Part 1: An analysis of Love, Death & Robots’ ‘400 Boys’
The previous analysis of “400 Boys” was a breakdown of the show’s major story beats and imagery. The following focuses on smaller details.
Don’t give up on Crybaby
Up first is the character Crybaby. He is a member of the Black gang, the Slickers. While larger than the rest of the gang and other characters, he is the most scared when fighting the show’s villains, the gods. In most of his scenes, he cowers with his arms covering his head, crying and wishing for the gods’ onslaught to end. He is the most cautious and urges the other Slickers to sit out the coming fight.
His actions and attitude have earned him the nickname “Crybaby.” He represents the most wounded of the oppressed communities. In his character are those who have seen the horrors of imperialism firsthand, narrowly escaping with their lives. He is the portion of society that just wants it all to end because there is so much death and carnage. Because he resembles the gods, Crybaby’s nickname also has a layer of irony.
Although they gave him that nickname, Crybaby’s gangmates still care for him. They treat him as an equal. Communities of solidarity help their own, bringing along those who may not be ready for progress, no matter how scary or hard the journey may be.
The Slickers know just how capable Crybaby is in a fight and how important he will be in the final battle. It is their mission as comrades to keep him safe, helping him to erase the fear keeping his immense strength shackled. In the final battle, when there is no more time for flight or freezing, Crybaby answers his brothers’ call. He gets up and impales a god with a gigantic wooden utility pole.
Crybaby represents the masses who are scared, who want to fight but do not know how. But once in the struggle, such people prove to themselves that there is no need to fear and that the occupier is not superior; and, moreover, that he can be defeated. Ultimately, these people prove to be the most decisive factor in achieving liberation.
He could symbolize those in oppressed communities (especially the Black community) who find themselves working within the systems of oppression, successfully institutionalized to stay in their lane and not fight the system. And yet, through revolution and liberation, Crybaby becomes this new man, leaving the humiliating nickname in the dead past.
More than just a razor
Next is the razor blade, the weapon of choice wielded by the sole survivor of the Soooooots. This razor is not just for slashing enemies, it is a tool used by barbers to care for their communities. And yet, in the past, a white man used this razor to permanently scar the Slickers’ leader, a man called Slash. A tool meant to help the community was wielded by a white man to harm a Black man.
When both sides squash the beef, putting aside old rivalries, this tool is used to defend the community against a common enemy. The razor and its owner represent the white working class, and the tools at their disposal granted to them by society.
Under imperialism and colonialism, the white working class is tricked into using its tools to aid and continue the oppression of their class siblings simply because they are different colors. However, through the process of casting out the ruling class, white workers are able to make amends with their counterparts and blood brothers by utilizing those same tools to aid in the fight against imperialism.
In the Algerian liberation struggle, the FLN recognized that it was not just Muslims and Africans who answered the call, but also Algeria’s European / white minority. They not only joined the ranks but played a crucial and defining part in the struggle to see a free Algeria. Here in the Belly of the Beast, the wretched beating heart of imperialism – the United States of America – it will take every community coming together to stand against exploitation, division and oppression.
Not just roller skates
The roller skates worn by the Galrogs are also symbolic. I did not pick up on this during my first watch. My sister, however, immediately clocked the roller skates worn by the women’s gang as significant. Those roller blades encompass the experience of all women. Skating embodies the experience of living as a woman (the need to remain balanced, and all the extra work it takes to move proficiently on skates).
Every day, women battle what is around them (societal pressures, harassment, exploitation and ignorance). But at the same time, they are battling their own bodies because of social pressures only a woman can fully understand. Those skates symbolize just how much harder women have to work to be seen and treated as equals in society today.
The Galrog women can scrap and fight just as well as the Slickers and Soooooots, but they can do it on roller skates. Women can work equally as hard as men, fight and crawl through the trenches and expel the occupier just as well as men. And they can do it while overcoming every lasting stigma against them.
These skates also symbolize freedom and intuition. The Galrogs are the only gang armored and fully prepared for a fight. It is due to their experience gained in fights before that they learned to be the most prepared, because they do not have the privilege to slip up as men do. The skates allow them to be faster, more agile and responsive, able – at a moment’s notice – to pivot or move another way. This helps them evade and survive the gods’ attacks.
In reality, these skates are the unshakable spirit within every woman to make it to wherever they want to be, and the foresight to prepare and see the plan through.
Blue power = revolutionary spirit
Lastly, there is the mythical blue power that the people are able to collectively wield against the gods in the finale. In the story, it allows the characters to inflict the first wave of damage on the gods, making them susceptible to normal attacks and damage. I believe this blue power is symbolic of revolutionary spirit and the mass movement in general.
This blue power is introduced in the beginning when the Slickers try using it to load a gun. They fail on their own because they are worn out and isolated. It is only when everyone joins together to manifest and wield the mythical blue power that they are able to severely wound all three gods.
No matter where the struggle is, if a sizable amount of the population is not on board, it will not succeed. If imperialism is able to continue to divide and conquer, it does not matter how much revolutionary spirit a small number of people have; it will not be enough. To bury a system, to move the last to become the first, will require every aspect of a society. It will require the masses to unite against division and destroy the conqueror wherever he resides.
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