Mindy Kaling, born on June 24, 1979, as Vera Mindy Chokalingam, is probably best known for her role as Kelly Kapoor on the popular American sitcom, The Office. She grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts with two hardworking Indian immigrants as parents; her father was an architect, and her mother was an obstetrician-gynecologist. Kaling received her Bachelor of Arts in Theatre from Dartmouth in 2001 and moved to New York City post-graduation. She and her then roommate, Brenda Withers, wrote an infotainment satire titled Matt & Ben based on an ongoing inside joke involving Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. They entered the play into New York’s 2002 International Fringe Festival, where it received lots of positive recognition and even an award for ‘best overall production’. It was through the traction this project gained that Kaling was picked up by Greg Daniels, a writer and producer for The Office. She became the show’s resident diversity hire and the only woman and person of color in the writing room, which ironically parallels her character, Kelly Kapoor’s, identity as the only woman of color employee at Dunder Mifflin, the show’s fictional paper business. Despite being hired to “fill a quota” for NBC, Kaling went on to write more episodes for The Office (24) than any other writer, including some fan favorites like “Niagara” and “The Dundies”. Eventually, she became an executive producer and director of the series.
Kaling for ELLE magazine, 2019
After eight years on the show, she left to pursue new opportunities. Her show The Mindy Project aired from 2012 until 2017 and followed the life of the main character, Dr. Mindy Lahiri, as she tries to balance her love life and her career as an OBGYN. Kaling modeled Lahiri after herself, and the show did well due to its quirky characters and clever humor. Since the show wrapped, Kaling has written, produced, and acted in many different projects, including Oceans 8 (2018), Netflix’s Never Have I Ever (2020 -), and HBO’s The Sex Lives of College Girls (2021 -).
When she’s not on the screen or in the writing room, Kaling is a proud mentor for aspiring women of color in her field. In fact, a big part of her creative process is working collaboratively with people of multicultural backgrounds. In his book The Creative Act: A Way of Being, Rick Rubin explores the role of collaboration in creativity. He says that all art is a collaboration with the people you know, the experiences you have, and your own identity. Kaling’s writing is a clear reflection of this idea. Her experience as The Office’s diversity hire has shaped her perspective of the industry. In a 2019 interview for Deadline, she recalls grappling with the pressure of being the only woman of color on set, explaining she felt like she had to represent all other women of color. While she’s long since relieved herself of this burden, her identity as an Indian-American woman in a field dominated by white men influences everything she creates. Now, her creative process involves working with other people of color and ensuring her work helps open doors for them.
Those who have worked closely with Kaling claim her uniquely brilliant personality plays a large part in her creative genius. B.J. Novak, who worked with her on both The Office and The Mindy Project, describes her as “both silent and giggly”, “tricky and classy”, and vulnerable yet still strong. Steve Carell, known for his iconic role as The Office’s Michael Scott, praises Kaling for unabashedly showing off her feminine side and being secure that her femininity doesn’t undermine her exceptional intelligence. Put simply, Kaling is a walking juxtaposition. Her experience as a “cluster of opposing traits” has lent itself to her creativity by allowing her to so naturally write a diversity of characters. In being so many different things at once, she isn’t bogged down or solely represented by one aspect of her personality. She uses her “collection” of traits to create characters that have virtually nothing in common with each other and yet are all comically enjoyed and well-loved by viewers. In this way, Kaling embodies one of Carl Jung’s personality types. Using her own personality to craft those of her fictional characters requires deep intuition. She processes her identity internally and then uses her understanding of it to create.
Mindy Kaling (left) and B.J. Novak (right) on an episode of The Office
On her writing process, Kaling says she finds inspiration in random places. She discovered that doing arts and crafts with her daughter over quarantine was central to keeping her creative spark alive during such an isolating time, especially since so much of her previous work involved constant collaboration with other writers. In a 2020 interview with Travel + Leisure, Kaling specifically mentioned how she enjoyed building Lego Dots and fashioning things like jewelry boxes and bracelets with her daughter because these activities allowed her to experiment with her creativity in a way that her typical work does not. Unlike comedy writing, these crafts had no rules; she was truly free to use her imagination. Rubin encourages this very same experimentation from his readers. Rules, he explains, are creative limitations, and one must “think outside the standard paradigm” to create something truly innovative. He suggests approaching a new project by abandoning any assumptions tied to it. The example he provides is if you intend to paint something, avoid assuming you’ll need a canvas and a paintbrush. This is a daunting yet exciting exercise, and it forces us to be our most creative. Kaling completed these crafts with the same abandonment, allowing herself to be freely creative away from the constraining rules of comedy writing.
During quarantine, Kaling also challenged her creativity while putting her kids to bed. Every night, she would read them a book, but instead of reading the traditional way, they would each try to tell the story from a different perspective. “It makes [her daughter] put herself in the shoes of the characters in the books and invent adventures for herself” she explains. She does this to foster creativity within her kids by encouraging them to think outside of the box, and she’s careful to apply this to her own creative process as well. This too is a tactic recommended by Rubin, as shifting our perspective, even momentarily, often widens our perspective. New perspectives are usually accompanied by new ideas, effectively fueling our creativity.
Like many creative people, Kaling labels herself as a collector of ideas. For years, she has collected future baby names, bucket list items, and even her rules for writing, all of which she stores for later use. She pulls from this cache when she needs to stimulate her creativity, and it’s helped her produce some of her best work. Novak praises her ability to quickly come up with new ideas, saying “she can outline an entire season of television on the back of an envelope in the time it takes someone else to come up with a joke”. This is no doubt due to the collection of ideas she’s accumulated throughout her career.
According to her colleagues, Kaling’s humor has always been ahead of her time. “The industry needs to catch up to her” says Daniels, as Kaling continues to redefine comedy television. Her personality seeps into her creations, and her bold yet natural ability to fuse culture, identity, and the unique experiences tied to both into 30-minute episodes continues to enrapture and inspire viewers. In paving the way for other women of color in the industry, she challenges television networks to diversify their writing rooms and pushes other writers to go beyond creative norms.
Sources:
https://time.com/collection-post/6159385/mindy-kaling-production-company-interview/ https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mindy-Kaling
I love this perspective. I especially enjoy the idea of Kaling collection of ideas. This collecting practice is something that has interested me since the beginning of the semester. I wonder if this is a skill that people can learn to develop or is one that people are born with. This idea of nature versus nurture is one that has come up a few times in class but it is not something that we have directly addressed. It is clear that Kaling was born with an ability to create and collect ideas. Can others learn to become more creative? Can people like Kaling be models of how to become creative? I would love to become more creative, which is why I enjoy a variety of different forms and styles of media. It would be interesting to explore more about the origin of personal creativity and if it can be built upon.
ReplyDeleteI have never seen The Mindy Project, but I am definitely a fan of The Office. While I do not know much about Mindy Kaling, I was aware of her comedic creativity, and your analysis has expanded my understanding of her. While I enjoyed all the parts of your discussion about her creative process, the part that stuck out to me most was the role of her diverse personality. As you have suggested, Kaling uses the role of character development to share her comedy. While the concept of using oneself as character development is very common, Kaling seems to have a deeper understanding of her creative process. While some may see this as a challenge, as it can be more difficult to translate contradicting traits, she uses it to enhance her comedic effect. Overall, I agree with your connection to class discussions about personality and the role this plays in her creative process. I have enjoyed your analysis of her and have certainly gained a deeper appreciation for her work.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love Mindy Kaling! I've watched all her shows and she is an absolutely brilliant writer and actor! I'm so excited you chose her as the subject of your post! I find it also incredibly interesting and inspiring that she owned her space, claimed her leadership position, and stepped out of the bounds and boxes assigned to her as a diversity hire, writing more episodes of the Office than any other person at that writer's table. It speaks to her creativity, talent and extensive skill as a writer. I have watched the Mindy Project and what I loved about Mindy's writing is that the character she plays is incredibly blunt, sarcastic, outspoken, and stands up for herself which is so rarely the ideal woman In television but was exactly the type of model women should have. I really appreciate her character’s constant candor and often it leads to hilarious moments. However it also displays the influential power of a lead character upon an audience. Mindy's main characters are confident women who are flawed, exciting, brave, and who own their space and know their own minds. Writing women like this is Mindy's cup of tea. Indeed she was ahead of her time, but her characters inspire me and I know they inspire other women to be more confident and to own their space.
ReplyDelete