#mindians

I chose to write my essay on the Hulu series The Mindy Project because of my love for film and television. I will be focusing on how the show immerses comedy and tragedy to tell relatable stories that make the audience laugh and empathize with the characters. In order to do this, I will be discussing three specific episodes; “The Desert”, “Be Cool”, “Best Man”, and the relationships explored within them. With my background in social work, I intend to explore the micro and macro level changes that her show has initiated, not just within the entertainment industry, but also for society in general.

The historical and literary significance behind the word tragedy has altered considerably since its origins in the theatre of ancient Greece. The Greek philosopher Aristotle is credited for providing the earliest-surviving explanation of tragedy is his work Poetics. He defines tragedy as, “…an enactment of a deed that is important and complete, and of magnitude, by means of language enriched, each used separately in the different parts: it is enacted, not recited, and through pity and fear it effects relief (catharsis) to such emotions” (Aristotle, 335 BCE, 1449b 2-3). In the world of today, the word tragedy bears different connotations than its original designation represented in the works of Sophocles, Euripides and Shakespeare.

In his work Tragedy: A Very Short Introduction, Poole (2005) ponders about the meanings of tragedy in present-day usage. The theme of tragedy was habitually used in older texts to signify the downfall of a character that eventually resulted in death or violence. Nowadays, the world moves at a faster-pace, with individuals consumed by the distractions of daily life. Tragedies no longer hold our attention for as long nor do they carry with them the same devastation. In the twenty-first century, suffering does not have to transpire under extraordinary circumstances, the most relatable tragedies occur everyday to ordinary people. Aristotle believed that in order to make a tragedy effective, it is crucial to have a strong plot structure. An important deciding factor of what constitutes an effective tragedy is whether it contains realistic elements, as tragedies are known to have a basis of truth behind them (Poole, 2005). One of the reasons that tragedy and comedy are often intertwined is because after a tragedy has occurred, laughter is considered to be the audience’s reward; “The release of laughter, hilarity, ‘fun’ help to make the pain bearable” (p.73). This distracts the audience from the characters’ crises by giving their emotions a break and interjecting the intensity with humour. In that sense, laughter provides tragedy with comic relief. Poole (2005) talks about how comedy is concerned with more than laughing and tragedy is concerned with more than tears, that sometimes we cry when we are happy and we laugh for reasons both good and bad.

I have been an avid consumer of The Mindy Project since its first season began on September 25th, 2012, continuing to today where it is now in its fourth season. Over the years, I have become familiar with the show runner’s writing process and the specific decisions that Mindy Kaling makes to create different plot structures. The Mindy Project is a comedy that centres on the life of Mindy Lahiri, an accomplished obstetrics and gynaecology doctor. Throughout the past four seasons it has explored the themes of love, failure, flawed characters and competent women with humour, heart and quality storytelling.  

           “The Desert” served as the winter finale in The Mindy Project’s second season. It was an episode that fans had been waiting for since the pilot episode. “The Desert” focuses on the friendship between Mindy and Danny and speaks to the transforming nature of their relationship. While in the desert, they have an altercation where they exchange harsh emotional truths, forcing each other to face their own reality. It is a high-tension scene where both of the actors do a notable job of tapping into their characters’ vulnerabilities. The audience can see and feel the impact that these words have on the other, which can in part be contributed to Mindy Kaling successfully conveying that those closest to you are often the best at hurting you deeply. Just a few scenes later, Danny is kissing Mindy for the first time and shocking viewers around the world. The kiss had been a long time coming and for obsessive viewers, like myself, it was an extremely satisfying payoff. The hurt and anger you felt merely moments ago during their fight juxtaposes starkly with the love and passion you felt during their kiss.

“Be Cool” is a heartbreaker of an episode. Mindy Kaling and Chris Messina, the actors who play these characters, are at the top of their game throughout the episode’s run. It remains some of their best acting to date. The majority of the episode is light-hearted, with Mindy and Danny trying to hide their new relationship from their co-workers. It provides the audience with some hilarious moments; Mindy attempts to make Danny jealous with another co-worker, resulting in her giggling like a little schoolgirl, debauching her appearance, and straddling said co-worker. The final scene of the episode has Danny breaking up with Mindy. He explains through tears that she is his best friend and he does not want to lose her. My first time viewing this episode, I could not help rolling my eyes and thinking, what a cliché! However, to Danny it is not a cliché, it is the truth, and that is part of what makes the scene so painful. What makes this scene tragic is that the audience knows that this is not what Danny truly wants. He is so clearly in love with Mindy. He believes that he will eventually ruin the relationship, effectively breaking her heart (and his own in the process), and resulting in no longer being apart of each other’s lives. This episode has stayed with me and continues to be one of my favourite episodes of the series. The tragedy of breaking up with your significant other and the anguish and downheartedness that comes with it, is something in which everyone can relate.

The last episode, “Best Man” served as the season three-finale. “Best Man” and “Be Cool” are similar in the way that hijinks ensue early on in the episode and the final scenes are when the writers strike and gut-punch your emotions. The Mindy Project really succeeds at being a comedy, with every episode containing laugh-out-loud moments and rapid-fire jokes. I often do not catch all of their throwaway jokes my first viewing. Towards the end of the episode, Mindy is devastated to discover that Danny does not want to get married again. I would be remiss if I did not comment on the acting abilities of Mindy Kaling and Chris Messina again. They are the reason that these scenes impact people in such a profound and emotional way. As a viewer, their conversation about marriage felt very true to life. However, I am not married and have never had serious conversations about marriage with significant others. I was lucky enough to hear from another viewer about their interpretation of the Mindy and Danny relationship.

They have relationship struggles like my husband and I do. They’re not living a “happy ever after,” instead; the writers are showing exactly what a relationship is like after the grand gesture. That doesn’t sit well with some people. I think sometimes people want romance and that’s where it ends. But I need a little reality with my TV. (Sara Blagg, personal communication, November 22, 2015)

The Mindy Project has made me cry. It has caused me to stay up late and converse with others about their thoughts on the episodes. For as much as this show has made me teary-eyed, it has also made me laugh until I cry. I would not want this show to change because it is such a rarity for a comedy to be able to produce this kind of emotional reaction within its audience. 

In her blog post, “The Mindy Project: A Case for the Female Anti-Hero”, Kolb (2012) concentrates on the way in which current female protagonists are portrayed in television. She denounces the fact that audiences and critics alike are much more accepting of male anti-hero’s than female ones (Kolb, 2012). On the rare occasion that a female anti-hero is depicted on television, they are “allowed” to be flawed but only to a degree. The Mindy Project differs greatly from this expectation, giving us a fully flawed four-dimensional female character as the lead role. Mindy Lahiri is not conventionally likeable. In fact, she can be selfish, obnoxious, racist and superficial. Kolb (2012) even goes as far as to describe her as “…kind of an asshole” (para. 2). The expectations that are carried within the entertainment industry for our female characters, reflects the beliefs about women held within society. “Be funny, but not crude. Be pretty, but not vain. Be confident, but not prideful. Be excellent at your career, but don’t sacrifice love and motherhood. Be sexy, but not sexual” (Kolb, 2012, para. 5). Mindy is the exception to this rule; she does not apologize for what she wants in life. She wants it all and will do anything to get it, whether that is marriage, motherhood or advancing her career. “Mindy is unapologetic and I think that is important, because girls and women are told so much what they cannot do. Mindy is a heroine, but also an anti-hero...” (Nathalia Campos, personal communication, November 18, 2015). Her character is far from what we have been taught is the ideal, but she is real; saying and doing things that do not necessarily fit the perfect mold.

The knowledge that Mindy Kaling is a curvy woman of colour and that she is the lead in her own show, is inspiring when considering the diversity of other television shows. One viewer reached out to tell me that The Mindy Project “…has meant a world of difference in my own confidence…it has been a part of my own becoming as a woman” (Karen Melgar, personal communication, November 22, 2015). In conversing with Karen, she praised Mindy Kaling saying that; “She gets me…as opposed to being some representation of the white patriarchal ideal of women that is projected for women to try to reach” (Personal communication, November 22, 2015).

In conclusion, The Mindy Project is a perfect example of comedy and tragedy within television. In my opinion, in order to be comic or tragic, you must be able to evoke laughter or tears. This show manages to do both simultaneously in a unique way. By looking at the impact that this show has had on a macro level, it is important to note that it has inspired others to ask for more diverse female characters. Female characters who depict real women that we all know and love.