A Reseach Paper for JR 16

Xavier Institute of Communications

Mumbai

South Park: Social and Political Commentary by the Animated Series

Nishtha Kanal

January 4, 2011

CONTENTS

Foreword

Putting The ‘Haha’ In The

‘Brouhaha’

The Boys

The Episodes

You Know I’ve Learnt Something

Today

FOREWORD

For almost two years now, I have been an ardent fan of South Park. Not just for

its slapstick, crass humor that I enjoy a lot, but also because of the awkward social

situations it creates, just to see if people are ready to laugh at themselves just yet.

When the opportunity to write a research paper came along, I instantly zeroed

down on South Park and the social issues the show raises and satires in every

episode. With this research paper I wish to study the content of South Park

episodes and understand where the issues raise come from and the effect on

society.

I extend my deepest gratitude to my tutor Narendra Panjwani for guiding me

throughout my research, to Yogesh Kamdar for providing me with his valuable

insight. I thank my friends and peers, Karthik, Kamna and Sneha as well as my

classmates. Last but not the least I would like to thank everyone who spent their

valuable time providing me with their views on South Park, via the questionnaire

as also otherwise.

PUTTING THE ‘HAHA’ IN THE

‘BROUHAHA’

South Park is an animated American sitcom based around a fictional town in

Colorado of the same name, near the real South Park basin in the Rocky

Mountains.1 The protagonists of the show are four dysfunctional, eight year old

boys whose adventures form the basis of the show every week.

The boys –Eric, Stan, Kyle and Kenny– have been given adult characteristics of

being greedy, violent and even racist at times. They personify the impatience,

anger and a wish to be politically incorrect that everyone in society seems to be

going through today. Trey Parker, one of the creators of the show in an interview

says, “What we say with the show is not anything new, but I think it is something

that is great to put out there. It is that the people screaming on this side and the

people screaming on that side are the same people, and it’s OK to be someone in

the middle, laughing at both of them.”2

1 Griffiths, Eric, 2007. Young Offenders. New Statesman Available From: http://www.newstatesman.com/books/2007/06/south-park-sex-studies [Accessed: November 28, 2010]

2 Arp, Robert, 2007. South Park and Philosophy, You know I learnt something today. Blackwell PublishingAvailable From: http://books.google.co.in/books?id=BJq0Z8gtO2kC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false [Accessed: November 29, 2010]

The show takes on fads, social trends and political ones too to poke fun at in their

episodes. Needless to say, keeping in line with exaggerated characters, the

situations are exaggerated too. It could be anything from a homosexual Satan

dating a dead Saddam Hussein to a drug abusing, talking towel.

The series has had its share of controversies too. While the most common issues

raised by watchdogs are those of vulgarity and racism, there were objections

raised regarding depiction of the Virgin Mary, a dead Steve Irwin and Prophet

Muhammad in the episodes, the latter generating the most brickbats for them.

Parker and Matt Stone even received death threats from an obscure New York

based radical Muslim organization, Revolution Muslim.3

The constant barrage of objections that the makers of South Park have faced begs

the question whether we as a society, can really step outside our shoes, look at

ourselves and laugh at our fads, fashions and developments. Also, what is it that

works in favour of the series? Is it the fact that the characters are harmless

cartoons and cannot really harm anyone or is it the endearing nature of cartoons?

These are precisely the questions I seek to answer through my research paper. By

way of analysis of selected South Park episodes, I will study the aspects the series

3

Backgrounder, Revolution Muslim. Available from: http://www.adl.org/main_Terrorism/revolution_muslim.htm?Multi_page_sections=sHeading_1 [Acessed: 29th November 2010]

has chosen to ridicule and why, as well as what makes South Park a good enough,

global weapon for this kind of ridicule.

The methodology for this research paper would include analysis or the talking

points of chosen episodes and the views of South Park aficionados on the issues

raised in the episodes.

THE BOYS

Despite the fact that the situations and plot for each episode keep changing, most

characters and their quirks remain constant, often acting as catalysts which results

in catastrophic situations. The sitcom revolves around four 10 year old boys: Eric

Cartman, Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski and Kenny McCormick.

Eric Cartman:

Eric Theodore Cartman, better known by his last name is more the antagonist than

the protagonist of the show. Cartman is the ‘fat kid’ of the school and is picked on

for it. Kyle Broflovski once summed up Cartman as a “fat, racist, self-centered,

intolerant, manipulative sociopath”4

He stays with his promiscuous single mother, who spoils him to no end. Cartman

is obsessed with making money and becoming famous, under any circumstance.

The character is shown to be shamelessly anti-Semitic and racist in general. The

very dark, often disturbing undertones to his personality often hint at an extreme

mental imbalance. Cartman, has no concept of good and bad and would do

anything that is necessary for him to fulfill his desires. Beside dressing up as

4 http://southpark.wikia.com/wiki/Eric_Cartman

Adolf Hitler and attacking hippies, killing his nemesis’ parents and feeding them

to him with no remorse shows what Cartman is all about.

Eric Cartman

Stan Marsh:

Stan Marsh is the supposedly ‘normal’, sensitive kid of the lot. He tends to get

deeply affected by physical and emotional suffering of others. Stan usually sums

up the lesson everyone has learnt in the course of the episode with ‘You know,

I’ve learnt something today’ at the end of each episode. He is the leader of the

boys of South Park Elementary and regularly clashes with Cartman over

leadership issues.

Stan is also very critical of trends and usually does not get taken in by mass

hysteria that envelope South Park and is usually the sole voice of reason.5

5 http://southpark.wikia.com/wiki/Stan_Marsh

Stan Marsh

Kyle Broflovski:

Kyle Broflovski is a Jew from a conservative family who has red hair and his

mom used to be from Jersey, all of which makes him the butt of all jokes as far as

Cartman is concerned. His family includes an ultra conservative mother, a lawyer

father and an adoptive brother from Canada (recognizable for the fact that he has

a bobble-head.) Kyle is best friends with Stan and their characters almost have

inter-changeable personalities, which makes him another stable character of South

Park.

Kyle has a very strong set of beliefs and it is usually Cartman’s antics that force

him to question these, much to his chagrin. Despite the fact that he has a very

short temper, he ends up with logical solutions to his and the town’s problems.

Kyle Broflovski

Kenny McCormick:

Kenny is the most enigmatic of the boys. Sometimes extremely easy to decipher

and sometimes really difficult, Kenny personifies the marginalized section of the

society. He wears an orange parka that muffles his speech and makes it hard for

even viewers to understand what he’s saying. This gives plenty room to Parker

and Stone to get past the censors and add expletives to Kenny’s vocabulary.

Kenny comes from an extremely poor and abusive family. He dies in almost every

episode and is resurrected in the beginning of the other. As is shown in Season 14,

this does not happen by mere coincidence, but is a superpower he has which he

uses as the superhero Mysterion to protect South Park from crime. Kenny is often

picked on by his own ‘best friend’ Cartman for being poor and gives it back to

him with equal gusto. He is a loyal friend to the boys despite all the poking.

Kenny McCormick

THE EPISODES

It’s a Jersey Thing (Season 14)

Plot synopsis:

It’s a Jersey thing starts with the residents of Jersey migrating to South Park in

hordes. They bring about with them their attitude straight out of VH1’s show

Jersey Shore. They talk to cameras, kick up fights for no reason at all and destroy

the peace of South Park. The residents decide to fight back in an all out war style.

Meanwhile, Sheila Broflovski reveals that she once used to be a party girl in

Jersey and had moved to South Park when she was pregnant with Kyle who

undergoes a transformation when he hears this. Cartman starts hating Kyle even

more because he ‘is the three J's - Jewish, Jersey and Ginger.’6 Cartman ends up

softening his stand when Kyle helps him to get away from a half woman, half

animal nymphomaniac who almost rapes him.

The residents decide to seek help from Al-Qaida chief, Osama-bin-Laden to get

rid of the Jerseyites. While the Jerseyites launch a zombie style attack on the

town, bin-Laden in a 9/11 style attack, flies a plane into the crowd. Overjoyed

South Park residents decide to honor bin-Laden by felicitating him in the town

hall and at the end of the ceremony, shoot him through the head.

6 Available From:http :// www . tvsquad . com /2010/10/14/ south - park - season -14- episode -9- recap / [Accessed on: 11th December 2010]

Talking Points:

Like in most South Park episodes there were two parallel storylines in this

episode. The reality show aspect was explored via the Jersey Shore parodied

culture conflicts and the Osama angle explored the virtue of forgiveness.

While the character of Osama has not been featured in the series since a very long

time, it was the first time that 9/11 had been so blatantly mentioned in the series.

‘ This show really walks a line between humor and bad taste and the site of Al-

Qaeda crashing a bunch a jetliners into the crowds of Jersey-type people really

came close to crossing that line,’ mentions a review on tvsquad.com7 A comment

on the news based website, Knightnews.com, simply read, ‘9/11 is off-limits.

Period.’8

The culture reference to a dumbed-down America, whose reality shows celebrate

the good life and serve no real intellectual purpose hits a chord with Indians too.

The slew of reality shows that have popped up in India today bear witness to the

mindless entertainment that the youth are addicted to. There is no dearth of spoofs

on reality shows, even here in India. Even though we have had mediocre shows

7 Available From:http :// www . tvsquad . com /2010/10/14/ south - park - season -14- episode -9- recap / [Accessed on: 11th December 2010]8 Available From:http :// knightnews . com /2010/10/ osama - bin - laden - saves - south - park - does - it - cross - a - line / [Accessed on 12th December 2010]

like ‘Rendezvous with Semi Girebaal’ and more recently ‘Toffee with Karan’,

both on MTV, none of them had an appeal like this episode of South Park did.

Arjun Paruthi, a South Park fan says that the Jersey Shore parody drew parallels

to him with the ‘Roadies culture’ that has come into the minds of Indian youth.

“While I was watching the episode, I could imagine ‘daring’ wannabe Roadies

running amok and depleting the overall intellectual quotient of India,” he says.

Cartman Joins NAMBLA (Season 4) and You

have 0 Friends (Season 14)

Cartman Joins NAMBLA Plot Synopsis:

Cartman decides that he is too mature to hang out with the rest of the guys and he

decides to turn top the internet to make friends. Once he mentions his age, he ends

up getting a lot of requests from grown up men, who are in reality pedophiles. He

ends up joining NAMBLA which was supposed to be the Marlon Brando

lookalike association and instead becomes a part of the North American Man/Boy

Love Association. Cartman calls all his friends to the party except Stan and Kyle.

It finally dawns upon the boys what NAMBLA is and they escape from the skin

of their teeth.

You have 0 Friends Plot Synopsis:

Kyle, Cartman and Kenny create a Facebook profile for Stan. Stan is reluctant to

have a social networking account and refuses to use it. His family and girlfriend

start pressurizing him to ‘friend’ them, in turn affecting his real life relations. He

has to ‘friend’ over a million people and he also adds a loner boy called Kip who

no one wants to add. Stan starts to lose friends because of Kip and people advice

him to ‘unfriend’ him. Stan refuses to do so and in turn tries to commit online

suicide. Facebook refuses to allow him to delete his profile and sucks him into an

online world where Stan is doomed to roam. Stan comes face to face with his

online self and has to defeat his fake self in order to delete his profile. Finally,

Stan wins, his profile is deleted and all his friends are transferred to Kip’s profile.

Talking Points:

Both these episodes – the latter more in depth than the first- talk about the perils

and pitfalls of social networking. It is virtually impossible to find anyone with a

will power strong enough to stay away from social networking websites today. It

is not just about interaction anymore, but also about convenience and even about

getting jobs now.

The episode, that came a little too late, considering how South Park is very

prompt in incorporating fads into episodes, it touched a raw nerve with the

viewers. Whether it was Stan's father and grandmother joining, Wendy getting

jealous over an 83 year old woman's comments, or Kyle constantly nagging Stan

to help him in Farmville, everything in the episode has probably happened to

every other Facebook user.9

Cartman joins NAMBLA took a dig at the darker side of the internet, the area that

is inhabited by sexual offenders especially pedophiles. The internet may seem like

a really fun place to be but it can also be very dangerous and that is an open, dark

secret says Karthik Nanda, a South Park fan who rates Cartman joins NAMBLA

as one of the best South Park episodes he’s seen.

Christian Rock Hard (Season 7)

Plot synopsis:

The boys’ band Moop hits a rough patch and they cannot decide what course they

should take, leading to Cartman quitting the band. He promises the rest of the

band that he will go platinum (sell a minimum number of records) before Moop

does.

Cartman goes on to make a Christian Rock band and becomes all the rage with

Christian youth of the town. Moop goes on to download tracks of various genres

off the internet leading to FBI arresting them and showing them how illegal

9 Hochberger, Eric, 2010 South Park Review: "You Have 0 Friend. TV FanaticAvailable From: http://www.tvfanatic.com/2010/04/south-park-review-you-have-0-friends/ [Accessed: 12th December 2010]

downloads affects musicians’ lavish lifestyle adversely. Moop decides to go on a

strike with the rest of bands, including Metallica, Britney Spears and Ozzy

Osbourne till the illegal downloads don’t cease.

Talking Points:

Christian Rock Hard took the issue of piracy really head on. The end of the

episode left one thinking whether the creators were mocking the laws of piracy or

only the unnecessary hullabaloo behind it. One of the most hilarious scenes in the

episode is when the drummer of Metallica, Lars Ulrich, more famous for having

sued peer-to-peer sharing software Napster for pirating their music, crying

because he cannot afford a luxury shark tank. The whole treatment of the episode

seems to support the issue of piracy but disapproves of the reasons why artists

seem to require anti-piracy laws.

In India, piracy is a very common practice. When it comes to the laws, they are

slightly more stringent when it comes to movies, especially the ones made

domestically. Music, especially the international ones are downloaded illegally by

almost everyone with only the most hardcore fans buying CDs anymore. Since

international artists do not really hold concerts in India, it becomes very hard to

connect with piracy laws and the difference it’s making to the composers.

Shantanu Chakravorty, a neoclassical guitarist and South Park fan thinks that this

episode with an equal measure of satire and humor bought out issues that are

plaguing the music scene, the world over. “Piracy is just one part of the problem.

The other part of the problem, in the words of the band Porcupine Tree is that

‘Music of Rebellion makes you wanna rage, but it’s made by millionaires who’re

nearly twice your age.’ Christian Rock Hard was a perfect example of this.”

With Apologies to Jesse Jackson (Season 11)

Plot Synopsis:

In a live television game called Wheel of Fortune, Randy Marsh spells out

‘Niggers’ instead of ‘Naggers’ for the category of ‘People who annoy you.’ The

town is shocked and the boys’ coloured friend Token takes offence to the fact that

Stan does not understand what the big deal is. Randy apologizes to Jesse Jackson,

who forces him to kiss his backside. Token refuses to accept it saying, “Jesse

Jackson is not the emperor of black people”10

Meanwhile the school in order to sensitize the students gets a dwarf, Dr. Nelson to

talk to the students. Cartman starts poking fun at him and it turns into a full blown

war with Dr. Nelson taking digs at the boy’s weight. Cartman cannot stop

guffawing till the very end. Stan finally accepts defeat and says that he really

doesn't understand what Token feels like and they make truce.

10 Available From: http :// www . imdb . com / title / tt 0940288/ [Accessed on 12th December 2010]

Talking Points:

Something as simple as respecting others who are not like us in color or ability,

takes so much effort from us. Something that is considered basic manners to be

taught during childhood is often forgotten as we grow up. Whether it was trying

to ‘get’ why a whole race of people, oppressed for centuries, feel offended by one

word or whether it is about understanding the sentiments of a person with

physical problems, the episode hits the nail on the head hard.

On IGN TV’s website forums, a member, Travis Fickett writes:

It's inevitable that some people might not get this episode. They might not think it's funny that Jesse Jackson considers himself the "emperor of all black people" and makes Randy apologize in a surprisingly literal way. The truth is, if nobody found this episode controversial, it probably didn't work the way it was intended.11

In our country, there is absolutely no dearth of insensitivity when it comes to

tolerance. As far as equal opportunities for physically challenged people go, not

even the public transport is competent enough to accommodate them. Piyush

Verma a South Park aficionado observes that this episode should be made for

compulsory viewing in colleges across the country. He also says that schools do

no really require this as unlike the protagonists of the show, Indian kids are pretty

sensitive towards different people.

11 Fickett, Travis, 2007: South Park: "With Apologies to Jesse Jackson" ReviewAvailable From: http://tv.ign.com/articles/771/771545p1.html [Accessed on: 10th December 2010]

200 (Season 14)

Plot Synopsis:

On a field visit to a candy factory, Stan accidentally insults Tom Cruise by calling

him a ‘fudge packer’. An enraged Cruise gathers all the celebrities that have ever

been made fun of by the series and decides to pay them back. Cruise threatens to

sue the town unless they give the celebrities the Prophet Muhammad. Cruise

decides to use the power of Muhammad’s ability to not be made fun of to help

them. With Muhammad’s power, the celebrities need not fear South Park

residents ever. The residents appeal to the Super-Best Friends, i.e. Jesus, Moses,

Krishna, Buddha, Joseph Smith, Lao Tzu and Sea Man, to let one of them,

Prophet Muhammad come to South Park to let them pretend that they will hand

him over to the celebrities.

Talking Points:

This episode is the biggest example of what happens when free speech is attacked.

Following this episode, where they depicted Prophet Muhammad in a bear suit,

the creators got several death threats. The failed Times Square bombing attempt

also had a South Park link that FBI was investigating.12 The extremists went

12 Rhett Miller, Joshua, 2010: Police Won't Rule Out 'South Park' Link in Times Square Bomb AttemptAvailable From: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/05/03/police-probe-south-park-link-times-square-bomb-plot/ [Accessed on 12th December 2010]

berserk because of what was an attempt to salvage free speech. Defining what

hurts religious sentiments is a very subjective issue and no two people may have

the same view about it.

200 has to be by far, the boldest episode by South Park despite the Danish

cartoonist controversy. The world could always use more shining beacons for the

dying virtue of free speech.

Tarun Mazumdar asserts that no other sitcom/ animation series would have had

the guts to do something like this. “This alone is a huge reason I’d watch South

Park, over and over again.”

YOU KNOW I’VE LEARNT

SOMETHING TODAY

South Park is undoubtedly a gutsy show that attempts to shove a mirror in

society’s face. What makes it even more endearing is the fact that it uses children

as its protagonists and their innocence to show everything that is wrong with the

world today. Anyone who watches an eight-year old kid get racist, talk about sex

or become violent to the extent of killing someone while still retaining the

characteristics and peculiarities a child that age would have.

The spectacular irreverence, the political incorrectness and combination of

absolutely bizarre situations and themes have been in the program consciously

since the very beginning. With its setting in a quiet mountain town of Colorado,

much like the Simpson’s Springfield, South Park is ‘both every place and no

place’13 South Park thus functions as a mini representation of the American way

of a hypocritical life and thus is a roaring success there.

But how does one explain its appeal to the global audience, especially Indians?

The answer lies in the spread of technology. With the advent of the internet

technological advancements have put supposed third world countries at par with

countries like the USA. This leveling has affected the social fabric of both

countries similarly. The age groups of 13 to 30, who have had the maximum

advantage of having learnt the benefits of the internet from a very early age,

13 Weinstock, Jeffery Andrew, 2008: Taking South Park Seriously, State University of New York Press. Pp:25 Available From: http://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=H7OEFij0QkgC&oi=fnd&pg=PA23&dq=south+park&ots=ipVczAxNi4&sig=T1FC1MKQFaCMBkVxr-YrWxdkSMo#v=onepage&q&f=false [Accessed: 29th November 2010]

connect with most situations in South Park with ease. Such was the craze of South

Park with the users of broadband services in the metropolitan cities; VH1 started

airing South Park in the late night slot. Sadly, the language was too bold for the

Indian censors and at the most one could hear a sentence full of beeps only as

opposed to entire scenes being hacked off mercilessly.

India has yet to reconcile itself to such a daring attempt at free speech and it may

be ages before someone in the country dares to come up with a bold attempt such

as South Park to mock India and its Politics. For now, Indians will have to make

do with drawing parallels with situations in South Park, quite like what I have

attempted to do in this research paper.

Lastly, like each episode of South Park ends with a moral by Stan, when he says,

“You know I’ve learnt something today,” I have learnt something from this

research too. In Stan’s own words, from Cartoon Wars, another episode in the eye

of the storm thanks to yet another Muhammad controversy, I quote:

Look, people, it's been real easy for us to stand up for free speech lately. For the past few decades we haven't had to risk anything to defend it. But those times are going to come! And one of those times is right now. And if we aren't willing to risk what we have, then we just believe in free speech, but we don't defend it!14

WORD COUNT: 3,725

14 Available From: http://sharetv.org/shows/south_park/quotes/pg-6 [Accessed: 3rd January 2011]

APPENDIX

Taking South Park Seriously- Jeffrey Andrew WeinstockAccessed from Google Bookshttp://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=H7OEFij0QkgC&oi=fnd&pg=PA23&dq=south+park&ots=ipVczAxNi4&sig=T1FC1MKQFaCMBkVxr-YrWxdkSMo#v=onepage&q&f=false

South Park and Philosophy- You Know I Learnt Something Today- Edited by Robert ArpAccessed from Google Bookshttp://books.google.co.in/books?id=BJq0Z8gtO2kC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false