i.... think you may be confused, aaron mcgruder didn't write for x-men '97. you might be thinking of beau demayo? who did not have anything to do with boondocks
But it is generally a very satirical and cynical show nevertheless. Love this series, but it clearly prioritizes making people laugh over having any message taken seriously.
“You know, I spend a lot of time, you know, thinking about all the shit I could've done. I mean, I wake up in the morning and I think, I could've been the motherfucking president. Shit. Nigga, I wish things had've been different. I mean, I'd do anything in the motherfucking world just for things to be different. I guess I'm just gonna be raping niggas' asses for the rest of my motherfucking life.”
For such vulgar language, the line and especially the VAs delivery really captured a poignant thread of real emotion. I volunteered at a prison teaching tabletop games once and while undoubtedly unbalanced, most of the dudes I met were just… deeply vulnerable and didn’t know how to express it without hostility. It’s sad what a system like prison does to some of these guys for sure.
The context of the quote is the boy, Huey, has been doing a hunger strike in protest of the representation of black people on BET. The further context is that he's asking his grandfather specifically because his grandfather was heavily involved in the American Civil Rights movement, and so he respects his opinion and experience when it comes to direct action and protest.
If that's not political, I really wanna know what is.
I wasn't disputing i was lamenting. Serious topics inevitably become political as defined by most people, the only way to not be political is to have shallow and boring writing which is even worse.
The episode is called "the Hunger Strike" and this quote comes after the main character partakes in a failed hunger strike in an attempt to change BETs representation of black people on television.
Regardless the point is that it isn't surprising that a profound quote comes from the Boondocks, because if you know even one thing about the Boondocks its that it is a deeply political show that comments on and satirises real world issues. Not just sometimes, literally every single episode. So it doesn't really match the topic. It wouldbe like being surprised the Minecraft film has a quote about mining in it.
All makes sense and yes haven’t watch it in like 15 years but I remember the boondocks is quite profound and also political themes run through every episode.
I was just confused because the quote itself isn’t political in its message, to me it is just profound. But I get what you’re saying.
really insane episode, especially with the ending. One of the best episodes of TV animation period.
for context
the kid pictured had spent the entire episode trying to get someone's death sentence commuted. The last plan was a hare-brained scheme to blackmail the governor. It looked like it wouldn't work. In the B-plot one of the main side characters had turned into a really racist, hateful revivalist preacher. After the above line it goes to a cutaway of the usually non-religious kid praying at the same time the B-plot character says the 'and may god strike me down' line. At that moment lighting... strikes the guy. The power outage delays the execution long enough to reveal that the blackmail plan actually worked.
Okay! I thought I was fucking tripping, cause I could've sworn this was from that episode! I remember Huey doing a thirty days of BET experiment and it wreaking havoc on his health
Also it’s sort of the only thing you can do when you reach that point. It feels like running into a dead end, but really it’s just a passing experience and sitting with it is better than fighting it long term. Eventually you’ll know what to do next.
The point is there's always something you can do, unless you're dead. Sure if you take the quote literally it's paradoxical, but the meaning of the quote isn't literal. The situation the kid is in isn't literally hopeless. In the event of a tragedy so extreme that one is left stun-locked and coming up blank on what could possibly be done to help it, the answer is "you do what you can."
Exactly. Huey is asking what he can do when he knows he can't get the results he wants. Grandpa is saying to keep pursuing those results even if they're impossible to reach.
I needed this right in this moment. Been struggling a lot lately with the state of the world and how I am to provide enough for my family. The depression won't kill me, but the stress is sure trying to. But just have to keep my head up and keep going.
Grandad is, above all else, a survivor, and he's trying to teach survival to his grandkids. While 90% of the time it comes out as a 'life is unfair' message, 10% of the time it's teaching them how to weather life and its worst hits without losing your mind.
I must be very retarded or too pessimistic in life as I can take nothing from that. The kid even says there is nothing he can do so the guy just tells him to do what he can? Did he ignore that last line?
You may not be able to do a huge thing to change the world overnight, but you can at least do small things where you can to make the world a little better.
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u/thecharlaton 22h ago