# data[].attributes.body
Comic strip of 'Boondocks' by Aaron McGruder

Comic is a  comment on racism and social discrimination by using the analogy of slugs and worms

The comic displays two individuals named Riley and Huey walking down a path after a heavy rain. Huey spots a worm and picks it up to put it back in the grass. Riley points out that there are also slugs but Huey possesses an abhorrent attitude towards them and comments on how disgusting they are. Riley then makes a sarcastic comment on how Huey would make a good fit in today's foreign policy making

The comic is a reflection on how social discrimination is immensely deep-rooted in conventional society.

Laws and government policies are designed in a way that they benefit individuals of a certain race and not the other

Social conventions are sewn into the skin of individuals and they make subconscious decisions while making biases about race

Comic also talks about the reserves of power and how the government is powerful enough to literally pick up individuals of  a certain race and place them  in a safety net but discriminates to do the same for other races.

The comic is reminiscent of the suffrage that the African-American community has suffered

This is emphasised by the fact that one of the main entities is African-American (Riley)

Comic carries a tone of political satire and dark humour while simultaneously emphasising about the imminence and threat of discrimination

# data[].attributes.body
greshachheda3647

# data[].attributes.body
Planning:

Context: created by Aaron McGruder, the comic book was published in February, 1996.
Mood: sarcastic, humorous (to some extent),

Purpose: to create a satirical tone in order to express the overall discrimination in the society, between the rich and the poor, between colors, etc. It also ridicules the "future in foreign policy".

Features:
-Speech bubbles (“selective salvation you may have. A bright future in foreign policy")  usage of satire.
- Characters - a dark skinned African-American boy, and a light-skinned girl with blonde hair.

Introduction:

Comic strips, in a subtle manner express and voice global issues, making them unique in their own way. The usage of colors, appropriate characters, speech bubbles filled with text with irony and satire, tends to provide a critical mirror of the society. The Boondocks,

# data[].attributes.body
- Comic Strip 'Boondocks' by Aaron McGrudger
- Aaron McGrudger himself being African American, shows background of the life they face
-purpose; subtly expose the discrimination done by political powers
hypocritical perspective
- Discrimination; worms(cute) and slugs(gross) even though both suffer the same issues.
worms get better treatment than the slugs.
- colour, race discrimination portrayed by the author
- worms being a lighter shade of  a colour and slugs being a compatibly darker shade and how that effected them being treated; shows racial discrimination prevalent in society through worms and slugs.

Comic strips often expressive messages or provide brief glances of events or stories. Key elements of a comic strip include character, setting, and plot all conveyed in a few frames through a combination of pictures, captions, and dialogue. The text given is a comic strip called 'Boondocks' by Aaron McGrudger. This comic strip explores the problem of the discrimination prevalent in the society and exposes how forgiven policies in most countries are from a biased prespective.

# data[].attributes.body
- Comic strip ' Boondocks' by Aaron McGruder
Purpose- to show the discrimination that occurs in relation to foreign policy through a comic strip about worms and slugs
- Portrays how a girl helps worms who she thinks are cute, after heavy rainfall affects them, whereas slugs who have been affected too are 'gross' and do not deserve the same

- Deals with themes such as racism, discrimination, Power

-Intends to expose how foreign policy works for different people

- Text type conventions
Panels
Speech bubbles across panels

Theory- Critical race

TOK- How opinions are formed or based solely on appearances

1st Paragraph- Racism and discrimination are both topics that are prevalent throughout the world, especially in countries such as America, which is why Aaron McGruger, an American cartoonist and writer has made a comic strip surrounding the topic to expose that the foreign policy favours only those who they feel are worthy mainly depending on their background and even appearances

# data[].attributes.body
- details: comic strip 'Boondocks' by Aaron McGruder (colored- personal touch)
discrimination: worm (cute) vs slugs (gross)- both have suffered the same thing but the worms are getting better treatment and the slugs are deemed undeserving
racism: difference in color of the two
-purpose: to expose the subtle discrimination done by all, especially in politics 'selective salvation', 'hypocrisy of politicians'
foreign policies are supposed to protect the interests of all, yet they are visibly biased.
- tone/mood- political satire, mundane, humorous
- TOK: peoples opinions get swayed by differences, ethnocentric bias
- text type conventions:
5 panels
analyze panel by panel
camera angles: 1 long shot- which seems to stretch beyond the strip
speech bubbles
punch line 'Selective salvation. You may have a bright future in foreign policy'
gutters
symbols: worms=preferred species (white); slugs= disliked species (colored people)
- theory: critical race, reader response, eco critical

1st para-
A comic strip consists of a series of drawings which come together beautifully to tell a meaningful story. It focuses less on the speech and relies more on the visual aids, which just causes it to have a greater impact on its readers. It is a light yet strong method for the comic strip creator to express their opinions using satire teamed with a deeper meaning. The given text is a comic strip called, 'Boondocks' by Aaron McGruder. This comic explores and exposes the unfortunate yet true nature of the foreign policies of most countries- the fact that they are biased. McGruder uses such a simple mundane setting of two children to relate to the harsh reality of the world, a world that is filled with unjust discrimination and racism. The comic strip consists of a brief conversation between Huey, a colored child and his white friend. His friend saves an earthworm by preventing him from stepping on it, yet when it comes to save a slug, she is swayed by her own personal bias, as she considers them to be gross. This reflects reality as everyday the blatant racism and discrimination carried out by the politicians is harshly clear.

# data[].attributes.body
Comic strip 'THE BOONDOCKS' illustrated by Aaron McGruder, is written in a satirical tone to confront the institutional racism and discrimination existing in the United States with the help of puns and symbolism. Aaron McGruder is an african american cartoonist who is known to reflect the discriminatory nature of politicians in his comic strips and aims at influencing and rectifying the flawed ideology of the racist regime.

# data[].attributes.body
-Comic Strip called 'Boondocks' by Aaron McGrudger
-Purpose: to entertain usually but here it also reveals the discrimination that everyone does.
-Idea of Discrimination based on appearance and color ("worms are cute
and slugs are gross")
- The word "gross" is highlighted, which further explains the theme of the comic strip.
- McGruder not only highlights the discrimination based on color by illustrating the worm and the slug but also by illustrating the girl and boy of different colors.
- TOK: Opinions being build on appearances.
- The background panel highlights the whole conversation about
how the girl discriminates between the worm and slug who were present on the same path. The panel in the left
corner shows her reaction to the slugs.

# data[].attributes.body
The boondocks is a comic by Aaron McGrudger.
McGrudger sheds light  on the racial inequality across  the world through the analogy of slugs and worms.

# data[].attributes.body
- Aaron McGruder is an American writer, producer, cartoonist, screenwriter, lecturer
- The comic strip and the cartoon were influenced by McGruder's love of anime and manga
- "I created The Boondocks two decades ago in college, did the daily comic for six years, and was show runner on the animated series for the first three seasons. The Boondocks pretty much represents my life's work to this point."
- Shows discriminations between white and black through animals, slugs-> dark coloured brownish greyish blackish versus worms-> white
- "selective salvation" refers to who humans choose when to react and when not to when something goes wrong. Especially when its Black people vs White people

Aaron McGruder an American citizen produces comic scripts and anime to present the discrimination between white people and black people. His work "The Boondocks" introduces the main character, Huey Freeman, walking with a lighter skinned female, who has something planted in her brain that black skinned creatures deserve whatever is coming their way and that they should not be helped. Where as for lighter skinned creatures they should be loved and cared for as if they were to rule the world. This particular comic script has a connection politically and socially. Racism is a huge bias that prevents dark skin people to achieve to their greatest limits. Socially, white people claim that they did something wrong to them and address them with usually slurs. However, there are black skin people who are innocent and deserver to be treated the same as the rest but they are not. This is where politics is involved. Donald Trump, the current president of the United States of America reacted to the Black Lives Matter protests, stating, it's "a symbol of hate".

# data[].attributes.body
-details: 'Boondocks' by Aaron McGruder depicts the hypocrisy of politicians.
The dark-skinned boy is aware of the discrimination that takes place whereas the white girl does not realise the meaning behind it; when she expresses her bias towards to worms by calling them "cute" and deeming the slugs as "gross", she does not realise how her actions are related to that of those who work in foreign policy.
-notes: The comic strip consists of four medium shot panels layered on top of a long shot. Conventionally, there is a gutter (blank space) between panels that represent events that take place between two panels. The long shot describes the setting the characters are in and also maintains a sense of continuity.
first paragraph:
Comic strips have the power to depict real world issues in a comical and understandable manner and this is one of the many reasons why they are beloved and enjoyed by people from every walks of life. The strip, ‘The Boondocks’ by Aaron McGruder, depicts four medium shots layered on top of a long shot. The series is based on life in the ghetto. The strip depicts a dark-skinned boy in a blue shirt and a white girl in a pink shirt who are spending time in a park. The girl’s preference for worms over slugs is a portrayal of various global issues such as discrimination, hypocrisy of politicians, etc. She seems unbothered and unaware of her actions whereas the same can't be said for the black boy. The cartoonist has incorporated various elements such as humour and bright colours which make the comic strip more  appealing. Due to how easy comic strips are to understand, the target audience would be people from every age but primarily for children.

# data[].attributes.body
The afore given comic strip titled 'The Boondocks'  by American cartoonist Aaron McGruder elaborately portrays a girl named Huey and a boy named Riley walking down a pathway that is wet due to the rains. Through the incorporation of dark humour, McGruder sheds light on the sheer severity of racial discrimination that prevails in today's society.  Furthermore, the very fact that the girl in the comic strip  chose to pick up the worm and not the slug, solely based on the fact that according to her, the worm was 'cute' and the slug was 'gross', highlights the extent to which the subjectivity of appearances affects an people's perception of the individual. Moreover, McGruder, through his comic strip implies how the slug, essentially being black in colour and representing the 'African American race' was not picked up by the girl, even though he was on the same path as the worm and was facing the same issue of displacement by the rains. This impactfully portrays how the action of the girl was solely driven by bias and prejudice towards one race. The girl in the comic strip is representative of society as a whole and her action is symbolic of its prejudice towards the 'African American race'.
To continue, the background of most panel is painted a white and light blue gradient hue, creating a stark contrast between the colour of clothes the characters are wearing as well as their skin colour and the background. This in turn, draws the audience's attention to the skin colour of the girl and boy in the comic strip. What strikes as ironic is the fact that even though the boy is an African American himself, he is not seen raising any argument in response to the girl's biased actions. To add on, this particular comic strip could pave the pathway to the extraction of a plethora of TOK questions such as ' To what extent does an individual's race affect his/her right to acquire share knowledge?'.

# data[].attributes.body
A comic strip named Boondocks by Aaron McGruder
purpose connecting the politics to foreign policies by appearances such as discrimination (colour, caste and race),   and is to spread awareness of the effects of racism  The target audience of the cartoon strip would probably be the White Americans so as to offer  a different perspective to the issue of racism in America.

# data[].attributes.body
Written by Aaron McGruder
mood: political satire, Connecting to the politics, discrimination, 'selective salvation'
TOK: appearance alter people's perspective
Purpose: To call out the unjust society that favors discrimination.
Text type convention: Comic strip
5 panels
4 highlighted with a black box 1 not highlighted
Symbolism worms(white people), slug( colored people)
Foreign policies save people according to appearance worm (cute) ang slug (gross) , color ad race
discrimination
caste discrimination
points out the politicians' 'selective salvation'
reflection that even in a equal society where both have same disaster, rain but according to caste they are saved
minority
black masculinity
black humor
power
shows bias
hypocrisy of politicians
the path continues to the other panel where she says "I will never touch a slug" which shows that she is discriminating between animals that are on the same path and at an equal level
boy is black girl is white
hypocrisy: first we say we are equal and then there we show discriminations according to our biases.
background of the panels: white and then gradient between blue and white this shows contrast between the color of the clothes and the background and highlights them
the path extends beyond the comic strip showing that this discrimination extends beyond one country and and beyond one social constraints that affects the entire world.
Aaron McGruder himself is an African-American which makes the comic strip more personal and impactful. This is him showing how he had faced discrimination because of race and color
Living in America he has faced a lot of discrimination and this is his way of calling out the politicians who have been unjust and unfair towards his kind. This is also reflecting in the word 'gross' which has been highlighted in the strip. It shows how he was considered 'gross' because of his color.
First paragraph:
Aaron McGruder, an African American comic strip cartoonist, exposes the American society that favors race and color discrimination. 'The Boondocks' shows symbolism where it compares the 'worms' to the 'white people' and the 'slugs'  to the 'colored people'. The  fact that he calls the worms as 'cute' and the slugs as 'gross', reflects on how he is discriminated because of his color.
This political satire targets the politicians and the people of America and reflects that even in an equal society where both the kinds have the same disaster, rain, they are saved according to caste and biases. The cartoonist uses black humor and political satire to illustrate something as serious as racism. By saying 'bright future in foreign policies' it demonstrates the hypocrisy of politicians who first we say everyone is equal and then make decisions by discriminating according to their biases.

# data[].attributes.body
Purpose - to show the power of appearances and how differences in religions, cast, looks affect one’s perspective. Gives a glimpse of the discrimination in politics and in our daily lives.

Tone / mood- passionate / humorous, opinionated

Theory- readers response ( comic and humour attracts readers and let’s them relate to the work and truly understand it )

Details-
Comic gives a sense of humour in the midst of a critical issue as such
Shows 5 columns that express political hypocrisy
Racism
Superiority of looks
Black superiority
Expresses how appearance create perspectives
Power / importance of discrimination
Worm is cute and slug is gross - emphasis on the disrespect in society, the inability to accept difference
Foreign policies / political propagandas as a lie

Text type conventions -
5 columns
speech bubble
Various camera angles

TOK-
How individual opinions are impacted by societal or political ideologies.
Perspective is build based on appearance.
Ideology that implies look or cast create unacceptable differences - individually or for society at large.

ANS:
Boondocks is a comic strip by Aaron McGruder that focuses on the various ways of discrimination in the society and politics worldwide. Aaron McGruder is an African American writer, lecturer, producer, screenwriter and cartoonist best known for writing and drawing. The cartoonists background gives the comic a more personal touch and makes it, to a certain extent, more truthful.  The comic expresses the power of appearances and the ability to alter perspectives on the bases of differences in religions, cast, and looks. It connects the discrimination in politics and in our daily lives to simple climate changes. As though, opinions  could change like the weather, quickly and potentially rainy. The artist uses humor as a tool to express the gravity of this issue in reality.