I learned something about sacred cows last week. It doesn’t take much to tip them, but when you do, damn, stand clear of the Vesuvian response. Such was the case with my Rollergirls review two weeks ago. The predominantly hostile e-mail response was, in a word, fascinating. After a week considering the reactions and sharing choice remarks with colleagues, my friend and San Antonio filmmaker George Ozuna said: “All this hoopla over a roller-skating show?”
I appreciated that comment because it said two things. First, I was reviewing a TV show. For those who sniped, “Have you seen a live bout?” my answer was a flabbergasted “No.” (I explained why in the review). Also, I thought “TV” in the title of this column would provide a clear indication of my purview. But the larger matter Ozuna’s comment addressed was the fact that a “roller-skating show” was loaded with meaning. When someone like myself tried to scrutinize it, reading it from an alternate perspective, I was scolded, told off, reprimanded, and reamed. I also had a couple of my ideas smartly challenged (beyond charges of you’re just jealous/stupid/uppity). Mostly, I gained affirmation of my point of view. Thanks to all who bothered to write.
Now, I don’t presume to be remotely as brilliant as satirist Aaron McGruder, but it was encouraging to see the aftermath of his recent sacred-cow-tipping. The controversial “The Return of the King” episode of McGruder’s animated The Boondocks aired for the first time Jan. 15 on Adult Swim (Cartoon Network’s late-night skein of programming for adults). This is the episode where African-American civil rights leader Martin Luther King awakes from a coma and roundly critiques contemporary African-American culture. This drew outrage from the Rev. Al Sharpton, who was particularly angered that the animated King drops the N-word in his tirade. Sharpton has demanded an apology from the Cartoon Network and that the network pull “episodes that desecrate black historic figures.”
Desecrate? To desecrate is to damage something sacred. King was an important religious and social leader, but I wonder what he would make of being called “sacred.” That, and it wasn’t King or his work being rebuked, but an imagined critique from King through McGruder’s laser-sharp perspective. I wonder if Sharpton or any other of the episode’s critics saw the series prior to the King episode or realized that the use of the N-word is an ongoing debate surrounding The Boondocks. If so, perhaps when the animated King reportedly inspires a “second civil rights movement,” they would have taken note.
A second civil rights movement? Hello? That’s not provocative. It’s downright revolutionary.
The Cartoon Network began rerunning The Boondocks last Sunday, with no indication, at this date, to omit the “Return” episode. In the meantime, the Cartoon Network has ordered a second season (20 episodes) of The Boondocks for a late-2006 premiere.
Want to go to hell in a handbasket? Another new Cartoon Network series, scathing in its spot-on satire, promises to be the next thing to banish those who dare to laugh to the depths. The new series is Moral Orel, and it’s divine.
Eleven-year-old Orel is the focus of this 15-minute stop-motion cartoon, created by Dino Stamatopoulos (Late Night With Conan O’Brien, Mr. Show). Cheery, moon-faced Orel loves church and earnestly follows the path of righteousness. However, Orel’s literal translations of the Bible lead to wildly absurd and, depending on how closely you stand near the brink of hell, hilarious results.
The Boondocks and Moral Orel air Sunday nights at 10pm and 11pm on the Cartoon Network. Check local listings for additional air times.
Meanwhile, The Book of Daniel is closed: The NBC dramedy starring Aidan Quinn has been cancelled. It received complaints for being offensive to Christians, and a Nashville network affiliate refused to air it. However, the show wasn’t even good enough to call irreverent.
As always, stay tuned.
This article appears in February 3 • 2006.