Mindy Kaling has been around for a long time in the television industry now, and in this duration, she has also been a standard-bearer for diversity in Hollywood, where she has often found herself as the only female writer and only woman of color on the staff of a new show. This approach has changed a lot in recent years.
But Mindy Kaling believes that, despite the positive development, these changes are a result of fear and not authentic acceptance of identities. She spoke about this in a 2019 interview with the New York Times Magazine. When talking about the changes in the industry, Mindy Kaling noted:
“It’s such a good time for TV! Between shows like “Shrill” and “Insecure” and “Pose,” I’m seeing people I wouldn’t have seen 10 or 12 years ago. Now there’s an embarrassment of shows with female leads. A world where I could be the only female writer and only woman of color on the staff of a new show would be very unlikely now….Now you’re encouraged to have a diverse cast.”
When asked to elaborate further about who was behind this, she added:
“I think everyone, out of fear, is being more helpful. There are edicts from the head of the studio or network and from different showrunners. It’s fascinating, because the encouragement is not coming from a sense of “How great it would be!” It’s from fear.”
In this same interview, the actress and comedian further elaborated her point about how people were more afraid of being called out than considerate towards other diverse groups.
“Fear of being called out. That’s been the most powerful tool.”- Mindy Kaling on the motivation behind inclusiveness
Hollywood has become much more inclusive since the time Mindy Kaling began. But there are still some evident problems with the industry that will take some more time to resolve. As for Kaling, who has primarily worked in the industry for decades now, she believes that fear is the primary motivating factor for this inclusiveness and not the inherent understanding of the need.
She added about this when she was asked what fear she was referring to:
“Fear of being called out. That’s been the most powerful tool. But it’s been great, because it’s making more shows that I am interested in watching.”
She also elaborated about the extreme focus on her “otherness” while she worked on some of her bigger projects in this interview. She added:
“It used to be frustrating how much interviewers would want to talk about my otherness. When “The Mindy Project” started, I felt as though other showrunners could talk about the character or the story lines or the casting or what shows inspired them. For me, it was all like, “How come your parents didn’t lock you in the closet as the draconian Indian parents that we know they must have been?””
Despite these reservations about her, Mindy Kaling had one of the finest careers in the television industry and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series, among many other accolades.
She is also well-remembered for playing Kelly Kapoor in the iconic NBC sitcom The Office, which has become a cult classic.
She is also currently involved in Running Point, which she co-created.
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Edited by Sourav Chakraborty
