South Park Satire

South Park, the brainchild of Trey Parker and Matt Stone, is the leading animated sitcom on Comedy Central Network. It follows the story of four children, Stan, Kyle, Eric, and Kenny, and their adventure throughout their town. South Park has been widely criticized for its dark, somewhat satanically, humor. South Park has had a huge impact on television and uses satire and comedy heavily influence young-adult culture and politics.

South Park is largely credited with making Comedy Central successful, giving Comedy Central much attention and recognition. Before Comedy Central picked up the show, it received substandard ratings, carried only on a few cable networks. With the addition of South Park to its lineup, viewership steadily increased and

Comedy Central was being picked up by more and more cable networks. Within a year, “advertisers were paying an average of forty thousand dollars for thirty seconds of advertising time during airings of South Park,” the highest for the network at the time (Southpark). South Park still averages several million viewers as it enters its fourteenth season and is still one of the highest rated programs on Comedy Central.
A large part of South Park’s success comes from its ability to attract both teens and young adults, creating a large audience to draw from.

Each episode is a mixture of both comical and satirical elements that attract teens and young adults, respectfully. The comedy portions of the show often contain humorous anecdotes littered with filthy language and catchphrases, designed to entertain viewers incapable of fully understanding the underlying satire of the episodes. This portion of the show has often been criticized by religious groups like Christian Family Network (Fagin) and Scientology for its use of language and suggestive themes and for calling the religion a “big fat scam” (Tapper). Cartman’s exclamations of “suck my ball” and “screw you guys…I’m going home” have invaded teen vernacular with such ferocity that catchphrases such as these have become common speak among teens (Southpark). On the other side is the intellectual appeal for adults within the episodes. The satire within most episodes, especially those of latter seasons (Southpark), is unique in that it is portrayed through the eyes of the four main characters of the show, unfiltered by any outside morals or ethics, opinions or bias. South Park “attacks the whole ideological spectrum,” not shying away from sensitive subjects that other medium alienates, such as Michael Jackson or depictions of Muhammad (ToTo). South Park gives adults an insight into delicate current events (as well as trivial ones for comedic

relief) in raw form, sprinkled with toilet humor for good effect.
South Park has had a furtive, if not overlooked, influence on politics, spawning unpredictable political impact.

Evidence of this is the formation of South Park Republicans: someone who is right winged centered and whose ideologies are generally in line with that of South Park (Teirney). While Stone and Parker have explicitly stated that they are not Republican or Libertarian, the party still exists as a part of the Republican Party. Stone and Parker have made numerous remarks that South Park doesn’t aim to criticize Conservatives or Libertarians more than the other, but notes that “[they] hate conservatives, but [they] really fucking hate liberals”(Teirney). The Party and its opponents have come to common grounds in arguing a need for middle ground in today’s politic, having no need for far left radicals or right-wing

hardheads.
South Park has no doubt had a significant influence on our culture, giving rise to one of the most watched cable networks on T.V., spawning catchphrases, thought-inspiring satires, and political groups. While vulgar in its delivery, its underlining meanings, exemplifying common sense and humanity, are to be praised and admired. Stone and Parker Frankenstein will certainly stand the test of time, so long as our culture continues to provide idiotic