Jefferson Community and Technical College

From the SelectedWorks of David L Cooper

Fall October 6, 2011

The Boondocks
David L Cooper, Jefferson Community and Technical College

Available at: https://works.bepress.com/david_cooper/2/

 The Boondocks: Race and Masculinity in Post-Racial America

In 1999, Aaron McGruder created the comic strip, The Boondocks that soon became too
hot for many newspapers to handle. It was transformed into a television animated series that
found a home on Adult Swim TV late at night. Even there some shows were deemed too
controversial for the network; these shows had to either be edited or banned. The series is a post-
modern satire in the same vein as The Simpsons, American Dad, and Family Guy. These are
cartoons for adults not children. In many ways the series reflects the values of Hip-Hop culture
with cynicism and irreverence. Some of the core values of Hip-Hop are hyper- masculinity,
homophobia, and misogyny. The Boondocks explores and satirizes these values.

In Byron Hurt’s documentary, Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats & Rhythms(2006), he analyzes

gangsta rap. This now dominant genre of music promotes misogyny, violence, hyper-
masculinity, and homophobia. Although Hurt admittedly “grew up on this music,” he takes a
hard and probing look at some of the music’s more negative aspects. This negativity manifests
itself in individual and gang violence, male “toughness,” objectification and exploitation of
women, braggadocio, and extreme homophobia. This music, in many ways, promotes an
artificial and unrealistic form of masculinity—hyper-masculinity.

Just as such concepts as race and socioeconomic status are socially constructed ( Berger
and Luckmann), gender roles are also socially constructed. For centuries superior physical
strength led to male dominance and what bell hooks calls the “patriarchy.” However, in the post-
modern world where the emphasis is on brain power versus brawn, men have no advantage over
women. This perceived threat to the patriarchy may lead insecure males to embrace a hyper-
masculinity. According to Hurt, hyper-masculinity is also a result of actual powerlessness of
lower class males, black and white. Real power in America requires wealth and the political clout
that money buys. Truly powerful males such as Donald Trump, the Koch brothers, and Bill Gates
do not need guns or muscle flexing to express their power.

In addition, homophobia is rooted in American culture. Since homosexuality, especially

male homosexuality, is the polar opposite of hyper-masculinity, hyper-masculine males both fear
and loathe homosexuality which is perceived as being weak and feminine. These issues are
explored in several episodes of The Boondocks. Young Riley who is a wanna-be gangster
admires rap artists and expresses its values of misogyny, homophobia, and hyper-masculinity.

This paper is an analysis of The Boondocks and Hip Hop Culture. The emphasis on the
three core values of hyper-masculinity, misogyny, and homophobia. Riley and his brother, Huey
(named after Black Panther Huey P. Newton), balance each other out and provides point and
counterpoint in the series. Huey is the adult voice of reason and conscience while his brother,
Riley, is pure id. Through the perspective of these two pre-teen children, McGruder and his staff
present acerbic social commentary on the issues facing Black America in The Age of Obama.
Add to bibliography:

McGruder, Aaron. The Boondocks: Because I Know You Don’t Read the Newspaper. Kansas
City: Andrews McMeel Publishing, LLC, 2000.