South Park and Satire

South Park and Satire

SOUTH PARK AND SATIRE TREVOR LI

Copyright © 2016 by Trevor Li All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the address below. e-print Shop B, G/F. Phase 4, Kwun Tong Industrial Centre No. 436-446 Kwun Tong Rd., Kwun Tong Industrial Centre Kwun Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong www.e-print.com.hk While the publisher and author(s) have used their best efforts in preparing the book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability of fitness for a particular purpose. If professional advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought.

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Printed in Hong Kong Li, Trevor South Park and Satire / Trevor Li. pages. 67 2016 First Edition Cover image: Cartman @ Comedy Central Press Cover design by Christopher Kwok

CONTENTS

Introduction: South Park, Satire and Social Commentary Part 1: Goin’ Down to South Park Chapter 1: Shut up Kyle, you stupid Jew The Significance of Characters Chapter 2: If irony were made of strawberries…

The Delivery of Social Commentary Chapter 3: Bush is a Nazi Politics in South Park Chapter 4: Spare some change, sir?

The Progression of South Park Part 2: Good Job Cartman, You’ve Ruined Everything!

Chapter 5: Will we get bombed?

The Depiction of Muhammed Chapter 6: This is what Scientologists actually believe South Park and Scientology Part 3: That’s all, folks To conclude References Episodes referenced

1 5 6 15 27 48 53 54 58 60 61 62 63

INTRODUCTION South Park, Satire and Social Commentary South Park bothers me. It’s not that it puts me in my most uncomfortable state, nor is it that it offends me to the point of launching a terrorist attack on their production studio. The most important point that comes to mind is South Park’s ability to lampoon any social, ethical, religious — you name it — concepts that are associated with the development of our society; and yet remain able to retain a comedic atmosphere that serves to remind viewers that the show doesn’t exist for the sole purpose of lecturing a biased view of society’s issues.

Of course, you could easily go on with a rant about Bush’s reelection results or the casual politically incorrect comedic depictions of the Holocaust in the media — and somewhat achieve the same results that South Park did with their political commentary; but why is it that the show attracts so much more attention then you would with your straightforward rants? The key word here is satire.

Satire is typically defined as the use of humor to ridicule and criticize others.

It is very common in the context of politics or controversial issues, which makes it a very useful platform for artists with large fanbases to express a point.

In essence, satire is just combining criticism and humor together to form entertainment for the reader or viewer. The former concept would be the main purpose of satire — logically speaking, challenging others would be more

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effective with wit; it draws attention to larger audiences who want a quick laugh.

But what would be the point? This would require the understanding of the purpose behind criticism. In its most simple form, people who rant about certain issues do what they do because they feel it affects them, regardless of how far it may be from personal. Suppose you are reading a news report of a homeless man getting trampled on by drunk Irish men in the middle of the night; you would be relieved to know that it isn’t yourself getting screwed over. But would that be the first thing you would consider? Assuming you are a sane individual, you would most likely feel sympathy for the homeless man, and hatred for the drunk men. Your “criticism,” in this case, would probably be a brief discussion with your colleagues about this case the morning after, and your opinion on the ethics behind the attack — was what the drunk individuals did morally wrong?

You would proceed to talk about why they were wrong, and what actions should be taken to ensure justice. Congratulations - you have successfully criticised the actions some individuals decided to take. Did that reverse what they did?

Probably not, but it did raise awareness. Yes, the overused cliche term that the local climate change activist group had always used when talking about the earth’s rising temperatures. It may seem like an effortless approach to educate about an issue, but consider how little you could do in proportion to how much you actually care. You may not care enough or have enough time and power to start a revolution condemning drunk Irish men, but you do have the time and power to casually talk about why homeless people shouldn’t be randomly attacked. It won’t be a practical solution to just criticize people, but it would bring some attention to society. If you were a media publicist, that would change things up a bit, right? Your power allows you to communicate your criticism to a much larger base, attracting much more attention. Generally, this will eventually lead to “potential change”.

If we allow the discussion to be brought back to the topic of satire, again, we will most likely associate it with comedy. Why would people choose satire over criticism? For that matter, who would prioritize them this way? Remember we are talking about a comedy show here. People who want to satirize something typically do so in order to demonstrate their wittiness and their ability to express 2

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beyond simple comedic humor with no overall value. That said, even the simplest acts or jokes can be treated as satire; — the context is paramount — as long as it pokes fun at any sort of entity or action. This can mean that even children making fun of others through, let’s say, imitation, (in a high and mighty voice, “Hey look everyone, I’m Tom and I am mean to the other kids! Durr, Durr”) can be deemed satiric. Does that mean most children have grasped the understanding of satire? Probably not, but it does imply they do understand the basic concept of how criticism can generally be associated with humor. In the aforementioned example, the context is that Tom, presumed a little kid in a kindergarten for the sake of simplicity, was shouting mean words at the other kids, making him known as one of the troublemakers. His classmate feels that this has an effect on his wellbeing, since he was one of the kids that was shouted mean things at. While he understands that he cannot resolve this issue in a snap of a second, he does understand that criticizing him would allow him to understand what he was doing wrong. Therefore, he decides to add a little fun to it for the sake of the other kids’ entertainment: he decides to imitate him and exaggerate his behavior. Does this allow Tom to understand how his behavior has had an effect on the other kids? Probably. Does this allow other kids to find humor in Tom’s classmate’ criticism, therefore providing them with entertainment and laughter? Maybe. I’m not saying this classmate will grow up to be a successful comedian, but sometimes laughter is the best medicine.

So how does all this relate back to South Park? The whole point of reading this is to grasp an understanding of the relationship between South Park and satire. Satire is a huge compound of the show’s material, and though the early seasons may appear to be just a show about four kids in Colorado having some fun, satire can be found in its most subtle form, which is generally very effective. At this stage I probably haven’t fully explained what South Park is already — but provided you know about the show, this probably won’t be important — so allow me to explain.

South Park is an adult animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Focusing on four boys (Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny) and their adventures with an ensemble cast set in the titular town, it is generally suited for mature audiences, which is often ignored due to the show’s presumed type of 3

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content based on the fact that it is about a bunch of kids. While it is infamous for its use of toilet humor and crude language, it is also recognized for being able to cover and discuss a wide range of topics within its setting in the town.

Numerous controversial reports mainly dealing with censorship in the show’s early season were unable to discontinue the show’s rising fame; the show slowly progressed to a more politically charged commentary, heavily leant towards American culture and politics. In most 22-minute episodes, a controversy is set as the platform of the plot, and the boys have to explore the issues and concepts around the controversy, ultimately solving it, then reflecting on what they have learnt as a result of that experience.

Nevertheless, the show does an effective job in finding the right topics to cover, shown in many relevant episodes appealing to its audience. Social commentary is another element found; in its most simplest form, it is the art of the reflection of reality. In comedy, people are commonly represented as “worse than they are,” and this concept is certainly found in the show, as most of the humor comes from the stupidity and lack of moral sense in its characters. The interesting thing about South Park is that it is so unrealistic that it is realistic — if you see an episode with a portal leading to a land full of childhood cartoon and fairy tale characters come to life, only to be subject to a terrorist attack; or Satan freely roaming the Earth to host a sweet sixteen party… it usually reflects on an issue to produce a statement with the show-not-tell technique.

Here we will discuss how South Park applies satire and social commentary to its episodes, what themes and topics they commentate, and its effects on its viewers. Make sure that you regularly watch the show or understand the story and characters. This book will cover the show’s content for its first nineteen seasons. Be sure to tune in to Comedy Central every September for new seasons of South Park.

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PART 1 GOIN’ DOWN TO SOUTH PARK

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CHAPTER 1 SHUT UP KYLE, YOU STUPID JEW

The Significance of Characters If you were to select an episode at random and a specific scene of the episode at random, there is a certain chance that you will land on a scene where the boys call each other names, or do something completely stupid. There is a common saying that an author’s work is inspired from their lives; whether it applies here would require a different set of logic. Many of the shows’ characters and their associated personalities are somewhat influenced by people Trey Parker and Matt Stone (the creators) have met, with the most prominent behavior being Stan and Kyle’s relationship as best friends, heavily influenced

by Parker and Stone’s relationship as they met in an art school. But when it comes to a talking piece of poo visiting the town (“Mr Hankey, the Christmas Poo”), you would most likely conclude that it isn’t based on a real life event.

Essentially, while the characters on this show may be based on something associated with the creators to reflect on something unique or to tribute someone or something special, they also do serve a special purpose of playing roles that help communicate points, ideas and deliver commentary.

The four main characters typically known as ‘the boys’, live in a fictional mountain town in Colorado. While they continuously face supernatural, extraordinary and unexplained events, they effectively deal with them with

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logic found in the show’s universe; moreover, the townspeople still promote the idea of South Park being a peaceful and quiet place to live. When something happens to the boys, it usually spreads to the entire town, and sometimes, the entire country (or vice versa). In “Chef Goes Nanners,” South Park Elementary School holds a debate to whether the South Park flag should be changed due to some townspeople being offended by its seemingly racist motive (the flag is literally a black person getting hanged by a couple of people). How is it solved?

The mayor decides that the consensus of the issue will be dependent on the outcome of the school debate. While this won’t have you in stitches, it may come to you at some point to notice how some issues are realistically ineffectively solved. The fact that the mayor relied on a semi-formal school debate to decide on the consensus of a controversial town-wide issue would not be the best solution, realistically. In “A Ladder to Heaven”; Stan, Kyle and Cartman want to build a ladder to heaven to visit their dead fourth friend Kenny.

This has many of the townspeople moved, and attracts attention across the entire world. Notice how large, ticking time-bomb events are mainly dealt with or somehow associated with the boys, which then attracts people who are, seen from their jobs and roles, the ones who are actually supposed to deal with the issue. The real story here, is that the boys are the ones solving the issue, and then educating the others on why they chose to do it they way they did. They would reach a conclusion as to what moral lesson is taught as a result of this event. During the earlier seasons, the boys would make a short speech starting with a variation of the phrase “You know, I learned something today…,” which became a signature line from the show. So what roles do the characters play?

Proved in many episodes, the townspeople, mainly parents of the boys, have gullible and irrational behavior, often confident with dealing with problems but failing later on. The boys, however, have a more sane mind (despite sometimes subject to innocent behavior, reversing the tradition of the boys teaching moral standards), and are often able to point out their townspeople’s hypocrisy and strong, but illogical views on morality and society. So what’s the point of all this? With the boys being the main presenters of moral concepts and lessons, the rest of the adults can be the ones learning from them. Realistically, it should be 7

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the other way around, but the adults’ childlike behavior clearly pokes fun at the actions some people are making (especially in the context of politics); like the former episode exampled here, this is done through exaggeration and generalization.

“Goobacks” follows the discovery of a time portal, which people from the future (called “Goobacks”) use to travel to the current time to find jobs. Soon, most blue collar jobs are taken over due to the low pay demand of the goobacks, much to the original workers’ annoyance. This leads to hot debates as to whether it is justified for goobacks to steal jobs, until the blue collar workers (who happen to be the most conservative rednecks) in South Park decide to have a ‘gay orgy’ in order to prevent the goobacks from being born in the first place. Stan, however, suggests that instead of destroying the future, they should make it better, which would be a win-win situation for both parties. A montage then follows a bunch of tree planting, helping the homeless and such.

“They're just humans trying to make their lives better. Look, it sucks that the immigrants' time is so crappy, but the cold hard truth is that if we let them all come back to our time, then it's just gonna make our time crappy too. Maybe the answer isn't trying to stop the future from happening, but making the future better,” Stan says.

After his inspirational advice, the gay orgy instantly disperses, and follows with Stan’s idea of making the world a better place. In this episode, what are the roles being played? Initially, Stan’s dad (Randy) disagrees with and frowns upon Stan’s concern that people’s jobs are being taken away by the goobacks (including his own snow shoveling job). However, after even getting his own job taken away, Randy decides to go along with the blue collar crowd who have been victims of stolen jobs. A news debate show shows a generalized “aging hippie liberal douche” debating a “pissed off, white-trash, redneck conservative”. These exaggerations can commonly be found in many other episodes concerning controversial topics which would spark attention from both 8

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liberals and conservatives. While discussing solutions to the goobacks issue in a blue collar meeting (Construction Workers Union), the phrase “they took our jobs” is repeatedly chanted, with barely any constructive or practical solutions discussed. Obviously the episode is concerning immigrants; the use of goobacks instead of actual immigrants is purely for comedic effect, strengthening the subtleness of the satire and the flow, and the direction and creativity of the social commentary. The xenophobia is clearly expressed from the “pissed off rednecks,” and the anti-intolerance is also expressed from white-collar workers and the ‘hippie’ seen debating on TV. The strong contrast of characters allows easier access for Stan to go in between and find a working solution to both sides.

As said before, when Stan came back first explains to Randy how goobacks are costing him his job, he quickly goes into an outrage, and explains how he must be tolerant of others, considering how much they have gone through. But when his own job is taken away, he completely changes his stance and joins the other side. It’s clear what this shows about Randy’s character, and this can be found in many others; all of this showing how well the characters are developed to further strengthen their roles.

At the end of all this, do the rest of the characters actually learn anything?

Well, most of the time, but that doesn’t matter: the episode’s already over by the time the lesson is learnt. It’s clear how the boys (mainly Stan and Kyle) are best at dissecting issues through their supposedly innocent minds, educating the town representing the radical side of society.

SHUT UP KYLE, YOU STUPID JEW While we can see the relationship between the boys and the other adults in town, we also have to look at the relationships between the boys themselves, along with the other kids. You would assume most shows that feature children wish to examine how kids act in real life, and then incorporate anything they observe into the show. Like everyone, Parker and Stone were once kids, and 9

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many of their experiences can be applied easily onto their show. The only problem is whether or not their anecdotes are worth being presented on a television; sometimes, the dialogue between characters or their behavior doesn’t even have to come from any real life experiences.

One of the more memorable traits of the boys is the beef between Cartman and Kyle. Carman has always shown, or at the very least hinted his antisemitism, by presenting it to Kyle, whose Jewish background is usually very clear. Kyle and his family are one of the only (prominent) Jews within the South Park community, and is very vulnerable to Cartman’s hateful sentiments. Like Stan, Kyle is known to have a high moral value, particularly from his experience of dealing with Cartman’s anti-Jew hate. This is actually a running gag on the show, and is usually the source of a quick chuckle. No matter how irrelevant the conversation between the boys is, there is bound to be a Jewish insult somewhere in Cartman’s lines. From a simple “Shut up, Jew!” to “Jews can’t play basketball!”, this recurring gag would gradually become more and more relevant to storylines. “The Passion of the Jew” is perhaps one of the most iconic episodes in season 8, satisfying the fans who have always wanted an antisemitism (from Cartman) centric episode. The episode follows Cartman’s wish to initiate a second Holocaust movement after being moved by a recently released film The Passion of the Christ, whose message he wrongly took as a ticket to boost his anti-semitism. Kyle, who at first was deeply offended by Cartman’s logic, eventually went to watch the film himself, which caused his original viewpoint to completely reverse to believing that the Jews are responsible for Jesus’s death, thus requesting an apology from himself and the Jewish community. The collaboration between Cartman and Kyle’s characters allowed this episode to be a critique of The Passion and the media controversy surrounding it. When the film itself was first released, there were many allegations that the film contained perceived anti-semetic content. What South Park did was to recreate the controversy within South Park, having Cartman and Kyle play corresponding roles. Examples like this show how Stan and Kyle are still the “sane-minded” individuals in the South Park community, 10

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contrasting with Cartman’s views — this provides the satisfaction for viewers watching the show hoping to see not only a representation of what should be expected in a paranoid and uninformed societal mindset; but also what should be expected in a sane and moral one.

Furthermore, episodes like “Passion of the Jew” are examples of how more Jew-centric episodes can be developed, allowing more content for the show.

Jewish concepts on the show can also stretch to exaggerating and parodying Jewish stereotypes and exploring innocent perspectives of their culture. The former example can be found in the episode “Jewbilee,” where Kyle participates in a boy scouts-esque camp for Jewish children; only to be greeted with what they see as a normal Jewish tradition. Moses, a well known Jewish figure, was based off the Master Control Program character in the 1982 Disney film Tron — in other words, well, not quite what Moses looks like — and would frequently demand macaroni sculptures and finger paintings during the camp’s activities.

The Jewish traditions, having belittled and parodied in this episode, would form as a minor sentiment which would oppose the show’s recurring theme of ironic anti-semitism. Let’s not forget “The Entity”, which follows Kyle’s cousin (also Kyle) who fits nearly all of the common stereotypical Jewish traits. When Kyle meets Kyle Schwartz, he knew he would become Cartman’s next victim of verbal abuse. His Woody Allen hair, high sensitivity to the dryness of the air, allergic to meat, and the constant complaining of everything, to Kyle, has already destroyed the positivity of the Jewish community in South Park which he believe he had contributed to. Cartman’s constant ridicule of Kyle’s cousin furthers the point that with contrasting personalities and opinions between characters, more content and humour can be developed.

THE RICH BLACK MAN The thing about most people is that you can categorise them into a large group of other people, then finding similarities between them, of which you can later use to recognize them. It seems pretty hostile when taken out of context — the truth is, it happens to everyone. Stereotypes are commonly 11

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shunned upon in school, or in areas advocating political correctness. When you look at the Asian kid in class, you shouldn’t automatically assume they will tell you the answers to the upcoming math quiz if you sit next to them; when you look at the Jewish kid, you shouldn’t expect them to do your parents’ taxes. The truth is, these stereotypes must have come from somewhere.

Logically speaking, there is little reason to assume they are created by bored teenagers sitting in a dorm room with a computer nearby. But, even from a statistical perspective, what are the odds of the Asian actually wanting to teach you calculus, the Jewish kid trying to drop your bike’s selling price, or the black kid wanting to speak the most incoherent form of ebonics to you?

In reality, the true stereotypes that come when you “look over your shoulder” are really, just the minority out of the entire group of people of that category. The whole purpose of this — the whole purpose of creating and using stereotypes in everyday use, is more or less to create some humorous value, or used as an insult. The latter example most likely will not be covered in this comedic context, but it is definitely still very relevant. The typical “ignorant American” would get infuriated at the slow driver, who happens to be Mexican, and proceed to wish that they “go back to their homeland.” 50% of the time, it is to be done out of anger, and 50% of the time, they genuinely have that hatred against them. So it’s clear that stereotyping someone as an insult could possibly be used to bring them more harm and adding strength to your hateful sentiments.

The important thing, in the context of South Park (and other comedies), is to look at why stereotyping could be useful, and how it would relate to satire.

There have been cases in which stereotypes are used to exaggerate and therefore create comedy; but a more subtle purpose that most people do not notice is that it is used to expose how ridiculous that specific stereotype is by presenting them, commonly through irony. A more organised list can be sorted here, with two extra ones. (a) Stereotyping a category of people, creating comedy and to target specifically them; 12

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(b) Stereotyping a category of people, only to expose how ridiculous that specific stereotype is, through irony; (b ii) or, for the sake of presenting a social issue, i.e. social commentary (c) Stereotyping a category of people, only to target specifically the controversy revolving around that stereotype Generally, these are interchangeable and most instances of stereotyping can be examples of more than one. The easiest stereotypes to look for can be found through the supporting characters. The nagging housewife (Sharon, Sheila), the lazy and incompetent husband (Randy), or the disabled kid who can’t say anything but his own name (Timmy), are all classic representations of these character roles. A lazy husband creating problems within the household would be a good source of comedy, along with the contrasting personalities of their kids (abundant material between Randy and Stan), fulfilling (a); but for (b) and (c), it may not exactly apply here.

Essentially, these three points can mostly be used when analyzing stereotypes in comedy shows. We will look at another example fitting (b) and (c); “The China Probrem” is an episode I have had in mind for quite a while.

It follows Cartman’s paranoia over the Chinese taking over the world after watching their opening ceremony for the 2008 Olympics. Cartman wishes to dress up as a stereotypical Chinese man, hoping to infiltrate the plans of the Chinese, only to be greeted by a bunch of normal-looking Chinese people at a restaurant. The point is clear — part of (b) and (c) can be applied here, recreating the stigma surrounding “sinophobia”. Even though that is not very relevant in the time of the episode’s airing, it was completely based off the Olympics being held in China. This is an example of how controversies can instead be created within the universe based on a non-controversial real life topic.

The second and final example reflects off this mini chapter’s title: “The Jeffersons.” In this episode, Michael Jackson moves into South Park, disguising as “Mr. Jefferson,” much to the boys’ appreciation and lack of suspicion. Despite his eccentric behavior and an incident regarding Mr. 13

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Jefferson sneaking into Stan’s room for a sleepover, Cartman seems to enjoy his company, due to his wealthiness and the amount of arcade toys he has in his house. The cops eventually become aware of his wealthiness, and are off to frame him for cocaine possession, due to their hatred of black people who are wealthier then they are. The unsubtle dialogue makes it clear that these cops are a parody of not only the police force, but also the controversy regarding the relationships between the police force and African Americans.

Therefore, it fits the category of (b and c).

We will end this chapter with a quote regarding the recent example: “By God, so he is. Black and rich. Time to take this Mr. Jefferson down, just like we did Kobe. Let's go people! We've got another rich black guy. I want him humiliated and dragged through the dirt, and I want it done by the books!”

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CHAPTER 2 IF IRONY WERE MADE OF STRAWBERRIES…

The Delivery of Social Commentary A great way of letting someone know you’re getting sick of their crap is by actually saying something. In the context of South Park, there are many, many people, groups and organizations that are often ridiculed through the usage of numerous satiric devices. The general view of American culture is very polarized, making it a vulnerable platform for ridicule and parody. “Show-nottell” is a memorable device that is heavily applied to the show. Four fundamental techniques (or satiric devices) are frequently found when expressing ideas: irony, allegory, exaggeration and parody. If Parker and Stone wanted to tell us “Scientology is bad” (which they did), they wouldn’t deliberately have one of the characters tell us that; instead, the most suitable approach would be to use one of the aforementioned devices to express said point. This is also where we will get to the point of social commentary; many of the show’s content is based on real-life issues, particularly concerning American culture. There are certainly more devices, but these four will be the main focuses of this chapter.

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Social commentary is the reflection of reality. South Park takes advantage of this to comment on controversial American topics, typically in sync with current events. This allows more subtle allegories or metaphors to be more widely understood if they represent or satirize recent events during the episode’s airing.

For instance, “Two Days Before the Day After Tomorrow” revolves around the response to the mass flooding of a nearby town caused by Stan and Cartman.

Without much thought, global warming was instead put to blame. The episode actually spoofs the response to the disaster caused by Hurricane Katrina, which occurred about two months before the episode’s airing. Even if the episode didn’t aim to discuss the effects of Katrina, it could still be used in many contexts (unhelpful government reactions to sudden disasters) since the episode itself does not directly reference Hurricane Katrina. This is allegory and exaggeration in very basic forms, both being prominent types of the satiric devices used on the show.

Many of the show’s episodes that involve some social controversy usually have a lesson taught as a result of the experiences from their respective contexts, or simply a clear jab at people. Most of them are based on a sane point of view, some having an ironic speech at the end or a rhetorical set-up. These lessons essentially form the basis of the social commentary the show offers. In the book South Park and Philosophy: Bigger, Longer, and More Penetrating, Aaron Fortune writes, “A social message tells us what to do or be, whereas a social commentary just tells us what not to do or be.” South Park clearly belongs to the latter concept; by presenting the opposite of a supposed message through ironic and rhetorical means (i.e. subtly hinting the absurdity of the idea, generally having the characters not notice it), the message will come clear to the audience. An example is “Child Abduction is Not Funny,” where the episode’s supposed purpose is to exaggerate the behavior of over-protective parents. The moral, found through reversing the premise, would be that parents should not act like helicopter parents, since it would only cause more problems than what would be otherwise expected with the absence of strict parental control over children. What specifically happens in the episode has elements of exaggeration 16

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and irony: the parents are influenced by the media presenting news stories of school shootings and terrorist attacks, prompting them to become increasingly concerned about the safety of their children (jab at blind paranoia over media).

After an actual attempted kidnapping occurs, the parents are put on high alert.

They ask the Chinese restaurant owner (City Wok) to build a wall around the town similar to the Great Wall of China (jab at racial generalizations), much to the annoyance of the Mongols who appear out of nowhere, determined to break the wall. At this point, it’s not exactly the most fitting to say that Parker and Stone are social justice activists who wish to get rid of racism through exposing its absurdity; — quite frankly the opposite — mentioned earlier, South Park loves to slide in on both sides of an argument, exploring it and not exploiting a certain side only. The parents of South Park relying on a local Asian person to build a massive wall alone would realistically be an ineffective way to keep their kids out of danger. While that point is shown, the fact of the matter is that the wall actually does get built, and South Park becomes well guarded as a result. This side, on the other hand, pokes fun at Chinese stereotypes by exaggerating them: Chinese people are capable of rebuilding the Great Wall, and have unhealthy relations with Mongolians. The rest of the story shows the parents’ deteriorating paranoia of possibly abducting their own children; they conclude with a solution of sending them all to move out of town. The irony is strengthened further by the welcoming attitude of the Mongolians towards the children, which in fact allows the parents to understand that they were indeed overreacting, ultimately resolving the entire issue as the episode ends.

IRONY I’D LIKE TO SOLVE THE PUZZLE… A common problem when observing humor is generally understanding the elements that make something funny. Moreover, it’s understanding those elements that make something funny, or that it allows humor to be found in it.

An anti-technology website should probably appear funny, if not humorous to those who understand irony. The easiest way to explain irony is through the use 17

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of the word “opposite”; the most general definition is when an event appears to be the case, though in reality, the reality suggests the opposite. Like the aforementioned example’s context, irony occurs when an event’s intended purpose is greeted by an opposite or contradicting outcome.

There are three main types of irony — verbal, dramatic and situational.

Verbal irony is, well, verbal irony. Irony expressed verbally — “can’t wait to read this 500 page report!”, or “thanks for the ticket, officer!” Notice how it is very similar to sarcasm — it is, and it is generally very interchangeable between the two. Dramatic irony is slightly different; instead, it is more relevant to film and theater — essentially, it is when anything is known by the audience that is not known by the characters (e.g. Toy Story - human characters do not know that the toys can speak, to which the audience does, due to the film not being shot in the humans’ perspective only). The final type is what we will mainly focus on.

Situational irony is the most discussed form of irony, and is often mistakenly perceived as the only definition of irony. One small thing that distinguishes situational irony from the previous two types is, well, humor. The twist is that irony (in its broadest sense) does not necessarily have to be humorous or involve any comedy — but situational irony is a major exception. Situational irony is essentially what we had previously discussed — the general definition of irony: when the opposite of what is meant to happen (or what would make the most sense), happens (or what is implied).

Most examples of irony usually have indirect executions, and is what generally produces the humor. What this means is that whoever responsible for the irony is not intended to understand that what they are doing is ironic — and there is technically still some sense made without creating a loophole.

In the context of South Park, situational irony is always used to convey humor. It’s pretty obvious, and there are many examples in which the irony is main focus of the entire context’s humor. Since this is a show, the irony must poke fun at someone or something. Here we will look at some real-world topics 18

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and see how and why irony is the best way, in their respective contexts, to satirize the topic.

Let’s look into an episode where the entire plot is considered ironic. For the sake of simplicity, all uses of the word “irony” from now on would ultimately refer to situational irony.

In “With Apologies to Jesse Jackson,” Randy makes the fatal mistake of saying the word “niggers” as an answer to a Wheel of Fortune puzzle (“people who annoy you”). Though he claims that he had no racist intent, this leads to widespread public outrage, and a personal insult, “Nigger Guy,” which Randy would be greeted with when walking down the street. Randy feels very offended by the use of the term, which he describes as a “verbal missile of hate”. However, with enough support from the white senators, a bill is passed to ban the term “nigger guy.” The irony of the ending, if too subtle, is highlighted in the black people’s dumbfounded reactions to the bill: the term being banned here is “nigger guy”. “Nigger guy.” A term, consisting of a word found offensive to black people, that is found too offensive to white people, is being banned in a country which prides itself as being a land of free speech. However, the main idea is the role reversal played in the episode — Randy will now truly understand how it will feel to have hate language directed at him. But what is the whole point of all this? We get it — a white guy being affected by racism from public reactions due to his own (unintended) racism towards blacks: okay, that’s ironic. So what? The message has to be found to understand what the irony is poking fun at. South Park is known for sometimes not taking sides to a common problem, but rather addressing the issue and mocking both sides of the argument. It is not entirely consistent, but it is important to make sure that the show isn’t just forcing beliefs into its viewers. Racism has always been a hot topic, and when it comes to political correctness, there are often tiring attempts to ensure that it is restored in society. One can say its message is to show how the failure of maintaining political correctness can lead to violence — and that it’s what keeps society well and alive! On the other end, one can be pointing out 19

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the irony and how its purpose is to show the absurdity of political correctness.

The organization “Abolish the N-Word,” however, praised the episode, with a different view on the episode’s supposed message: “This show, in its own comedic way, is helping people to educate the power of this word, and how it can feel to have hate language directed at you.” Consequently, the founder of the Parents Television Council (known as the rivals of primetime television), argued that the episode used ironic racism to protest against civility. The main point, is that sometimes, it’s really left for you to decide.

Of course, the irony isn’t the only technique used in the episode. The episode’s title comes from Randy’s ‘apology’ after the Wheel of Fortune incident. This is how the media wants Randy to apologize to the black community: literally kissing Jesse Jackson’s ass; after which he is verbally assaulted with shouts of “hey, it’s that Nigger Guy!” There is a clear purpose behind Randy kissing Jesse Jackson’s ass. The saying, “ass-kissing,” is literally represented here, satirizing the pointless apologies from high profile people who have had controversies occurring in public recordings. This can show how this episode does not actually take any side of the argument, but instead, create a controversy around it to highlight the issue instead of promoting an idea. This furthers the point that contrasting analyses are usually generated from this technique. But what actually is the issue then, if we look at it this way? The whole episode is based around the controversy generated through racial conflicts, and the way it is treated. But then again, social commentary has to come from an issue that actually occurs in society. In the DVD commentary, Parker and Stone said that the episode was inspired from an incident comedian Michael Richards was involved in, where he called several black people who were heckling “niggers.” Richards’ character then made an appearance in the episode.

The interesting thing about the show’s viewer demographics is the amount of children mindlessly watching the show, grasping only a portion of the shows’ intended message. It is expected of them to only be affected by the shock value 20

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of the scene when the word suddenly pops up, maybe resulting into a fit of laughter. This is why the show works — a small piece of shock value followed by relevant commentary is what generates the entertainment.

Like “With Apologies,” there are many other episodes where irony is the main source of humor, or sometimes, what is used to express the point of the entire episode. Like we have discussed earlier in this chapter, social commentary must prove a point by presenting the opposite of what should happen in a sane environment. Irony has a strikingly similar concept, which is what makes it a very common device in situations where a point like that must be proven.

This brings us to role reversal. While it is not particularly outstanding among the show’s comedic styles, it is a very useful tool in a comedy show. In comedic context, it explores the standard or “classic” representations of societal roles and reversing them for another perspective. Traditional discrimination roles are heavily displayed in the context of South Park’s purpose, and comedy can be involved by reversing these roles, possibly hinting absurdity.

Perhaps one thing you noticed was weird was when you first met Token Black, whose name is a play on words on the politically correct concept of a “token-black guy” on TV. As subtle as it is, he is also the wealthiest kid in South Park Elementary, whereas the other (white) kids rely on welfare. The thing about this example is that it is based on a recurring character in which the irony of his background has become a norm and therefore not directly discussed.

Episode based examples, on the other hand, are very prominent. The oppression of the LGBT community has always been a controversial topic to discuss, and it is hardly acceptable not to have an opinion on it in this day and age. The elementary school setting of the show can very well portray the bullying of possible LGBT students. This brings us to “South Park is Gay!,” where a new fad of metrosexuality (“you’re straight, but you appreciate the gay culture”) enters South Park. As the entire neighborhood joins in, Kyle seems to be 21

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completely out of the loop, and was ridiculed when he came to school in his usual outfit. Soon he is abandoned by his own friends, then beat up and called insults by the other metrosexual kids. Seems familiar doesn’t it? The reason why its intended comedy was a success was because Parker and Stone had used role reversal to commentate on a controversial, contemporary topic. The comedy would otherwise be insufficient or vastly different if the traditional gayhating agenda was instead used.

The final episode we will look at is “Red Man’s Greed,” also using role reversal. It follows a Native American casino built near South Park, attracting most of the townspeople. The Native Americans eventually plan to build a highway across the town, forcing them to move out. The source of the irony dates back to the 19th century, where the Native Americans were forcibly removed from their supposed ancestral homeland. The comedy is therefore boosted with the role reversal in this episode, having the South Park townspeople being challenged of their own land.

ALLEGORY SUPER ADVENTURE CLUB An allegory is essentially the hidden symbolic meanings in storylines. The simplest stories you have read in your childhood can now be considered allegories: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (Christianity), Animal Farm (communist politics), The Lord of the Flies (society, morality, religion), etc. This is probably the most witty device used for social commentary, considering the subtleness compared to the others. To put more clarification, let’s look at a popular example: Lord of the Flies. The island represents the world or society in general; the conch represents law and order; the fire represents hope. The list goes on and on, while the story itself still remains intact.

South Park is known for allegories. Even the earlier episodes contain hidden moral lessons, though they are less politically charged. Nevertheless, a problem or topic in society is eventually discussed through the use of allegories. However, what the show also does is take a less subtle approach to 22

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using this device. Simply put, the issue is generalized, and a specific aspect of that issue is put on the show. The next example fits perfectly.

“Weight Gain 4000” follows Cartman being persuaded by a commercial on a weight gain product that claims to improve his body. Deeply intrigued, Cartman tries the product and eventually becomes overweight instead of muscular. Though everyone notices the side effects, he continues to use it, completely blind to his actual appearance. The product symbolizes American products in general, and Cartman’s use of the product represents American purchasing habits.

A more subtle episode would be “The Return of Chef,” where Chef joins a group called the “Super Adventure Club,” only to come back to town as an eccentric pedophile. The boys believe he was brainwashed during his trip, and was subject to pedophilic behavior. This is very clearly a jab at Scientology, considering their previous episodes, as well as the voice actor of Chef, Isaac Hayes, being a scientologist himself. The episode included a montage of the beliefs of the Super Adventure Club, which was very similar to that of scientology.

“Night of the Living Homeless” follows the homeless recreating a parallel version of the Night of the Living Dead. Not only does it reflect the issue of homelessness in the United States, it also satirizes the horror theme in film and television, specifically the cliche of a being (typically zombies) taking over a town.

Finally, “Medicinal Fried Chicken” tells the story of Cartman being addicted to KFC, and finding out the all the KFCs’ in the United States have been closed due to fast food addiction. Desperate for more KFC, he eventually finds himself working in the black market for fast food. The allegory? You guessed it — drug addiction and organized crime.

These are all decent examples of allegories in South Park, reflecting many societal topics in a humorous way, satisfying the general American audience.

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EXAGGERATION AND PARODY REMEMBER THE TIME I… This brings us to exaggeration and parody. They describe the use of hyperbolic storylines to poke fun at typically an issue or person. While these two terms are interchangeable, parody generally refers to the direct reference to the subject, explored in the parodying universe. Exaggeration is typically found in parody, but can be found in the other discussed devices as well.

South Park is notorious for having numerous pop culture references, including but not limited to… internet phenomenon, film and television, contemporary fads… you name it. This is mainly used in the “lightest” subjects to be satirized, considering the lack of seriousness in the topics.

“Make Love, Not Warcraft” is probably the most well known South Park parody — as the video game World of Warcraft was very well known during the time of the episode’s airing, many fans were moderately hyped up for this episode. Blizzard, the company creating Warcraft, was very pleased about the making of this episode and even offered production assistance. This is self explanatory reasoning that parody does not necessarily have to be a mockery of something, but rather just a re-creation for comedic value. The episode shows the boys’ dedication to fighting a player who, apparently, is hacking into the game’s servers and having the abnormal ability to “kill” anyone ingame. If anything, the real mockery is of the dedication of video game habits, but most definitely not the game itself. This provides the distinguishing of the two forms of parody — mockery, and comedic mockery. If the episode intended to mock Warcraft instead, more focus would be put into degrading the game’s overall qualities. “Make Love, Not Warcraft” proved to be a success as fans were hugely satisfied of Parker and Stone’s ability to keep in touch with the gaming community.

Nevertheless, there are other examples such as “The Return of the Fellowship of the Ring of the Two Towers,” which includes a very interesting trait unlike the other examples discussed here. As a parody of The Lord of the

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Rings, what it does is keep the main atmosphere and story concept, but replace the actual storyline with a recurring theme on the show, with elements borrowed from the parodying subject. The episode follows the boys dressed up as Lord characters, and were given a video tape to return, which they deem as a “quest.” The storyline very much makes sense in the universe of South Park, and the borrowed features would be the “quest.”

Next, we will look at true mockery. South Park’s creators are known to be hugely dissatisfied with Family Guy, a similar comedy show. The two-parter “Cartoon Wars” mocks two things — Family Guy, and free speech (specifically, controversy surrounding the depiction of Muhammed, which is also a recurring theme). This two-parter revolves around the fictional Family Guy planning to air an episode depicting Muhammed in one of its jokes. If you are out of the loop, the depiction of Muhammed, the Muslim prophet, is strictly prohibited, even outside of the Muslim community. Attempts to do so (such as cartoons) trying to attack Muslim ideology of anti-free speech, has resulted in nothing but controversy, violence and death. Cartman wishes to prevent the episode from airing, much to Kyle’s suspicion. At the end, Kyle realises he is only doing this to get Family Guy off the air, due to his hatred of the show. “Cartoon Wars” featured many segments of Family Guy, poking fun at their pointless, time-consuming humor. This is where exaggeration comes into play. Family Guy is known for their “cutaway gags,” where a context-free joke is told through a character recalling their “experiences” with the context of the joke. For instance, if the show wanted to put in a joke about [this subject], then a character on the show, at any point during the storyline, will recall their “experiences” with that subject: “Remember the time I… [subject].” South Park takes this opportunity to put in countless cutaway gags on their parody of the show, putting in completely unrelated jokes, successfully exaggerating, parodying and mocking the show. However, let’s not forget the other main concept discussed in “Cartoon Wars.” The paranoia of the adults in the town over a potential terrorist attack can possibly be referring to the general overreaction to controversial content aired in the media. During the episode, one adult suggests that they challenge the Muslim ideology and express their right to free speech, by not protesting the Family 25

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Guy episode. However, he is quickly shut down by another adult who suggests that they “bury their heads in sand, so it serves as evidence that they will not have watched the episode when it airs, therefore no longer serving as a threat to the Muslims.” The irony is very strong in this exchange of dialogue, and heavily satirizes the general public’s poorly organised reactions to quick turning events.

South Park’s use of irony, allegory, exaggeration and parody has contributed to the heavy social commentary of controversial topics in society. They are generally perfectly executed to the point where the satirized subjects either applaud the show in response, or express their humiliation or that they are heavily offended. In the next chapter, you will begin to notice how these satiric devices are used.

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CHAPTER 3 BUSH IS A NAZI

Politics in South Park In the US, as a grown adult, politics is something that is impossible to not have an opinion on. Not because I am implying that all Americans are deeply passionate about politics, but rather because it has become so relevant that it just naturally spreads. American politics it the epitome of America’s impressively growing culture. The “typical American”, as you see it, is a white patriotic right-wing middle-class-family father. Well, that’s just one view of Americans. What most people see when you discuss any issue relevant to America, to a stereotypical American, would most likely result in a long rant about their dedicated stance on that topic. The worst part is that it is entirely possible for them to pretend that they actually understand the topic, or that it actually exists for that matter. It is understood why that is though; seeing that even I, living in an Asian country, would still have American news shoved in my face. Not that it’s a bad thing. I’m not complaining; it honestly is, at times, interesting. But that is why American politics is so relevant worldwide.

Should you question why that is, you’ll had to look at what made American politics come so far out.

The differences between us can be seen as the most fundamental reason for why there is controversy. If everyone was the same… actually, you shouldn’t even imagine a world like that. In the present society, people will definitely

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have contrasting backgrounds. Contrasting views. Contrasting behavior.

You’ll eventually have to deal with someone who has the same amount of dedication as you in their stance on a particular topic. With all the crazy things happening around the world, any person or institution with major influence would result in turmoil, regardless of how strongly you agree with them.

Let’s finally move on to how this is relevant to South Park. Parker and Stone have frequently described themselves as “equal opportunity offenders.”

This means that, in the case of a controversial event occurring, they will explore both sides of the story and satirize them equally. Some of the supporting townspeople of South Park are very stereotypically represented.

The contrasting elements between the characters portray the controversy in real life examples of the political issue. We are specifically talking about the liberal and conservative views — characters like Stan and Kyle’s family, Chef, Wendy and PC Principal have, at times, painfully obvious liberal traits, while Mr. Garrison, Jimbo, Ned, Cartman, and the Rednecks have conservative values, often having conflict with the former set of corresponding characters after a controversy has been set. At the same time, there could be times in which Parker and Stone could look at how some people would prefer to stay away from political stigmas. In “Chef Goes Nanners,” (previously discussed) there was a debate on whether or not South Park’s existing flag (depicting a black man getting hanged by a couple of white men) should be replaced due to its offensive nature. Not many of the townspeople had strong opinions on it, while Chef, who was personally offended by the flag, went all in (hence the title), showing his full support of changing the flag. However, the more notable political issues faced in South Park would of course result in more controversy. “Goobacks” parodies illegal immigration using “future people” representing them. The majority of the town (including the aforementioned) were very liberal and politically correct on this problem, with many showing support for the Goobacks taking jobs. Randy was offended when Stan became apparently annoyed by seeing the Goobacks everywhere, but when his own job is taken, he changes his view completely. The TV debate showed a “pissed off white trash redneck conservative” opposing an “raging hippie 28

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liberal douche,” both having corresponding stereotypes. This is an example of South Park’s “equal opportunity offender” mentality.

Parker and Stone were involved in an interview with fans in an online chatroom back in 2001. This was archived and heavily referenced after.

Q: Are you two guys liberal or conservative? Me and my friends have had debates about this.

Parker: We avoid extremes but we hate liberals more than conservatives and we hate them [conservatives].

Stone: I hate conservatives but I really fucking hate liberals.

Perhaps this explains the inconsistent attitude they have put into the show, mocking both liberals and conservatives. Over the course of the show’s run, Parker and Stone have made jabs at both leftist and rightist mentalities and sentiments. We should look at how they do it.

ALL THE LARGE CORPORATIONS, MAN! THE LIBERAL DOUCHE Contemporary America has created many concepts that have caused stigmas with one another. A large part of entertainment business mainly establishes the rule that anti-capitalist views generally prevail. Studies show that business people are usually portrayed in a negative light, giving the impression that capitalism is generally frowned upon. The amount of celebrities featured on South Park probably makes you question their purpose.

In political context, there is particular focus on exposing Hollywood stars who create liberal or leftist campaigns (Barbra Streisand (“Mecha Streisand”), Rob Reiner (“Butt Out”), Sally Scruthers (“Starvin’ Marvin”) are notable targets). The general mentality parodied is the hate against “large corporations;” for instance, in “Die Hippie Die,” Cartman fights (with reference to action film cliches) the increasing amount of hippies “invading” South Park and mindlessly blame all the troubles of America on “the corporations.”

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“Gnomes,” an earlier episode back in the show’s glory days, takes on the controversy behind capitalism. It features a national coffee chain Harbucks moving to South Park, next to the local Tweek Bros’ coffee shop. As he comes to the realization that his business may be ruined, Mr. Tweek casts himself as the hero of the story, battling the large corporation, Harbucks, trying to take over his small business. The episode includes the boys who are exploited by Mr. Tweek to gain support as he debates the president of Harbucks, which effectively works, with the boys’ set-up argument “this guy sucks!” winning the hearts of the mindless, liberal crowd. The anti-capitalism mentality is parodied in this episode, featuring large corporations as evil and small businesses to be purely good. If we look further into the president of Hardbacks, John Postem, he does state the harsh economic truth behind America, “Hey, this is a capitalist country, pal! Get used to it!” But while this shows his capitalistic character, ironically, Mr. Tweek is just as self-interested as any large corporation. This shows that Mr. Tweek genuinely believes that he is morally superior to the large corporation, Hardbacks, he is fighting, when in fact he may be a lot worse. To sum it up, “Gnomes” undermines the pretentious anti-capitalist America that is effectively destroying the integrity of the marketplace.

What gives the episode its title, though? The gnomes are part of the subplot of the episode, but are still tied to the main plot, and the overall concept of capitalism. Tweek complains to the boys that every night, the gnomes will come in and steal his underpants, while no one else would notice.

In other words, it is the invisible activity in the business industry; the fact that they are gnomes, meaning they would normally be invisible, should really tie it together. The gnomes take the underpants and transform them into a business, which the boys eventually discover. These “underpants gnomes” represent how the image of capitalism is mistakenly pictured by the general public. The townspeople of South Park fail to understand how the activities of large corporations are absolutely necessary for the logistical health of society. They take it for granted that they will always have abundant goods and services in their daily lives, while ignoring the large corporations that are 30

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to thank for this. The typical citizen misinterprets capitalism as downright theft, only focusing on what large businesses take from them — money — and not what they get in return.

But even the gnomes don’t seem to understand their own business. The irony is expanded in a chart, showing the stages of their business, to the boys.

Phase 1: Collect Underpants Phase 2: ?

Phase 3: Profit When phase 2 was questioned by the boys, none of the gnomes knew what to answer. Perhaps this further extends the economic illiteracy of the general public. They fail to understand the connection between the economic activities that businesses take, and the profit they make as a result.

We can conclude that “Gnomes” explores the poorly justified stigma behind capitalism and the misguided and unnecessary arguments to combat it. Anti-capitalism is only an example of some liberal mentalities, but still remains intact on the left of the political spectrum.

A similar episode is “Something Wall-Mart This Way Comes,” which not only serves as plenty of political commentary, but is also in the mold of a cheesy horror film. Wall-Mart is presented as a supernatural, sinister superstore that takes over the town. Among the flashes of lightning, shadows and darkened clouds, there is the belief that Wall-Mart exerts some “mystical evil force” on the townspeople. The theme is akin to that of “Gnomes”; a local shop owner sees himself unable to compete with the new Wall-Mart, a national retail chain. The town soon shows public opposition to Wall-Mart, citing the inability for local small businesses owners to compete. There were numerous boycott attempts (and the main plot deals with the boys trying to destroy the “heart” of Wall-Mart), but unsurprisingly failed. The hypocritical townspeople soon find themselves back at Wall-Mart, stuck with the hard truth that they have no other choice than to shop at Wall-Mart, not to 31

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mention their cheap, desirable costs. Wall-Mart is literally represented as an external, supernatural force, which attracts townspeople to their store “against their will;” soon enough, you will see that this is just a play on the term “corporate monster.” The boys set out to destroy the heart of Wall-Mart, but as they get closer, Randy notes the increasing horror, claiming that the store is lowering its prices even more. As they get to the heart, it is revealed that the “heart” is actually a mirror, reflecting off themselves. The spirit of the heart tells the boys, “That is the heart of Wall-Mart. You, the consumer. I take many forms: Wall-Mart, K-Mart, Target. But I am one single entity: Desire!” The relatively straightforward lesson given by the heart of WallMart explains the troubles behind the corporate dilemma. Randy learns that “if we like our small-town charm more than the big corporate bullies, we all have to be willing to… pay a little bit more.” The townspeople proceed to act accordingly; they destroy Wall-Mart’s mirror, then collectively agree to shop at Jim’s Drugs, a smaller business, instead. As Jim’s Drugs becomes more successful, it grows to a huge business reminiscent to Wall-Mart, which in turn leads to the same consequences that Wall-Mart had created. The whole story despises the anti-corporate activism, which ignores the realism behind the economic world. Businesses are supposed to please their customers, and they get big by satisfying their customers. These two episodes heavily defend the free market, through sharp irony and a really impressive allegory.

There are tireless references to left-wing bigotry, and anti-corporate mentality is just one of them. We will talk about other issues later. For now, let’s look at some right wing, conservative rednecks.

DEY TOOK ER JOBS! THE CONSERVATIVE REDNECK Despite South Park’s reputation for having offensive content and crude humor, one of the few consistently supported topics is the homosexual agenda. In the early seasons, the town of South Park is perceived to be more conservative, due to the nature of the type of people, which in turn coined the term “South Park Conservative,” which referred to the libertarianism-leaning conservatism which was formed around the show’s content. Perhaps the most 32

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sensitive issue was indeed homosexuality, and South Park addressed this issue in a slightly unorthodox manner for television, which led to anxiety from Comedy Central.

I am talking about “Big Gay Al’s Big Gay Boat Ride,” a classic season 1 episode. After its airing, the episode was subsequently praised by GLAAD and most fans who were surprised by the content. Stan realizes his dog Sparky is gay, after he jumps on another dog and begins humping him. He visits Mr. Garrison, who tells him that gays are evil, prompting Stan to attempt to make his dog straight. After several failed attempts, Sparky runs away to the mountains, where he meets Big Gay Al, who lets him in his “Big Gay Animal Sanctuary.” After a valuable lesson from Big Gay Al, who explains that homosexuality has been around for a long time, Stan finally accepts his dog’s homosexuality, and proceeds to explain the whole ordeal to the rest of the town.

As a straightforward episode, the moral is clear — it really is fine to be gay, and you should be tolerant in general. The exaggerated gay character of Big Gay Al was viewed by some viewers to be discriminatory, but it is simply just a function of playful satire against homosexuality. Big Gay Al went on to become a minor character, playing roles in “Cripple Fight” and “Follow That Egg!” “Cripple Fight” takes on allegations and assumptions of gay boy scout leaders having fishy intentions on their boy scouts. Big Gay Al is the scoutsmaster of Mountain Scouts Troop number 69, which consists of most of the South Park Elementary boys. After noticing the boys’ strange diction (including Stan calling Cartman a “big silly goose”), the parents soon realize Big Gay Al’s potentially harmful influence on the boys’ wellbeing. Big Gay Al is subsequently removed from the Scouts for his homosexuality, much to the boys’ dismay. Eventually a new scoutsmaster is appointed, and unlike Big Gay Al he is more masculine and strict. However, the new scoutsmaster eventually requests naked pictures of the scouts, leading to his arrest. The irony is that the buff, masculine man would not be expected to be a 33

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pedophile, while the view presented here from the parents is that gay scoutmasters should not be trusted with kids. In fact, the opposite happens, and the clear message sent is that uninformed assumptions should not always be made.

“Follow That Egg” follows Mrs. Garrison’s attempts to fix her relationship with Mr. Slave, who is offended that he was not informed about Mrs. Garrison’s sex change operation. Mr. Slave leaves her for Big Gay Al, who he plans to marry after a coming bill on gay marriage will be passed. Mrs. Garrison plans to ruin their relationship by making same sex marriage illegal.

Though this does show more about her relationships with Mr. Slave, it still reflects her attitudes towards homosexuality. The ironic thing is her transgender identity, a longstanding joke on the show. As a 4th grade teacher, she assigns a task in which a boy and a girl are given an egg to take care of (the egg representing a child). Any damage to said egg will result in an F grade. Initially, all the pairs have had undamaged eggs, but then, she swaps two pairs around to create one pair of the same gender. Mrs. Garrison convinces the mayor to base the bill on this experiment; she claims that if the gay pair’s eggs are damaged at the end, it would prove that all gays are incapable of taking care of a child. The poorly conducted experiment with no real logical reasoning could perhaps reflect some ignorant conservative beliefs and arguments.

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VOTE OR DIE THE IMPORTANCE OF VOTING So where does the actual politics come into play? There are so many political concepts that a society needs for their overall health. However we will narrow it down to South Park’s direct references to politics; this includes voting, foreign relations and political decision-making. In other words, we will look at episodes heavily involved with politics.

I don’t know how many times I have mentioned this, but a large portion of South Park’s humor is based on the satire of the heavy ignorance of the townspeople. The general idea is that once a controversy is generated, the townspeople either panic in turmoil or make uninformed decisions. This is the second time I have mentioned this episode, but “Two Days Before The Day After Tomorrow” is actually brilliantly written. If you have forgotten already, it follows a local town’s beaver dam being destroyed by Stan and Cartman’s boat, flooding said town and trapping thousands. A team of Colorado’s scientists and government officials research the phenomenon, and conclude that the cause of the flooding is global warming, which will inadvertently cause an ice age, causing temperature to plunge to 70 million degrees below zero; all happening two days before the day after tomorrow. As mass hysteria floods the town, the townspeople rush into the community centre, while Randy, Gerald (Kyle’s dad) and Stephen (Butters’ dad) brave the supposed ice age to find their sons who decided to save the stranded people in danger. This is actually a parody of the response to Hurricane Katrina, particularly the controversial negotiations between parties in the relief effort, as well as the distorted media coverage. All in all, it does undermine the mass ignorance and political illiteracy of these people.

“Douche and Turd” parodies the 2004 US election, as well as democracy in general. Students in South Park Elementary are forced to choose between a Giant Douche and a Turd Sandwich for their new mascot. While most people decide to vote, Stan decides that he does not care too much about the issue and does not vote. This prompts the town to kick Stan out of South 35

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Park, absolutely destroyed by the fact that he does not understand the “importance of voting.” As Stan travels by himself into the woods, he finds himself into a PETA organization camp. The more important thing is the candidates that the students are forced to vote for are a douche and a turd; when a PETA member finds out the reason Stan was kicked out of his town, he explains that we will always be voting for a douche or a turd. The candidates actually represent most corrupt politicians who most citizens feel will not be of use or beneficial to their country, but are still forced to vote for one of them. In other words, “democracy” does not sound as ideal as it should be, and is far more corrupt than you think. Speaking of PETA, there is a subtle reason as to why they were chosen as the place Stan stayed at. PETA’s primary purpose is to protect animals and give them a safe home; however, the PETA members portrayed in the episode actually mated with the animals more than they ‘helped’ them, which could possibly be referring to the selfish mentality of the politicians (not to mention a direct jab on PETA’s aggressive vegan agenda).

In that episode, Kyle is the primary spokeseman for the Giant Douche mascot. Like everybody else, Kyle wants Stan to understand the importance of voting. When Stan temporarily decides to vote due to the mass amount of pressure, he votes for the Turd Sandwich, to which Kyle criticizes about.

Stan says, “I thought I was supposed to make my own decision,” which Kyle responds with “Well yeah, but not if your decision is for Turd Sandwich!

What the hell is wrong with you?” Cartman, witnessing the situation, he tells him to ignore Kyle and tries to help him vote. With all that pressure, Stan eventually refuses to vote with all the manipulation, which prompts the town to kick him out. This highlights the reality of democracy, where voting may as well be heavily altered or voters are generally manipulated by politicians.

But not even the kindergarteners are safe from this corrupted democracy.

In “Trapper Keeper,” Kyle’s brother Ike and a fellow classmate Filmore are involved in a class presidential election. The vote is tied at six each, and Flora, an indecisive student, will have the winning vote. Mr. Garrison repeatedly asks for her vote, but she insists that she does’t know who to pick, 36

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and this situation escalates when Filmore’s aunt, Rosie O’Donnell comes to the scene to make sure “that the kids who voted for [her] nephew don’t get cheated”, and requests for a recount after recount. Mr. Garrison, with a longstanding hatred for Rosie O’Donnell, says “half the kids in the class didn’t vote for your nephew, so what about them? You don’t give a crap about them because they’re not on your side!” In the end, Filmore drops out and says that he does not want to play the “stupid game” anymore. The class decides to finger-paint at the end. Placed in a situation where none of the candidates and voters actually take the election process seriously, it points out the morbid truth about the democratic process: some really just don’t care. Rosie O’Donnell’s role in the episode is to undermine the corrupt sponsors of politicians and their deceiving practices.

Speaking of democracy, 2008 was quite the year for South Park. The hype for 2008’s election was pretty extreme, as it does every election. “About Last Night…” comments on the absurdity of political claims and conspiracies, as well as moral panic and extreme nationwide reactions on the election, which could mostly apply to the pretentious political commentators who cannot get their minds off politics. Rather than creating a more direct satiric commentary on modern politics, Parker and Stone decided to create an absurd, action-movie plot inspired by the film Ocean’s Eleven. The plot follows the two main candidates, Barack Obama and John McCaine, being secretly involved in a diamond heist. The subplot follows the town’s Obama supporters (including the Marshes and Broflovskis) heavily celebrating drunkenly on the streets, while the McCaine supporters (including the Stoches, Mr. Garrison and Mr. Mackey) being attacked by moral panic, fearing that the new president would lead to the end of civilization. This is a huge exaggeration on the ones with extreme dedication to politics, with a close minded view of their supported political philosophy, and believing that anything that goes against it will lead to the end of humanity. Randy, on the other hand, punches his boss, believing that Obama’s presidency will forever financially secure his future. It is also pretty clear what this means — he has no clue how little power the president has, compared to what he believes.

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“1%” parodies the Occupy Wall Street movement, which is dedicated to solving the social and economic inequality issue. South Park Elementary is informed that they have scored the lowest in the entire country on the presidential fitness test due to Cartman’s extremely poor health, which dragged down what would have been an acceptable average. As punishment, the students are forced to join extra physical education classes. With the criticism he receives, he accuses the rest of the school for being the “99%” that is “ganging up” on him, the “1%”. This inspires an actual 99% club formed by the fifth graders, as they begin to haunt Cartman as revenge.

Finally, let’s look at a much newer episode, “Where My Country Gone?”.

Without directly mentioning him, Donald Trump’s crazy ideas are parodied.

A large number of Canadians have entered the country illegally, prompting Mr. Garrison to start his own presidential campaign. His intentions is to build a wall to stop the Canadians from coming in, which is exactly what Trump wishes to do against the Mexicans. However, Mr. Garrison soon finds out that the real reason the Canadians are coming in is because of the elected candidate in Canada who has said outrageous things and did not give solutions to problems.

Speaking of that episode, we will get to season 19’s surprising change of content soon.

IMAGINATIONLAND A WORLD OF TERROR The three parter story “Imaginationland” begins with the group waiting in the woods for a leprechaun Cartman claims to have seen. As usual, Kyle is skeptic and had previously bet with Cartman 10 bucks against sucking Cartman’s balls that leprechauns aren’t real. Surprisingly, the boys do catch a leprechaun, but it instead warns of a terrorist attack then promptly disappears. That night, Kyle asks his parents where lerprechauns come from, to which they respond that they believe Kyle does not understand the difference between real and imaginary. As the story goes on, you’ll find out that no one really does.

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A strange man appears the next day, asking them if they have seen a leprechaun. Kyle, infuriated, argues that leprechauns are imaginary, to which the man replies, just because something is imaginary doesn’t mean it isn’t real.

He invites the group arrives in a place called Imaginationland, which consists of numerous imaginary characters, which are all created by human imagination. Suddenly, the entire place is overrun by Islamic terrorists, killing many of the characters. With the exception of Butters, who is trapped in the place, the boys are saved by Draco, who flies them to safety. At Imaginationland, the terrorists destroy the wall where it is fabled the evil characters live. That is true — and now the entire place is filled with evil imaginary characters.

The next morning, Kyle wakes up and believes it is all a dream — until Stan tells him that he had the same dream too. The next two episodes revolve around the US’s plans to save Imaginationland in order to “save their imagination.” Stan and Kyle are interrogated at the Pentagon; they are told of a portal that had been built during the Cold War, and is controlled by the government. The portal supposdedly leads to Imaginationland, and with the boys’ help, they unlock the portal, and troops are sent into the portal. They are immeditately killed, and the Pentagon decides to launch a nuclear missile into the portal instead.

At Imaginationland, the ‘Council of Nine’ has a discussion on the issue they are currently facing. The council consists of Aslan, Gandalf, Glinda, Jesus, Luke Skywalker, Morpheus, Popeye, Wonder Woman, and Zeus.

They determine that Butters is “the key” to taking back Imaginationland from the evil characters.

The nuclear missile launched into the portal, destroying everything within. Butters, on the other hand, somehow survive the explosion and restores the realm with his imagination, back to how it was before the terrorist attacks. The episode ends with Cartman creating an imagination, where Kyle eventually commits to his bet, sucking Cartman’s dry balls.

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The entire story is an allegory of US’s poorly designed reactions to terrorism, as well as urgent issues in general. When the initial attack is picked up by the Pentagon, their first decision is to ask famous film directors on what should happen to Imaginationland after the attacks, and what actions should be taken. While it does make some sense in that context regarding imagination, it is still downright absurd to obtain information through this method.

We can also note the lack of security in confidential information, and the amount of political ignorance and illiteracy even from politicians themselves.

For instance, take note of this exchange.

Stan: Look, we already told you everything we know. Some guy just shows up in a big balloon and took us into Imaginationland.

General: Do you realise what’s going on here?! Terrorists have attacked our imagination, and now imaginations are running wild! You’d better start remembering!

Tom the Specialist: It was the Chinese, wasn’t it?

Kyle: …What?

Specialist: We’ve suspected the Chinese government was working on a doorway to the imagination. Is that where you were?!

Stan: No. General: That’s it, isn’t it?! Where do the Chinese keep this portal? How does it work?

Specialist: Is it better than ours?

Stan: Your what?

Specialist: Our portal to the imagination built as a secret project back in 1962 to fight the Soviets…

Kyle: Wait. The US government has a portal to the imagination?

General: Aw, see? Good job, Tom! Why don’t you just tell them everything about Project X?!

Tom: Yes sir. We build a portal to the imagination to use against the Russians during the Cold War, but we never got a…

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General: That was sarcasm! I was being sarcastic, you fucking idiot!

Tom: Aw, jeez, I’m really sorry sir…

The amount of stupidity presented strengthens the argument that politics generally have good intentions, just with horrible execution. Such large issues generally prevail, and whatever political decision made would simply just result in heavy controversy.

But the whole idea of the story is more philosophical than satirical. Since we could be getting off-topic, I’ll make this conclusion brief. A consistent message spread in the episode is that just because something is imaginary, doesn’t mean it isn’t real. What really is real really depends on how they have been significant, and some may say it is not even relevant. The delivery of the message has been greatly assisted by the story’s context. Kyle is confronted when he protests the nuclear attack on Imaginationland in the following exchange.

Kyle: You have to stop!

General: If I’m not mistaken, you’re the one who bet that leprechauns weren’t real. So why do you care what happens?

Kyle: Because I… I… um… because I think… they are real. It’a all real.

Think about it. Haven’t Luke Skywalker and Santa Claus affected your lives more than most real people in this room? I mean, whether Jesus is real or not, he… he’s had a bigger impact on the world than any of us have. And the same could be said of Bugs Bunny, and Superman and Harry Potter. They’ve changed my life, changed the way I act on Earth. Doesn’t that make them kind of “real”? They might be imaginary, but, but they’re more important than most of us here. And they’re all gonna be around than most of us here.

And they’re all gonna be around long after they’re dead. So in a way, those things are more realer than any of us.

There are only so many ways to interpret Kyle’s way of thinking, but perhaps the imaginary characters he was referring to could be referencing the impact they have had and not themselves. But… whatever floats your boat.

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POOR, POOR BLASPHEMY THE DARK SIDE OF RELIGION David Koepsell said in his essay featured in The Ultimate South Park and Philosophy, that South Park is a show born in blasphemy. The show has mocked numerous religions (and philosophies), including Christianity, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, Atheism and the infamous Scientology. Scientology and Islam will not be covered in this chapter, but rather in chapter 5 and 6, respectively.

Like many, many concepts, certain aspects of religion could be considered good in theory, but bad in practice. Perhaps it is the homophobic agenda in Christianity, or the constant terrorism linked to Islam. Some may claim that the world is better off without religion, and some may claim that religion actually encourages moral values.

This brings us to the two-parter “Go God Go” and “Go God Go XII,” which heavily satirizes atheistic mentalities. Cartman cannot wait for the Wii to be released, and freezes himself so he does not have to wait, inadvertently bringing himself to the 26th century. He is discovered by the United Atheist League (UAL), which is when Cartman realizes he is in a completely atheistic world dedicated to rationality and science. Atheism is divided into several denominations. They are at war with each other, who all have different answers to the “Great Question.” Other factions include The United Atheist Alliance (UAA) and the Allied Atheist Alliance (AAA), with the latter consisting of intelligent and human-like sea otters. The whole plot parodies the idea of a ‘perfect’ world with no religion. The truth is that war would still be significant with or without the presence of religion. A scientifically advanced world would still, at the end, have contradicting views within its own community.

But of course atheism is not the only thing parodied. The start of “Go God Go” follows the conservative Mrs. Garrison (who had been involved in multiple sex change operations) refusing to teach evolution at the school.

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After being forced to teach evolution, she gives the following explanation to the class.

“In the beginning we were all fish. Okay? Swimming around in the water.

And then one day a couple of fish had a retard baby, and the retard baby was different, so it got to live. So retard fish goes on to make more retard babies, and one day, a retard baby fish crawl out of the ocean with its… mutant fish hands… and it had butt sex with a squirrel and made this. Retard frog squirrel… and then that had a retard baby which was a… monkey fish-frog…

And then this monkey fish-frog had butt sex with that monkey, and… that monkey had a mutant retard baby that screwed another monkey and… that made you! So there you go! You’re the offspring of five monkeys having butt sex with a fish-squirrel! Congratulations!”

Evolution is generally an accepted fact. In the modern world, it is still a pretty controversial thing to discuss in Christianity. Mrs. Garrison perfectly satirizes the extremely dedicated Christians who do not acknowledge scientific and logical reasoning and use their religion as the basis of what should be considered correct or moral.

I would talk about “The Passion of the Jew,” but I have already extensively covered that in chapter 1. However, it is still a very significant episode in South Park’s religious satire. In short, it explores the stigma behind the film The Passion of the Christ, and also strengthens Cartman’s antiSemitism. The ending moral provided by Stan is not only logical, but is also surprisingly heartwarming: “No, dude, if you wanna be Christian, that’s cool, but, you should follow what Jesus taught instead of how he got killed.

Focusing on how he got killed is what people did in the Dark Ages and it ended up with really bad results.” The controversies caused by religion, even in the modern world, have been due to contradicting views between across other religions, the law, morality, or perhaps even factual information. But what we really should be doing is looking at the positive side of religion, since they do serve as a good moral guide.

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Speaking of atheism (you will see why it is relevant), “Red Hot Catholic Love” targets the Catholic sex scandal. Priests are frequently associated with the ironically pedophilic stereotype, which is very prominent in this episode.

The local priest, Father Maxi discovers the horrible truth about Roman Catholicism in which sex with children is apparently part of the Vatican Law. While arguing the moral side of it, Father Maxi is rebutted with the argument from other priests from around the world that since it is part of the Vatican Law, it cannot be changed and must be practiced. What is being ridiculed is how some religious people blindly follow a religion’s rules without putting much thought into it logically or morally. “It’s in the law, so it must be morally right” could apply to many laws, but the ones that get debated are the ones that go against this mentality. When the town finds out about this, the majority of parents convert to atheism. Meanwhile, Cartman discovers a method of defecation: through the mouth — this is then practiced by people worldwide. In an atheist meeting with the boys’ parents, snacks are served, then moments later, they defecate out of their mouths. This is not only for comedic effect, but it is also a very clever metaphor. This is literally “shit talking,” i.e bullshit coming out of their mouths. Perhaps this could refer to the enormous amount of bigotry and pretentious intolerance coming from the atheist community.

“Cartman Sucks” deals heavily with Christian views on homosexuality.

Cartman does another prank on the unsuspecting Butters. Thinking it is only a harmless prank, he places Butters’ penis in his mouth. Butters’ dad Stephen witnesses the act; paranoid, he sends Butters to a gay conversion camp, thinking he is bi-curious. The camp staff constantly tell Butters that he is confused, and with the help of the Christian therapy, he will no longer be confused, turning him heterosexual again. Butters has no idea what he is being admitted to, but agrees to join the camp. At the camp, the boys are miserable and suicide is very common. Butters’ roommate contemplates suicide and stands at the ledge of a bridge ready to jump, but the camp staff remain unsympathetic. Butters finally snaps and voices that he is sick of getting called “confused,” and that he was never confused until he was brought to the camp. He continues with a pretty comforting speech.

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“I'm not gonna be confused anymore just because you say I should be!

My name is Butters, I'm eight years old, I'm blood type O, and I'm bicurious! And even that's okay! Because if I'm bi-curious, and I'm somehow made from God, then I think your God must be a little bi-curious himself!”

The irony comes from the fact that he really does not have any idea what bi-curious means, apart from the fact that it is what he is branded with. But he does uncover a tiny truth — he’s happy, and it really is all that matters.

That’s a primary (but pretty cliche) philosophy found in many “guides” encouraging a “happy life”; and while some religions encourage happiness too, doesn’t mean it couldn’t intervene negatively. The main problem with religion is the amount of possibly unhealthy changes to a lifestyle it could create, and homosexuality is a huge example of that. Speaking of irony, the camp staff have constantly commented on the positivity in the camp; what they fail to admit is that their conversion therapy really is not working, seen by the amount of suicides, and the constant negative looks on the camp attendees.

Finally, “All About Mormons” talks about how bigoted views towards religion could actually be harmful. A very stereotypical Mormon family moves to South Park. The entire family is very nice and filled with overwhelming happiness, as opposed to the rest of South Park. Stan eventually becomes friends with their family’s son Gary, and they teach him about Mormonism. Though their family respects all religious views, Stan is infuriated with the anti-logic Mormonism supposedly follows. He eventually becomes angry and stops being Gary’s friend, to which Gary replies, “All I ever did was try to be your friend, Stan, but you’re so high and mighty you couldn’t look past my religion and just be my friend back. You’ve got a lot of growing up to do, buddy. Suck my balls.” This proves my previous point about South Park’s “equal opportunity offender” format; obviously, the extreme views of some religions could be very bigoted and ignorant, but that could apply to those who have anti-religious views too. As always, a society should collectively just be tolerant of each other and behave in order. Religion 45

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may be significant, but when it comes to basic etiquette, it should not even be relevant.

CUTE OR YUMMY ANIMALS? THE ETHICS BEHIND VEGANISM It may be logical to say that dark, crude humor and morality are mutually exclusive. The real question is how you really define morality. Animal rights activists commonly claim that animals have just as many rights as humans, and whether that is true would depend on how you would justify “rights”. It just goes in a huge circle. It’s not surprising, since the morality and ethics of something is largely subjective; it’s ironic that most of the law was founded upon morality, however stingy subjects like this generally cause controversy.

We will focus on the rights of animals instead of morality as a whole, since the show seems to discuss it more.

“Fun With Veal” targets vegetarianism, satirizing the compassion and unnecessary empathy animals’ rights activists have for animals who would eventually become food. It is more importantly the extent to which they do that; for instance some feel empathy for baby cows for their cuteness, but not for, let’s say, fully grown crows. On a class trip to a ranch, the boys are horrified to learn what veal is really “made from.” As usual, Cartman neglects the moral outrage and instead asks for a free sample.

What children tend to believe is that killing anything is wrong. After the realization of the reality behind meat products, there should be some kind of thought process that triggers Stan’s response. Stan’s thought process is that the cute, cuddly cows are killed for our own benefits, therefore we must eat non-meat products to promote the idea that killing animals… is wrong. Stan steals the veal from the ranch and decides to hide them in the room with the rest of the boys. As they get in trouble with their parents and the police, they continue to resist to compromise with the police due to moral objections.

In the end, Stan is diagnosed with “Vaginitis,” after not eating meat for days. It is a condition in which small vaginas grow on the skin. The doctor 46

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says, “If we hadn’t stopped it in time, Stan would have eventually just become one great big giant pussy.” It is very clear where this is going: vegans are generally portrayed in a negative light due to their excess, bigoted behavior and refusal to be open to other opinions on the issue. By refusing to eat meat due to excess moral objections, this essentially makes them a giant pussy.

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CHAPTER 4 SPARE SOME CHANGE, SIR?

The Progression of South Park This chapter will be a very short run-down on how South Park has changed overtime. We shall look at one episode per part.

CLASSICAL SOUTH PARK “DEATH” SEASON 1-4 The first four seasons of South Park have been praised and criticized for its surprisngly crude and dark humour. While that is true, it is nothing to really be ashamed of. Light social commentary was found in some episodes, and morals were discussed usually at the end of the episode by the boys.

Parker and Stone even decided to create an episode in season 1 dedicated to the hate and controversy around the show back then. “Death” introduces Terrance and Phillip, a show that the kids enjoy watching. It consists of mainly fart jokes, which is basically an exaggerated version of South Park. The parents are outraged at the show’s crude humor, and they collectively join a protest against the show, leaving behind. The boys are infuriated that the parents only care about what their children are influenced by, but not the children themselves. This is presented through the following speech: You

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know, I think that if parents would spend less time worrying about what their kids watch on TV, and more time worrying about what's going in in their kid's lives, this world would be a much better place. I think that parents only get so offended by television because the rely on it as a babysitter, and the sole educator of their kids.”

Honorable mentions: “Death,” “Cartman’s Silly Hate Crime 2000,” “Gnomes,” “Are You There God? It’s Me, Jesus,” “Chef Goes Nanners”

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SOCIAL & POLITICAL SOUTH PARK “PROPER CONDOM USE” SEASON 5-11 Subjectively, season 5 was when politics got in the way. More controversial issues got in the way, creating opportunities for Parker and Stone to become more relevant.

“Proper Condom Use” deals with the growing concern of sex education in schools. Carmen masturbates Kenny’s dog to the point of ejaculation, or as he says, “milking the dog.” Obviously he has no idea what he is doing, leading to paranoia among the parents. As sex ed is enforced in the school again, the boys soon learn about condoms; however they have the impression that condoms must be worn 24/7 to ensure safety. The general message is that sex ed should not necessarily be taught in schools, since children will get the wrong idea at the end. Parents should be the ones teaching their kids about these matters.

Honorable mentions: “Proper Condom Use,” “Osama bin Laden Has Farty Pants,” “A Ladder to Heaven,” “The Death Camp of Tolerance,” “With Apologies to Jesse Jackson,” “Cartoon Wars Part I & II,” “Imaginationland Part I-III,” “South Park is Gay!”, “Follow That Egg!”, “Two Days Before the Day After Tomorrow,” “Free Willzyx,” “The Return of Chef”

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HEAVY POLITICAL SOUTH PARK “THE CHINA PROBREM” SEASON 12-18 The turning point of South Park is generally the most discussed “version” of the show. Politics and heavy social issues became a prominent part of the show’s content, and much of the storylines were dedicated to heavy-texture libertarian political commentary.

“The China Probrem” follows Cartman’s paranoia over the Chinese taking over the world, after watching their Olympics opening ceremony. He tries to stop the Chinese from doing so, when in reality, there really isn’t such plan at all. In short, it hightlights the xenophobic attitudes in contemporary America, as well as mass paranoia and ignorance when a foreign country is involved in something huge.

Honorable mentions: “The China Probrem,” “Sexual Healing,” “Crack Baby Athletic Association,” “Reverse Cowgirl,” “Insecurity,” “Ginger Cow,” “Pandemic,” “Breast Cancer Show Ever”

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YOU PC BRO??

“STUNNING AND BRAVE” SEASON 19 Season 19 is when political correctness became a theme. Most people are aware of the social justice stigma that emerged in 2015. The irony and hypocrisy of the whole “PC culture” is demonstrated through the infamous PC Principal.

Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner’s transformation became extremely prominent in the media, and whether it is actually that significant sparked debate.

Numerous leftist reports have called her “brave,” and this was eventually parodied in the season premiere “Stunning and Brave.” The arrival of PC Principal generated lots of unfamiliarity among the students, who are not aware of PC culture. Kyle is infuriated that the PC Principal is not allowing Kyle to not call Caitlyn Jenner “brave,” and claiming she is not of such significance.

More subject matter in PC culture and social justice include safe spaces, advertising and illegal immigrants.

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PART 2 GOOD JOB CARTMAN, YOU’VE RUINED EVERYTHING!

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CHAPTER 5 WILL WE GET BOMBED?

The Depiction of Muhammad These two chapters will cover the two most controversial subjects the show has ever been involved with. It has resulted in controversy, violence and turmoil.

The depiction of Muhammed has perhaps been one of the most significant examples of “dangerous satire.” The absence of political correctness on the show has frequently been praised by fans, enjoying its crude and dark humor.

While Parker and Stone have always claimed that no one is safe from their ridicule, what they really need to know is how safe they are with that mentality.

In 2005, a Danish newspaper published a couple cartoons, most of which satirically depicted Muhammad, attempting to contribute to the debate on Islam and censorship. The depiction of Muhammad, the prophet of the Muslim faith, is highly blasphemous in most Islamic traditions. The Muslim community was highly offended by this; this led to protests, public turmoil, censorship and countless death threats to the publisher. The “truth” of the matter is that Islam subjectively, is a controversial religion. You could argue all you want about how peaceful or violent it actually is, but at the end of the day, the point is that it is very difficult to discuss neutrally.

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But controversy is what South Park loves to go for. The brief, initial depiction of Muhammad in the 2001 episode “Super Best Friends” caused little to no controversy, due to the extremely light and mundane nature of his depiction; however, when the 2005 newspaper incident arose in the media, Parker and Stone decided to take a little risk, going further with the issue.

The 2006 two-parter episodes “Cartoon Wars Part I” and “Cartoon Wars Part II” discuss the mass paranoia over censorship and touchy, sensitive topics that may potentially lead to danger. In the episodes, a related television series, Family Guy, South Park’s long-standing rival, has announced that they will feature Muhammad as a character in an upcoming episode. The town of South Park screams in fear, believing that as the audience of the show, they would eventually be victims of an Islamic terrorist attack as a response to the depiction of their prophet. While Stephen argues that they should embrace the coming episode of Family Guy and remember the primary purpose of free speech, the rest of the townspeople conclude that hiding their heads under sand would be a much better and safer option to combat this coming issue, since it would prove that they will have not watched the episode. Kyle argues that the concept of free speech is paramount to the future of the well being of a society, leading the network president to air the episode.

Muhammad was actually depicted in the episode, in scenes where Family Guy would supposedly depict him. He was completely censored by Comedy Central, in fear of any harm to their safety. The popular argument against offensive nature is the concept of free speech — however, many people misuse it when in the context of violence. It has happened before, and it will happen again: radical Islam is nothing to ridicule about. It is not because their feelings will get hurt; it is because they are radical, and they go through extreme lengths to prove their point. Despite all this, Parker and Stone did receive death threats, but their actual safety was not affected. Comedy Central heavily criticized Parker and Stone for their dangerous satirical themes, but Parker disagreed. This was his response in an interview:

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“That's what we said to them, was, 'This is South Park, and we rip on absolutely everyone in really horrible, terrible ways. And if you're saying that this is the one thing we can't do, besides Tom Cruise, because they're threatening violence, well, then, I guess that's what everyone should do. Then if the Catholics don't want us ripping on Jesus anymore, they should just threaten you with violence, and they'll get their way.' That's why it is such a slippery slope and such a dangerous path to go down.”

The argument was on whether the depiction of Muhammad should be heavily censored in order to protect themselves and the duo. They proceeded to call the intentions of Comedy Central “wimpy,” showing their heavy support for free speech.

But that wasn’t it. “200” and “201” refer to the 200th and 201st episodes of the show, and again, revolve around Muhammad and its censorship. On a field trip to a candy factory, Stan notices Tom Cruise working there packing fudge, calling him a fudge packer. Offended, Tom Cruise threatens to sue the entire town of South Park, unless he is compensated with being able to meet Muhammad. We then learn that he only wants to meet Muhammad for his “goo,” which gives the special ability of not being able to be ridiculed. When the townspeople of South Park are able to locate Muhammad, they have trouble finding ways to transfer him to the hands of Tom Cruise without exposing him to the public, which is a clear jab at his censorship. When Muhammad is finally transferred to Tom Cruise, he puts him on the “goo transfer machine,” and transfers the goo to his body. However, even after the goo transfer, he finds himself still being ridiculed. Kyle, Jesus and Santa proceed to explain the following ironically.

“That’s because there is no goo, Mr. Cruise. You see, I learned something today. Throughout this whole ordeal, we’ve all wanted to show things that we aren’t allowed to show. But it wasn’t because of some magic goo. It was because of the magical power of threatening people with violence. That’s obviously the only true power. If there’s anything we’ve all learned, it’s that terming people works. […] If you don’t want to be made fun of anymore, all 56

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you need are guns and bombs to get people to stop. [‌] All you need is to install fear and be willing to hurt people and you can get whatever you want.

The only true power is violence.�

The lines after the first sentence were subsequently censored completely

by Comedy Central after initially reviewing it. The paranoia over that could be justified, though. The speech actually demonstrates the close minded logic of the radical Islam mentality, and their opposition to ridicule, satire and humor. Basically, anything or anyone could be a victim of ridicule. The irony in the speech is that killing people over mockery and ridicule is clearly not the answer.

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CHAPTER 6 THIS IS WHAT SCIENTOLOGISTS ACTUALLY BELIEVE

South Park and Scientology Who wouldn’t forget our favorite religion, Scientology. Scientology caused much less damage than the Muhammed episodes did, since they are not as extreme.

“Trapped in the Closet” follows Stan taking a “personality test” offered by Scientologists on the street. After answering a long questionnaire, Stan is informed he is extremely depressed, and the Scientologists offer to “help” him become happy again for $240. Stan pays and has his “thetan levels” checked, and is read an extremely high reading; the Scientology headquarters is soon informed, and the president of Scientology pays a visit to Stan. They determine that, since Stan has such a high thetan level, he must be the a reincarnation of L. Ron Hubbard, the founder and prophet of Scientology.

That night, a large group of Scientologists arrive at the Marsh house to celebrate Hubbard’s “second coming.” The president of Scientology asks Stan to “lead” Scientology, having him write the “sequel” of where Hubbard had left off writing about the religion’s story. He explains to Stan the story of Xenu, an absurd story which somehow explains how the Universe was created. Believe it or not, it was apparently what Scientologists actually 58

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believe. Stan is very impressed by the story, and shows his writings to the president, who initially approves of the work, until Stan says “to really be a church, you can’t charge money to help,” when the president reveals to Stan that the church is actually a global scam. He demands that Stan continues writing with that in mind, but Stan then reveals to the crowd outside that he is not a reincarnation of L. Ron Hubbard, and that “Scientology is just a big fat global scam.” The Scientologists grow angry and threaten to sue him.

Note the vast difference in the response to the depiction of Muhammed from radical Muslims, and to the “skeptical accusations” made against Scientology. The lawsuit threats are based off real life incidents; Scientology is notorious for their (occasionally successful) lawsuits after an accusation is made. In fact, after the episode’s airing, the organization sent people to spy on Parker and Stone, only to find out they are simply regular people. The dark secrets behind the strange cult of Scientology — perhaps we should stay away from it, to not weird ourselves out.

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PART 3 THAT’S ALL, FOLKS

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TO CONCLUDE

The world of satire has allowed artists to mock and ridicule those who seem like a threat to the well being of humanity. Or maybe just someone they dislike. It’s quite impressive how the show is able to lampoon anything and not care about the consequences. And this is why South Park bothers me.

Hopefully it bothers you too.

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REFERENCES Special thanks to Eoin O’Grady and Samar Jayachandran for minor contributions, and Christopher Kwok for the cover illustration. I also want to thank Keith Blount for developing the software Scrivener, which allowed me to write this book; and Dionne Lashley for the six-month supervision of the process of completing this book.

1. Bourguet, Gerald (2010) “Studying South Park” Studying South Park.

Retrieved August 22, 2015, https://studyingsouthpark.wordpress.com/ 2. O’Neal, Sean (2011) “South Park: You’re Getting Old” The A.V. Club.

Retrieved July 15, 2015, http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/south-park-youregetting-old-57155 3. CBS News. (September 26, 2011) Parker & Stone’s Subversive Comedy.

Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KppaxFfPNw 4. O’Neal, Sean (2010) “South Park: 200” The A.V. Club. Retrieved July 15, 2015, http://www.avclub.com/tvclub/south-park-200-40132 5. Arp, Robert; Decker, Kevin (2013) The Ultimate South Park and Philosophy: Respect My Philosophah! Peru, Illinois: Open Court Publishing. Retrieved July 4, 2015 6. Arp, Robert (2007) South Park and Philosophy: You Know, I’ve Learned Something Today Peru, Illinois: Open Court Publishing. Retrieved July 4, 2015 7. Fintzy, Uri (2011) “The 8 most memorable Jewish moments on South Park” Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved October 31, 2015 http://www.jta.org/2011/10/05/arts-entertainment/six-degrees-no-bacon/ the-7-most-memorable-jewish-moments-on-south-park 8. Weinstock, Jeffrey (2008) Taking South Park Seriously. New York: State University of New York Press. Retrieved September 22, 2015 9. ReasonTV (2009) 3 Reasons All Kids Should Be FORCED to Watch South Park!.

Retrieved November 8, 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSHm8zqy8g 10. Soloman, Jay (2009) “Not a Defense of South Park” The Zen of South Park. Retrieved August 7, 2015, http://www.thezenofsouthpark.com/ In_Defense_of_South_Park_files/Essay%20-%20In%20Defense%20of %20South%20Park.pdf 11. Various (2006) “South Park” Conservapedia. Retrieved November 13, 2015, http://www.conservapedia.com/South_Park 12. Goldman, Eric (2006) “South Park: Matt and Trey Speak Out, Part 2” IGN. Retrieved December 6, 2015, http://www.ign.com/articles/2006/07/19/ south-park-matt-and-trey-speak-out-part-2?page=1

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EPISODES REFERENCED Season 1 Ep 2 "Weight Gain 4000" [ch2] Ep 4 "Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride" [ch3] Ep 6 "Death" [ch4] Ep 7 "Starvin' Marvin" [ch3] Ep 12 "Mecha Streisand" [ch3] Season 2 Ep 17 "Gnomes" [ch3] Season 3 Ep 9 "Jewbilee" [ch1] Season 4 Ep 8 "Chef Goes Nanners" [ch1, 3] Ep 13 "Trapper Keeper" [ch3] Season 5 Ep 2 "Cripple Fight" [ch3] Ep 4 "Super Best Friends" [ch5] Ep 7 "Proper Condom Use" [ch4] Ep 11 "The Entity" [ch1] Season 6 Ep 5 "Fun With Veal" [ch3] Ep 8 "Red Hot Catholic Love" [ch3] Ep 11 "Child Abduction is Not Funny" [ch2] Ep 12 "A Ladder to Heaven" [ch1] Season 7 Ep 8 "South Park is Gay!" [ch2] Ep 12 "All About Mormons" [ch3] Ep 13 "Butt Out" [ch3] Season 8 Ep3 "The Passion of the Jew" [ch1,3] Ep6 "The Jeffersons" [ch1] Ep 7 "Goobacks" [ch1,3] Ep 8 "Douche and Turd" [ch3] Ep 9 "Something Wall-Mart This Way Comes" [ch3]

Season 9 Ep2 "Die Hippie, Die" [ch3] Ep8 "Two Days Before the Day After Tomorrow� [ch1,3] Ep10 "Follow That Egg!" [ch3] Ep12 "Trapped in the Closet" [ch6] Season 10 Ep1 "The Return of Chef" [ch2] Ep3-4 "Cartoon Wars Part I," "Cartoon Wars Part II" [ch2,3,5] Ep8 "Make Love, Not Warcraft" [ch2] Ep12-13 "Go God Go," "Go God Go XII" [ch3] Season 11 Ep1 "With Apologies to Jesse Jackson" [ch2] Ep2 "Cartman Sucks" [ch3] E7 "Night of the Living Homeless" [ch2] E11-13 "Imaginationland Episode I," "Imaginationland Episode II," "Imaginationland Episode III" [ch3] Season 12 Ep8 "The China Probrem" [ch1,3,4] Ep12 "About Last Night..." [ch3] Season 14 Ep3 "Medicinal Fried Chicken" [ch2] Ep5-6 "200," "201" [ch5] Season 15 Ep12 "1%" [ch3] Season 19 E1 "Stunning and Brave" [ch4]

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What can the townspeople of South Park tell us about logic and reason?

Is South Park liberal, or conservative?

Who are the targets of the show’s ridicule?

Isn’t South Park just a toilet humor-filled show with no purpose whatsoever?

South Park is perhaps one of the most misunderstood shows out there.

Potty mouthed, immature and crude — all very common terms used against the show in its early days. The problem is that what most people fail to understand is that the show has a primary purpose of educating viewers, ironically, through its ability to lampoon and critique day-to-day concepts, people and entities. So yes, essentially, it is a potty mouthed, immature show; filled with deep social, moral and political insight.

The way the show is able to do this is through the use of satire, as well as social commentary. These two terms can be interchangeable, and generally associate with the criticism of society. The former concept relates more to humor, which is a very important component of the show, and the prime ingredient to its entertainment.

If you are against the show due to its presumed crude and worthless nature, perhaps this book could try and change your mind. South Park and Satire aims to give readers a deeper appreciation for the show and the evil genius duo (Trey Parker and Matt Stone) behind it, most importantly how the show is able to successfully satirize certain aspects of our society, giving viewers both entertainment and insight.