The Boondocks and its Social Commentary Kelsey Moore
Kelsey Moore
Prof. Debies-carl
4/21/2014 The Boondocks and Its Social Commentary
The Boondocks, a hit animated television series that airs on Adult Swim, created by cartoonist Aaron McGruder, follows the lives of the Freemans, an African American family consisting of two young brothers and their grandfather as they experience some of the social dichotomies that exist between the suburban environment and the city environment. Huey Freeman, a ten-year-old boy who loathes the racial/social injustices that he has taken notice of in his young life, acts as the voice of reason between his younger sibling Riley and his rigid grandfather Robert Freeman. Riley is always finding a way to cause trouble for himself, his family and his neighbors due to his “thug-life” fascination, thus causing Huey to confront some of the social issues he despises. Robert Freeman represents a sort of social conformity that blacks are sometimes forced to make when they move into a high-class area, which also brings Huey angst.
The series represents a sort of dichotomy that is persistent in modern society: suburban peace and its effect on human interaction vs. urban chaos and its effect on human interaction. This is illustrated in a crude, humorous yet intelligent way by the use of what the show likes to call a “N*&#a Moment”. Though, again, this seems like a very un-intellectual way of describing the effects of urban society, when one takes the time to look at the message it is sending about urban living and its plausible consequences, it does hold some merit. In episode four of season one, “Grandad’s Fight”, there is a relatively short clip that involves two African American men who get into a heated argument (and draw guns moments later) because one bumped into the other. Before the two men crash, there are a few seconds that show the city skyline, cross-lights, tall buildings, and people crossing a large intersection. What this can subtly illustrate is the amount of built up anxiety that can cause people to interact in a negative way at times. Human beings who are a part of the city and urban life are portrayed as being apathetic, selfish, anxious, and unpredictable. There is an argument which can be made that says that city dwellers are like this because there is a sense of isolation while being surrounded by other people, and that there is a level of anxiety that causes people to lash out. Georg Simmel, the German sociologist who focused on stimuli and the urban environment, believes that man forms “an organ protecting him against the threatening currents and discrepancies of his external environment which would uproot him. He reacts with his head instead of his heart” (Simmel 1905: 410). The final sentence in this quote can be countered by the aforementioned video clip. Because of the cluttered environment that surrounds the two parties involved in the altercation, and also due to the underlying racial stress that goes along with being in a city that is largely populated by whites, one can say that a person reacts with their heart instead of their brain; that deep down there are urban citizens who are ramped up with external stimuli and thus react harshly towards one another at the slightest incident.
The prison system and its use of African Americans, and the commercial/industrial society if represents, is also brought to attention in The Boondocks. In the episode “A Date With The….Warrior”, Huey and Riley attend a scared straight program and are forced to confront multiple inmates. When asked if he knows about the system of prisons, Huey replies by saying that it is a “system situated at intersection of government and private interest. It uses prisons as a solution to social, political, and economic problems. It includes human rights violations, the death penalty, slave-labor, policing, courts, the media, political prisoners, and the elimination of descent” (McGruder, Aaron. 2010. “Date with the…Warrior”. The Boondocks. Adult Swim). These are words that you would expect from a sociology textbook, and they are implemented perfectly in this TV series and can be paired with the arguments of Louis Wirth and Roderick Watts. Wirth notes that cities are centers of economics and politics, and that a culture radiates from these areas. In his article “Urbanism is a way of life”, he states that the “economic, political, educational, religious, recreational, or cultural” activities and goals that are made by a member of a group leads to that individual being “able to carry on the round of his life-career” (Wirth 1938: 23). He also writes that due to a lack of economic and political help in the lower-class urban communities, “personal disorganization, mental breakdown, suicide, delinquency, crime, corruption, and disorder” (Wirth 1938: 23) will take over. The prison paradigm, just as the city, is a community that finds itself in a plethora of uneven relationships that are blanketed upon a sectional camp with “a definite center but without a definite periphery and upon a division of labor…” (Wirth 1938:23). The prisoners who work in the penitentiary are simply pieces to a puzzle that is centered on monetary gain, and that gain leads to a system of internal politics and government that keeps the wheel spinning.
The dichotomy between urban surroundings and the relation to the oppressive systems within society are further discussed by Roderick Watts in his article “Sociopolitical Development as an Antidote for Oppression”. Oppression, in Watt’s eyes, “is both a state and a process. As a state or outcome, it is the circumstances that result from long-term….asymmetry” (Watts 1999: 257). To paraphrase what came after this quote, when someone is depersonalized enough they begin to look at themselves as being at fault and resist fight against the oppression. This theory can tie in with The Boondocks in so many areas because of the political, socio-economical, and racial allusions that are pieced together in almost every episode, particularly the aforementioned prison episode. To rehash the interaction between Riley Freeman and the inmate, the former brings attention to the media attention, private and sovereign interest, and the annihilation of one’s descent. As for the media, one a person is subject to being trapped in an urban environment that is plastered all over the news as being a low-level, drug-trafficking, gang nest they will tend to internalize the blame and take part in activities that lead young African American men to go to jail. It is as the quote by Wirth mentioned earlier. When someone is involved in a group whose focus may be political, cultural, or economic, he is more than likely to “carry on the round of his life career” (Wirth: 2938: 23). There is a paradigm that a forgotten minority suffers from in their urban setting, so they enter into a “profession” that leads them to prison, and while in prison they may continue to partake in their activity while being used as cheap labor for the city that exists within the prison system.
The character who represents a minority who involves themselves with negative activities due to racial/political tension is Riley Freeman. Throughout the entire series, Riley has been involved with criminal acts such as vandalism, robbery, kidnapping, et alia; and the fact that he simply holds a friendship with people who are involved in these activities is a negative sign in itself. Watts would argue that Riley “may be oppressed in one context, that same individual may be the oppressor in another. For example, an African American man may be oppressed in the U.S. society but the oppressor in a domestic context.” (Watts 1999:258) Depending on how the reader views this quote, he/she can say though there may be outside forces who have oppressed his people, Riley’s actions in response only cause more of a hindrance because they proliferate the stereotypes that are attached to African Americans in the urban setting, thus leading to the cyclical frame of the oppressor (government, media) oppressing the victims (minorities) and those victims oppressing other victims.
Overall, The Boondocks is a television hit due to the fact that it draws on many of the urban themes that exist in our world today and intelligently mixes them in with racial and government themes. In the interactions between people in the inner city, simmering anxiety can be released and cause sometimes violent clashes due to the stimuli that was suggested in Simmel’s article. In regards to the prison system and its correlation to the urban environment, Wirth’s article on the breakdown of social/economic constructs in the inner city can be paired with prison episode on The Boondocks because the latter produces a short interlocution between two characters that points out the flaws in American urban living. And for the oppression of minorities, Watts illustrates in his article by discussing the cycle that can come to life when there is a sense of loss of oneself in a society that seemingly disregards them.
Works Cited
1) McGruder, Aaron. The Boondocks. Adult Swim, Cartoon Network. 2010. Atlanta Georgia
2) Simmel, Georg. 1905. The metropolis and Mental Life. 410
3) Wirth, Louis. 1938. “Urbanism As A Way Of Life”. The American Journal of Sociology. 23
4) Watts, Roderick. 1999. “Sociopolitical Development as an Antidote for oppression—Theory and Action”. American Journal of Community Psychology. 258
The Boondocks Review
The Boondocks, created by Aaron McGruder, is a hilarious social and political satire cartoon that shows on Adult Swim, and follows the lives of Riley and Huey Freeman, two African American boys who live in a majority-white suburban neighborhood and are constantly finding themselves in crazy situations because of the cultural clashes that are brought up by the town’s citizens. Huey Freeman, an intellectual and inquisitive ten-year-old, is often at odds with his family and the rest of the community because he despises the racial/social problems that are always being ignored; he is the sense of reason that keeps the foundation of the family steady. Riley Freeman (age 8), one of the biggest sources of comedy, is child that represents the “thug-life” fascination that is stereotypically attributed to black children, which then leads to his older brother having to deal with the social bullshit he hates. Their grandfather, Robert Freeman, is a symbol of conformity that minorities often have to face when living in a Caucasian society, which also brings stress to Huey.
There are many examples of hilarity that take place throughout the series, but one of my personal favorites is the theory of the “Ni*&# Moment”, which is basically when once-rational black people lose their minds over the most ludicrous shit. Being the reflective character that he is, Huey often sits back and examines the stupidity that his fellow black people find themselves in. In the episode billed “Granddad’s Fight”, there is an opening scene the shows people walking the streets downtown in a busy intersection, all while some peaceful music is played in the background. As pedestrians are passing to and fro, two black men bump into one another, thus causing the calming music to come to a screeching halt and the two men to verbally confront one another. After a back and forth of threating one another, both combatants pull out their pistols and fire at one another at point-blank range, all while missing with each shot. When they’re out of bullets, the two men return to their senses and realize that they shouldn’t be acting so silly and should go on about their business, but before they can leave the police show up and shoot them dead. Before and after the altercation, Huey makes reference to how black people often cause a lot of the problems they have to deal with because of their ignorance, and continues to discuss moments like this as the series progresses. Though it’s a funny moment that pokes fun of the pitfalls of our society, it does have the sad reality that exists in our American culture.
My all-time favorite episode has to be “A Date With The Booty Warrior”, which has Huey and Riley sent to a Scared Straight program in a prison full of sex-hungry inmates. I won’t spoil anything major for you since I hope this article will entice you to watch the show, but I very clever piece of social analysis that is placed in the episode to comment on the injustice of the prison system. When Huey is confronted by an angry inmate and is asked if he knows what prison really is about, Huey instantly goes on an instant dissection of the prison system by breaking down how it is essentially a multi-billion dollar enterprise that exploits the African American community that goes against human rights and is a shitty bandage to social, economic and political issues. The scene is so funny because it is something you would expect to hear in a college sociology course, and it is able to show a juxtaposition between knowledge (Huey) and ignorance (Angry Inmate).
What I also think is cool about not just the episode by the show in general is how the main characters represent pieces of our American culture. For example, let’s look at Riley Freeman. Riley, who is the off the wall and just doesn’t give a fuck about anything, is a symbol of the ignorance that is bred from social/political issues. He is kid who gets involved in activities that range from kidnapping Oprah (seriously), hanging out with gang members, robbery, and vandalism. If you want to get seriously allegorical, you could say that deep down Riley is the social oppressor AND the oppressed. By hanging around a particular group that feeds his head with dreams of the “hood life” and feelings of oppression, Riley sees gang-banging as the greatest achievement of a black male, so he chooses to get involved in illegal activity to fight back. On the other side of the coin, though, Riley is the scary oppressor towards his community because he attacks the community that he’s trying to escape.
Overall, The Boondocks is a show that draws on many of the skewed political, social and economic issues that many people may overlook. It is able to make us think as well as laugh, something that takes great writing talent to do. By using two young boys who represent different sides of society (Huey representing knowledge and guided divergence, Riley representing stereotypical ignorance in the youth of the African American community), the show is able to show a dichotomy that continues to show itself in our world today.
Prof. Debies-carl
4/21/2014 The Boondocks and Its Social Commentary
The Boondocks, a hit animated television series that airs on Adult Swim, created by cartoonist Aaron McGruder, follows the lives of the Freemans, an African American family consisting of two young brothers and their grandfather as they experience some of the social dichotomies that exist between the suburban environment and the city environment. Huey Freeman, a ten-year-old boy who loathes the racial/social injustices that he has taken notice of in his young life, acts as the voice of reason between his younger sibling Riley and his rigid grandfather Robert Freeman. Riley is always finding a way to cause trouble for himself, his family and his neighbors due to his “thug-life” fascination, thus causing Huey to confront some of the social issues he despises. Robert Freeman represents a sort of social conformity that blacks are sometimes forced to make when they move into a high-class area, which also brings Huey angst.
The series represents a sort of dichotomy that is persistent in modern society: suburban peace and its effect on human interaction vs. urban chaos and its effect on human interaction. This is illustrated in a crude, humorous yet intelligent way by the use of what the show likes to call a “N*&#a Moment”. Though, again, this seems like a very un-intellectual way of describing the effects of urban society, when one takes the time to look at the message it is sending about urban living and its plausible consequences, it does hold some merit. In episode four of season one, “Grandad’s Fight”, there is a relatively short clip that involves two African American men who get into a heated argument (and draw guns moments later) because one bumped into the other. Before the two men crash, there are a few seconds that show the city skyline, cross-lights, tall buildings, and people crossing a large intersection. What this can subtly illustrate is the amount of built up anxiety that can cause people to interact in a negative way at times. Human beings who are a part of the city and urban life are portrayed as being apathetic, selfish, anxious, and unpredictable. There is an argument which can be made that says that city dwellers are like this because there is a sense of isolation while being surrounded by other people, and that there is a level of anxiety that causes people to lash out. Georg Simmel, the German sociologist who focused on stimuli and the urban environment, believes that man forms “an organ protecting him against the threatening currents and discrepancies of his external environment which would uproot him. He reacts with his head instead of his heart” (Simmel 1905: 410). The final sentence in this quote can be countered by the aforementioned video clip. Because of the cluttered environment that surrounds the two parties involved in the altercation, and also due to the underlying racial stress that goes along with being in a city that is largely populated by whites, one can say that a person reacts with their heart instead of their brain; that deep down there are urban citizens who are ramped up with external stimuli and thus react harshly towards one another at the slightest incident.
The prison system and its use of African Americans, and the commercial/industrial society if represents, is also brought to attention in The Boondocks. In the episode “A Date With The….Warrior”, Huey and Riley attend a scared straight program and are forced to confront multiple inmates. When asked if he knows about the system of prisons, Huey replies by saying that it is a “system situated at intersection of government and private interest. It uses prisons as a solution to social, political, and economic problems. It includes human rights violations, the death penalty, slave-labor, policing, courts, the media, political prisoners, and the elimination of descent” (McGruder, Aaron. 2010. “Date with the…Warrior”. The Boondocks. Adult Swim). These are words that you would expect from a sociology textbook, and they are implemented perfectly in this TV series and can be paired with the arguments of Louis Wirth and Roderick Watts. Wirth notes that cities are centers of economics and politics, and that a culture radiates from these areas. In his article “Urbanism is a way of life”, he states that the “economic, political, educational, religious, recreational, or cultural” activities and goals that are made by a member of a group leads to that individual being “able to carry on the round of his life-career” (Wirth 1938: 23). He also writes that due to a lack of economic and political help in the lower-class urban communities, “personal disorganization, mental breakdown, suicide, delinquency, crime, corruption, and disorder” (Wirth 1938: 23) will take over. The prison paradigm, just as the city, is a community that finds itself in a plethora of uneven relationships that are blanketed upon a sectional camp with “a definite center but without a definite periphery and upon a division of labor…” (Wirth 1938:23). The prisoners who work in the penitentiary are simply pieces to a puzzle that is centered on monetary gain, and that gain leads to a system of internal politics and government that keeps the wheel spinning.
The dichotomy between urban surroundings and the relation to the oppressive systems within society are further discussed by Roderick Watts in his article “Sociopolitical Development as an Antidote for Oppression”. Oppression, in Watt’s eyes, “is both a state and a process. As a state or outcome, it is the circumstances that result from long-term….asymmetry” (Watts 1999: 257). To paraphrase what came after this quote, when someone is depersonalized enough they begin to look at themselves as being at fault and resist fight against the oppression. This theory can tie in with The Boondocks in so many areas because of the political, socio-economical, and racial allusions that are pieced together in almost every episode, particularly the aforementioned prison episode. To rehash the interaction between Riley Freeman and the inmate, the former brings attention to the media attention, private and sovereign interest, and the annihilation of one’s descent. As for the media, one a person is subject to being trapped in an urban environment that is plastered all over the news as being a low-level, drug-trafficking, gang nest they will tend to internalize the blame and take part in activities that lead young African American men to go to jail. It is as the quote by Wirth mentioned earlier. When someone is involved in a group whose focus may be political, cultural, or economic, he is more than likely to “carry on the round of his life career” (Wirth: 2938: 23). There is a paradigm that a forgotten minority suffers from in their urban setting, so they enter into a “profession” that leads them to prison, and while in prison they may continue to partake in their activity while being used as cheap labor for the city that exists within the prison system.
The character who represents a minority who involves themselves with negative activities due to racial/political tension is Riley Freeman. Throughout the entire series, Riley has been involved with criminal acts such as vandalism, robbery, kidnapping, et alia; and the fact that he simply holds a friendship with people who are involved in these activities is a negative sign in itself. Watts would argue that Riley “may be oppressed in one context, that same individual may be the oppressor in another. For example, an African American man may be oppressed in the U.S. society but the oppressor in a domestic context.” (Watts 1999:258) Depending on how the reader views this quote, he/she can say though there may be outside forces who have oppressed his people, Riley’s actions in response only cause more of a hindrance because they proliferate the stereotypes that are attached to African Americans in the urban setting, thus leading to the cyclical frame of the oppressor (government, media) oppressing the victims (minorities) and those victims oppressing other victims.
Overall, The Boondocks is a television hit due to the fact that it draws on many of the urban themes that exist in our world today and intelligently mixes them in with racial and government themes. In the interactions between people in the inner city, simmering anxiety can be released and cause sometimes violent clashes due to the stimuli that was suggested in Simmel’s article. In regards to the prison system and its correlation to the urban environment, Wirth’s article on the breakdown of social/economic constructs in the inner city can be paired with prison episode on The Boondocks because the latter produces a short interlocution between two characters that points out the flaws in American urban living. And for the oppression of minorities, Watts illustrates in his article by discussing the cycle that can come to life when there is a sense of loss of oneself in a society that seemingly disregards them.
Works Cited
1) McGruder, Aaron. The Boondocks. Adult Swim, Cartoon Network. 2010. Atlanta Georgia
2) Simmel, Georg. 1905. The metropolis and Mental Life. 410
3) Wirth, Louis. 1938. “Urbanism As A Way Of Life”. The American Journal of Sociology. 23
4) Watts, Roderick. 1999. “Sociopolitical Development as an Antidote for oppression—Theory and Action”. American Journal of Community Psychology. 258
The Boondocks Review
The Boondocks, created by Aaron McGruder, is a hilarious social and political satire cartoon that shows on Adult Swim, and follows the lives of Riley and Huey Freeman, two African American boys who live in a majority-white suburban neighborhood and are constantly finding themselves in crazy situations because of the cultural clashes that are brought up by the town’s citizens. Huey Freeman, an intellectual and inquisitive ten-year-old, is often at odds with his family and the rest of the community because he despises the racial/social problems that are always being ignored; he is the sense of reason that keeps the foundation of the family steady. Riley Freeman (age 8), one of the biggest sources of comedy, is child that represents the “thug-life” fascination that is stereotypically attributed to black children, which then leads to his older brother having to deal with the social bullshit he hates. Their grandfather, Robert Freeman, is a symbol of conformity that minorities often have to face when living in a Caucasian society, which also brings stress to Huey.
There are many examples of hilarity that take place throughout the series, but one of my personal favorites is the theory of the “Ni*&# Moment”, which is basically when once-rational black people lose their minds over the most ludicrous shit. Being the reflective character that he is, Huey often sits back and examines the stupidity that his fellow black people find themselves in. In the episode billed “Granddad’s Fight”, there is an opening scene the shows people walking the streets downtown in a busy intersection, all while some peaceful music is played in the background. As pedestrians are passing to and fro, two black men bump into one another, thus causing the calming music to come to a screeching halt and the two men to verbally confront one another. After a back and forth of threating one another, both combatants pull out their pistols and fire at one another at point-blank range, all while missing with each shot. When they’re out of bullets, the two men return to their senses and realize that they shouldn’t be acting so silly and should go on about their business, but before they can leave the police show up and shoot them dead. Before and after the altercation, Huey makes reference to how black people often cause a lot of the problems they have to deal with because of their ignorance, and continues to discuss moments like this as the series progresses. Though it’s a funny moment that pokes fun of the pitfalls of our society, it does have the sad reality that exists in our American culture.
My all-time favorite episode has to be “A Date With The Booty Warrior”, which has Huey and Riley sent to a Scared Straight program in a prison full of sex-hungry inmates. I won’t spoil anything major for you since I hope this article will entice you to watch the show, but I very clever piece of social analysis that is placed in the episode to comment on the injustice of the prison system. When Huey is confronted by an angry inmate and is asked if he knows what prison really is about, Huey instantly goes on an instant dissection of the prison system by breaking down how it is essentially a multi-billion dollar enterprise that exploits the African American community that goes against human rights and is a shitty bandage to social, economic and political issues. The scene is so funny because it is something you would expect to hear in a college sociology course, and it is able to show a juxtaposition between knowledge (Huey) and ignorance (Angry Inmate).
What I also think is cool about not just the episode by the show in general is how the main characters represent pieces of our American culture. For example, let’s look at Riley Freeman. Riley, who is the off the wall and just doesn’t give a fuck about anything, is a symbol of the ignorance that is bred from social/political issues. He is kid who gets involved in activities that range from kidnapping Oprah (seriously), hanging out with gang members, robbery, and vandalism. If you want to get seriously allegorical, you could say that deep down Riley is the social oppressor AND the oppressed. By hanging around a particular group that feeds his head with dreams of the “hood life” and feelings of oppression, Riley sees gang-banging as the greatest achievement of a black male, so he chooses to get involved in illegal activity to fight back. On the other side of the coin, though, Riley is the scary oppressor towards his community because he attacks the community that he’s trying to escape.
Overall, The Boondocks is a show that draws on many of the skewed political, social and economic issues that many people may overlook. It is able to make us think as well as laugh, something that takes great writing talent to do. By using two young boys who represent different sides of society (Huey representing knowledge and guided divergence, Riley representing stereotypical ignorance in the youth of the African American community), the show is able to show a dichotomy that continues to show itself in our world today.