South Park employs satire to marginalize and conceal controversial undertones in their cartoons. This gives the audience the notion that it is purely an offensive show about bad-mouthed young boys and their out of proportions antics, without giving a second glance at the conveyed meaning, if any.
This essay aims to dissect ideologies challenged in South Park using various episodes as examples. Particularly focusing on three episodes, all of which carry a different tone and meaning. Analyzing their representations of celebrity status and its influences, as well as (then current) issues played out in the media, and the racial divide.
The show is constructed around the lives of the four main protagonists, 8-year-olds, Stan, Kyle, Eric and Kenny, as they attempt to make sense of the world, depicted in various over exaggerated circumstances. These events illustrate flaws in ideologies based on those found in American social structures and movements, whilst poking fun at everyday life.
The concept of satire draws away from the more serious undertones and encrypted messages imbedded in the text. In accordance with a writer for Democratic underground.com; “I haven’t always agreed with their (South Park) politics but their humor almost always won me over.”
From its very humble beginnings as hand cut construction paper cartoons taking on juggernaut animated institutions such as The Simpsons. South Park has carved quite a unique place in television, making a name for itself in mimicking society often highlighting the way events and situations are interpreted by the media and then dealt with by individuals, albeit in a highly dramatized and often shocking manner.
“Pairing boyish, gross-out comedy with biting parody, they are two of the ...
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Younger generations and the more vulnerable in society can be influenced in avoiding peer pressure, but for the individuals filled with wisdom, the shows can reflect based on American modern society. Everybody Loves Raymond and Full House are great shows who faces similar life obstacles a typical person living in the US has today. As a result, most modern family comedy sit-coms are reflecting our society’s generations and the more vulnerable. Based on the success of early family sit coms, American’s adapted to a fast pace lifestyle with the help of modern
South Park is an animated TV series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, which first aired on Comedy Central in 1997. The show features four boys Eric Cartman, Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, and Kenny McCormick. South Park has been seen as one of the most controversial shows due to its raunchy humor and obscene depiction of characters in the show. South Park deals with many current issues in the news surrounding anything from in politics to religion. In dealing with these issues South Park involves adult comedy that parodies current issues going on in the United States and around the world. South Park also uses many other rhetorical deceives, such as
From these comedians, satirical humor expresses some opinions about political acts so people can view them more critically.
“Oh my God, they killed Kenny!” South Park is an adult cartoon that circles around the abnormal life of four boys living in Colorado. This hilarious animated television series strives to be the most controversial show on air. The series has been on air since August 13, 1997 and while the show seems ridiculous, it is commonly known for incorporating high and low culture within the show. South Park has been known to take current issues from today’s society and convert them into a more simplified version while transforming it into satire.
Some of the repeated behaviors and actions of the characters include one of the children (Kenny) dying during each episode (followed by Stan yelling, "Oh, my God! They've killed Kenny" (South Park).); the children ragging the overweight kid; the African-American chef obsessing about sex; and the geneticist performing insane experiments in his spooky laboratory.
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...ng it in light of Godot, we can appreciate something much more fundamental, that Seinfeld is every bit as humanitarian as Godot because it shows how our human frailties militate against our desire to end all human contact with others. Any critic who out-of-hand dismisses the sit-com as trash should for this reason alone be thoroughly distrusted, because the desperate communitarian cultural function of the sitcom has been completed ignored. I suggest that there are reasons we watch sitcoms that are not all reducible to the notion that we are stupid, cultural dupes. Seinfeld, as well as Waiting for Godot, offers us insights into what makes us human. At some basic level, this is a compelling explanation for why we care to watch television as much as it is for why we go to live theatre.
Popular culture is the artistic and creative expression in entertainment and style that appeals to society as whole. It includes music, film, sports, painting, sculpture, and even photography. It can be diffused in many ways, but one of the most powerful and effective ways to address society is through film and television. Broadcasting, radio and television are the primary means by which information and entertainment are delivered to the public in virtually every nation around the world, and they have become a crucial instrument of modern social and political organization. Most of today’s television programming genres are derived from earlier media such as stage, cinema and radio. In the area of comedy, sitcoms have proven the most durable and popular of American broadcasting genres. The sitcom’s success depends on the audience’s familiarity with the habitual characters and the situations
Literary critic Northrop Frye once said, “Two things […] are essential to satire; one is wit or humor […], the other is an object of attack.” The truth in this statement becomes evident when discussing society. As society progresses, people continuously develop new beliefs and ideas. These beliefs and ideas, however, do not always resonate with everyone and thus arises controversy. As an approach to this controversy, people often resort to satire in many ways, shapes, and forms. It has been an innate quality for humans to challenge ideals and instigate change, and this is true for society back then and now. Both ridiculing the flaws in their respective cultures, Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales from the Middle Ages and the 2004 comedy
...r, Trey. Cartoon wars I(s10e03). South Park. Comedy Central. 5 Apr. 2006. Web. 8 Dec.
Satire is customarily discussed as “humor critiquing current political or social issues. For example, the Oxford English Dictionary defines satire as the type of derisive humor or irony; mocking wit; sarcasm especially employed against something perceived as foolish or immoral.” While the Oxford English Dictionary’s emphasis on humor calls attention to the mockery of these issues, it does not present the consequences of certain actions. In the Onion article titled “Underfunded Schools Forced to Cut Past Tense From Language Programs” and The Simpsons episode “Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish, satire also addresses the effects of certain decisions on society. Attending to the consequences of the actions or decisions that are being satirized allows us to see how satire can help us come to
Since television came into existence, it has evolved into a useful tool to spread ideas, both social and political, and has had a great effect on the generations growing up with these heavily influential shows. To these younger generations, television has taken the role of a teacher, with the task of creating a social construction by which many of us base our personal beliefs and judgments on. This power allows television shows take the opportunity to address problems in a manner that many audiences can take to heart. Many television shows present controversial topics in a comical matter, in some ways to soften the blow of hard-hitting reality at the same time bringing attention to the issue being addressed. In the television show, Everybody Hates Chris, season one, episode four entitled “Everybody Hates Sausage”, the stereotypes that continue to fuel racism are examined in a satirical motif, and class is presented in a comical way, but carries serious undertones which present a somewhat realistic view of the different social strata within the United States.
Peyser, Marc. “The Truthiness Teller; Stephen Colbert Loves This Country Like he Loves Himself. Comedy Central’s Hot News Anchor is a Goofy Caricature of Our Blustery Culture. But he’s Starting to Make Sense.” Newsweek 13 February 2006: 50
Detweiller, Eric. ““I was Just Doing a Little Joke There”: Irony and the Paradoxes of the Sitcom The Office” Journal of Popular Culture 45.4 (2012): 727-748. Web. 15 January. 2014.