This piece will talk about Velma and how the show optimises three key concepts, firstly the idea of the out of touch celebrity, secondly the disrespect of fans, and thirdly the idea of being edgy for the sake of it and then using your gender or race as a shield to hide behind when facing criticism.
Let me lay my cards down on the table for you, I watched the first season of this show I didn’t bother with season two as I knew what to expect and thought I would spare myself for once. I don’t like Mindy Kaling as she is problematic, with the alleged stories of her forcibly kissing someone and writing it off as a joke, as well as her repeated fetishisation of white guys in her various shows. She has also been accused of presenting Indian women as losers who despite being treated badly by white male characters keep going back to them. In many respects she is a bad person. Yet she thinks as a lot of Hollywood celebrities do that they are above you and I, she thinks that through her stupid adult Scooby Doo show watched by a grand total of 5 people that she can tell you how to live your life and that by her messages in the show she is doing something to make the world a better place. How out of touch and into yourself can you be? Moreover, another issue with Kaling and this show is that her Velma character is a self-insert, meaning when a writer doesn’t try and come up with a character of concept but rather puts themselves into the show or film instead. Kaling turns herself into Velma and then plays the character entirely alien to how we have ever seen her before in the franchise. In that frame Kaling’s Velma is a racist, sexist, bully who treats everyone around her like dirt and then uses manipulative tactics in order to force them not to leave her, she is a reciprocal for vitriol.
As with many modern shows they can’t be made without insulting the fans of the IP you are trying to win in order to watch it. Of course anyone that doesn’t like her bastardisation of a beloved franchise rather than be told oh well we’re sorry you don’t like it you can watch the older series or another series if there is another Scooby Doo series airing at the same time, I don’t know if there is, she attacks fans and calls them sexists or racists or bigots, as that is a great way to try and win people over. Anyway the first season was widely hated by the fans and it has only got a second season likely because of a contract agreement for it, it seems that with the fact there has been no publicity at all with this second season it has been sent out to die and rightfully so. Hopefully we get a cancellation notice before too long.
I think at the centre of this whole mess is Kaling, she thought she was important enough to take over a beloved franchise and try and self-insert and to change it fundamentally into something else. That speaks to a level of delusion as surely someone must have told her hey the fans aren’t going to like this, there will be a backlash. I think the issue I have with this is that rather than be like yes we are trying to do something different, yes not everyone will like it but maybe someone will and pressing on, she has to be adversarial from the start and then play the race and gender card to mask her from any criticism. It is perfectly okay for her Velma to be racist, sexist and to treat the rest of the gang like dirt but if you call her out for her own characterisation or writing then you are racist. There is nothing racist about calling someone out for doing a bad job and being a hypocrite. Obviously some people will be racist and take it too far and I condemn them, there is no need to behave like that all it does is give Kaling more ammunition to play the victim and scream bigotry.
God I hope this is the last time I had to talk about this show
If you enjoyed this piece, then please head over to my Patreon to support me, I offer personalized shoutouts, customised film recommendations to suit your personality and tastes, the ability for you to pick what I review next and full access to my Patreon exclusive game reviews. Check it out!
Another Millennial Reviewer 