>>REVIEW
THE BOONDOCKS: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON
Sony, 2006
"Personally, I hate black people, Ruckus. That’s why I did everything I could to make their lives miserable. Crack? Me. AIDS? Me. Reaganomics? C’mon, I’m in the name."
– Ronald Reagan to Uncle Ruckus in The Boondocks
Poor Uncle Ruckus. Diagnosed with cancer, the grotesque, self-hating old man finds himself in white heaven, given a thrifty tour by Ronald Reagan. The ex-President, after explicating on his hatred of black people, offers Ruckus a chance to get into white heaven himself – if he preaches to other blacks to hate themselves. Before the opening beats to The Boondocks starts, Ruckus looks into a pool with his one giant, googly eye and an even uglier white guy stares back.
"The Passion of Uncle Ruckus" is the last episode on the 15-disc set of The Boondocks: The Complete First Season and contains everything that makes this show such a work of genius. No matter how poisonously satirical – Ruckus preaching hatred juxtaposed with scenes of a man’s execution – the humour (message isn’t the right word) is always sharp and cathartic, the animation sharp and fluid.
Aaron McGruder’s comic strip The Boondocks is syndicated in over 300 papers across the U.S. and only one in Canada, The Montreal Gazette.
Why? Black culture has been stolen, warped and copied more than any other in history. Nowadays, the white kids in junkyard Acuras blaring thug rap aren’t as self-conscious as they used to be, worried about rolling up the window should they see someone black.
Canada has a particular lack of interest when it comes to black history. Some of us like hackneyed stereotypes and loose clothes. Some of us like B.B. King and Louis Armstrong. A few of us like The Pharcyde and James Baldwin.
That said, The Boondocks (shown on Adult Swim in the U.S., now on Teletoon here in Canada) is the freshest, most intelligent and hilarious show on TV. It skewers just about every thought, deed and misconception about black heroes and culture. Perhaps that’s why many black entertainers (like Bill Cosby) have spoken out about the show – it gives a voice to those in the black community angry with some of its leaders – and the ability to attack and kill them.
It took a few attempts to get the cartoon off the ground (it was originally to appear on both FOX and MTV, among others), due in part to McGruder’s fears of having its language and content bled dry by the major networks.
The Boondocks follows the adventures and travails of brothers Huey and Riley (both voiced by actress Regina King) living with their grandfather Robert (John Witherspoon) in a gentrified, suburban neighbourhood. Huey – dark, intellectual – constantly battles with Riley and his manic, lil’ thug attitude.
The decision to style the animation on anime is curiously appropriate. There’s nothing facile in the characterizations – the forays into swordplay and evil eyes are crafted to the tone of each story.
Each episode is fantastic. There’s Black Jesus (and Santa too), R. Kelly’s pee tape, and Martin Luther King emerging from a coma, whose vitriolic sermon shocked a number of viewers when it first aired.
The supporting cast features Ed Asner as the remorseless capitalist Ed Wuncler, Charlie Murphy as his gun-toting son Ed Wuncler III and Samuel L. Jackson as his buddy Jin Rummy (riffing on his Pulp Fiction character Jules and Donald Rumsfeld – The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence motherfucker). There are also cameos from Mos Def as Ganstalicious, Adam West as a slick lawyer, and of course, Uncle Ruckus (Gary Anthony Williams).
Like other Adult Swim DVD sets, there’s a bunch of interesting and useful special features including cast and crew commentary, deleted scenes, a making-of featurette and unaired TV promos. |
Copyright ©2006 FFWD. All rights reserved.