conveying messages that refer to problems of flaws we have in society since it condenses sensitive issues into a way that is more palatable and humorous to a wider audience. However, in order for this to be effective, it’s important for there to be a clear distinction that this is, in fact satire, since it could be confusing to people who are being newly exposed to a topic.