Nahaseemapetilons.” He is unsure of his marriage until his new bride reassures him that if it does not work out he can be free because divorce is a possibility in America (the couple has been married on the series since 1997). In television shows such as The Simpsons, Apu, with the help of Homer, flees the idea of arranged marriage in the episode “The Two Mrs. Common belief is that all marriages are “forced” because the individual has no choice about the marriage partner. The lack of individual choice or an individual’s success in finding a marriage partner is often characterized as un-American given our national values of freedom and democracy. There are many variations in the expression of arranged marriage but most television narratives related to South Asians (I discuss this further in my longer project on South Asians in American Popular culture) tend to focus on three aspects, first, the match and marriage is set up by the family and is not an individual choice, second, there is no love in arranged matches, and thirdly, your partner is a stranger.
Comedies such as The Office and The Simpsons emphasize the foreign nature of a practice associated with Indians who are also Hindus. When arranged marriage appears on American television, it usually is represented as a practice that is antithetical to romantic love in the U.S. The multiple expressions of the term “arranged marriage” and how it is parlayed in American popular culture allow for fascinating insights into how we view intersections between marriage, cultural assimilation, and national values. What I would like to explore in this column is how we currently define and think of the representation of arranged marriages in the context of Indian arranged marriages and matchmaking on American television. by utilizing the practices of “the East” to reconstitute cultural and national courtship practices. 2 The new reality show has the potential to open up an alternative way to think about marriage in the U.S. already had a history of arranged marriage. 1 According to the Hollywood Reporter, CBS ordered episodes for a series that “extends the Eastern tradition of an arranged marriage (where friends and family select the mate) into the West.” Although many of the blogs offered scathing reviews of a program that would defile the idea of marriage or promote such a hetero-normative agenda or an Islamic practice, others said they would watch it and some mentioned the U.S. (I like to think that I can adapt to anything but a bad cable package Deep down, I know that I’m wrong.In the fall of 2009, I was anxiously awaiting the premiere of a new reality show based on the idea of arranged marriage. But something keeps me from signing away control.
But that’s the question isn’t it: What kind of person willingly submits to an arranged marriage, let alone allows a production company called Magical Elves to film it? Yes, as an exhausted 33-year-old single woman, I have days when I’d be happy to have my sister and friends, who I trust and adore, deal with my love life for me. The truth is, I will watch this show, and I won’t even feel guilty about if the participants are sane people who were planning on taking this drastic step even if the casting call hadn’t been issued. Now, I know I’m supposed to be disgusted that reality TV has sunk to this level (the one where TV execs essentially make an honest man out of The Bachelor).