South Park

South Park
File:SouthParkHD.png
Created by	Trey Parker Matt Stone
Voices of	Trey Parker Matt Stone Isaac Hayes (1997–2006) Mary Kay Bergman (1997–1999) Eliza Schneider (2000–2003) Mona Marshall April Stewart John Hansen Jennifer Howell Adrien Beard
Opening theme	"South Park Theme" by Primus/ Colonel Les Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	11
No. of episodes	160 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Trey Parker Matt Stone
Running time	22 min
Original release
Network	Comedy Central
Release	August 13, 1997 – Present

For other uses, see South Park (disambiguation).

South Park is an American animated television comedy series about four third/fourth-grade school boys who live in the small, backward mountain town of South Park, Colorado. The series was created and is written by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and has been distributed and aired by Comedy Central since 1997. It is well-known for its handling of current events and its pop-culture parody.

One more season is planned, with an option for renewal at the end of Season 12. In recent years, each season has been aired in two halves, in spring and in autumn. The eleventh season began airing on March 7, 2007. The first half of the eleventh season ended on April 18, 2007. It is scheduled to begin again on Wednesday, October 3, 2007.

Origins

South Park began in 1992 when Trey Parker and Matt Stone, at the time students at the University of Colorado, met in a film class and created an animated short called Jesus vs. Frosty. The crudely made film featured prototypes of the main characters of South Park, including a character resembling Cartman, but referred to as "Kenny", an unnamed character resembling Kenny, and two near-identical unnamed characters who resembled Stan and Kyle. These four bring a murderous snowman to life with a magic hat.

In 1995, FOX executive Brian Graden saw the film, and commissioned Parker and Stone to create a second short film that he could send to his friends as a video Christmas card. Titled Jesus vs. Santa, it resembled the style of the later series more closely, and featured a martial arts duel and subsequent truce between Jesus and Santa Claus over the true meaning of Christmas. This video was later featured in the episode "A Very Crappy Christmas" in which Stan, Kyle, Cartman, Kenny and Mr. Hankey "save" Christmas for the town. The video was popular and was widely shared, both by duplication and over the Internet. This led to talks to create a series, first with FOX, then with Comedy Central, where the series debuted on August 13, 1997. During the first four seasons of South Park, a clip of the short can be seen in the opening sequence within an old television and a billboard.

History

South Park's early episodes tended to be shock value-oriented and featured more Pythonesque humor than later episodes. Although satire had been used on the show occasionally in its early and middle years, it became more evident around the eighth season. Episodes have parodied Michael Jackson (in "The Jeffersons"), Paris Hilton ("Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset"), The Passion of the Christ (in "The Passion of the Jew"), and American immigration policy ("Goobacks").

The pilot episode ("Cartman Gets an Anal Probe") required three months to produce using construction paper and traditional cut-out animation techniques. However the version that aired was different from the original version. Current episodes duplicate the original, amateurish look using modern computer animation tools — first PowerAnimator and then Maya, which Parker and Stone described as "building a sandcastle with a bulldozer". This allows for a shorter production schedule, enabling the creators to respond quickly to current events. The December 17, 2003 episode "It's Christmas in Canada" depicted the capture of Saddam Hussein a mere three days after the actual event, even referring to the "spider hole" in which he was found. In this instance - as with the Elián González episode ("Quintuplets 2000") - the creators changed the production of an episode at the last minute to focus on the new world event.

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The disclaimer that begins almost every episode.

In 2002, the episode "Free Hat" aired. In this episode - inspired by Kyle's comment on Ted Koppel's Nightline that changing E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial would be like changing Raiders of the Lost Ark - George Lucas and Steven Spielberg decide to alter the first Indiana Jones film. Soon after the episode aired, Lucas and Spielberg announced that contrary to rumors they would not be altering Raiders of the Lost Ark for DVD release. Parker and Stone jokingly suggested that the episode prevented any alterations from happening. On September 10, 2005, Comedy Central committed to three more seasons of South Park, so the show will run until at least 2008. Parker and Stone will continue to write, direct, and edit every episode of the show, bringing the series total to 181 episodes by the end of its twelfth season. Edited versions of South Park episodes, with the TV-14 rating, began broadcasting in syndication on September 19, 2005 on various local channels around the U.S., such as WCIU in Chicago and some CW stations.

Characters

Main article: South Park characters

File:Southpark ep107 1.jpg

The boys dressed for Halloween in the episode Pinkeye. From left to right: Eric Cartman (as Adolf Hitler), Kyle Broflovski (as Chewbacca), Stan Marsh (as Raggedy Andy) and Kenny McCormick (actually a zombie).

Matt Stone and Trey Parker voice most of the male South Park characters, while April Stewart and Mona Marshall (formerly Mary Kay Bergman and Eliza Schneider) voice most of the female characters such as Wendy and Sheila Broflovski. Other voices are currently provided by Adrien Beard (Token Black), Vernon Chatman (Towelie), Jennifer Howell (Bebe Stevens), and John Hansen (Mr. Slave).

Prior to season four, the main characters of the show were four third grade students (often called "the boys" when as a group for easier reference): Stanley "Stan" Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Theodore Cartman and Kenneth "Kenny" McCormick. There are many recurring characters on the show, including the boys' families, school staff, other students such as Leopold "Butters" Stotch, Chef, Mr. Hankey, Towelie, Jesus, and Satan. There are also many other minor characters and one-off characters.

Animation style

South Park’s success can be attributed in part to its crude, cutout animation style. Construction paper cutouts were used in the original pilot animation and in the first episode made for Comedy Central. Subsequent episodes have been produced by computer animation providing the same look as the originals. The appearance of characters and scenes has become less crude over time, largely in order to enhance the comedic effect. Special effects, such as prepackaged explosions, have replaced cardboard-style fires. Light shading has been used to highlight "sappy," movie-like moments as well as some of Cartman’s dramatic poses. Some episodes, such as Tweek vs. Craig and Mr. Garrison's Fancy New Vagina, have even incorporated sections of live action video.

CorelDRAW is used to create the characters, which are animated using Maya, or in early episodes, PowerAnimator. The style of animation used for South Park was inspired by the paper cut-out cartoons made by Terry Gilliam for Monty Python's Flying Circus, of which Trey Parker and Matt Stone have been lifelong fans. For perspective, the average episode of The Simpsons takes six to eight months to create, while episodes of South Park are usually completed in six days (although some, such as AWESOM-O or Woodland Critter Christmas have taken only three or four).

Episodes

Main article: List of South Park episodes

South Park has had 160 episodes over 10 and a half seasons. 21 more episodes are currently planned.

Music

The show's original theme song was a musical score performed by the band Primus. The song has been remixed three times during the course of the series (as of the second half of season ten), and certain lines have been altered (see below). In the second half of season 10 the title music was changed to the song "Whamola", performed by Colonel Les Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade., from the album Purple Onion. (Les Claypool is the singer and bassist in both Primus and Frog Brigade.)

Kenny's lines in the song, like the rest of his speech in the show, are muffled by his parka hood, which covers his entire face except for his eyes. However, Kenny's lines have been revealed by South Park Studios. In seasons 1-2, he says "I love girls with big fat titties, I love girls with deep vaginas." From seasons 3-5 he says "I have got a 10-inch penis, use your mouth if you want to clean it." From season 7 to the first half of season 10, Kenny says "Some day I'll be old enough to stick my dick in Britney's butt." The current lines are not known . In the original unaired pilot episode of Cartman Gets An Anal Probe, in the rather different version of the opening, Kenny's lines are the same as they were in the first 2 seasons.

The general unintelligibility of Kenny's lines has helped them avoid being censored by television networks on a number of occasions, although the gist can usually be understood. It is sometimes easy to comprehend the lines, given the context in which they are delivered. The syndicated versions of the show usually do censor Kenny's vulgar lines.

Popular songs such as "Kyle's Mom is a Stupid Bitch" originated on the show, but the creators' musical abilities were not frequently used until the release of South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. The film's soundtrack (co-written and produced by Grammy-winning composer-lyricist Marc Shaiman) featured songs like "Blame Canada" (nominated for an Oscar; see below), "I'm Super," "La Resistance Medley," "Hell Isn't Good," "Mountain Town," "Uncle Fucka" (won an MTV Movie Award for "Best Musical Performance"), "Up There," and "What Would Brian Boitano Do?." Several of the songs from the movie are satires of tunes from Disney cartoons. For instance, "Mountain Town" is highly similar to the song "Belle" from Beauty and the Beast. "Up There" is a take-off of two different Disney songs, "Out There" from The Hunchback of Notre Dame and "Part of Your World" from The Little Mermaid. "La Resistance Medley" spoofs both "One Day More" from the stage musical Les Miserables and "Tonight" from West Side Story.

Parker and Stone have, on occasion, performed these songs (and others) under the band name DVDA.

In the show, Eric Cartman will often burst into song to convey a false altruism or optimism that belies his baser motivations. In Red Sleigh Down, he sings Poo-Choo Train, an unnervingly cheery Christmas carol, in an obvious attempt to convince Mr. Hankey and Santa Claus that he is worthy of Christmas presents. In "I'm A Little Bit Country" Cartman sings Paula Cole's anti-war song "I Don't Want to Wait" while beating someone to death (Cartman also sings the song as an homage to his Dawson's Creek Trapper Keeper in the episode Trapper Keeper). In "The Death of Eric Cartman", Cartman sings "Make It Right" with Butters in a weak attempt to reconcile his sins. In "Roger Ebert Should Lay Off the Fatty Foods", Cartman sings the Donna Summer song "She Works Hard For The Money" during an audition for Cheesy Poofs. In the episode "Ginger Kids", he sings a song about tolerance once he realizes he's not one of the "Gingers" and that he just convinced every Ginger in town to exterminate non-Ginger people. Cartman also uses the song "Heat of the Moment" in episode 513 ("Kenny Dies") to convince the U.S. Senate to approve stem cell research. Cartman has a mental quirk that forces him to finish singing Styx's Come Sail Away whenever someone sings a few bars of the song. As soon as he learns this, Kyle, who has a strong and explicit hatred for Cartman, takes advantage of this and forces Cartman to finish the song so many times that Cartman becomes literally unintelligible. In episode 409 "Something You Can Do with Your Finger", the boys made their boy band, "Fingerbang".

Cartman was also the lead singer for "Faith + 1", a Christian band he formed with Butters and Token in the episode "Christian Rock Hard", singing several "Christian" songs by taking sexually suggestive love songs and substituting romantic words such as "baby" and "darling" with "Jesus", and instead of the traditional "Christian Rock" lyrics singing about spiritual love for Jesus, Cartman sings about his desire to have actual, physical sex with Jesus.

In "Fat Butt and Pancake Head", Cartman's hand puppet "Jennifer Lopez" (who pronounces her name as "Hennifer Lopez") recorded a hit single entitled "Taco Flavored Kisses", inciting the wrath of the real Jennifer Lopez.

Additional musical contributions to the show come from the band Primus, which performed the original opening and ending themes for the show, and formerly from Isaac Hayes, who voiced Chef's singing of usually-sexual songs to explain certain adult themes to the boys. The Chef song Chocolate Salty Balls was released as a single in the UK in 1998 to support the Chef Aid album and became a number one hit.

Many episodes also feature highly melodramatic musical scores to comically exaggerate the emotional content of the scene. For example, melancholy music plays in the background when Timmy sends away his beloved pet turkey, Gobbles, in the episode "Helen Keller! The Musical".

Controversies

Main article: South Park controversies

Xenu in the episode Trapped in the Closet

The show has faced numerous controversies. The show depicts what many people find to be taboo subject matter, from its use of vulgarity ("It Hits The Fan") to its satire of subjects such as religion and cults (such as "Trapped in the Closet"), sexuality ("The Death Camp of Tolerance"), and natural disaster hysteria ("Two Days Before the Day After Tomorrow"). Stone and Parker are self-described "equal opportunity offenders" and episodes often lampoon all sides of a contentious issue, rather than taking a concrete position.

The show's provocative material quickly drew protest from various spokesmen, who deemed the program offensive. American conservative media watchdog group Parents Television Council has frequently criticized South Park for its content.

The show also frequently uses vulgarities. For example, in the episode "It Hits the Fan", the word shit was said a total of 162 times uncensored. Also, in the episode entitled "With Apologies to Jesse Jackson", the word nigger was used throughout the entire episode for a total of 42 times.

In 2005, the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights protested the season finale episode, "Bloody Mary", for its depiction of a statue of the Virgin Mary bleeding from her rectum. The group claimed a victory when Comedy Central voluntarily canceled a scheduled airing of the episode which coincided with the Christian holiday season. In early 2006, Comedy Central denied that they were honoring the group's request to pull the episode from future repeats and DVD releases. Comedy Central has since run the episode more than once.

South Park has parodied Scientology in a couple of episodes. Most of them, however, never mention Scientology by name, although they are obviously meant to poke fun at it. The episode that caused the most controversy was "Trapped in the Closet", which caused what the media dubbed 'Closetgate'. The episode poked fun at the religion and its celebrity followers, including Tom Cruise. After Comedy Central pulled the episode from a scheduled repeat at the last minute, it was alleged that Cruise threatened Paramount with withdrawal from promotion of his latest film if the episode was re-broadcast (both Paramount and Comedy Central are owned by Viacom). Matt Stone and Trey Parker countered this by allowing it to be freely distributed on anti-Scientology web sites. This situation led to Isaac Hayes, who played Chef and is a scientologist himself, to quit unexpectedly days before the spoof on Scientology was to re-air. Many people feel this was hypocritical, as he had never complained about any of the numerous episodes making fun of other religions.

One of the most noteworthy political episodes was the two-parter "Cartoon Wars". This episode was a critique of the West's response to Muslim rioting over Danish political cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed. South Park suggested that the cartoons were not reprinted (as is routinely done in Western media outlets), not out of respect for any group, but due to fear of violent retaliation. Ironically, Comedy Central censored the Cartoon Wars scene that was to include Mohammed, despite having previously allowed Mohammad's appearance as a superhero in the episode "Super Best Friends". When their protest was overruled, the creators inserted a black screen that said "Comedy Central has refused to broadcast an image of Mohammed on their network." Parker and Stone ironically closed the episode with a scene depicting Jesus defecating on President George Bush and the American flag (as the extremists' "revenge"). When this episode was broadcast in the UK, it was uncensored.

Recurring themes

Main article: South Park themes

Apart from the continuously vulgar presentation of issues, South Park implements several recurring themes that it frequently uses, including political issues, racism, gay rights, environment, censorship, political correctness, sex and religion, all of which are widely viewed as controversial.

Awards

• South Park has been nominated for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program seven times (1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007). So far the show has only won once, for the 2005 episode "Best Friends Forever". Its latest nomination is "Make Love, Not Warcraft". The winner of the emmy will be announced September 8th on the 59th annual creative arts Emmy awards.[1]
• On April 5, 2006, it was announced that the show had won a Peabody Award.
• South Park was nominated for important awards such as the 1998 Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Primetime or Late Night Television Program. It was also nominated for the 1998 GLAAD Award for Outstanding TV - Individual Episode for "Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride". It also received an Image Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (Isaac Hayes) in 1999.
• South Park was nominated for a 2006 Teen Choice Award for "Best Animated Show", but lost to Family Guy.
• South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut was nominated for an Oscar for "Best Music, Original Song" for the song "Blame Canada". They lost to Phil Collins and made fun of him in two consecutive episodes in season 4 ("Cartman's Silly Hate Crime 2000" & "Timmy 2000"). Creator Trey Parker explained the reasoning for these barbs in the season 4 DVD commentary. Saying, "we were fully expecting to lose, just not to Phil Collins." It was performed by Robin Williams during the televised award show, which was the first to carry a TV-14 parental advisory, in part because of the performance of that song, which contains some adult language.
  • Another track from the movie, "Uncle Fucka", won an MTV Movie Award for Best Musical Performance; Trey Parker and Matt Stone accepted the award, and thanked the audience for "not nominating Phil Collins".
• South Park is the last actively-running television series that has won a CableACE Award. It won the award for Best Animated Series in 1997, the last year the awards were given out.

See also

• List of South Park episodes
• South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut
• South Park Republican
• Chewbacca defense
• Park County, Colorado
• South Park opening sequence

Bibliography

• Johnson-woods, Toni (2007). Blame Canada. New York: Continuum International Publishing Group.

External links

• South Park Studios
• South Park at Comedy Central
• South Park at IMDb
• South Park Wikia
• South Park Video Clips
• South Park Wiki (German)
• South Park at The Comedy Channel (Australia)