While most people recognize Mindy Kaling from her role as Kelly Kapoor on the Office, or her Emmy nominated TV show The Mindy Project, what most people don't know is that Mindy Kaling began her career in comedy while at Dartmouth College with the play Matt and Ben. She wrote and co-stared alongside a good friend in a play about the antics Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. Greg Daniels offered her a job on The Office, which was in development at the time. She joined the show as both an actress and a writer and from there her career took off. Since then she's developed the Mindy Project, a show that debuted in 2012 and credits her as creator, producer, writer and actor.
The Smilliee article from week three postulates that people with "openness to experience" tend to be more intellectually curious, creative, and imaginative. Mindy Kaling is definitely a person open to experience. Her career has consisted of her taking personal leaps, putting herself out there, and not being afraid of failure. She has said in interviews that she doesn't ever consider failure a possibility. She puts her all into every project, hoping she can make it succeed by sheer force of will alone.
Similliee says "open people engage with the various percepts, patterns and perspectives that clamor for space in our mind." This is essential for someone with Mindy Kaling’s job. She is constantly engaging with other perspectives in order to understand her audience and connect with them on deeper levels. As both a writer and actor she has the ability to bring all of her experience to her character, meaning the audience easily connects with her and her sense of humor.
Mindy Kaling is a pioneer in comedy. As both a woman and a person of color she is able to bring a unique perspective to her work without alienating any members of her audience. She has mastered the art of being relatable and her career has nowhere to go but up.
I love both The Office and The Mindy Project, and I had no idea that Mindy was also a writer, producer, and creator. Mindy is relatable and hilarious and uses mundane situations that happen to people to create funny scenarios that make so many people love her shows. She also uses her characters to say a lot about women of color, and her characters have many sides to them, just as she does. Mindy relays her own life experiences through her characters and comedy, and her personality really shows in her creative products (writing, acting, producing).
ReplyDeleteI've never seen The Mindy Project, but I also love The Office and I didn't know that Mindy was a writer on that show as well! I love how she takes her background and who she is (a woman of color) to create funny yet impactful scenarios in her shows. It's interesting how you mention Mindy's openness to experience and how that influences her creativity as well. If she wasn't open to taking risks, she never would have gotten where she is today!
ReplyDeleteMindy Kaling is such an icon. It's interesting to hear her perspective on failure in a field where it's so hard to get started. I think it shows that she isn't afraid to work hard to achieve her goals and that she doesn't give up. Obviously it's working for her! Awesome post!
ReplyDeleteMindy Kaling is such a funny and intelligent women. I had no idea she was a writer on the Office. I wish I would have. She deserves a lot more credit than she receives. Her work is incredibly impressive. It sad to think she receives less credit due to her intersectional identity.
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