Tonight was the premiere of South Park's 15th season. Having just finished watching the episode, I can tell you the show has not lost it's signature over the top satirical edge that made it famous. Not too spoil too much, but tonight the show took a shot at the nation's obsession with Apple products, and the fact no one ever bothers to read the users agreements before clicking 'agree', while using heavy references to the cult films Human Centipede and the Highlander franchise to do so.
The popular show, which has been around since the late nineties, has been both a source of laughter and horror from those who watch it, and it has sparked it's fair share of controversy over the years. Yet if one thing has never changed, it's that show creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have never held back in their shots at everything ranging from politics and pop culture to day to day life.
For those who have never seen the show, or perhaps have ignored it in light of criticism or the shows reputation, South Park follows a four boys in South Park, Colorado: Stan, the 'straight man' of the bunch; Kyle, the smart one of the bunch; Kenny, the cosmopolitan and constantly killed kid constantly muffled by his parka; and Cartman, an ill tempered, foul mouthed and overweight bigot who makes previous TV bad boys like Bart Simpson seem tame in comparison. The four boys typically will get involved in some sort of zany adventure that lampoons a topic or current event, and you can expect it to be laced with as much crude language, surrealism, satire, and dark humor as possible. Despite having received criticism from various sources, the show has remained popular over the years, and aside from The Daily Show, is the longest running show on Comedy Central - no small feat when it seems few shows on the network survive the first season.
Surprisingly, the show has already had quite a notable influence, and not merely on pop culture as you might expect. Several authors and scholars have written entire books detailing the shows use and impact on philosophy and politics. Politically, the shows portrayal of issues by applying pure common sense has become known as South Park Conservatism, or perhaps more accurately, South Park Libertarianism, and it has influenced many people. The Chewbacca defense, a rambling legal defense used to distract the jury, used by the shows version of Johnny Cochran, is being taught to and used by lawyers as a viable tactic. The way the show takes issues and turns them into humorous and approachable topics has helped make many of those topics more accessible, and it's style of no-holds barred yet surprisingly logical satire has influenced many people's writing styles, myself included.
As a whole, the show remains every bit as smart, poignant, and yes, as shocking as when it first came out, and in my own opinion, we would do well to have more shows like it. South Park, despite all it's flaws and criticisms, is a sterling example of both unbridled free speech and witty satire, both exceedingly rare in the media these days.
The popular show, which has been around since the late nineties, has been both a source of laughter and horror from those who watch it, and it has sparked it's fair share of controversy over the years. Yet if one thing has never changed, it's that show creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have never held back in their shots at everything ranging from politics and pop culture to day to day life.
For those who have never seen the show, or perhaps have ignored it in light of criticism or the shows reputation, South Park follows a four boys in South Park, Colorado: Stan, the 'straight man' of the bunch; Kyle, the smart one of the bunch; Kenny, the cosmopolitan and constantly killed kid constantly muffled by his parka; and Cartman, an ill tempered, foul mouthed and overweight bigot who makes previous TV bad boys like Bart Simpson seem tame in comparison. The four boys typically will get involved in some sort of zany adventure that lampoons a topic or current event, and you can expect it to be laced with as much crude language, surrealism, satire, and dark humor as possible. Despite having received criticism from various sources, the show has remained popular over the years, and aside from The Daily Show, is the longest running show on Comedy Central - no small feat when it seems few shows on the network survive the first season.
Surprisingly, the show has already had quite a notable influence, and not merely on pop culture as you might expect. Several authors and scholars have written entire books detailing the shows use and impact on philosophy and politics. Politically, the shows portrayal of issues by applying pure common sense has become known as South Park Conservatism, or perhaps more accurately, South Park Libertarianism, and it has influenced many people. The Chewbacca defense, a rambling legal defense used to distract the jury, used by the shows version of Johnny Cochran, is being taught to and used by lawyers as a viable tactic. The way the show takes issues and turns them into humorous and approachable topics has helped make many of those topics more accessible, and it's style of no-holds barred yet surprisingly logical satire has influenced many people's writing styles, myself included.
As a whole, the show remains every bit as smart, poignant, and yes, as shocking as when it first came out, and in my own opinion, we would do well to have more shows like it. South Park, despite all it's flaws and criticisms, is a sterling example of both unbridled free speech and witty satire, both exceedingly rare in the media these days.
Nothing on it being banned in Russia? You're slacking Korsgaard!
ReplyDeletei was tolkd the ban had since been lifted
ReplyDeleteeh, maybe it has but it was still a thing worth mentioning
ReplyDeleteScrew you guys im going home :D (South Park-win xD)
ReplyDelete