The Truth About Underdog!

So, you fools took my bait! (Insert sinister laugh here) You dared ask me why Underdog was responsible for the nation’s drug problems. Well, I shall tell you! Even more, I will explain why that seemingly harmless purveyor of wholesome deeds in puppy form also exacerbated the racial tensions in America. What? You didn’t know? Oh, Underdog was no simple cartoon character. He was a carefully crafted bit of propaganda . . . a shill for The Man!

I know, you’re all thinking: “Wooh, Jim’s really lost it on this one!” but bear with me . . .

Let’s start with Underdog’s alter ego: “Shoeshine Boy”. The position of a shoeshine boy in that time period was almost exclusively held by poor black men in the inner cities. They were always smiling and deferent to their (almost always) white customers. It was a requirement for getting the tips on which their families survived. This fake politeness is what the show refers to as the “Humble and loveable, Shoeshine Boy”. Of course, the term “Boy” shows just how pejorative the show truly was. Much like the blacks of the time, Shoeshine Boy was considered -by most- a simple minded, bumbling idiot with a contented smile plastered on his face. There was only one thing that would motivate Shoeshine Boy out of his lethargy and that was his dream girl: Sweet Polly Purebred. I am drawn immediately to the name’s similarity to “Whitebread” a common referent of the day towards the empowered white middle class. One also has to think of the word ‘purebred’ in reference to dogs, with a meaning of racial superiority to “lesser” breeds. The name “Polly” is also a traditional Anglo name, not often used in black culture. Polly Purebread was a beautiful, famous, and obviously wealthy, television reporter. The inference of the show is that pursuit of the obviously superior white woman is what forces Shoeshine Boy to rise above his own simple minded nature.

“When Polly's in trouble I am not slow, it's Hip, Hip, Hip and away I go”

I am also struck by the repeated use of the word “Hip” throughout the show and the way that Underdog always spoke in rhyme. “Hip” at the time referred to someone who was cool and “with it”. The word derived from the black culture’s extensive use of their hips while dancing. People of the time considered them to be much better dancers and hence, one who used “Hip” was better at a thing than others. It would later become the root word of Hip-Hop, a black musical culture that makes extensive use of spoken rhyme. Coincidence? I’m not so sure.

So, how does Shoeshine Boy enact his transformation to Underdog? How does he leave behind the sad, subservient, life which he leads, move into the limelight of fame, and gain the desire of the untouchable Polly Purebred? Why, through drugs, of course! Think back: how did Underdog get his power? He’d open a secret compartment in his ring and pop an “energy pill” that would keep him strong and make him “fly”.

“My energy gets its fill, when I take my energy pill..." (Thanks, SRH! I’d forgotten that line!)

Underdog would jump into the nearest phone booth, pop his “little helper” and voila: silly little Shoeshine Boy becomes an instant hero! Of course, his heroic powers only lasted as long as his drugs did, so it was necessary that he always carry some extra stashed on his person. Of course, even as a super-hero, white society could not give Underdog the respect they would a white man. The transformation sequence was a parody of Superman’s, wherein people would point to the sky saying: “Look, up in the sky, it's a bird, it's a plane, it's a frog... a frog?" to which Underdog would glibly reply: “Not bird, nor plane, nor even frog, it's just little 'ole me, Underdog!” Once again, you can see the reference to black culture in the phrase “just little ‘ole me”. Underdog might seem super, and even be hailed as such, but underneath he was still only a Shoeshine Boy.

Let’s look for a moment at Underdog’s enemies. He had two nemeses: Riff Raff and Simon Bar Sinister. Riff Raff was a wolf in a sharp suit, and his name an obvious reference to the low class criminals who populated the streets where Shoeshine Boy lived. How did Shoeshine Boy rise above Riff Raff? How did he become better than the thugs and Mafioso around him? The drugs of course! With his fix firmly on, he was no longer afraid of Riff Raff and his ilk. He could give them the solid thrashing they deserved and preserve his streets for people like himself. Simon Bar Sinister had a very interesting name. The “Bar Sinister” is a medieval reference to bastardy (it was a heraldic design on shields to denote someone of questionable parentage) Simon is a biblical name (the original name of Peter the Apostle) and as such denotes this man’s standing as a religious figure. Simon’s character was also a brilliant scientist (mad, of course!) and he stood only two feet or so tall and was hideously ugly. Simon is an obvious reference to the “establishment”. He represents both church and science, as a small and ugly creature out to destroy Underdog, and have absolute rule over the world. The addition of the “Bar Sinister” to his name serves to show Underdog that he is a true “bastard”. Once more, the only way that Underdog can stand against his enemies is through the use of his secret vitamin pill! Drugs make Shoeshine Boy rise high above the riff-raff and make him better than the bastards in the religious and scientific community who look down on him and try to control him. Once again though, white society couldn’t allow for Shoeshine Boy to be a true hero. In every episode he would forget to take his drugs and Polly Purebred would have to come feed them to him. The implication being that he was too stupid to keep his high going without the intercession of the smarter, white, Ms. Purebred.

Even a cursory examination of the program shows that it was a carefully crafted propaganda campaign with the purpose of leading black culture down the path of drug use. The show took place in a typical American city and Underdog was noted for causing as much (or more!) damage to the city as the villains did when he fought them. His common reply when anyone pointed that out was: “I am a hero who never fails. I cannot be bothered with these details”. The show not only encouraged children to improve their lives through drug use, it assured them that the injuries to others that might occur from such actions were unimportant. Their need to be “heroic” far outweighed the consequences of their actions on anyone around them. The Underdog cartoon was one of the most detrimental programs ever run on television. It infected an entire generation of youth with a twisted view of chemical dependency and helped to create the violent drug culture so prevalent in our inner cities. It also damaged the basic family structure of black society in the late sixties, encouraging young black men to pursue white women (ala Polly Purebred) and ignore their own culture. They were also taught to forget personal responsibility in pursuit of their own desires and to ignore those on the streets below them as they “flew” on toward their dream of Polly Purebred. You can trace the growth of the whole “Gangsta” attitude and their disdain for the mores of society directly back to Underdog. I say this was an orchestrated program on the part of the establishment to quietly eliminate what they saw as a growing threat. Following the Civil Rights Movement, there was a growing acceptance and grudging respect for black society throughout the nation. The men and women who had fought so courageously for their legal equality had earned that respect. Respect would, in time, have led to true equality, a condition which threatened the very underpinnings of the white political and economic power base. This had to be staved off, but it couldn’t be done openly for fear of backlash against obvious bigotry. Instead, shows like Underdog were broadcast, to mislead the youth of this “dangerous” culture and to embroil them in attitudes and acts which would counteract the respect from white society that their parents had so laboriously earned. Underdog was part of a calculated plan of ethnic libel, designed to maintain the traditional racial gap within this country by glorifying the drug lifestyle in the eyes of minority youth. It was an evil show.

There you are folks: Sociology in the Technological Age 101.

(Oh, and if you honestly believe a single word spouted by someone as stupid as I am, then shame on you!)

Later!