SOUNDING OFF: MINDY KALING

Before we begin this post, you, my readership of one (Mom), need to understand that I am obsessed with Mindy Kaling's show, The Mindy Project. Put simply, its a hilarious twenty minutes of rom-com escapism and features guest stars in the form of James Franco & Max Minghella.

I've always had a vague awareness of who Mindy Kaling was - a South Asian American comedienne - but never watched the US version of The Office, in which she played the character of Kelly Kapoor. I remember seeing the promo for The Mindy Project prior to its launch two years ago and the general premise of this lead female character, just navigating murky waters that we call life, probably resonated deeply with me at that moment in time, and just like that, Kaling sowed the seeds for the loyalty of my viewership.

I do though, have some qualms to address with Kaling, the prominent one being how she has opened the floodgates of real-body talk through issues addressed in her show. It’s become more acceptable to discuss body realism as opposed to idealism, but is all this talk about bodies helping women with self-image issues or does this new focus further fuel our obsession with how we look? I can't help but feel that the conversation magnifies appearances more than ever.

The Mindy Project never fails to poke fun at her insecurities and at times the jokes are really funny and relatable, for instance: “I’m not overweight, I fluctuate between chubby and curvy.” But others, while hilarious, seem somewhat unnecessary. In a recent episode, when Kaling sat on a man’s lap, the chair crumbled beneath them. I had a momentary burst of laughter until I realised, that it was actually rather disparaging and demeaning.

Kaling was also featured in a recent issue of Vogue, which essentially, is great because the publication chose to feature a woman outside its normal scope of Karlie Kloss-types, but the article turned out to be more about her body than Kaling herself, where she was referred to as a 'curvaceous comedienne'. Is that what successful women should be defined by? Their body shape? Why did human nature's relentless need to poke holes in everything ruin Kaling's moment?

Size and shape should never be a measure of success or happiness but continually focusing on imperfections won't shift the conversation towards a healthy mentality of neutrality (neither extreme satisfaction or dissatisfaction with one’s body) either. I hope these weight gags don't become a running theme as the show progresses through seasons, because that would really dull the sparkle of a show which has shown immense potential.