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The Boondocks
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. This article has been tagged since April 2007. |
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| TV Series · Comic Strip |
| Creator |
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| · Aaron McGruder · |
| Main Characters |
| · Huey Freeman · · Riley Freeman · · Robert Freeman · |
| Michael Caesar · Uncle Ruckus Dubois Family · Gin Rummy Ed Wuncler, Sr. · Ed Wuncler III |
| Quotations |
| · TV Series · · Comic Strip · |
The Boondocks was a comic strip created by Aaron McGruder that ended on March 26, 2006 that has also been rendered into an animated television series that airs on Adult Swim and Teletoon. This article deals with the similarities and differences between the comic strip and the television show.
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The Boondocks comic strip was first published nationally on April 19, 1999 after a fifteen-month stint in the University of Maryland’s independent student newspaper, The Diamondback. After receiving critical praise and through many successful years, McGruder and then-co-producer Reginald Hudlin created a pilot for the Fox network that wasn’t picked up, partly because the nature of the show made it difficult to make it acceptable for non-cable television[1].
McGruder sold the television rights to Sony Pictures Entertainment and the show was finally picked up by Cartoon Network, where the first episode was aired on November 6, 2005 in the Adult Swim portion of the network’s nightly programming schedule. The strip continued for the first few months of the show’s first season before McGruder announced in February 2006 that the strip would be going on a six month hiatus. However, it was announced in September 2006 that the strip would remain on hiatus for the foreseeable future and McGruder officially cancelled production of the strip on October 27, 2006. The last strip ran on March 27, 2006[2].
The show, like the strip, has received critical praise and stirred controversy over its content. It was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Comedy Series and has been renewed for an additional 20-episode season set to begin in June 2007[3] . It has also been criticized by figures such as Al Sharpton for its gratuitous use of the word "nigga".
Both the comic and the television versions of The Boondocks deal primarily with satirical situational comedy that somehow affect the show’s protagonists – the Freeman family – Huey, Riley, and Granddad.
Both versions are based upon a basic fictional scenario wherein the young Freeman brothers, Huey and Riley, are moved against their will from their home on the south side of Chicago to the predominantly white suburb (Woodcrest) of an unspecified city, where their grandfather wishes to spend the rest of his days in relative luxury. Much of the comedy stems from the cultural bias that is made evident from this circumstance (i.e., black assimilation into white culture). Due to the comedic nature of the show and strip, the comedy doesn’t stay focused on just one overbearing idea, and often diverges to undertake other social or political issues
A running theme in the series and the strip is the concept of black unity. Specifically, Huey is often shown to be at odds with the other black characters in the show in terms of core beliefs and social ideals. In spite of this, he feels obligated to show them their due respect.
Because of the long turnaround time for each TV episode, the show lacks the topical nature of the comic strip, and instead focuses on longer standing issues such as the R. Kelly sex scandal controversy or hypothetical situations such as what might have happened had Martin Luther King, Jr. fallen into a coma and awoken thirty years after the fact. Due to the nature of cable television, the show is given more leeway with respect to language and content than the strip, and has fallen under some scrutiny for its liberal use of the word nigga, specifically.
Though the strip certainly had its own unique visual flair, the show thoroughly illustrates the anime/manga influences that preceded its creation (McGruder is an admitted fan of anime)[1]. Anime and anime influenced characters (as businessmen and movie stars) are hidden within the show such as Starfire (Teen Titans) and Jin (Samurai Champloo).
In the show, Huey represents the voice of reason for the show’s other, sillier characters who seem too preoccupied with their own delusional or psychotic escapades to heed his warnings. This is mostly because his comic counterpart spent most of his time lampooning recent news developments, which isn’t possible given the nature of the animated series.
Riley, though always sharp and short on temper, is noticeably more vulgar than his comic counterpart. He is also shown to have cornrows in the show, whereas in the strip his hair remained short and unkempt until very late, when there was a story arc involving his growing of the cornrows featured in the show.
Granddad, crotchety and old-fashioned in both the strip and the television show, takes on a more prominent role in the latter. In the strip, he is occasionally shown threatening and making references suggesting the beating of his grandkids, whereas in the show he actually does (only Riley, though, and only off-screen). In the strip, not much is revealed about Granddad in terms of his past — something that is rectified in the show with the occasional flashback portraying him in such eras as the civil rights movement (including refusing to move to back of the bus with Rosa Parks and working with Dr. Martin Luther King)and World War II.
Caesar, though a prominent and featured character in the strip where he served as Huey’s laid back counterpart, does not appear in the show.
Uncle Ruckus, originally intended to be introduced to the strip before 9/11, was withheld until very late in the strip’s life and most of his development has come by way of the show. Uncle Ruckus is presented as a self hating black racist in both the strip and the show. His character is used mainly as comic relief and his character represents an obvious hindrance to true social equality.
- ^ a b McGruder, Aaron. Interview with Bill Hutchens. thenewstribune.com. 2005-11-06.
- ^ Stepp, Laura Sessions. "Syndicate Says Boondocks May Not Return", The Washington Post, September 26, 2006.
- ^ "Adult Swim Headquarters"