The Boondocks is an animated sitcom about the Freeman family living in the suburbs. It is a rather hysterical and controversial show. The show touches on a lot of controversial topics for the time it was produced, often poking fun at the issues described as the controversies exist in the Boondocks universe as the most extreme example in order to illustrate a specific subtext and issue with said controversies. Honestly, it is one of the funniest and intellectual shows to be released. Though it does have crude humor and overly exaggerated stereotypes it also has powerful messaging that remains consistent throughout the show. It pokes fun at culture while also helping redefine and cultivating positive messaging towards the cultures it criticizes. A very rare thing in modern media, a lot of similar shows poke fun at issues within pop culture but never offer solutions or uplifting messaging. Most similar shows poke fun at pop culture for a quick laugh and do nothing to further the culture they just utilized as the butt of their joke. Now, over course it doesn’t always do this perfectly or always. But 95% of the cultural critiques within the Boondocks shows are striving to point something out in order to propagate change.

Honestly this is one of the funniest shows I think I have ever watched. It is wild and horrible, but it knows what it is about. It pushes limits and buttons over everyone. It looks absolutely amazing, this show is often regarded as one of those American shows where it is not technically an Anime but everyone’s feels like it is an anime. It’s stellar and doesn’t care what beliefs your walked into the room with, it is flat out unapologetic about the offense portrayed. And people love it for it. It is not a show for the faint of heart. It is a racially charged show filled with hysterical gimmicks and pointed plot points. I love this show, I love it for what it does, and I love it for all the fun and interesting stories that it has the push the limits. It makes me sad that it got cancelled, the vision behind it was a societal critique of African American culture made by African American culture. The production of this show should have gone on for longer as it pushed the limits. But sadly with the new ideas of society it became a show that was to controversial with it subject material. It was subject to cancel culture, wherein it was shut down for criticizing. Jesters privilege was violated when the show got canceled. For those of you who do not know what Jesters privilege is, let me define it. Jesters privilege is the privilege given to comedians/comics that are scrutinizing the happenings of the world and quipping or making jokes based upon the observed reality, the purpose of Jesters privilege is to enable funny criticism to exist without repercussions to the jester. The Jester should be able to crack a joke as everyone understands it is a joke, it should be noted that often the jokes the Jesters make shouldn’t be repeated by those that are not Jesters. In the situation of the Boondocks, the show is the Jester. It is a entity that exists to make fun of something in an over exaggerated and criticizing manner. Jester privilege nowadays seems to be waning in it prevalence in modern media, sadly the Boondocks was one of the first recipients of newer cancel culture. Despite this, the series stands the test of time as an interesting show that critiques society with stupid crude funny humor and over exaggeration.

I personally think it is one of the best shows out there, such a shame that it was ended prematurely. I do recommend it to others, however I do caution and delineate who I would recommend it to. It is not for all audiences after all, so it sits in the state of do I recommend it or not recommend it? I recommend based upon the person in this case, to ascertain if you are the right person please go and do your own searching before watching. That is my recommendation, I leave it in the readers hands in this case.

5/5

-Ben