South Park has come a long way since I first watched it in 97. My older brother always watched it, so I was stuck to watch it (thank god). It was amazingly awesome when I was a lad, never seen any comedy. I didn’t really get that it was exactly dark comedy at first or anything like that, I was about 10. The things that really grabbed me was the vulgarity of the little kids and the absurdness of it such as when the aliens stole Kyle’s little brother, Ike, in the first episode:
Kyle: Dude, I have to save Ike! I don’t even know what to do!
Stan: Well, we can’t do anything now; that fat bitch won’t let us!
Ms. Crabtree: WHAT DID YOU SAY?!?
Stan: I said that rabbits eat lettuce.
Ms. Crabtree: Oh. Well, yes, the certainly do.
Classic South Park… I can remember my dad yelling at me and brother, ignorantly calling it South Fork for some reason, and nagging us on how this cartoon is rotting our brains.
South Park has come a long way, and I have nearly watched every episode… (a little sad, but I regret nothing about it). Over the years I have notice and appreciated there clever use of pop-culture parody, there extreme satire, and there continued use of toilet humor.
The thing about South Park and other cartoons, such as The Simpson’s, is that the characters are grade school kids. This is an interesting approach because usually, you would never hear or see kids go through such language or situations as the kids on South Park do. It’s funny to see these kids go through adult type situations and there responses to it. Making the main characters kids really puts a different aspect to the cartoon that you won’t see in others. These kids go through the absurd world of South Park and turn out to be more mature than the adults. This is an effective tool for dark comedy as it’s easier to laugh when a child does something wrong/right. Such as in the South Park 69th episode, Scott Tenorman Must Die, Cartman cuts the bodies of a bully kid’s parents, Scott, and tricks him into eating his parents that was diabolically put in chili. Also Cartman planed that Scott’s favorite band, Radiohead, come laugh at him while he is crying over his dead parents (which in real life, Radiohead wouldn’t do). The fact that Cartman is just a 10 year old really put the humor in this. It’s so evil and clever that no one would suspect that a child could be capable of such a malevolent act.
South Park has uses dark humor to show how absurd the world and various individuals are. I’m not sure if this is on purpose, but I believe the children are there to show generation comparison. It really makes me ask myself, what would the next generation think of me watching some lame reality show or me being tolerant to fat people but not smokers? How can I explain porn with 8 people and two of them are midgets? I dread the day, if there ever is, if they ever decide to make children news reporters about serious subjects because I bet there would be many answers that I just couldn’t answer to a kid.
Kyle: Dude, I have to save Ike! I don’t even know what to do!
Stan: Well, we can’t do anything now; that fat bitch won’t let us!
Ms. Crabtree: WHAT DID YOU SAY?!?
Stan: I said that rabbits eat lettuce.
Ms. Crabtree: Oh. Well, yes, the certainly do.
Classic South Park… I can remember my dad yelling at me and brother, ignorantly calling it South Fork for some reason, and nagging us on how this cartoon is rotting our brains.
South Park has come a long way, and I have nearly watched every episode… (a little sad, but I regret nothing about it). Over the years I have notice and appreciated there clever use of pop-culture parody, there extreme satire, and there continued use of toilet humor.
The thing about South Park and other cartoons, such as The Simpson’s, is that the characters are grade school kids. This is an interesting approach because usually, you would never hear or see kids go through such language or situations as the kids on South Park do. It’s funny to see these kids go through adult type situations and there responses to it. Making the main characters kids really puts a different aspect to the cartoon that you won’t see in others. These kids go through the absurd world of South Park and turn out to be more mature than the adults. This is an effective tool for dark comedy as it’s easier to laugh when a child does something wrong/right. Such as in the South Park 69th episode, Scott Tenorman Must Die, Cartman cuts the bodies of a bully kid’s parents, Scott, and tricks him into eating his parents that was diabolically put in chili. Also Cartman planed that Scott’s favorite band, Radiohead, come laugh at him while he is crying over his dead parents (which in real life, Radiohead wouldn’t do). The fact that Cartman is just a 10 year old really put the humor in this. It’s so evil and clever that no one would suspect that a child could be capable of such a malevolent act.
South Park has uses dark humor to show how absurd the world and various individuals are. I’m not sure if this is on purpose, but I believe the children are there to show generation comparison. It really makes me ask myself, what would the next generation think of me watching some lame reality show or me being tolerant to fat people but not smokers? How can I explain porn with 8 people and two of them are midgets? I dread the day, if there ever is, if they ever decide to make children news reporters about serious subjects because I bet there would be many answers that I just couldn’t answer to a kid.
1 comment:
Simpsons, South Park, Beavis and Butthead--all are cartoons that have caught flack because of their representation of children or teens. Adults have been bitching and moaning about these shows for years. I remember back when Beavis and Butthead was on--parents were blaming the show for their children's misbehaving. Again, bad parents will look to blame anyone but themselves when it comes to their children's bad behavior.
Why do these cartoons use children (or teens) to tell their stories? Maybe it's because cartoons are traditionally thought of as things for children to watch. Again, it's subversive in getting those messages (politics, religion, sexuality) out there to a younger audience.
Post a Comment