The Boondocks

My presentation on Jan. 20 centered on the topic Radical Media and Resistance in Everyday Life. I showed the banned episode of the Boondocks; the comic strip started in a college newspaper in the late ‘90s with a small audience and no outside distribution. It then appeared monthly in the Source magazine, a hip hop magazine. The Boondocks gained popularity and was soon made into a television show on Adult Swim, attracting a mass audience.

Counter-hegemony occurs within a system, an attempt to challenge dominant ideological frameworks. The second season of the Boondocks television show had two episodes that were banned from distribution. The two episodes were a critique on Black Entertainment Television, which throughout its existence, the comic has constantly mocked. The banned episodes created a buzz on the internet, because their existence was not yet verified until a hip hop blog created a new post streaming the show.

At this point, the Boondocks had a mass following. The show itself had begun to steer more towards comedy for comedy’s sake, rather than its original political and social satirical commentary. It returned to its early roots in episodes challenging BET and black popular culture in an easily digestible form. One episode showed a hunger strike by the 10-year-old main character, the other, a ridiculous reality show trailing a self hating black man. The shows creator claimed he wrote these shows because BET has not changed, it is still an awful representation of black culture.

Link to watch the second banned episode no

http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/videos/id.665/title.boondocks-hunger-strike-banned