It’s hard to believe it’s been 28 years since South Park first aired on Comedy Central. Maybe it was the fact the network wasn’t as well respected and the creators (Trey Parker and Matt Stone) themselves felt the show would be canceled quickly, they were able to get away with so much at first.
Like King of the Hill, the show seemed to take a basic satire of the socio-political spectrum of the late 1990s. It was easy to make fun of Bill Clinton, Bob Dole or Newt Gingrich and have both sides laugh as the jokes were no different than what you would see on the late-night talk shows.
Yet, I’d argue that South Park suffered a huge problem following the Sept. 11 attacks and as America fell into two wars during the George W. Bush Administration. Of course, Parker and Stone would vehemently say to anyone who is listening that they don’t like Democrats but they don’t like Republicans either.
However, it’s been my observations that most people who say this do have more conservative right-leaning beliefs and ideology. They’ve made a fortune just on the licensing along of South Park memorabilia and items. They even joked earlier in the show’s run that was their goal to “sell out” as much as they could. Not everyone can be Bill Waterston refusing to jeopardize their art and work. I mean, Jim Davis just turned 80 and he’s spent decades getting as rich as possible off Garfield which was his intention.
But has anyone really though the show was supposed to be taken seriously? Part of the humor in the first few seasons was how gullible and young the kids were. This is what made Eric Cartman (voiced by Parker) should a likeable character. He was basically like a young Archie Bunker but at the same time he was so ignorant of what he was really saying.
On one level, you could look at it as a subtle way Parker and Stone were showing how all bigotry and prejudices are the products of those who live in their own bubbles. And this was also extended toward the more liberal left-leaning people. They were correct. Some people just love to jump on whatever popular bandwagon is out there and others just live to be total antagonistic toward anything popular. The kids of South Park (Stan Marsh, Cartman, Kyle Broflovski, Kenny McCormick, Butters Stotch and others) were all latchkey kids who parents didn’t seem to notice them unless they did something bad.
For a while, the show was outrageous in its criticism of politics and society. The “Trapper Keeper” episode that parodied Bush v. Gore and the 2000 election along with a wonderful send-up of Akira is one of the show’s highlights. Then, it’s criticism of Family Guy as having the writers be manatees who push balls with words written on them into a separate tank where the jokes are made is a savage criticism.
Even in their big-budget feature South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut, they did a burn on the mentality that TV shows and movies lead to bad behavior in children. This came less than three months after the Columbine Massacre where fingers were being pointed as rap music and Marilyn Manson. Stone, himself, is an alum of the school. Later in Team America: World Police, they targeted celebrities who take on causes that they’re not serious about but just to get attention. At the same time, they were mocking the notion that America felt it was doing more good by creating war zones in other countries.
Like George Carlin, Richard Pryor and early Sam Kinison, they were punching up, mocking a system of self-indulgent narcissistic rich and elite people who only care about themselves and no one else. But they weren’t always trying to be topical. Sometimes they would just have fun with an episode the way The X-Files would throw in a monster episode showing it didn’t always have to be about government conspiracies.
But by the beginning of the 2010s, the show seemed to be going off the rails a little. Some people online began to suspect that Parker and Stone were looking to move away permanently from South Park. They had a hit on Broadway with The Book of Mormon after teaming with songwriter and playwright Robert Lopez. It’s currently the longest running Broadway show and won several Tony awards.
The show started doing more serial episodes that lack some of the charm of the earlier episodes. Also, they took on more way too topical subjects. It seemed there was a whole season dedicated to sponsored content which was a foreboding topic of news content you’d find online. But seriously, sponsored content?
But the worst part I think was how the show went from being about the SP kids to mostly focusing on Randy Marsh in one way or another. Randy is the father of Stan and he’s self-centered in his own way while thinking he is doing the right thing for everyone. He’s also the show’s most uninteresting character because he is just too outrageous.
It’s ironic they went after Family Guy and famously coined the phrase “Simpsons Did It” only to turn Randy into a Homer Simpson/Peter Griffin hybrid with an R-rated ode to Fred Flintstone. And just like Family Guy, they turned Kyle (voiced by Stone) who used to be the voice of reason in the show into a jerk the same way with Brian Griffin. Now, Kyler mostly remains like a glorified recurring character, which is the same as Stan.
The killed off Kenny for good…for a while, only to bring him back. Now, he seems more like an extra. True, most series shift their focus on characters from time to time but it seems as they got older, Parker and Stone couldn’t write for young kids anymore. And I can understand that.
But by 2016, they seemed to be mocking what was in the news, if it was athletes kneeling or not knot kneeling or how everyone was obsessed with nostalgia pop culture. You could sense they just didn’t care anymore. Yet, their softball kid gloves treatment to Donald Trump was a disappointment. Maybe they were being forced by higher-ups. But I think the true reason was Parker and Stone really didn’t think Trump would ever win.
But he did, twice. Now for the first time in over 10 years, they have showed they don’t bend the knee to anyone. The season 26 opener which aired on July 23 not only stuck it to the current president, but his followers and all the corporate lackies willingly to give an inch to him. At one time portrayed as Mr. Garrison, he’s know portrayed like Saddam Hussein was with several uses of his actual photos and a high-squeaky voice.
The president seems to be sue-happy threatening to sue anyone who he doesn’t agree with. There’s also a picture of him humping a sheep using the stupid fist-bump photo from that “assassination attempt.” He’s also involved in a sexual relationship with Satan just like Hussein was in the movie. There are many jokes about how his penis is small.
What’s funny is the episode aired after Parker and Stone cut a deal for $1.5 billion for five more seasons and to have all episodes streaming on Paramount-Plus. They’ve been streaming on HBO Max. However, I’m wondering if those that reference Prophet Mohammad will be on Paramount-Plus. This came after much scrutiny against CBS News and 60 Minutes for settling a lawsuit with Trump that is frivolous and many suspect was done as a way to grease the wheels on an upcoming merger between Paramount Global and Skydance Media.
And Parker and Stone know that if the powers that be try to break this contract, they could be sued. It’s a hilarious chess game to catch someone trying censor them. Also, the episode sends a huge “fuck you” to those on the right and those who cater to those on the right. They gave it to Trump more in 10 minutes than they did in the last 10 years.
There’s also an AI-generated PSA that shows a morbidly obese Trump running through the desert only to take his clothes off to where his little penis talks to him encouraging him to carry on. It’s angered him which is no surprise. Like all bullies, Mango Mussolini can’t stand it when someone is mean to him. Yet he continues to spread lies and incite violence.
While I don’t doubt he’ll try to sue Parker and Stone, I know it’s all just smoke screens as his own base is turning against him over his refusal to release the Epstein Files. Regardless of who is on the list, if they sexually assaulted children, they deserve to have their names exposed. The thing is people on the left and liberals don’t care whose name is in there as long as they’re prosecuted and adjudicated.
I’ll never understand why so many people who will never be allowed the scraps of what the rich and elite enjoy have supported him so much. Most of it is anger, hatred and racism. People are angry about undocumented immigrants taking their jobs don’t realize that they’ll work 10-12 hours in the hot weather for a smaller wage and even enjoy a nice game of soccer during their lunch break. At the same time, some MAGA loser goes through a pack of Marlboros a day and smokes at least two-thirds of them during breaks on the company’s dime.
It seemed for the past few seasons, Parker and Stone really went hard on the whole “woke” culture themselves mocking the fact that there’s too many women in movies now and that men are trying to compete in women sports saying their transgender. And yes, I know defenders will say they’re making fun of the people who are complaining. But I wouldn’t doubt that they, themselves, don’t like it transgendered athletes or that non-white women are in movies.
Like I said, they could’ve gone harder on Trump over the years but they chose not to. Instead they made fun of Caitlyn Jenner’s appearance which I think should tell you where they stand. There’s so many more things to parody Jenner over. But you can tell they lost their touch only producing episodes that were contract obligations.
I’ll admit, I stop watching the show as much as I had, catching an episode here and there. I didn’t feel it was that good anymore. And then, they went all #CancelSouthPark which too me seemed like a comedian blaming the audience for not getting his jokes. But for a while it seemed South Park may be on the out. Like a lot of entertainment mediums, production was halted completely for months during the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020 and 2021.
South Park Studios had also entered a contract with Warner Bros. for streaming rights of old shows on its platform in 2019. At the time, CBS All Access wasn’t big until it was rebranded Paramount-Plus in 2021 and improved as did HBO Max. During this time, South Park Studios only made specials which would drop sporadically on Paramount. This led to a lawsuit between the South Park Studios and the two platforms which along with the WGA/SAG-AFTRA strikes of 2023 delayed the start of the current season.
While I don’t blame Parker and Stone for Trumpism, they could have played better hardball the first time. I mean in 2010, they angered the entire Islamic religion by implying that the Prophet Mohammad was hiding in a silly sports mascot bear costume. He wasn’t. But just the implication angered a lot of people obviously proving what they had intended that people take their religion too seriously and assume too much.
We need some more of that hardball now as ICE is acting like a Gestapo unit and the Trump Administration is spreading lies about anyone who doesn’t agree with them hoping the followers will retaliate with violence. Then, there all the issues over the Epstein Files and how the Russian/Ukraine War as well as the killings of both Israeli and Palestinians.
Now is not to time to appease someone who will be long gone when people are still watching South Park in reruns. Parker and Stone have pissed off Christians, Scientologist, Muslims, blacks, whites, liberals and conservatives and everyone in between.
Don’t give this motherfucker the satisfaction.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 