Never Have I Ever Been More Horrified by a Show
Photo Credit: Ron Adar / Shutterstock.com
By Sonya Surapaneni
There’s nothing more infuriating than watching a show, hating it, and then listening to everyone else rave about how amazing it is. Nothing more annoying than listening to people talk about how they binged it all in a day, or how they excused the absurdity of the show because it was too “addicting,” or even how they wished there were more seasons of the dreadful “masterpiece,” as they called it. And this is exactly how I felt about Never Have I Ever--the only show I have ever watched in a day, and hated with a burning passion.
Although I strongly oppose watching the show, of course, it has its supporters and fans rooting for the show till the end. Found on Netflix and various other streaming sites, the show focuses on an Indian girl, Devi, getting through high school with the highest GPA she can acquire, accumulating her extracurriculars on the way. As she balances her over-exaggerated Indian family, perfectly weird friends, and absurd crushes through the years, she continues to try to assimilate—hoping to fit in with the crowd at her school. Comedic and goofy on the surface, the show may look like a classic, but when looking deeper, we explore the problematic faults that the show reeks of—simply bringing us back years to before progress was ever made for the South Asian community.
As a first generation Indian teen, Devi begins the show with the great loss of her dad. As she continues to attend school, she battles all of her pent-up trauma and emotions, as she’s unable to talk to anyone about it except her therapist. Since South Asians don’t get a lot of representation in the media for getting aid for their mental health, this is seemingly progressive in the show, as many viewers (including me) thought, but led to a massive let-down. Nalini begins the episode (Season 1 Episode 11) with an extreme face of disgust towards therapy, claiming that she doesn’t believe in it. She further says “therapy is only for white people” directly to the therapist, but still continues to take advantage of the therapy session. This is problematic in so many ways, pushing Indian stereotypes through the show—reinforcing that Indian women (or Indian people in general) should not be able to access therapy.
Another problematic moment in the show is when Devi is forced into Ganesh Puja—an important event that is celebrated on Ganesh Chathurthi. It’s considered one of the most significant traditions in India and throughout America, with many throwing their own pujas at home. In episode 4, the puja is celebrated in the show—much to Devi’s frustration. As she throws a fit when her mom wraps a sari for her and grumbles all the way to the car, she’s immediately isolating herself from her culture, portraying it in a negative light. On the way to the puja, she becomes increasingly frustrated when she learns it is at her high school, embarrassed that someone might see her in her cultural clothes. Through the whole puja, she isolates herself and remains judgmental of the activities proceeding in front of her. As she comes into conflict with two of her friends who explain the culture to her—with one saying that the Bollywood dance that proceeds is cool, opposing her own thoughts, and another saying that he learned to love his culture after he met someone at the dorms who taught him to embrace his culture, Devi stands her ground, still being embarrassed by her roots. Encountering Paxton (her white-passing fling/hookup/crush) later in the episode, she thinks and talks down upon her culture, surprised when she learns that he likes her outfit. This whole episode reveals Devi’s internalized racism about her own culture, painting Indian pujas and activities as undesirable—showcasing it in a negative light. With the diversified demographic of the show, this could potentially influence many Indians to feel the same, which can be extremely harmful to South-Asians in the community.
Furthermore, stereotypes about the South-Asian community are prevalent through the show—with barely any representation in the community. The three lead Indian women reinforce the model minority myth, with Nalini being a successful doctor, Kamala (Devi’s cousin) being enrolled in a prestigious school, and of course, Devi being star student, aiming for the Ivy League. The other Indian aunties we meet seem to gossip constantly, another stereotype that is presented about Indians and Indian-Americans today. They talk about prestige, class, and exhibit Islamophobia through the conversation. The arranged marriage trope is also extremely prevalent through the show, portraying anyone who marries through love as unsuccessful, unhappy, and ultimately unmarried as through societal standards.
Apart from all the disrespect to South Asians today, the show continues to be ableist—presenting Devi with sudden paralysis at the beginning of the show. With paralysis being one of the most severe disabilities around the world, you’d think it would be regarded as a big deal in the show. However, the show displays an absurd act of ableism in the first episode, with Devi’s best friend, Eleanor, regarding disability as a problem. She dramatically falls to the floor (extremely problematic on its own), and remarks “in protest, I shan't use my legs either.” This raises so many questions—why is she pretending to be disabled? Why is she portraying disability as a problem in society? Why is she acting like disability is a choice? How is she not totally, and utterly, ashamed of doing that? This horrifying representation of ableism continues, when Devi miraculously regains her ability to walk—but not after the same pain many people go through. Instead, she reaches up to see her (white-passing) crush at a store, and can suddenly walk again. Although surprising, the show turns her disability into a joke, regarding it as funny throughout the show—again, blatant ableism.
Further, anti-Semitism and Jewish stereotypes are prevalent through the story, introducing Ben, another main character in the show. From her worst enemy to her lover (spoiler alert), Ben is subject to many of Devi’s harsh jokes, including her off-putting comments in class that begins with the second episode. While early in the show, Devi isn’t afraid to make vile remarks to Ben, muttering to herself that she wishes pain on him—bringing in the Nazis. Being asked to speak up, she firmly repeats herself to the class, saying that she wishes the “Nazis would kill Ben.” She doesn’t seem to be shamed of her anti-Semitism, which is clearly reflected here, and continues to repeat many of those jokes throughout the show. Devi and her mom also reinforce the anti-Semitic myth that Jews are “greedy” or “rich” through the show, stereotyping Ben’s dad as a well-off lawyer who has no trouble making his own money. In Episode 5, while Devi continues to complain about her Indian heritage, she compares her Indian function to Ben’s bar mitzvah—asking why she can’t have her party at a rich place like Ben did. Her mom, Nalini, replies, saying “Jewish people know how to save.” As a stereotype that has been around for many years, dating back to the Middle Ages, the show continues to reinforce harmful stereotypes that apply to a population at whole. However, these aren’t the only times in which the show has been anti-Semitic—there’s almost a micro-aggression in every episode. Do better Mindy Kaling!
