Well, the mystery is solved as to why Doctor Lawrence Kutner committed suicide in the April 6th episode of House. "Simple Explanation". The character merely followed in the footsteps of actor Kal Penn, who has committed career suicide by quitting the show in order to join the Obama Administration. Penn, who also starred in the "Harold And Kumar" films, has been politically active and was a strong supporter of Obama during the campaign. He will now be a liason to the Asian and Pacific Islander communities, and also to the arts communities.
Who knows, maybe its a good fit for the actor, but I have to wonder at this decision. Maybe he heard the term Slumdog Millionaire one time too many. Maybe he was sickened by the limitations of Hollywood and the ethnic stereotypes. Or, maybe he was honestly inspired by the fact that his grandparents marched with Gandhi, despite the fact that they would probably have been just two in a sea of faces that did so at the time.
I'm afraid that he might learn the hard way that Washington "inside the beltway" politics is a demeaning environment of its own, with its own style of stereotyping limitations which he should have caught on to when the position offered to him was as liason to Asian Americans.
There are two kinds of politicians, those that hate Guantanamo Bay and consider it at least a milder version of a gulag, and those who excuse it's necessity for the times, and hopefully for the time being. Then again, Washington is itself a kind of Guantanamo, but a more insidious form of a gulag, one which Kal Penn may soon discover has nothing in it to mine in the way of humor save of the darkest variety.
By the time he discovers that reality, one of two things will happen. He will adjust to it, and thrive, or he will feel stifled by it, and either burn out and leave at some point, or feel trapped and obligated. If so, he might well follow completely in his grandparents footsteps and be just another face in a sea of political apparatchiks. At the most, in time he might discover that his position as liaison to the arts community has more of a rather minuscule aura of Joseph Goebbels than of Nehru.
If in the meantime he ends up following in the footsteps of his on-screen House character, albeit in some symbolic fashion, there will be no real mystery involved. He did it to himself.
3 comments:
The post read as a eulogy, rather than someone starting a new job.
Bush would have given him the same job, if he could.
Ren-
I just think it was a dumb move on his part. You can't even call it a "career move". He has left a situation very few actors in reality ever achieve-a regular role on what is after all a highly rated and successful television series-for what? A feel good title with expenses paid and probably a very modest stipend, one that at best doesn't amount to squat.
What's worse, this isn't George Clooney here, somebody that is going to be in high box office demand years down the road. This is not one of the top ten or even top one hundred American performers in America today. If he's lucky, he might be able to parlay his experience into something at some future date, but I doubt it. There's just nothing here to work with. Just dumb all the way around.
By the way, I doubt he has spent as much as five minutes with Obama, this was a political appointment that was probably handled by some mid-level appointment staffer. Obama probably heard about it, said "good idea" and forgot all about it by the time the day was over with.
He might even have learned about it the same way I did. I wouldn't be at all surprised if his reaction wasn't the same as mine, in all honesty.
I don't have a strong opinion on this. I'd go with the TV job myself.
It's a kissup job.
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