[Peace-discuss] Boondocks

[Randall Cotton]

Here is some relevant information on Boondocks comic discussed at the last
meeting.

I've included below the complete series of comics that featured "Uncle
Ruckus" which appeared earlier this month from Dec. 18 through Dec. 25.

Also, in an April 15, 2004 interview in the New Yorker magazine, Aaron
McGruder mentioned his plans for introducing this "Uncle Ruckus" character
while he was talking about his plans for an upcoming TV show that's planned
for late-night broadcast on the "Cartoon Network" cable channel next fall.
Here is that portion of the article:

------ start excerpt ------
If there are two models guiding the show's development, they are probably
"The Simpsons," the beacon of virtually all televised satire and animation,
and, paradoxically, "All in the Family," the seventies sitcom starring
Carroll O'Connor as the bigoted Everyman Archie Bunker. McGruder has
frequently been told by studio executives that they're looking to re-create
"All in the Family" to be just controversial enough to draw attention, that
is, without getting kicked off the air, by creating another Archie Bunker
type, a "character who just spouts off ignorance." He finds this line of
reasoning suspicious. "As I understand it, the creators and the networks
originally thought, O.K., well, this show's going to be great, 'cause
everybody's going to get the joke that Archie's a lovable idiot, and people
are going to look at it as a satire of racism," he said. "They found out
that the reason people loved the show is because they agreed with Archie
Bunker."

The strategy for "The Boondocks" revolves, in part, around confronting
this fact head on and (what else) undermining it. Among the new characters
that McGruder and Hudlin plan to introduce is a neighborhood handyman called
Uncle Ruckus, "just the worst, most bitter, angriest motherfucker you could
imagine," as McGruder sees him, who will serve as the town bus driver, the
school janitor, the local gardener, the babysitter, the massage therapist.
"Everywhere you look, he's there," McGruder said, almost giddily. "This guy
just loves all the little white children in the neighborhood. Uncle Ruckus
is black and he's basically straight out of the eighteenth century. I mean,
he is a slave." Uncle Ruckus brings a new, fully realized archetype to the
varieties of haters in McGruder's universe; he is "the world's most
self-hating black man."

------ end excerpt ------

You can read the whole article (it's very long) at:

http://www.artistsnetwork.org/news13/news617.html

R
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: bo041218.gif
Type: image/gif
Size: 25213 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/private/peace-discuss/attachments/20050104/0416ed1b/bo041218-0001.gif
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: bo041220.gif
Type: image/gif
Size: 27248 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/private/peace-discuss/attachments/20050104/0416ed1b/bo041220-0001.gif
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: bo041221.gif
Type: image/gif
Size: 23258 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/private/peace-discuss/attachments/20050104/0416ed1b/bo041221-0001.gif
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: bo041222.gif
Type: image/gif
Size: 26801 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/private/peace-discuss/attachments/20050104/0416ed1b/bo041222-0001.gif
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: bo041223.gif
Type: image/gif
Size: 26578 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/private/peace-discuss/attachments/20050104/0416ed1b/bo041223-0001.gif
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: bo041224.gif
Type: image/gif
Size: 22301 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/private/peace-discuss/attachments/20050104/0416ed1b/bo041224-0001.gif
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: bo041225.gif
Type: image/gif
Size: 20107 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/private/peace-discuss/attachments/20050104/0416ed1b/bo041225-0001.gif