South Park: bigger, wronger, and unhelpful
January 3rd 2010 00:01
Remember the discussion a few years ago about ”South Park Republicans?” Notice how it completely disappeared without further discussion, right when the Republican Party is considered to be needing a new direction and image?
Part of it is just alignment incompatibility between the mainstream media on the one hand and Trey Parker and Matt Stone on the other. There seemed to be some hope that the new face of the Republican Party would be overall less conservative, a sort of “Democratic Party Lite;” hence the initial interest in South Park’s support for gay rights. But their interest cooled as other episodes lampooning Democrats were released, and some of their other opinions are either conservative or downright illiberal. (Ever see the one where Stan’s parents get divorced? Even James Dobson would probably say they could stand to be a little less militant about it.)
But it goes a lot deeper than that. After reviewing a few of the more politically-charged episodes, I am not sure that Parker and Stone actually have anything the rest of us could use as a coherent philosophy. They remind me more of the types of people who’ll visit a site dedicated to strategy games or Magic: the Gathering but only post in the off-topic section: whenever an issue comes up that catches their attention, they rush into the relevant topic, shout their opinion (whatever comes to mind about the issue), and then forget about it until the next one.
There is a thread of socially-conscious modern entertainment running from Katharine Hepburn in Adam’s Rib through the 1970s’ Green Lantern/Green Arrow crossover comics to the quintessentially 21st-century sitcom American Dad! They can even be interesting if you don’t personally agree with the conclusion the makers reach, as long as the issues are presented in a reasonable way and the stories are well-crafted and engaging. South Park is not part of that thread. The parents are all stupid and the children are all smart, and everyone is as two-dimensional as the animation. A reviewer once described Frank Miller’s female characters as either “corpses or whores;” Parker and Stone go the smallest step beyond and add shrews to their list of archetypes. Analysis of issues is limited to set-piece lectures by Stan or Kyle (who I can only conclude are self-inserts of the creators) who face the camera and relay opinions without rebuttal or counter-argument.
And those opinions are often downright shallow. Parker and Stone are not in favor of the war in Afghanistan because they’ve weighed the threat from Islamic fundamentalism against the available strategic options; they’re for it because, to quote the episode “Osama bin Laden has Farty Pants,” “If you don’t wanna cheer for the home team, get the hell out of the stadium.” They’re not against abortion because of their consideration of the bioethics; they’re against it because, to quote “Eek! A Penis,” it’s “cheating.” (Do you think we can gain any insight into their writing process from their chosen episode names?)
I’m not saying you shouldn’t watch South Park, or that you shouldn’t enjoy it. But I wouldn’t advise trying to learn anything from it. Parker and Stone have done quite well with their cartoon, but if they can’t refrain from putting their own half-baked opinions into their (eight-year-old) characters’ mouths, maybe they should stick to the off-topic forum.
Part of it is just alignment incompatibility between the mainstream media on the one hand and Trey Parker and Matt Stone on the other. There seemed to be some hope that the new face of the Republican Party would be overall less conservative, a sort of “Democratic Party Lite;” hence the initial interest in South Park’s support for gay rights. But their interest cooled as other episodes lampooning Democrats were released, and some of their other opinions are either conservative or downright illiberal. (Ever see the one where Stan’s parents get divorced? Even James Dobson would probably say they could stand to be a little less militant about it.)
But it goes a lot deeper than that. After reviewing a few of the more politically-charged episodes, I am not sure that Parker and Stone actually have anything the rest of us could use as a coherent philosophy. They remind me more of the types of people who’ll visit a site dedicated to strategy games or Magic: the Gathering but only post in the off-topic section: whenever an issue comes up that catches their attention, they rush into the relevant topic, shout their opinion (whatever comes to mind about the issue), and then forget about it until the next one.
There is a thread of socially-conscious modern entertainment running from Katharine Hepburn in Adam’s Rib through the 1970s’ Green Lantern/Green Arrow crossover comics to the quintessentially 21st-century sitcom American Dad! They can even be interesting if you don’t personally agree with the conclusion the makers reach, as long as the issues are presented in a reasonable way and the stories are well-crafted and engaging. South Park is not part of that thread. The parents are all stupid and the children are all smart, and everyone is as two-dimensional as the animation. A reviewer once described Frank Miller’s female characters as either “corpses or whores;” Parker and Stone go the smallest step beyond and add shrews to their list of archetypes. Analysis of issues is limited to set-piece lectures by Stan or Kyle (who I can only conclude are self-inserts of the creators) who face the camera and relay opinions without rebuttal or counter-argument.
And those opinions are often downright shallow. Parker and Stone are not in favor of the war in Afghanistan because they’ve weighed the threat from Islamic fundamentalism against the available strategic options; they’re for it because, to quote the episode “Osama bin Laden has Farty Pants,” “If you don’t wanna cheer for the home team, get the hell out of the stadium.” They’re not against abortion because of their consideration of the bioethics; they’re against it because, to quote “Eek! A Penis,” it’s “cheating.” (Do you think we can gain any insight into their writing process from their chosen episode names?)
I’m not saying you shouldn’t watch South Park, or that you shouldn’t enjoy it. But I wouldn’t advise trying to learn anything from it. Parker and Stone have done quite well with their cartoon, but if they can’t refrain from putting their own half-baked opinions into their (eight-year-old) characters’ mouths, maybe they should stick to the off-topic forum.
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