Popular Culture

WARNING: EXPLICIT CONTENT

South Park: where toilet humor meets satire. Since its humble beginnings in 1997, there’s been no boundary Parker and Stone won’t cross, and absolutely no controversial topic/person off limits. The show and its creators, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, have received just as much criticism as praise for their hyper-aware, potty-mouthed fourth graders. If you’re anything like me, South Park is how you stay entertained and current. This isn't necessarily a bad thing! This animated comedy is infamous for poking fun at relevant social and political issues. From shining light on Antisemitism to racial discrimination and political oversight, South Park has given a relevant, humorous voice to real-world issues over the last 20 years. And yes, this includes President Donald Trump.

Before Trump, a taste of South Park’s genius lampooning of the past. From Season 12 Episode 9 comes the highly controversial, “Trapped in the Closet,” an episode all about Scientology with blatant homosexual undertones. This episode parodies individuals known to be affiliated with the Church of Scientology: Tom Cruise and John Travolta. R. Kelley is simply there to sing the situation into closure. The creators were met with zealous backlash after its air in 2005. According to Hollywood.com, not only did Tom Cruise threaten to "back out of his promotional obligations for Mission Impossible III if Viacom aired a rerun of the episode,” but South Park also lost Isaac Hayes. Hayes had voiced ‘Chef’ from the shows start. Stone and Parker were vocal about both incidents, meeting the controversy with all the grace of the show itself.

In response to Cruise’s antics, Parker and Stone issued the following statement:

“So, Scientology, you may have won THIS battle, but the million-year war for Earth has just begun! Temporarily anozinizing our episode will NOT stop us from keeping Thetans forever trapped in your pitiful man-bodies. Curses and drat! You have obstructed us for now, but your feeble bid to save humanity will fail! Hail Xenu!!!”

Stone in response to Hayes’ departure from the show:

“This is 100 percent having to do with his faith of Scientology . . . He has no problem — and he’s cashed plenty of checks — with our show making fun of Christians . . . He wants a different standard for religions other than his own, and to me, that is where intolerance and bigotry begin.”

With the goal to send off the Chef character, a later episode comprised Hayes’ voice work from prior episodes to make a total martyr of the character in the wake of “a silly little club that scrambled his brains.” Parker and Stone have since commented that they don’t believe Hayes wrote the press release which referred to them as bigots, but used the episode mentioned above as a response to the “ridiculous” statement:

"Trapped in the Closet" clip: 

Free Personality Test

It's important to reiterate that the creators don't discriminate against topics, and emphasize nor does it religions. It satirizes many religions all around the world, having attempted to show the Prophet Muhammad on television, speaking on the healing powers of the Virgin Mary's dairy air and adamantly telling the story of the Mormon religion with both the show and a Broadway musical. The show rarely takes itself too seriously. Despite serious, underlying tones, these antics are mostly in good humor. A minor character from the show entails:

“Look, maybe us Mormons do believe in crazy stories that make absolutely no sense, and maybe Joseph Smith did make it all up, but I have a great life, and a great family, and I have the Book of Mormon to thank for that… 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.”

Constant controversy hasn't abated the constant satirizing of current affairs. Thus, it was no surprise when the focus of Season 20 became the 2016 Presidential Election. The audience follows Mr. Garrison, former fourth grade teacher at South Park Elementary, from his days as an an anti-immigration advocate to becoming President of the United States. The character blatantly takes on the guise of Donald Trump, though both candidates are referred to as mascots from old episodes: “Giant Douche” (Garrison) and “Turd Sandwich” (opposing candidate resembling Hilary Clinton). One can’t help but draw the parallels. Have a view:

Roll the Tape

Serialization was a new concept for South Park, beginning with Season 19. Parker and Stone have since hit a wall after finishing Season 20. The creators are well-known for flying by the seat of their pants, but have always managed to produce quality. Perhaps, that wasn’t the case for the last season. It seemed to struggle with the force that was Trump and the snowballing reality of 2017. The duo stated the US political world is “much funnier than anything we could come up with," and "It's tricky now because satire has become reality.” What a place to be for the apparent Kings of Satire! As a fan, I'd have to agree that the season in question was seemingly forced, reaching as far as possible for plot points and comical elements. It was all too apparent what they were attempting to satirize was already far ahead of the game, and serialization further complicated the process. I never thought I'd see the day where reality would surpass the dark satire that is South Park.

Stone and Parker on Season 20

“South Park has survived for 20 seasons by making chaos out of our imperfect reality. When our reality becomes more chaotic than South Park could even imagine, the show crumbles. And the creators know it, too. This season finale was titled "The End of Serialization as We Know It," and I can imagine why Parker and Stone are done with that incredible experiment. And if it seems like I'm putting too much thought into a cartoon about kids who say bad words, it's because the analysis is deserved. South Park has won a Peabody Award, five Emmys and Parker and Stone have won four Tony and a Grammy. This show deserves to be held at a higher standard, because it often holds us at a higher standard.” 

-Matt Miller, Esquire

References:

Esquire 

South Park Wikia 

Hollywood.com

IGN