However, the Christian Family Network totally agrees with “South Park’s own tongue-in-cheek disclaimer” (Fagin 2000: 1) and tries to convince people to not watch the show. They feel attacked by the socio-political way of South Park and offended by the use of ‘bad language’. They are afraid that viewers loose Christian values, even though many episodes of South Park end with an important and well-formulated moral.
In the following, I will tell you why I think South Park is not that bad after all.
-“Oh no, they killed Kenny, you bastards!”-
Would you let your kids watch South Park? I am sure everyone feels to have an opinion about that, no matter if you are a proud fan, an occasional viewer or somebody who has not watched it yet, but believes in certain critiques. I want you to think about your reasons why you would or would not let them join you and it would be good to keep your thoughts in mind.
I am not sure if you noticed, but it is always easier to judge something on the surface. Therefore, let us have a look at the typical features of the show:
It is an animated series about “the adventures of four young boys in a Colorado mountain town” (Fagin 2000: 3). There is Eric Cartman, the fat kid who dreams about ruling the world and who is constantly planning rescues or attacks (the important thing is just that he has the control). Moreover, Eric enjoys mocking Kyle Broflovski because he is Jewish. Other than that, Kyle is the smart kid. The character Stan Marsh stands for a normal, average American kid. His father tends to get addicted to things and there are several occasions where Stan is embarrassed by his father’s behavior. Kenny is the poor one who happens to die in different ways in almost every episode, so we could call him ‘the unlucky one’.
Every time it is up to those little school children “to provide the level-headedness and logical thinking to fix the situation” (Brazil 2008:1).
What all the episodes have in common is one simple message: all people nowadays are ridiculous (cp. Brazil 2008:1). The show makes fun of people such as conservatives, liberals, blacks, whites and gays. So, when you think that is discrimination, that’s too bad. I will try to help you to see another perspective.
When you start deeply thinking about the South Park concept, you realize that the way they satirize anything and the way they mock everybody just “reminds us that no one is perfect” (Brazil 2008: 1). I believe a show might be regarded as racialist when it makes fun of ONE certain group of people, but why should it be seen as a mean and dirty cartoon when it shows you the different beliefs and manners of every group of people you can imagine? I do not think you can call that ‘racialist’.
The Christian Family Network “has prepared a South Park Education/Action Guide to help make people aware of South Park and its potential affect upon our youth” (Fagin 2000:1). I will not deny that small children should not view South Park and that this show uses certain pictures and curse language that is unsuitable for children of a certain age group. That is true. The reason why I am not telling you ages is because I can’t make the entire decision for you. It depends what the children are ready for and if you, as the parent, is prepared to explain topics such as homosexuality, fart jokes, evolution versus creation, politics or environmental topics like Global Warming. Let’s face it; most of the parents in the Unites States of America are not ready for that. They try to protect their children by partitioning them from the real world. Some think that avoiding talking about it is the appropriate way to deal with topics like that. Others might feel like it is a too difficult and complicated task for them. Nevertheless, most of the parents believe in the thought of ‘protection’ from bad language and so called ‘adult themes’ as long as possible. That is what they think. That is what they are constantly trying to do. Some of us feel different. Some of us don’t see the reason to act like that. Some of us even think that the above-mentioned way of parenting is wrong. “We can help protect our youth from vile trash like South Park” (Fagin 2000:1): This is an unforgettable slogan from the ‘campaign against South Park’ by the Christian Family Network. In fact, many parents forbid young teenagers to watch different series on TV. The parents do not want to have them watch something like South Park alone and with an adult not either. In my opinion, it is not only a sense of protection, but also a system of precaution. Some very religious people in the US tend to keep their children from the real world, because they fear that their brainwashed thoughts and learned truths might get disturbed through that. Let´s talk about parenting. What is good parenting? Is it keeping children away from the real world with its dramas, political rivals and sexuality? Or is it better to try to SLOWLY (!) adjust our children to it and make the effort as a parent to talk to them about it? Good parenting is a permanent process. “You’re constantly exposing your children to new ideas, developing their moral character, and helping them realize their potential, all the while preparing them for a world that doesn’t necessarily share your values.” (Fagin 2000:1) Children can be opposed to many more things than parents believe, if you just take your time to explain. Indeed, it can be quite an interesting and helpful lesson for them. If you expose your children “to unfiltered adult issues before they’ve accumulated enough life experience and emotional maturity to deal with them, it may indeed be harmful” (Fagin 2000:1). However, complete isolation from pop culture and critical debates might be even worse. Do not forget that “forbidden fruit is always more tempting” (Fagin 2000:1). Isn’t it better to watch a show like South Park with your children together than find them watching it without you somewhere else?
As a parent, you can tell if your children are ready for South Park related topics or not. Not all episodes are the same. So keep that in mind. If you start previewing some, you will be able to pick some out that are acceptable for the age of your children and you might be even happy afterwards that you found something that you and your kids like and where you can share laughter! Moreover, with the right conversation afterwards, your children can indeed learn something from it. Stan and Kyle often conclude at the end of an episode “We learned something today…” and a mostly very good understandable morale follows.
“Contrary to popular belief, South Park is loaded with moral content, whether or not the show’s writers planned it that way” (Fagin 2000: 2).
Here are some lessons that children and adults are taught by the show:
● It’s good to make fun of celebrities.
Many episodes contain people from the world of popular culture such as TV stars, actors or singers. One of the episodes that does that is “Starvin’ Marvin” (Season 1, episode 9). The four boys are at Cartman's house watching the television. During a break from the “Terrance &Philips show”, a Sally Struthers commercial convinces the boys to donate five dollars and support an African boy. They want to do it, because the commercial promises a free "Taiko". Therefore, Stan calls and makes the donation, using his mother's credit card. The packet arrives, but instead of the watch, they received the young boys named Marvin. The boys take care of him until someone from the government arrives and looks for him. Being very clever, Marvin sets it up that they take the wrong boy back to Africa: the fat Eric Cartman- which is very ironic regarding the government knew how the kid was supposed to look like. However, Cartman catches “Christian Children’s Fund pitchwoman” Sally Struthers “stuffing herself on food meant for famine relief” (Fagin 2000: 2). The paid celebrity only pretends to care for the hunger of those people. We learn that actors “are just people who are paid to pretend”. In addition to that, this episode talks about sharing, caring and helping others if you are able to.
●It’s good to make fun of hypocrisy
The episode “Conjoined Fetus Lady” is about the school nurse that was born with a stillborn fetus attached to her head. When suddenly everyone starts feeling sorry for her and throwing an awful “Conjoined Twin Myslexia Week” the nurse is reminded of her ‘otherness’ every single way, which was not the case before. She feels more finger pointed at than ever. The moral tells you that the handicapped “don’t want to be singled out for special attention; they just want to lead productive, fulfilled lives” (Fagin 2000:2).
● Cartoon shows and there contents are not real
As Fagin points out the best example for that is that Kenny is killed in nearly every episode, but still returns back for next weeks episode. There is no explanation for the mysterious ‘resurrection’ of Kenny, but then, it is clear to kids that a lot on TV is fantasy.
● It’s better to tell the truth
There are some episodes where the boys lie and figure out at the end it would have been better to tell the truth. Alternatively, in “Le petite Tourette”, Cartman pretends to have the Tourette syndrome in order to be able to curse without being punished. Having that syndrome, you cannot control what you say and curse words are coming out of your mouth like ‘a sneeze’. Cartman thinks he has a ‘Golden ticket’ to his dream world, where he can say whatever he wants, insult teachers, but not get in trouble. Only Kyle rumbles Cartman right away and knows that he is just faking it. Right before his big chance to be on a TV show, he finds out that he REALLY can’t control anymore WHAT he’s saying. Having gotten used to saying anything he wants, he can suddenly not stop revealing his own, private secrets that he would never want anybody to know and feels very much embarrassed.
-“Respect my authority … or I’m going home”- (Cartman saying)
A very funny cartoon introduces great characters that make you laugh. The personalities are very well thought- out and the topics of shows interesting. “What makes the show so great is not that it’s hilarious, but it is culturally relevant with its surprising stances on many controversial issues in today’s society” (Brazil 2008).
And if you think your children are ready for some it, you definitely don’t have to feel ashamed of yourself for letting them watch some episodes with you. I think allowing a ‘a peek’ into something is a wiser decision than letting isolation from pop culture keep you from discussing relevant issues in life with your children. It actually prepares children for life. How else are they going to be able to make own decisions once later in their lives?
-The greatest episode is … ??? …wait … ??? oh… I can’t decide!-
Is it “Over Logging” where at first South Park and then the whole state ‘suffers’ from the ‘disappearance’ of the Internet? In our words: The connection is not working anymore and the people are starting to panic. Stan’s sister Shelly can’t chat with her internet boyfriend anymore, Stan is not able to play his computer games and his father who uses the Internet for ‘adult entertainment’ can’t deal with the loss of ‘his best friend’. The People talk about the Internet as if it is a person and they start wondering what they have done wrong and if the Internet is angry with them. Stan’s family packs and drives to California, because there is a rumor saying that there is a little bit Internet left there. *chuckle* Oh Sorry… I can’t help myself.
In a very funny way, this episode teaches us that we cannot take the Internet for granted any longer and that we must stop over logging on. We must use the Internet only when we need it. Stan’s father Randy ends the episode with the following words: “Let us learn to live with the internet- not for it!”
I could not have said it better ;-) This episode from the 11th season reminded all of us to realize that the Internet should not be something we plan our day around. There are teenagers sitting in front of their laptops every day and forgetting what it’s like to play outside with their friends. Some get lonely, others addicted to games and senseless internet browsing.
Or what is about the episode where the huge store “Wall Mart” opens in South Park “driving the local drug store out of business, since it can’t compete” (Anderson 2005)? The residents want to change something, but they don’t know how. Finally, the boys are going into Wall Mart at night to find its ‘heart’ and destroy it. They meet a men dressed in white who is telling them to look into the mirror and that they would see the answer there. Of course, monopolism was due to the consumers’ behaviour and desire of cheaper prices on everything.
The target of “Two Days Before The Day After Tomorrow” was the government’s reaction to Hurricane Katrina. In this episode, a large beaver dam breaks and floods the town of Beaverton. The citizens are waiting for help sitting on their roofs. “Much like what happened with Katrina, the people of South Park were too preoccupied trying to figure out who to blame for the flood instead of going in to help save people” (Brazil 2008).
The show “Best Friends Forever” turned even out to be an Emmy award winner: “Kenny goes into a persistent vegetative state, arousing all sorts of right-to-die issues” (Tapper/Morris 2006: 4). The episode was a reaction to the Terry Schiavo life-support debate that was going on in the United States at that time.
A very funny and well-organized show is “All about the Mormons”. It is about a Mormon family that moves from Utah to South Park. One of their five children is Gary, who is the same age as the boys and goes to their class now. Gary is an ambitious student and a great athlete and the schoolchildren want Stan to beat him up in the school break. Because of Gary’s different way of talking, Stan ends up going to Gary’ house for a ‘Family Home Evening’, a tradition in the Latter-Day Saints church. Gary’s family is very much interested in Stan and they tell him the story of Joseph Smith, “the founder and first Prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints” (Cowan). Gary’s older brother announces very proudly that Joseph Smith is the most important person in the world.
Stan is very impressed and tells his family about it. His father is angry with the Mormon family for telling his son weird stories, but cannot resist their unnaturally happy behavior: Stan’s father decides to be a Mormon family now and both families end up having dinner together. It gets very interesting when Stan starts to have doubts about “some of the LSD beliefs about creation, the translation of The Book of Mormon, and, most importantly, Smith’s prophetic authenticity” (Cowan). The episode tells the creation process and the whole story about Smith with the use of little flashbacks and a musical narration. The chorus in the second part of the story gives a symbolic commentary on Mormon beliefs saying “Dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb”.
Smith claims he spoke to God and found golden plates. An angel told him that he was not allowed to show them, because he had to translate the golden plates into English first. He somehow found an excuse for telling the story differently when he was asked a second time to translate the plates. His friend with the original papers told him he lost it to check if he is really telling the truth. Smith said that God would be angry about that and that God told him to translate it similar, but not the same.
His friend thought that is the proof, because if God gets angry with Smith he must be important.
The story continues …
Stan: Mormons actually know this story, and they still believe Joseph Smith was a prophet?
Mr. Harrison: Well, sure, the story proves it, doesn’t it?
Stan: No, it proves that he did make it all up. Are you blind?
Stan does not want to be Mormon anymore and says: “You weasel people into your way of thinking by acting like the most happiest family in the world and being so nice to everyone that you just blind-side dumb people like my dad!” Stan’s family leaves and when Gary and Stan meet the next morning we learn a surprising moral.
Gary: “No matter if Smith made it up or not, I have a great life and family. Our church teaches loving your family, being nice and helping others. We can look past religion and still be friends.”
I have been to Salt Lake City and met Mormons, no offense, those people are indeed very friendly and do not harm you at all. Still, I have no idea how they can believe in a story like that and live a life very different from ours.
As you notice, there are many episodes with relevance to our life. A lot follow up on current discussions. Others just focus on schoolchildren life: fights, competition, trend, clothing style, play dates, first love.
When you ask me, South Park is so great because it is more topical than any other satiric animated show like “American Dad”, “Family Guy” or even “The Simpsons”. The secret of the show is revealed in an article from abc news: The team around Parker and Stone create an episode in less than a week. The show that they begin sketching out Thursday airs the following Wednesday night. In an interview, Parker said, "Thursday morning, we show up with a big cup of coffee and go, what should next week's show be about?" (Tapper/Morris 2006) It takes them about 90 hours to create a show. It puts pressure on them and ends up in sleepless nights, “but it allows the creative team to respond to what is going on in the news that moment” (Tapper/Morris 2006).
What else do I love about South Park? I enjoy all the episodes about religions. The fact that they had episodes about nearly every religious group does not mean that Parker and Stone are atheists. They actually both say that they believe in God. While atheists like the show very much and claim it as one of their own, Parker says, “atheism is more ludicrous to him than anything else” (Tapper/Morris 2006).
In America, there are so many different religious groups and cults that each assumes their way of thinking as the only right one. People fight about each other’s belief all over the world! South Park does not take sides, really. If you only watch one episode, it might seem like it, but if you consider the show as a whole, they don’t.
South Park underlines that people are too busy fighting each other, “trying to reveal each other as idiots instead of doing what really matters and working together to fix our problems” (Bazil 20008).
Where is your humour?
It is sad that some people cannot laugh about themselves. What is even more irritating is that musician and actor Isaac Hayes who played the character ‘Chef’ was not able to do so. You would think of him being humorous, but after the ‘Scientology episode’ had aired, he quit the South Park team.
Yes, you assume right: He is a Scientologist. Parker explains that they had held off on doing a Scientology show for a long time because of Isaac’s strong religious belief (cp.Tapper/Morris 2006). After they had made fun of everything else, they decided that the time for Scientology had come. Nobody wanted Isaac to leave, but it was his decision that had to be accepted.
-People today are ridiculous-
South Park projects “the burden of our most vexing social issues onto the lives of a collection of precocious, animated school children and creating a burlesque of America’s anxiety over the potential corruption of innocence” ( Keller 2007).
The show teaches us that it is good to laugh at ourselves.
Nobody is perfect! Exactly this is it what many people just cannot admit.
South Park is the best animated political show that ever existed!
When there is anything important to mark in your calendar, it is the 13th season premiere on Wednesday March 11, 2009!
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Bibliography
Internet Sources:
1. Anderson, Brian C. (2005): South Park Republicans. Dallas Morning News
2. Brazil, David (2008): South Park, the cultural criticism of our day.
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Cowan, Douglas: Episode 712: South Park, Ridicule, and the Cultural Construction of Religious Rivalry. University of Missouri-Kansas City
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Fagin, Barry (2000): Goin’ Down to South Park. How kids can learn from “vile trash.”. Reason Magazine
- Keller, James. (2007) : South Park and Cultural Criticism
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Tapper, Jake and Morris, Dan (2006): Secrets of 'South Park'.