South Park Satire Analysis

319 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: The comedy in south park essay

South Park, though an animated television series, is notoriously known for being a ball of undermined commentaries and criticisms. South Park’s unrestricted and haughty demonstration of the world issues has captured its audiences ever since its very first episode, that summer of 1997. Just recently, it has capped its 20th season back in December 2016 marking 19 years of successful television run. South Park has broke boundaries in terms of censorship and has become a medium for revealing societal stereotypes on ethnicity and race. Its blatant use of hostile terms and tackling of sensitive subjects hold its uproar every single episode. Through the strategic use of satirical elements that come in both non-verbal communication, as seen through the use of visuals and the verbal communication in the form of the language utilized in the character’s dialogues; South Park provided its audiences with its brazen views on racism. …show more content…

The interpretation of the creators with their use of satirical comments and elements may come as different as opposed to the view of its audiences. A critical viewing is needed to differentiate one from the other. South Park being the infamous adult animated series that it is has a wide array of episodes that sparked controversies on the matters of race due to the presence of such satirical elements. Three of the most contentious episodes of South Park namely episode 12 of Season 5, “Here Comes the Neighborhood”, Season 7’s episode 7 titled “Red Man’s Greed” and “With Apologies to Jesse Jackson”, the pilot episode of season 11 enable the dissection and evaluation of the true purpose of satire in the show. The idea that South Park’s satire seems to be a muted nod to racism is plausible, but what South Park suggests is the sole intention of rebuking the racist ideologies against American

Show More
Related

  • Analyzing Satire and Parody in Blazing Saddles

    2138 Words  | 5 Pages

    "No one is born a racist bigot. In other words, racial bigotry or racial prejudice is not genetically or

    Read More

  • Sanford and Son and The Chapelle Show

    726 Words  | 2 Pages

    It was hilarious whenever Fred Sanford of the hit series Sanford and Son used to fake his heart attack saying that famous phrase, “I’m coming Elizabeth” or what about him telling Aunt Ester how ugly she was. No one took that type of comedy to the heart and it was intended to hurt no one. It was all for a laugh. Now in today’s time there are new shows on television such as The Chapelle Show, which is hosted and directed by the comedian Dave Chapelle. The object of this show seems to be how much fun he can make of a different race. Times have changed and so have peoples’ since of humor. People went from the laid-back type sitcoms such as Sanford and Son, The Three Stooges, and The Little Rascals, which are all types of shows that people can watch with their entire family, to shows even adults feel turned away from. Some examples include The Chapelle Show and In Living Color.

    Read More

  • South Park Rhetorical Analysis Essay

    1121 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • The Impact of African-American Sitcoms on America's Culture

    974 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Impact of African-American Sitcoms on America's Culture Since its start, the television industry has been criticized for perpetuating myths and stereotypes about African-Americans through characterizations, story lines, and plots. The situation comedy has been the area that has seemed to draw the most criticism, analysis, and disapproval for stereotyping. From Sanford and Son and The Jefferson’s in the 1970s to The Cosby Show (1984) and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in the 1990s, sitcoms featuring black casts and characters have always been controversial. However, their significance upon our American culture cannot be disregarded.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Steve Almond's Funny Is The New Deep

    892 Words  | 2 Pages

    Steve Almond’s “Funny is the New Deep” talks of the role that comedy has in our current society, and most certainly, it plays a huge role here. Namely, through what Almond [Aristotle?] calls the “comic impulse”, we as a people can speak of topics that would otherwise make many of uncomfortable. Almond deems the comic impulse as the most surefire way to keep heavy situations from becoming too foreboding. The comic impulse itself stems from our ability and unconscious need to defend and thus contend with the feeling of tragedy. As such, instead of rather forcing out humor, he implies that humor is something that is not consciously forced out from an author, but instead is more of a subconscious entity, coming out on its own. Almond emphasizes

    Read More

  • Humor of South Park

    1985 Words  | 4 Pages

    Kyle Broflovski, Stan Marsh, and Kenny McCormick, who attend South Park Elementary School in South Park, Colorado. While much of the humor in South Park is scatological in nature, the show is well known for its political satire. That is, “no matter how nasty and scatological [South Park] gets, it’s never just dumb and dumber. Besides all the bathroom humor, the show is built on clever, equal-opportunity satire” (Johnson-Woods 25).

    Read More

  • African American Humor Research Paper

    815 Words  | 2 Pages

    For years’ black comedians have been stereotyped by black humor using racial slurs in their jokes to communicate with audience an about the social and political issues in the black communities. Although a diverse audience might catch on to most of the contents in a joke that have black humor, some people in American may take it in a harmful and unintended way to avoid controversy with the audience so people need to understand how to identify what is humorous and what is offensive in racial and ethnic humor. I will attempt to prove that living in such a diverse society with the freedom of speech it does not always mean using the word Nigga is a racist thing to say in comedy.

    Read More

  • Satirical Discourse Episodes

    939 Words  | 2 Pages

    The twelfth and thirteenth episodes of South Park’s tenth season, “Go God Go” and “Go God Go XII”, work as pieces of comedy because they effectively uses humorous triangular formats. Both episodes satirize extremist behavior involving religion and atheism. The episodes usually show situations that involve the audience watching a humorous exchange between two parties. On occasion, the audience watches one character being made fun of, but overall the jokes involve the audience observing an exchange between two parties. The creator’s also use the characters to demonstrate their own beliefs and criticisms.

    Read More

  • Madness and Absyrdity in Catch-22

    1451 Words  | 3 Pages

    Green, Daniel. "A World Worth Laughing At: Catch-22 and the Humor of Black Humor." Studies

    Read More

  • Can Pro-diversity Television Program Influence a Change in Preschooler’s Attitudes Towards Race?

    1320 Words  | 3 Pages

    In fact for the past three years networks like Fox, FX, and Fox Searchlight Studios have been holding periodic “diversity sessions”, during which they pitch roles for minority characters for their upcoming shows (Deggens, 2013). The results of these sessions vary from changing an existing Caucasian character’s ethnicity to pushing for strong roles designed specially for an actor of color. This routine is rooted in their business concept that an increase in diversity will attract younger viewers and produce stronger ratings (Deggens, 2013). In the past year, some critics have been skeptical of these sessions, as this past fall Fox released a series called Dads, in which all jokes surrounding the minority-race actors are based on ...

    Read More

  • Everybody Hates Chris

    1151 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Unraveling Stereotypes: Asian Americans in Media

    1316 Words  | 3 Pages

    Since the first influx of Asian immigrants to the United States, Asian Americans were never treated as an integral part of the American population. Accounting for five percent of the US demographic, often times, they are still portrayed by provincial people as outsiders who do not belong in society. Over the years, this negative mentality has transformed into the way Asian Americans are viewed in media. Though there are many attempts of reversing the trend such as diversifying the cast members, stereotypical personalities such as “the human calculator” or “undesirable partner” are still utilized for writers to infuse racial slurs into comedy skits. However, in reality especially now that many Asian Americans are second generation, none of these stereotypes pertains to all them. As a result, directors and script writers have an ethical responsibility to best portray Asian Americans as human beings who can function normally without putting negative stereotypes as the primary focus of Asian characters’ personas.

    Read More

  • Slaughterhouse-Five Essay: Irony, Dark Humor, and Satire

    671 Words  | 2 Pages

    Kurt Vonnegut uses a combination of dark humor and irony in Slaughterhouse-Five. As a result, the novel enables the reader to realize the horrors of war while simultaneously laughing at some of the absurd situations it can generate. Mostly, Vonnegut wants the reader to recognize the fact that one has to accept things as they happen because no one can change the inevitable.

    Read More

  • Analysis of Aaron McGruder´s The Boondocks

    2369 Words  | 5 Pages

    When studying the black diaspora within the United States, the story typically starts with the classic slave narratives including those of Frederick Douglass and Mary Price and ends with the affirmative action decisions of the late 1990s. History tells the story of an internal racial identity struggle through the institutions of slavery and oppression, resistance and rebellion, cultural reawakening and civil rights which evokes the question: what does it mean to be African American? Aaron McGruder’s animated series The Boondocks creates a context to consider the question of what it means to be an African American today and discusses the institutions that are now molding the African American identity. McGruder criticizes the idea of a black monolithic identity through the use of hyper-exaggerated stereotypes and a medium typically reserved for children to make satirical commentary. This disintegration of the idea of a homogenous black diaspora identity opens the door for conversations of race and identity to be had in a wider context.

    Read More

  • Friend Zone: Dating and Romance

    1141 Words  | 3 Pages

    Before analyzing the comedic content in question, it is important when drawing on a variety of sentiments from comedians to understand that many performers use a character or parody for their humor. Others choose to voice opinions and views contrary to their own, in the hopes of receiving a certain reaction from a specific audience. In referring to the material of writers and comedians, one must respond to the beliefs they promote (which can be known), rather than those they espouse, which cannot.

    Read More

More about South Park Satire Analysis

Open Document