This post is featured in the CAPC Magazine, September 2015: A Unified Kingdom issue of Christ and Pop Culture Magazine. Subscribe to Christ and Pop Culture Magazine by becoming a member and receive a host of other benefits, too.

Each week in Notes From the Margins, D.L. Mayfield writes about the kingdom of God, marginalized people groups, and popular culture.

The show Girls gets a whole lot of attention in the media world. Lena Dunheim, hailed for her emotional honesty and clear-headedness when it comes to body image, is at the top of the pack of in-demand writers and performers. Critically acclaimed and successful, Dunheim has hit the jackpot. She is funny, unapologetic, driven, and smart. Lena Dunheim is one of a kind. Or is she?

There is another girl on the scene, one who hasn’t quite gotten as much critical acclaim. Mindy Kaling, whose new series (which she writes, directs, and stars in) has found moderate success in a broader network market, with much less hype and fuss than Dunheim and her crew.

In fact, of the few articles in which The Mindy Project was mentioned in The New York Times, two of those were about weight (“Women on TV Step Off the Scale” and—I am not making this up—a slideshow entitled “Proud and Plump”) and one was about her male co-star.

The New York Times, bringing the journalistic heat.

Lack of (good) attention or not, The Mindy Project is one of the few shows on television that I currently watch. I think it’s funny, whip smart (check out the latest episode—”My Cool Christian Boyfriend”—for some biting satire on both church services and short term missions) and I think it is groundbreaking in a few areas. Mainly, that a woman of color is driving force of the show, and that her race is hardly mentioned at all.

The Mindy Project is not a show about race, gender, or cultural perceptions of beauty. But it smartly points out all of our current hang-ups with all of those issues by neatly side-stepping them. The fact that Mindy is ethnically Indian is barely mentioned, choosing instead to focus on her relatability as a working woman, a friend, and someone on a quest to live out her own romantic comedy. Her weight, which by Hollywood standards is something of a radical act, is brushed off with a joke in the first episode (in which her co-worker declares that she could stand to lose 15 pounds, to which she retorts that at least she wasn’t divorced like him). And her gender is just a fact of who she is, never the butt of the joke or an excuse for irrationality or an overload of “adorkability” (New Girl, I’m looking at you).

In many ways, The Mindy Project is not so remarkable. It’s a standard ensemble comedy that very often is funny, although there are a few jokes every episode that land with a thud. There is a love interest with a will-they-won’t-they-vibe. The characters are likable, fresh, and well-thought out. It’s a show about a girl and her life—her work, her friends, and her hopes.

But in other ways, it is in uncharted territory. That it is the first TV show since 2003 (ten years, people!) in which a woman of color writes and stars in her own sitcom should tell us something. It should tell us that there is a serious dearth of non-white and non-male perspectives in positions of power and visibility in television today; and it should tell us that we are missing out on some tremendous material.

Mindy Kaling is poised to change that, just by being true to who she is. While shows in recent years have addressed issues of gender (Girls) and weight (Drop Dead Gorgeous), race has been a trickier topic. While people laud Tina Fey and 30 Rock for their take on the “last taboo topic”, I can’t help but think how much better the jokes would have been if they had been written by Tracy Morgan himself. The Mindy Project, while not perfect, succeeds precisely in this area because Kaling is the one writing the jokes. She gives us a full, nuanced portrayal of everything that makes her who she is—and what she finds funny. She is the perfect person to present her show to us: she knows exactly what she is doing, and she smartly trades cheap jokes for good ones that stick—making fun of hipster Christians, clubbing culture, and midwives—all the while refusing to pander to stereotypes.

Since Kaling is the person in power, her show feels different. This really shouldn’t be so groundbreaking, nor should it even have to be pointed out. But since this is turning out to be a once-in-a-decade thing, it bears mentioning. Let’s see more people like Mindy Kaling behind the camera (and in front!). Let’s see what we are missing, and laugh ourselves silly doing it.


CAPCmembers2019

To read this issue of Christ and Pop Culture Magazine in full today, become a member for as little as $5 per month. Members also get full access to all back issues, free stuff each month, and entrance to our exclusive members-only group on Facebook—and you’ll help us keep the lights on. Join now.


4 Comments

  1. I didn’t love the pilot, but wanted to keep watching to support Mindy and the show. Glad to say it has gotten better and is good! And, I never really thought about it in contrast to Girls, but you make some good points. Mindy is subtle, but smart about what she is doing, and she could certainly stand to get some more attention for being an awesome and hard working woman.

    [NB, it’s Lena “Dunham” not “Dunheim”]

  2. Great post! This show consistently makes me laugh out loud, which is why I’ll continue to watch it. Kaling is talented, pure and simple. It’s a shame more people don’t recognize that.

  3. I remember disregarding the Mindy Project right from the start. We would only tape it to get the last minutes of New Girl (I don’t care what anyone says, I love the show) that always ran over schedule. Once we finished New Girl, the Mindy Project was instantly deleted. But I can’t remember when, I think it was when my dad gave me one of his huge banters of not turning on the tv unless you have something to watch while he’s recording something big and interesting like the hockey game for example (go Jets!). This was when I turned on Mindy and I just remember how hilarious it was and different. Honestly I thought the whole scene of being a doctor on a tv show was a little was a little drawn out ( don’t ask me why) but this was great and entertaining. I watched it so much that even my family watches (and they’re usually really picky about sitcoms). My dad loves the show, and that was an even bigger surprise.
    Great article, I hope Mindy’s audience will just keep growing!

Comments are now closed for this article.