*SPOILER ALLERT*
Is South Park the messiah of public discourse? Can it still be a messiah if it makes metaphorical sins in the form of tastelessness and judgment errors?
South Park’s fourteenth season began with a bang. The season’s premier episode, “Sexual Healing,” has garnered extensive media attention for the episode’s central plot: a parody of Tiger Woods’ many recent scandals. The parody is presented through the use of a Tiger Woods golf video game.
It’s not just any virtual golf game, however. Shamed wife Elins is the second character who appears to wildly swing a golf club at Tiger, both as Tiger swings at a tee-off and as he walks out the door to his fateful Thanksgiving car accident. The game essentially depicts a battered husband and an abusive wife, a controversial perspective on the scandal that has been widely perceived as having no grey area regarding right and wrong.
While this perspective is significant, it pales in comparison to the central message of the episode: as stated by a SWAT team member [in the raid of Independence Hall to find the ‘wizard alien’ causing the sex addiction problems in 99 % of high school boys (who else comes up with such inspired themes?)],
“Hang on guys. I mean, come on, this is getting a little ridiculous. Wizard aliens? We all know what’s going on here, don’t we? Whenever a story breaks about some rich famous guy going around and having sex with tons of girls, we all wanna act like we don’t understand it, but we do. We’re guys, you know? Our brains are wired to strive to be the alpha male and get all the women we can. I mean, look where we are. Even, even Benjamin Franklin screwed everything that moved. Because he could. We don’t have to condone what these rich, famous people do, but… we can at least admit that, given the same temptations and opportunities that somebody like Tiger Woods has, a lot of us guys might do somethin’ similar.”
The SWAT member is then taken away by the rest of the SWAT team, on orders from the President.
Could it be that South Park is the only program distributed via mass media that is making the American public consider the right questions?
This statement just sounds wrong. South Park is known for its vulgar, grotesque and satirical reincarnation of events in popular culture for entertainment and comedic value. Case in point: the season’s second episode, “The Tale of Scrotie McBoogerballs.” The episode’s central parody is of society’s tendency to “read into things that aren’t there,” demonstrated by the creation of the most foul book ever written being hailed as a modern literary masterpiece (Butters as the next Salinger).
(Stan: “God damn it! There is no deeper meaning in this book! … Will you people stop reading into stuffthat ISN’T THERE!”)
While I take no issue with this message, the completely unnecessary illustration of almost every character on the show repeatedly throwing up chunks of their most recent meals detracts from the aforementioned more significant theme.
So what do you think? Can a messiah sin?
I'm not a huge fan of South Park. Although I am a huge fan of the Gingervitis Show and a few others, I don't really like the humor that goes on with these types of shows.
ReplyDeleteI get the whole point of the show,which is to give a message about American society, but I think the execution of the message just turns me off.
I don't particularly enjoy the program but I think it does a good job of satire. The writers actually put a lot on the line-- they were recently seriously threatened by a terrorist organization for portraying Islam on the show in an obviously facetious manner. The writers actually care about getting their message across, as they have still aired the program, and it's just a creative expression of doing so. If it works for some people I think its fine. It's a very self selecting program.
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