Posted on 02/04/2006 3:38:16 AM PST by Panerai
Show celebrates ninth year, more controversial than ever before
Eric Theodore Cartman may be the smartest person alive.
That's right, I said it.
The foul-mouthed, overweight, rude 9-year-old and his three animated friends, Kenny, Kyle and Stan, have been through nine seasons of adventures on the hit Comedy Central show South Park, and their latest episodes have sparked more controversy than the show has seen before.
But protesters are not looking past the gags and seeing what the episodes are really about.
When the show premiered in August 1997, it sparked more controversy for the characters portrayed as juvenile children with worst mouths than most adults. And the random and violent deaths of Kenny in each episode had the Federal Communications Commission and parents up in arms.
Of course, teenagers and college kids loved it, and it became a huge hit, spawning a movie, CDs, videogames and mass merchandise endorsements.
As society changed and adapted to the times, South Park became more of the norm on TV, and it was up to creators Matt Parker and Trey Stone to push the limits further than sight gags and beeped out curse words.
By getting a mass audience with their humor, Parker and Stone used the young characters to send messages about topics like abortion, Terri Schivo, God, and the most recent episode, "Blood Mary," tackles the issue of alcoholism.
After laughing at South Park Elementary's mascot election for a "turd sandwich" or "giant douche" (who writes this stuff!), you sit back and really think about the last presidential election and the parallels the episode draws to it.
(Excerpt) Read more at unlvrebelyell.com ...
South Park ping !
I think the magic of South Park has always been that it similtanously works very well as either a pro-right wing show or as a left wing parody of the right.
Team America almost perfects that formula.
SP is very libertarian, IMHO
Oh, it definitely is.
I guess one example of my original point that comes to mind is the episode where the boys refuse to eat meat and Stan literally becomes a pussy.
Conservatives get a laugh because it affirms their viewpoint that not eating meat isn't manly. Liberals get a laugh because they take it as a satire of that very viewpoint.
The reason it is more-embraced by the Right, is that we are used to taking criticism, and can deal with it.
The Left has been sheltered by the Old Media, is humorless, and simply can't deal with the criticisms in Trey and Matt's parodies.
I can hardly wait until they do one on islamic cartoons.
I'm pretty sure that the religious right has gotten pretty pissed off at South Park. Especially the Catholic and Mormon Churches.
They did the episode where the portray Osama Bin Ladin in a parody of the classic WB cartoons and show him to have a microscopic penis.
My dear departed father always taught me the day we don't learn something new is the day we die.
Thank you for helping me live. I didn't know Cartman's middle name was "Theodore".
I guess I shouldnt comment. I have never watched the show , except fopr Spongebob with my grandkids I gave up watching cartoons years ago. Perhaps others should grow up too.
animation =/= children's entertainment
Screw you guys. I'm going home! (If you've not seen the show, you won't understand).
South Park is one of the funniest shows EVER!
I've always thought the magic of South Park is that they are willing to take on the extremists of both the left and the right. I mean, let's face it -- we've got our whack jobs out there, too. The thing is, the left has more, and they make themselves such easy targets...
I appreciate the opportunity the program affords for examination of my own beliefs.
And I laugh my glutes off when they go after the other stuff....
A cartoon is a cartoon!* My Shield of Faith (Ephesians 6:16) leaves me uninjured.
*Our mohammedan friends (?) would do well to understand this.
It's not that the left has more of them, it's that the whole left not only defends them but that they put them on a pedestal and says that their whacks represent mainstream American thought.
Love SP and also love FamilyGuy.
I think it's only a matter of time before Eric Cartman makes fun of 'Mohammad in cartoon' fiasco, the way they portrayed Tom Cruise's 'out of closet'. They have made a cartoon about Mohammad before, I believe. The one with the Incredible League or something like that, whose other members include Jesus, Buddha, Confucius, Visnu and Aquaman (?).
For Children and those with the minds of children .
Its surprising how easy children are led.
SouthPark and the Daily Show, helped as a welcome distraction after the events of Sept. 11th. In times of trouble and sorrow, levity can help ease the pain.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.