South Park: Cartoon Wars ['South Park' Goes After Mohammad Censorship]

TV Squad ^ | Apr 6th 2006 | Adam Finley

[HairOfTheDog]

Posted Apr 6th 2006 9:17AM by Adam Finley

Last night South Park, in a way only South Park can, managed to mix Family Guy and the recent kerfuffle over cartoons involving the Prophet Muhammed into a scathing indictment of both. In the South Park universe, the "offensive Muhammed cartoon" is an episode of Family Guy which the Fox Network decides to censor. Cartman convinces Kyle to join him on his quest to get the episode off the air. It turns out Cartman doesn't care about the offensive episode, he just really, really, hates Family Guy, calling it poorly-written and accusing it of using interchangeable jokes, rather than jokes that actually have something to do with the plot.

I've said it on this blog and elsewhere that Family Guy's humor can be very jarring at times. Whatever plot there is has to be ground to a halt in order to insert as many one-off gags as possible. There's no effort on behalf of the writers to try and weave jokes into the story, jokes simply pop in and out wherever they seem to fit. In that regard, it's not even comparable to shows like South Park and The Simpsons, which take a more substantive approach to their humor and satire, even if South Park appears to delve into the same scatological humor as Family Guy at times.

There's a mistake that a lot of critics make, and that's to judge a show on what you think it should be rather than what it's actually trying to be. Does Family Guy use interchangeable jokes? Yes, it does, and so did the classic Warner Bros. cartoons from which the show takes its aesthetic. Family Guy has never been about depth, it has always been, from the first season on, about getting yucks. It is a CARTOON in every sense of the word, a series of animated drawings packed with as many jokes as possible, plot be damned. Nobody watches Family Guy hoping to hear some profound truth or see some hidden injustice exposed. If they want that kind of experience, they'll watch South Park. Or, if they can wrap their mind around the concept that two cartoons can have vastly different approaches to humor, they might actually be able to watch and enjoy both.

There's a moment toward the end of the episode when Kyle's Big Wheel goes crashing off a mountain, stops, and then bursts into flame. This same joke, one in which something shouldn't catch on fire but does, has been done before by both The Simpsons and Family Guy. In fact, you don't have to watch any of these animated programs for very long before you start to see some of the same gags and pop culture references. When I watched the Big Wheel explode, I thought to myself that despite making every effort to set itself apart from everything in order to have a more accurate satirical vantage point, South Park and its creators don't exist in a vacuum. Many people will tell you that any creative endeavor is just a matter of filtering and arranging ideas which already exist, and this is especially true for comedy writers. If you find something funny, it's likely someone else found it funny as well and has done it before. It's not about who did what first, it's about how you frame the joke and give it your own personal signature. In that regard, I think both Family Guy and South Park do just fine.

[ABG(anybody but Gore)]

I wonder what Mike Judge thinks of him? I know he and Parker and Stone seem to get along.

[HairOfTheDog]

It's a possibility!

They got a lot of hate mail when they did that before... (the Terrance and Philip episode in lieu of revealing Cartman's father) But it could be they like that kind of hate mail :~D

[ABG(anybody but Gore)]

IIRC, Comedy Central used some of the nastier hate calls in promos for the real Part 2. It was hillarious.

[Larry Lucido]

Shh! You mustn't speak ill of the Baghwan! :-)

[MozarkDawg]

You underestimate Stewie. He is a diabolical genius. He will eliminate Cartman with a weapon of mass destruction that he invented himself.

But Cartman is way cuter than Stewie, in head-to-head, topless competition! :D

[PJ-Comix]

I would like to see them take on 24. Yeah, I'm a 24 fan but, come on, way too much stuff happens in a 24 hour period.

[Starter]

Dunno. Judge doesn't seem to get involved in these types of disputes. He's worked with Groening (which caused Matt to remove his name from that episode), Matt & Trey (as Kenny in the movie), and Seth Green on Robot Chicken (who's a good friend of MacFarlane), so he could go pretty much anywhere on this particular issue.

I don't think he'll make any public statements though.

[Sofa King]

I was thinking crab people.

[Kellykoop]

No doubt about it. Not a good move to piss him off.

Mmmmm...Peter and Lois chili! Yummy! ;)

[flashbunny]

I'd wager it will be jackovasaurs.

[mainepatsfan]

They improve with age.

[mainepatsfan]

They were more annoying than Towelie.

[feedback doctor]

This was a hilarious episode, and I hope Comedy Central doesn't puss out on next week's.

We all knew SP would address the islam cartoon thing. I've seen the comments here, but not in the press, that this was as much about Scientology, Tom Cruise and Comedy Central as it was about the Mohammed cartoons.

[feedback doctor]

I think it is going to be revealed that the writers of "Family Guy" are all Scientologists.

DING!!!! I think we have a winner!

[feedback doctor]

I'd say the episode was as much about Americans as it was about Muslims; burying their heads in the sand and such. Stating the obvious, I guess.

Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised to have them show CNN with their heads in the sand doing interviews.

[Stag_Man]

Ah, the worst South park of all time.

[Zeppelin]

welcome to the fanbase! might I suggest the "Scott Tenorman Must Die" episode as for your next viewing? =P

[TomGuy]

welcome to the fanbase! might I suggest the "Scott Tenorman Must Die" episode as for your next viewing? =P

What season?

[lesser_satan]

Also, be sure to see the "rainforest" episode. Jennifer Aniston guest-starred as the leader of the "Get Gay with Kids" tour and did an awesome job, it was hillarious.

[Hong Kong Expat]

Why do I have the feeling Matt & Trey are going to do something like a T&P special instead of showing the Muhammad and "blame" comedy central.