Aaron McGruder is an African American cartoonist. At only twenty-six years of age, he is best known as the creator of Boondocks, the popular comic strip that is currently featured in over two hundred and fifty newspapers throughout the United States. Boondocks, which “stars two amusingly surly African American kids who live with their grandfather in a white middle-class suburb” is known for mocking issues that range from entertainment news (such as Whitney Houston), to political news (like the Bush administration). His most recent subject, however, may prove to be too controversial even for this strip, which is famous for it’s satirical attitude.
Within two weeks of the September 11th attacks, McGruder had addressed the national crisis addressing Americans’ “blind, unquestioning faith in our almost elected leaders.” This particular plot cost McGruder Boondocks’ place in New York’s Daily News and caused The Dallas Morning News to move the strip to another section of the paper. McGruder, however, remains unaffected. He states that he will continue to address these issues because as he says, “…you can’t remove the impact of this incident from any aspect of life.” Apparently, this includes the funny pages.
Aaron McGruder is an African American cartoonist. At only twenty-six years of age, he is best known as the creator of Boondocks, the popular comic strip that is currently featured in over two hundred and fifty newspapers throughout the United States. Boondocks, which “stars two amusingly surly African American kids who live with their grandfather in a white middle-class suburb” is known for mocking issues that range from entertainment news (such as Whitney Houston), to political news (like the Bush administration). His most recent subject, however, may prove to be too controversial even for this strip, which is famous for it’s satirical attitude.
Within two weeks of the September 11th attacks, McGruder had addressed the national crisis addressing Americans’ “blind, unquestioning faith in our almost elected leaders.” This particular plot cost McGruder Boondocks’ place in New York’s Daily News and caused The Dallas Morning News to move the strip to another section of the paper. McGruder, however, remains unaffected. He states that he will continue to address these issues because as he says, “…you can’t remove the impact of this incident from any aspect of life.” Apparently, this includes the funny pages.
Aaron McGruder is an African American cartoonist. At only twenty-six years of age, he is best known as the creator of Boondocks, the popular comic strip that is currently featured in over two hundred and fifty newspapers throughout the United States.
This fictional, satirical follow-up to to Mark Twain’s 1876 novel is just as popular, although for most it’s for different reasons. The amount of times that the “n-word” is used is between 160 and 213 [2]. Since the 1950s, black parents and some white sympathizers have called this book out as being racist. As for my opinion on this, I never got why this was bad. Sure, it may seem racist to us, but in the context of it’s time, there’s really nothing wrong. That was the controversy of it, as for the story itself, it’s a classic in it’s own right.
The United States was a country founded on the basis of freedom. Imagine living in a nation in which The First Amendment did not exist. Where there was not freedom of speech or press where censorship reigned with a king. This picture is that of France for the entirety of the nineteenth century. During this era, Honoré Daumier was a renowned political and social cartoonist. The King and his police persecuted the lithographer Daumier, among numerous other French artists, for his political activism, including jail time and heavy fines. Honoré Daumier was a master of political and social critique. Looking at an overview of his commentaries there appear strong parallels that can be drawn to current American politics. Daumier uses a range of stylistic choices to promote critiques that are multi-dimensional which contain various overt and more subtle satires, meanings, and messages. Learning from and referencing Daumier, I created a political cartoon that mimics his style.
Since its start, the television industry has been criticized for perpetuating myths and stereotypes about African-Americans through characterizations, story lines, and plots. The situation comedy has been the area that has seemed to draw the most criticism, analysis, and disapproval for stereotyping. From Sanford and Son and The Jefferson’s in the 1970s to The Cosby Show (1984) and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in the 1990s, sitcoms featuring black casts and characters have always been controversial. However, their significance upon our American culture cannot be disregarded. During the 1950s and 1960s, 97% of the families were Caucasian. In the first five years of the 1990s, nearly 14% of the television families were African-American (Bryant 2001). These statistics obviously show the substantial impact our American culture has had on African-American television families.
Politics is an ongoing controversial discussion; Everyone has the right to participate and indulge in the political movement. Although chaotic at times, it is extremely important and crucial to our future. With that being said, it is important to note that various cartoon artists take pride in replicating important issue through their art. Artist appeal to their audience by using logical fallacies, ethos, and by emphasizing or pointing out important messages within their artwork. Doug MacGregor, a political cartoon artist, had the honor to form a part of the 2016 elections by displaying his ideas in a political cartoon. The cartoon titled “It Takes Brains to be President” by MacGregor alludes to social media and political knowledge using symbolism.
In the essay “Kids’ Stuff” Michael Chabon argues that comic books have become too centered around adults and need to be more focused on youth readers like they were during his childhood. Chabon claims that the authors goal audience has changed over the years.Comics that were once written for children are now written to appeal to adults. Throughout the essay, Chabon disagrees with the authors choice to aim comics toward adults instead of children. He feels that authors should write children stories for children.
...inn Mark Twain has demonstrated the insensibility of racism. Twain has used his central characters’ struggles in a complex world to reveal elements of human nature and elements of societal values; by doing so he has shown that racism, one of society’s values, is against human nature. At the time when the book was first published, 1884, the American Civil War had already ended and technically, all black men and women were free. However, down south, racism was still institutionalized through the passing of regulations such as the Jim Crow laws. Although black men and women were technically “free”, they were very much still oppressed. Mark Twain, through his clever use of the backwoods Missouri Negro dialect and his generous use of the “n-word” (219 times), has thoroughly explored the world of morals and values, all the while making a powerful statement against racism.
He states that Black life still does not seem to matter in America to the point that at time it feels as if the mere existence of Blacks is ignored. He claims that blacks are still readily denied decent education, employment, and opportunities available to their white counterparts and they are harassed, criminalized, incarcerated, animalized and killed due to the color of their skin. There have been several recent incidents strengthening the fact that even in the year 2015, America is still plagued by the evil of racism, presumed racial superiority and
Lippi-Green gives an in-depth look at the negative portrayal of African-Americans in Disney animations. She acknowledged the fact that the cartoon characters that have connotations to be from an African descent, are voiced over by actors that are also of African descent. These actors and the animated characters spoke in "African-American Ver...
Through the stereotypes, it is examined how different characters have saved themselves from being a part of the stereotype or have become a victim to the stereotype. The essay explores the examples of both Americanized and those who maintain the culture publicly, as well as changes in comic book characters after traumatic events in American History, such as World War II and 9/11.
Since television came into existence, it has evolved into a useful tool to spread ideas, both social and political, and has had a great effect on the generations growing up with these heavily influential shows. To these younger generations, television has taken the role of a teacher, with the task of creating a social construction by which many of us base our personal beliefs and judgments on. This power allows television shows take the opportunity to address problems in a manner that many audiences can take to heart. Many television shows present controversial topics in a comical matter, in some ways to soften the blow of hard-hitting reality at the same time bringing attention to the issue being addressed. In the television show, Everybody Hates Chris, season one, episode four entitled “Everybody Hates Sausage”, the stereotypes that continue to fuel racism are examined in a satirical motif, and class is presented in a comical way, but carries serious undertones which present a somewhat realistic view of the different social strata within the United States.
For the past four decades, African-Americans have been highly visible in the realms of popular culture through the legacy of the hip hop nation. Hip hop culture has vast and complex formations across the country and the globe, but popular representations are most frequently tied to the “culture of poverty” and violence that many social scientists have claimed exists within poor, urban, African-American communities (Ensminger 1). The diseased language of discourse surrounding the “tangle of pathology” that pervades hyper-visible misrepresentations of particular black communities and black expressive cultures are frequently utilized to dehumanize and devalue the black lived experience. This has produced a narrow scope through which blackness is represented and understood, as well as a lingering effect in African-American self-perception that is both disempowering and limiting to self-expression. In 2003, James Spooner disrupted popular representation by examining the marginalized experience of African-Americans in the predominantly white punk scene, while also expanding the category for black cultural expression in his documentary Afro-Punk: The ‘Rock n Roll Nigger’ Experience. Today, Afro-Punk (AP) embodies an online cultural movement that represents what afropunk.com refers to as “the other black experience.” From the general AP website, to Instagram and Twitter accounts, to an active Facebook page with almost a hundred thousand likes, this small but growing community has moved beyond the confines of the punk music genre and become a cultural movement which celebrates “the creativity and freedom of spirit in alternative Black culture” by exhibiting music, art, film, fashion, and more (Afropunk, Facbeook.com). Guided by the punk pr...
For many people comedy simply means getting a laugh out of something, but in reality, comedy can be used for more than that. Due to its volatility, stand-up comedy tends to draw criticism for being offensive and for spreading negative stereotypes. This, however, is a sign of social progress because it means that comedians are pushing social boundaries. Stories and expressions that are normally unacceptable are met with laughter and agreement when they are told on stage (Cohen 2). The fact that the content is sugar-coated in humor makes it easier to digest matters that are often looked at as being taboo. When the audience laughs at such taboo subjects it leads them to seek out and explore those subjects. When thinking about a comedian that talk about controversial topics, one comedian stands out the most in my mind and that is Dave Chappelle. Chappelle used his voice to challenge audiences to see the world from his perspective and discuss the institutional racism that African Americans faced in American society. The Chappelle Show served as a channel for his audience to navigate racism and racial
The first point of the novel from which most controversy stems is the inclusion of the word “nigger”. The inclusion of the word in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is unnecessary and offensive. Initially, critics of the novel disliked Twain’s use of vernacular because it was “vulgar and unpleasant”, disturbing genteel white Americans, not because the word “nigger” was found to be offensive (Kaye 3). Fostering an uncomfortable atmosphere for black students, critics believe that primarily white educators allow the novel because they prefer Twain’s depiction of subservient blacks (Kaye 4). Due to the prolific use of the “n-word” throughout the novel, the NAACP believes the story causes damage to black students’ self-esteem (Powell 3). Critics argue Twain’s use of a...
You can find wide varieties of these crude pieces on the internet, and it is not uncommon to hear them in the hallways of schools, or whispered among students and followed by unjustified giggles. Attempting to lighten the seriousness of things such as sexual assault or terrorism is not comedy, no matter what people may say. Comedy is about laughing with the people being mocked, not lessening the seriousness of their situations. When we try to make ‘jokes’, we must keep one thing in mind: comedy is about laughter and joy. A joke is only funny when it is not blinding us to the reality of cruel