Not to sound like a really typical jaded old lady, but life isn't fair. No religion is ever truly represented in any drama because people are not going to tune in for a weekly theology lecture. It happens to every religion. Imagine how ridiculous it would sound had Catholics started having fits over the inaccuracies of a character that was actually supposed to be a postulate in You're Beautiful. She didn't go to mass or have a confessor because it's a drama, not because Korea secretly has it out for Catholics.

As it stands this character is very obviously a joke. The writers and producers aren't asserting that all religious leaders are phonies, they're mocking the well established trope of "bad guy finds religion and suddenly becomes a decent human being." And I honestly don't know how they could have been any more equal opportunity about it, unless they had hyphenated the name to include Jesus and Moses and maybe a few minor Norse and Shinto gods, and then created an acronym. Which would have been hilarious.

Adiya- I spend a lot of time with abused women and children so maybe I'm just jaded. But this is an honest question: Why should it matter? Why would anyone allow their identity to hinge on another country's media? Why would your identity not hinge on yourself and your community instead? Mine does, which is why I make a point to address those before I even consider trying to control what other people think about me. Instead of complaining about drunken native stereotypes I try to help with efforts to reduce the rate of alcoholism. Instead of looking for reasons to feel indignant and offended when someone misunderstands or misuses a cultural artifact I focus on improving the quality of life for the people around me. Speaking out on behalf of your people and making this your big issue seems insanely disrespectful to the people who are truly desperate. If anything should be considered a blight on your identity it should be unchecked violence in your community, not a minor character in a television show produced in a different country and targeted towards a completely different dynamic.

The producers of this show aren't trying to create a representation of India. They made a ridiculous character of questionable heritage and religion to create a caricature of the reformed criminal trope.

And no worries about the typo or the aggressiveness. I tend towards the aggressive style of communication, too.

It's been my experience that this whole culture of white knighting and perpetual victimhood has done nothing but hurt the people who actually need help the most. It redirects attention and resources towards petty, inane nonsense. And the privilege it shows in the face of real poverty and desperation, while presenting itself as a savior, is maddening. I can pretty much guarantee that an acid attack survivor or a Dalit who has been lynched and relegated to his terrible social position cares that a South Korean romcom poked fun at spiritualism about as much as a Native American boy who is beaten by his abusive father every night cares about the name of a sports team. Which is to say not one iota.

I have. And I also have the good sense not to try to make an issue out of every stereotype I see, because I know we have bigger fish to fry. Not to mention it makes us, as a demographic, look like petulant children who would rather sit around calling other people mean for using red skins as a team name than address the problems in our community.

Yikes. Sorry for the typo - 'crazycatlady'

@crazycatlandy

I could tell you exactly what you've said to us: Instead of complaining on the internet about how South Asians feel about how their culture was portrayed on South Korean TV, your time would be better spent trying to resolve the problems of "widespread addiction, domestic abuse, corruption, and subpar education on native reservations" prevalent in your country.

Again, I am not trying to sound aggressive. Just making a point. Will not comment on this topic anymore.

Nope. My country was far from perfect, which is why this irritates me so. It is so ridiculously common for people to throw around buzzwords like "cultural appropriation" to make themselves feel good while ignoring the very real, systematic abuse and corruption in their backyard.

Want an example from my own culture? I have seen people pitch fits over the popularization of dream catchers and headdresses. It's all a show to make them feel like they're a good person. These same people will willfully ignore widespread addiction, domestic abuse, corruption, and subpar education on native reservations. But hey, they made a big stink about some celebrity wearing a headdress! Clearly they are a upstanding, contributing member of the community.

Another good example would be a dysfunctional family dynamic. Focusing on perceived stereotypes outside of India is like a mother going after another kid for picking on her child after the child was beaten by his father, but not bothering to do anything about the abuse going on in the home.

So what you're trying to say is that it is pretty much exactly the same as a Christian baptism from an outsider's perspective, complete with cleansing of some sort of sin. Or trash, as the case may be. Which is kind of the whole point of the scene. The specific religion doesn't matter, the only thing that matters is the gangsters are supposedly having some kind of spiritual epiphany. It's a spoof of the gangster conversion cliche. I Is he Hindu? Is he Muslim? Is he Christian? Who cares! Let's poke fun at all of them for good measure.

As a Native American there's nothing that irritates me, personally, more than people who live in glass houses trying to stone their neighbors. Just like how the reservations need to clean up their act before pointing fingers, the outrage here is laughable. By all means, keep throwing stones at Korean producers for not being properly reverent towards your specific culture. It's not going to hurt the broadcasters anyway. But meanwhile the lower castes and the female victims of abuse aren't getting the justice that they deserve.