Yeah this one wasn't really going as hard as some of the PC stuff, more just them having fun with that segment of the audience. Like I'd seen stuff like that on tumblr before, mostly as screenshots of posts as jokes or as responses and things like that but it was definitely a real thing, not just South Park making fun of Yaoi and slash art in general.
It's hard to conceive of a time when South Park will jump the shark. Every time I sit to watch an episode, I have a slight hesitation about what is going to go down. Every time they remind me of their true genius.
Damn, that newest episode. They're really going after the tumblr crowd this season and they even used real fanart in the episode. Also, lol Don King.
10 years ago it would have been the Deviantart or Fanfiction.net audience. I didn't think you could get a better episode this season, but they really proved it here. Especially if you know anything about fandom or shipping itself. All my friends who watched it with me without that kind of experience, still died laughing from the subtext put in their about the adults and sexuality. (Plus the parents giving their children money for being gay)
I haven't watched South Park in a couple of years now. The only exception being the MTG cock fighting episode and the game if that counts. It's not that I disliked the series really, I just lost interest and never got interested again. Maybe it was fatigue of the series itself. After all, I had been watching it since season one had arrived in germany when I was in middle school, but maybe I just over time I also grew fatigued with the political outlook the series has. This tweet just popped up in my feed and put it into words which kind of has been simmering underneath ever since I started watching South Park (and yes, I am linking to a tweet containing an image of a reddit post).
It's not that I begrudge anybody for liking the show, or overlooking some of its flaws and simply enjoying the sometimes topical and often juvenile humor. But I think I've had enough of the show and can't see myself ever going back.
I haven't watched South Park in a couple of years now. The only exception being the MTG cock fighting episode and the game if that counts. It's not that I disliked the series really, I just lost interest and never got interested again. Maybe it was fatigue of the series itself. After all, I had been watching it since season one had arrived in germany when I was in middle school, but maybe I just over time I also grew fatigued with the political outlook the series has. This tweet just popped up in my feed and put it into words which kind of has been simmering underneath ever since I started watching South Park (and yes, I am linking to a tweet containing an image of a reddit post).
It's not that I begrudge anybody for liking the show, or overlooking some of its flaws and simply enjoying the sometimes topical and often juvenile humor. But I think I've had enough of the show and can't see myself ever going back.
I really have to disagree with what that person wrote about South Park, but I can see exactly why they think that way.
When you make a social commentary of any kind, there is an assumption that you are taking a side. That's just how the dialogue in our country works. To make it worse, it often comes with a false dichotomy, so you have to pick just one of two sides.
With this mentality, it seems impossible that someone could make a social commentary without taking a side. If I say Republicans suck, am I not therefore also saying that Democrats are good?
What South Park does is exactly that. They shit on everyone and everything as hard as they possibly can. Often the shit is literal. It's appropriate that they are on Comedy Central, since it's much the same thing that stand-up comedians classically do. They find truth that we all know, but dare not say. They they expose and exaggerate it as much as humanly possible.
In shitting on everything, they take a stand for nothing. It doesn't say anything positive about anyone. It focuses only on the negative. Whether they are attacking Chipotle, MMORPGs, or Canada, they only show the worst aspects of those things. But being anti-Chipotle doesn't imply being pro-Taco Bell. They would tear Taco Bell a new asshole too, if they wanted to.
Also, South Park, much like GeekNights, is old. This is their 19th season. I empathize with them in that they have a hard time coming up with ideas and get episodes done at the last second. It's no accident that they created the concept of crab people, and we have borrowed it from them.
It's no surprise that not long into their run, they resorted to making every episode about current events. When you've got no ideas, just go after what's hot now. It's the easy road, and you just have to execute well. Having to practice and perform a song that writes itself once a week is a lot easier than having to compose a brand new hit from scratch. GeekNights would be so much easier if we just had the news bit, and skipped the main bit.
That means that nowadays, out of necessity, every episode of South Park consists of them shitting all over the current hot topic in our society. Just because they are shitting on whatever is new, special, different, or current, that doesn't imply that they support of the old, comfortable, or status quo. They just don't discuss it.
Why don't they? Because they already did. This shit is 19 years old. In just the very first season they already burned down everything from Barabara Streisand to Christmas. Also, The Simpsons did it. There is nothing left for them but the now.
The existence of Wendy alone is a direct contradiction of everything the person who wrote that tweet accuses the show of being. She is portrayed as one of the only students who is actually intelligent, mature, and has her shit together. She is also the exact opposite of apathetic libertarian. She truly gives a shit. Sometimes they show her giving too much of a shit, but they also use her to put the horrible apathy of others into stark contrast.
Yes, if you watch current South Park it seems as if that tweet is true. By tearing down all that is new, you can be accused of supporting the comfortable status quo. But if you've seen all of South Park, like I have, you know that's not true. They don't attack comfort, because they already killed it when I was still in high school. They burned all of human society to the ground repeatedly. No one is safe anywhere. There's no positive support for anyone or anything. Just a hose that spews every conceivable human and animal excrement at whatever stands up tallest this week.
The one negative thing I have to say about South Park is something I only realized when I saw that YouTube video where Korean people reacted to watching it. South Park is 100% made in USA for USA. It can't be exported, and it's not timeless. Much like a town newspaper, it can be really good if you read it when it's new, and you live in that town. That happens to be me, so I watch it.
But great art is without time or geographic boundaries. Mozart is Mozart no matter where you are from or what year it is. And South Park is not that.
They don't take sides, they just create caricatures of trends. Also the issue with that guy's statement is that he seems to view things entirely binary. If you make fun of something, you must not care. That's kinda a ridiculous statement. I think the greatest comedians are able to view events from a different angle. They're not not taking things seriously, they're just painting from a different perspective. South Park generally takes those concepts to the absurd mostly, I believe, because of Trey Parker's influences as a comedian.
The existence of Wendy alone is a direct contradiction of everything the person who wrote that tweet accuses the show of being. She is portrayed as one of the only students who is actually intelligent, mature, and has her shit together. She is also the exact opposite of apathetic libertarian. She truly gives a shit. Sometimes they show her giving too much of a shit, but they also use her to put the horrible apathy of others into stark contrast.
You mean the character that was portrayed to be so vapid and concerned with superficial trappings of maturity that she went through breast implant surgery at age 6? Or do you mean the character that leads a secret cabal with the power of branding other girls as "sluts" and excommunicating them from social life?
Yes, Wendy is portrayed as an intelligent and involved character, and then the show turns around to exploit that and portray feminism as vapid bullshit that goes right out the window when personal experience is involved or it becomes inconvenient, or simply is irrelevant because nobody except feminists give a shit about feminism.
--------------------------
You are correct in saying South Park is "Just a hose that spews every conceivable human and animal excrement at whatever stands up tallest this week". I, and the tweet/reddit post I linked, are in total agreement here. It is a very cynical show that way. The same way that teenagers are cynical assholes who think they know shit and all the adults are just idiots blinded to the world by their own petty concerns. Eventually, hopefully, these teenagers grow up. South Park never has.
The existence of Wendy alone is a direct contradiction of everything the person who wrote that tweet accuses the show of being. She is portrayed as one of the only students who is actually intelligent, mature, and has her shit together. She is also the exact opposite of apathetic libertarian. She truly gives a shit. Sometimes they show her giving too much of a shit, but they also use her to put the horrible apathy of others into stark contrast.
You mean the character that was portrayed to be so vapid and concerned with superficial trappings of maturity that she went through breast implant surgery at age 6? Or do you mean the character that leads a secret cabal with the power of branding other girls as "sluts" and excommunicating them from social life?
Yes, Wendy is portrayed as an intelligent and involved character, and then the show turns around to exploit that and portray feminism as vapid bullshit that goes right out the window when personal experience is involved or it becomes inconvenient, or simply is irrelevant because nobody except feminists give a shit about feminism.
--------------------------
You are correct in saying South Park is "Just a hose that spews every conceivable human and animal excrement at whatever stands up tallest this week". I, and the tweet/reddit post I linked, are in total agreement here. It is a very cynical show that way. The same way that teenagers are cynical assholes who think they know shit and all the adults are just idiots blinded to the world by their own petty concerns. Eventually, hopefully, these teenagers grow up. South Park never has.
South Park has certainly grown up. From Season 1-3 to 4, there's a bigger emphasis on social commentary. The two parter of "You're Growing Up" and "Ass-Burgers" is the transition of Stone/Parker coming to peace with what South Park has become. These days, we're just more hyperfocused on every bit of commentary a daring show like South Park happens to make, as it's been a subject of controversy during it's entire run. And South Park the past two seasons have really evolved to be more progressively-minded while skewering our media-obsessed age. (Seriously, "The Cissy?" "Freemium Isn't Free?") Even Wendy has a tragic character moment in the Season 17 Finale where she accepts the tragedy of unrealistic photoshopped pictures on boys and girls.
I call bullshit to that tweet saying South Park is promoting an apathetic-liberitarian mindsets. Hell, Cartman is the PERFECT piece of shit character who would abuse the PC mindset to avoid responsibilities and real life criticism. That was the beauty of the last episode in the subtle ways of bigotry you can show towards minorities even with the best of intentions as PC Principal is trying to do. This isn't them attacking "SJWs" as many casual fans are complaining about, it's the pointing out the laws of other forms of danger in trying to silence/ignore these new problems. (Like gentrification or police brutality)
They don't take sides, they just create caricatures of trends.
This really isn't true. They may not take an express stance on most topics (though I will point out that they took a stance on censorship via the Muhammed episodes), but the show has a pretty consistent theme that drives at a stance like "the truth is in the middle." At its best, it does a good job of exploring an issue, and at its worst, it becomes absurd reductionism.
But the show can absolutely be characterized as having a stance. There is a pretty predictable way in which their parodies take shape, and the message that emerges is fairly well-conserved.
South Park expresses a generally libertarian sentiment that advocates for the primacy of free speech and denounces any stance that involves strongly-held beliefs. It's a show about slaughtering sacred cows, basically. The implication is that said cows impede actual interaction and livelihood, as the children are constantly impeded by bullshit that's in their way. The show deconstructs the cow of the week, and the children move past it.
Absurd reductionism and argument to the middle is South Park in a nutshell.
It is true that South Park does advocate for free speech. They do this not only in the content of the show, but also in the meta, pushing the limits of what would be allowed to be shown on television even further than their predecessors.
But I don't think they advocate for the middle. It is true they kill all the sacred cows, but they don't explicitly advocate for the middle, which is a sacred cow in itself. It just creates an illusion of supporting the middle when all you do is tear everything else down.
Also, while they do have aspect of libertarianism, especially in the free speech department, anyone who has seen every episode will know they have no love lost for Libertarians. e.g: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chickenlover
But I don't think they advocate for the middle. It is true they kill all the sacred cows, but they don't explicitly advocate for the middle, which is a sacred cow in itself. It just creates an illusion of supporting the middle when all you do is tear everything else down.
True, it may not be intentional express advocacy for the middle, but it's the result of absurd reduction of two conflicting positions (which is a pretty typical setup for the show). It's sort of like creating opposing strawman arguments and then claiming to be superior because you burned both down. They'll make social commentary by creating parodies of issues and then lampooning the interaction of their parodies, but sometimes oversimplify to the point of misrepresentation in the process.
There are people who actually do this and think it's a hallmark of highbrow intellectual consideration. Consider people in political discussions who say "both sides are exactly the same" by creating false equivalence and then tell you to go vote for Ron Paul Bernie Sanders.
Which is not to say South Park has no merit or does not make good points. They totally do, but their approach sometimes yields "off" results.
They don't take sides, they just create caricatures of trends.
This really isn't true. They may not take an express stance on most topics (though I will point out that they took a stance on censorship via the Muhammed episodes), but the show has a pretty consistent theme that drives at a stance like "the truth is in the middle." At its best, it does a good job of exploring an issue, and at its worst, it becomes absurd reductionism.
But the show can absolutely be characterized as having a stance. There is a pretty predictable way in which their parodies take shape, and the message that emerges is fairly well-conserved.
South Park expresses a generally libertarian sentiment that advocates for the primacy of free speech and denounces any stance that involves strongly-held beliefs. It's a show about slaughtering sacred cows, basically. The implication is that said cows impede actual interaction and livelihood, as the children are constantly impeded by bullshit that's in their way. The show deconstructs the cow of the week, and the children move past it.
Absurd reductionism and argument to the middle is South Park in a nutshell.
I agree with everything you said but, and I suppose this is me speaking personally, that middle stance they take I view as being both in the middle and detached from the argument as well. I think being in the middle would mean that they'd be trying to produce the pros and cons and say both sides have some merit but are absurd, which does occasionally happen. But more often than not I think they're just saying from a detached perspective "do you see how absurd this all is?" I don't really ever see them promoting a stance in the middle, but if you have to map them to some sort of line then that's just where it falls.
Again, this is something that all comedians do, just in varying degrees. Take for instance Chappelle's Show. It's another example (although more focused on race) of pointing out the idiosyncrasies of all people. It's not directly comparable due to the subject matter but again it sort of sits in the middle and views from a third perspective.
The way I feel basically non-stop when watching any South Park episode is that one XKCD panel.
I also just don't find it funny. It might just be an age thing. I was starting 7th grade at the peak of South Park's popularity, whereas you guys were all already in high school and stuff when it started. It might just be kinda juvenile to you, but to me, South Park feels exactly like middle school crossed with one of those "I might get downvoted, but..." reddit comments. Bleh. No thanks.
Comments
https://news.artnet.com/people/south-park-fans-flood-open-call-homoerotic-art-352694
godammit...pahahaa
Jimmy became my hero.
It's not that I begrudge anybody for liking the show, or overlooking some of its flaws and simply enjoying the sometimes topical and often juvenile humor. But I think I've had enough of the show and can't see myself ever going back.
When you make a social commentary of any kind, there is an assumption that you are taking a side. That's just how the dialogue in our country works. To make it worse, it often comes with a false dichotomy, so you have to pick just one of two sides.
With this mentality, it seems impossible that someone could make a social commentary without taking a side. If I say Republicans suck, am I not therefore also saying that Democrats are good?
What South Park does is exactly that. They shit on everyone and everything as hard as they possibly can. Often the shit is literal. It's appropriate that they are on Comedy Central, since it's much the same thing that stand-up comedians classically do. They find truth that we all know, but dare not say. They they expose and exaggerate it as much as humanly possible.
In shitting on everything, they take a stand for nothing. It doesn't say anything positive about anyone. It focuses only on the negative. Whether they are attacking Chipotle, MMORPGs, or Canada, they only show the worst aspects of those things. But being anti-Chipotle doesn't imply being pro-Taco Bell. They would tear Taco Bell a new asshole too, if they wanted to.
Also, South Park, much like GeekNights, is old. This is their 19th season. I empathize with them in that they have a hard time coming up with ideas and get episodes done at the last second. It's no accident that they created the concept of crab people, and we have borrowed it from them.
It's no surprise that not long into their run, they resorted to making every episode about current events. When you've got no ideas, just go after what's hot now. It's the easy road, and you just have to execute well. Having to practice and perform a song that writes itself once a week is a lot easier than having to compose a brand new hit from scratch. GeekNights would be so much easier if we just had the news bit, and skipped the main bit.
That means that nowadays, out of necessity, every episode of South Park consists of them shitting all over the current hot topic in our society. Just because they are shitting on whatever is new, special, different, or current, that doesn't imply that they support of the old, comfortable, or status quo. They just don't discuss it.
Why don't they? Because they already did. This shit is 19 years old. In just the very first season they already burned down everything from Barabara Streisand to Christmas. Also, The Simpsons did it. There is nothing left for them but the now.
The existence of Wendy alone is a direct contradiction of everything the person who wrote that tweet accuses the show of being. She is portrayed as one of the only students who is actually intelligent, mature, and has her shit together. She is also the exact opposite of apathetic libertarian. She truly gives a shit. Sometimes they show her giving too much of a shit, but they also use her to put the horrible apathy of others into stark contrast.
Yes, if you watch current South Park it seems as if that tweet is true. By tearing down all that is new, you can be accused of supporting the comfortable status quo. But if you've seen all of South Park, like I have, you know that's not true. They don't attack comfort, because they already killed it when I was still in high school. They burned all of human society to the ground repeatedly. No one is safe anywhere. There's no positive support for anyone or anything. Just a hose that spews every conceivable human and animal excrement at whatever stands up tallest this week.
The one negative thing I have to say about South Park is something I only realized when I saw that YouTube video where Korean people reacted to watching it. South Park is 100% made in USA for USA. It can't be exported, and it's not timeless. Much like a town newspaper, it can be really good if you read it when it's new, and you live in that town. That happens to be me, so I watch it.
But great art is without time or geographic boundaries. Mozart is Mozart no matter where you are from or what year it is. And South Park is not that.
Yes, Wendy is portrayed as an intelligent and involved character, and then the show turns around to exploit that and portray feminism as vapid bullshit that goes right out the window when personal experience is involved or it becomes inconvenient, or simply is irrelevant because nobody except feminists give a shit about feminism.
--------------------------
You are correct in saying South Park is "Just a hose that spews every conceivable human and animal excrement at whatever stands up tallest this week". I, and the tweet/reddit post I linked, are in total agreement here. It is a very cynical show that way. The same way that teenagers are cynical assholes who think they know shit and all the adults are just idiots blinded to the world by their own petty concerns. Eventually, hopefully, these teenagers grow up. South Park never has.
I call bullshit to that tweet saying South Park is promoting an apathetic-liberitarian mindsets. Hell, Cartman is the PERFECT piece of shit character who would abuse the PC mindset to avoid responsibilities and real life criticism. That was the beauty of the last episode in the subtle ways of bigotry you can show towards minorities even with the best of intentions as PC Principal is trying to do. This isn't them attacking "SJWs" as many casual fans are complaining about, it's the pointing out the laws of other forms of danger in trying to silence/ignore these new problems. (Like gentrification or police brutality)
But the show can absolutely be characterized as having a stance. There is a pretty predictable way in which their parodies take shape, and the message that emerges is fairly well-conserved.
South Park expresses a generally libertarian sentiment that advocates for the primacy of free speech and denounces any stance that involves strongly-held beliefs. It's a show about slaughtering sacred cows, basically. The implication is that said cows impede actual interaction and livelihood, as the children are constantly impeded by bullshit that's in their way. The show deconstructs the cow of the week, and the children move past it.
Absurd reductionism and argument to the middle is South Park in a nutshell.
But I don't think they advocate for the middle. It is true they kill all the sacred cows, but they don't explicitly advocate for the middle, which is a sacred cow in itself. It just creates an illusion of supporting the middle when all you do is tear everything else down.
Also, while they do have aspect of libertarianism, especially in the free speech department, anyone who has seen every episode will know they have no love lost for Libertarians. e.g: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chickenlover
There are people who actually do this and think it's a hallmark of highbrow intellectual consideration. Consider people in political discussions who say "both sides are exactly the same" by creating false equivalence and then tell you to go vote for Ron Paul Bernie Sanders.
Which is not to say South Park has no merit or does not make good points. They totally do, but their approach sometimes yields "off" results.
Again, this is something that all comedians do, just in varying degrees. Take for instance Chappelle's Show. It's another example (although more focused on race) of pointing out the idiosyncrasies of all people. It's not directly comparable due to the subject matter but again it sort of sits in the middle and views from a third perspective.
I also just don't find it funny. It might just be an age thing. I was starting 7th grade at the peak of South Park's popularity, whereas you guys were all already in high school and stuff when it started. It might just be kinda juvenile to you, but to me, South Park feels exactly like middle school crossed with one of those "I might get downvoted, but..." reddit comments. Bleh. No thanks.