Southpark

This show started out as an obscure paper constructed phenomenon riddled with foul mouth kids and equally idiotic adults in a cold, disturbing town or Southpark, Colorado. The shows premise was simple: make fun of things, popular or not, and show the absurdity of human nature through extreme situations all leading up to happy endings.


Now into its 8th season the premise remains the same though Southpark has taken a wildly different direction, even though it does what it does best: make audiences laugh. The new season?s episodes all involve events occurring in popular culture today. Since the show production values have changed (more money, lotsss more money) episodes can be produced in a week alone so current pop culture events are dissected in the show weekly.


My concern about Southpark is that it is becoming the social commentator on the obvious that escapes the media and the people that are enraged by these events. If something is happening rest assured it will be in Southpark, from The passion of the Christ to Michael Jackson?s molestation trial?it is all there being mocked and analyzed through comedy. Does Southpark really need to take this direction? Such episodes exist in past seasons but they didn?t make up the bulk of the season, most episodes were comic events occurring in the fictional town of Southpark, concerning its people.


In the 8th season, however, all the episodes seem to be social commentary albeit hilarious social commentaries like that of the Jay Lenos, Jon Stewarts, Conan O Briens and the shock jock DJs of the world. Is that the only road the creators have left to take to get a laugh? Have they stressed out all the ideas and the situations that can happen to Southpark people? Or am I reading too deep into this because I have nothing better to do?

I suppose this mockery of social absurdity was always present but to me the 8th season seem to comprised totally of it and that sort of concerns me when a cartoon with rigid animation of 4th graders, and their less than inspiring parents, seem to speak the obvious truth far in far more clever ways than the media or those highly paid CNN consultants. It also concerns me that it is done so well and so quick that blink and you?ll miss and inside joke.

I've never seen anyone examine Southpark this thouroughly before... :D

To tell you the truth, I rarely wateched Southpark until about a month ago, but I've come to love it. Because of this I can't really comment on whether or not its satire is directed more towards pop-culture than in the past.

One thing I can't explain is Southpark's flavor of satire. I can't decide whether the writers are attempting a humorous social-commentary or if they are simply trying to poke fun at the fun-pokers.

All I know is that I get a real kick out of that show lately.

To tell you the truth, I rarely wateched Southpark until about a month ago, but I've come to love it. Because of this I can't really comment on whether or not its satire is directed more towards pop-culture than in the past.

It was more about exhibiting total absurdity early in its life and now it is more about pointing it out by using mock ups of those actually involved in it.

One thing I can't explain is Southpark's flavor of satire. I can't decide whether the writers are attempting a humorous social-commentary or if they are simply trying to poke fun at the fun-pokers.

They have always done both but, from what I see, that is all they are doing now. No original, real world free, episodes are made anymore. Episodes concerning only the Southpark citizens.

All I know is that I get a real kick out of that show lately.

Yes, this season is especially fucked up in a good way.

That´s true, they start focusing on all those celebrities who appear in cheap newspapers and magazines every day. Its getting somewhat boring I think, the older South Park episodes were better. They showed the absurdity of society and were more entertaining than the new ones.

I don't watch it for I have no cable TV. I don't know much about the show other than it is alot of foul mouthed kids acting bizzarley and very, very cheap animation from what I've seen and heard while passing by stores that have them on their demonstration TV's.

Yep, it is cheap and the people are foulmouthed, it´s just like society. :D

It's social commentary and it's very adeptly done. Sure they take the cheap shots at Michael Jackson and J-Lo, how could anybody resist? But last week they took on "serving," one of the many utterly absurd things that go on in the inner city that my social-worker wife had to explain to me. Last year they took on the Crips and the Bloods and made them look like the pathetic fools they are, merely by portraying them with dead-on accuracy as animated characters.

They've stuck it to NAMBLA, the pedophile organization, as well as celebrities who get acquitted from crimes just because they're celebrities, like O.J.

More often than not an episode ends in a quick cut-to-reality speech by one of the kids, leaving me staring at the screen in the middle of a laugh cut short, saying, "Geeze, I never thought about it that way."

For example, the closing soliloquy in the Michael Jackson episode was sheer truth as only a child could say it: "I'm truly sorry that you had a miserable childhood and never grew up. But now that you have a child yourself, you don't get that choice anymore. You simply have to stop being a child now."

All of the loving support from Liz Taylor, his siblings, and his millions of fans can't change the fact that Michael Jackson chose to become a father and therefore he now must behave like an adult no matter how difficult that is.

The episode about the Mormons was one of the most well-balanced commentaries on a religion that I've seen in years.

I will always revere the scene in the South Park movie where the general boots up his computer in the middle of the U.S.-Canada war, stares at the screen in disbelief, turns around and says to Bill Gates (who just happens to be there), "You promised that these problems were going to be solved in Windows 2000," and shoots the bastard dead.

Foul-mouthed? Well sure. The demographic group they're targeting talks that way. "Leave it to Beaver" dialog isn't going to cut it.

Cheap animation? I believe the artistes call that "minimalism" as long as it works, which it does. And as you say it allows them to comment on things while they're still topical. They did Saddam's capture a few days after it happened.

Too much lampooning of celebrities? You're exaggerating. They started the season with the anime episode that was just about the residents of South Park. Ditto for the robot. Ditto for "serving." At least half of the episodes are not about anyone in particular.

My wife and I are 60 and South Park is our favorite show. If we get it, I'm sure you kids can.

I don't watch it for I have no cable TV. I don't know much about the show other than it is alot of foul mouthed kids acting bizzarley and very, very cheap animation from what I've seen and heard while passing by stores that have them on their demonstration TV's.

I had precisely the same opinion for the same reasons a while back. It looked cheap and seemed to use only the basest humor, dick and fart jokes basically. When I finally "lowered" myself and watched a few episodes I was quickly reminded that judging something you've never experienced is just plain stupid (plus you end up looking like an ass a lot of the time, believe me). There are definitely dick and fart jokes but it's often in service of, or in contrast to, some razor sharp wit. I don't think that kind of dead-on social commentary could be digested in any other way.

That's basically a long way for me to say, watch it before you knock it. You may be offended by it or not find it funny but you can't write it off as simple toilet humor once you've watched a few.

It's a truly clever and unique program.

They've stuck it to NAMBLA, the pedophile organization


is that a real organization?, i thougth they just made fun of creeps lurking chat rooms

Is that [NAMBLA] a real organization? I thougth they just made fun of creeps lurking in chat rooms.According to my wife, the ex-social worker who was required by her job to know about such disgusting things, there really is (or at least was) a North American Man-Boy Love Association. However, to our knowledge the other NAMBLA, the National Association of Marlon Brando Look-Alikes, was fictitious. :)

is that a real organization?, i thougth they just made fun of creeps lurking chat rooms

Yes it is though it exists outside of the U.S from what I hear.

I had precisely the same opinion for the same reasons a while back. It looked cheap and seemed to use only the basest humor, dick and fart jokes basically. When I finally "lowered" myself and watched a few episodes I was quickly reminded that judging something you've never experienced is just plain stupid (plus you end up looking like an ass a lot of the time, believe me). There are definitely dick and fart jokes but it's often in service of, or in contrast to, some razor sharp wit. I don't think that kind of dead-on social commentary could be digested in any other way.

That's basically a long way for me to say, watch it before you knock it. You may be offended by it or not find it funny but you can't write it off as simple toilet humor once you've watched a few.

It's a truly clever and unique program.

It would seem that people have become very stupid if they think this show has "some razor sharp wit" in it. You must be on drugs to see anything like that within this show or mentally incompetant. I remember good humor like "the Rocky and Bullwinkle show" that had some very good writing and clever ways to discuss social events without using profanity.Whenever and wherever I go out I rarely hear language like that being said that they use in Southpark. Perhaps it is just the type of places I go or those whom I meet but my "circle" of friends don't have guttermouths like this show depicts or do any of the children I meet talk like these kids do.

i watched enough of the show to see that it wasn't that well written or animated, hell I can animate better with my home PC than these people do with Southpark!This show is terrible and disgusting for it doesn't give any good directions for kids only bad shit that the kids adapt to. If I were a executive on any network I would never allow such crap to be shown on my station. It would be an insult to thinking people.

I only watch it on weekends when I get drunk with my friends. It is quite funny then. Sometimes, the ideas are good. Alas, many episodes lack "razor sharp wit", that is true. It is also true that many kids I know/see talk that way. As I said before, it is just like society.

And of course there are much better shows. I prefer the simpsons truth to tell.

No need to get nasty cosmictraveler, like I said you end up looking like an ass when you aren't familiar with what you're talking about. As far as it's affect on children that's easy to address, it's not a childrens show. Don't blame southpark for crappy parenting. Remember how racists used to idolize Archie Bunker (from All In The Family)? They were too stupid to see his narrow mind and poor behavior was the joke, his type was being mocked not condoned. Southpark is often doing the same thing.

Dreamwalker, the simpson's were better I agree but have become a bit flat in my opinion. Much of the impact it once had has passed and after 15 seasons (or what ever the count is now) there isn't much new they can say in the format they've established. Then again when compared to the bland tripe that makes up 98% of comedy today I'm glad it's still on.

SP definately is different. I prefer the best Simpsons episodes. I like the episode "Red Hot Catholic Love" I downloaded love hehe, considering I am in a catholic school right now.

i watched enough of the show to see that it wasn't that well written or animated, hell I can animate better with my home PC than these people do with Southpark!This show is terrible and disgusting for it doesn't give any good directions for kids only bad shit that the kids adapt to. If I were a executive on any network I would never allow such crap to be shown on my station. It would be an insult to thinking people.

No, you watched enough of the show to form your opinion and never went beyond to question your verdict. The show isn't about mind bending animation: a point which the show has made clear and laughed at many times.

The show isn't for kids to watch. It is viewed through the eyes of a kid but the content is not for kids but yes, i'll agree kids do watch the show...that is not the creators fault.

As for being badly written well like I said..you've only watched enough to form your opinion which sounds as if though didn't form purely out viewing the showing but was actually created to further engrave your bias that this show is simply BS. It is written from a kid's viewpoint, so absurd and mundane things occur all the while anyone who really paid attention can realize that in all this hectic mayhem of seemingly retarded events there is something far more subtle and potent taking place. A simple enough message that you should have gotten but you missed only to end up saying to yourself like Fraggle mentioned "Ahhh why didn't I see think of it this way."

Give it time or it simply may not be your cup of tea (Ok who seriously says Cup of tea anymore).

It would seem that people have become very stupid if they think this show has "some razor sharp wit" in it.I think it was a bit of an exaggeration to call it razor sharp wit. That's not their forte. They go more for the gross-out sight gags that their 12-25 year-old target audience loves.You must be on drugs to see anything like that within this show or mentally incompetant.Yeah, I've always heard it said that reality is what people have to settle for who can't handle drugs.I remember good humor like "the Rocky and Bullwinkle show" that had some very good writing and clever ways to discuss social events without using profanity.No one before or since has done it quite as well as "Dinosaurs!" did it.Whenever and wherever I go out I rarely hear language like that being said that they use in Southpark. Perhaps it is just the type of places I go or those whom I meet but my "circle" of friends don't have guttermouths like this show depicts or do any of the children I meet talk like these kids do.It must be. I walk down the street and hear high school kids talking that way in every city I've worked in.I watched enough of the show to see that it wasn't that well written or animated, hell I can animate better with my home PC than these people do with Southpark!As I said, this is a textbook case of minimalism. I felt the same way about punk rock, for the same reason, but it had a huge audience that it connected with. I could play guitar better than that when I was 14. The same kids who watch South Park listen to rap music, which uses exactly the same vocabulary.This show is terrible and disgusting for it doesn't give any good directions for kids only bad shit that the kids adapt to.You haven't gotten past the things you don't relate to, like the language, so you haven't noted the "good directions." Parker and Stone have made a really good case for racial, religious, and other types of tolerance, for taking responsibility for the results of one's own actions, for parents giving a good deal more attention to their kids instead of expecting the schools to be baby sitters, for being very suspicious of government officials who assure us that going to war is a wise and moral decision, and for not putting celebrities on pedestals just because they're celebrities. If I were a executive on any network I would never allow such crap to be shown on my station. It would be an insult to thinking people.If you were an executive on any network and expected to keep your job, you would obey the wishes of your advertisers and air the shows that get the ratings. South Park has pulled in some of the highest Neilsens of any cable show. If you want to label the people who watch it "non-thinkers," that's your right but you're making a fool of yourself. My wife has an M.A. in literature and can explain Thomas Mann, Faulkner, Sartre, Jung, and Garcia Marquez to you, and South Park is one of her favorite shows. So not only I do I not think your label is very accurate, but I think it is you who are doing the insulting. Fortunately my wife doesn't read this forum. If she replied to your insult personally you'd probably have to go back to school and take a couple of A.P. English classes before you could understand her.

South Park is contemporary satire that Americans can understand. That is a good thing.

Southpark is my no.1 info/news source about the USA. (honest!)