The Coon

"The Coon"

"The Coon" is the second episode of the thirteenth season of the animated television series South Park. It originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on March 18, 2009. In the episode, Cartman poses as a superhero vigilante named "The Coon", who grows increasingly jealous of the popularity and success of a rival superhero named "Mysterion".

The episode was written and directed by series co-founder Trey Parker, and was rated TV-MA-L in the United States. It received generally positive reviews and, according to Nielsen Ratings, was seen by 3.27 million viewers the week it aired. The episode spoofed several dark-toned comic book films that had been recently released at the time, including The Spirit, Watchmen and The Dark Knight.

Plot

Disguised as a racoon, Cartman becomes a vigilante dubbed "The Coon", who attempts to wipe out crime in South Park. Though Cartman tries to raise awareness about The Coon through word of mouth, nobody pays much attention to the Coon's efforts. When he reports "crimes" (such as mistaking a man innocently trying to kiss his date for a rapist) to the police department, he is threatened with jail time and snubbed off. During class, Cartman tries to hype up an appearance from The Coon, saying he will be on roof of a Walgreens later that evening. Cartman (as the Coon) shows up to the spot to find another superhero (also a child) named "Mysterion", who is far more successful in garnering appreciation from the police and South Park citizens as a crime stopping icon. Cartman is angered by the attention Mysterion receives and tries to discover the identity of Mysterion, but only finds more questions when Wendy suggests that it may not necessarily be a boy.

Cartman decides to turn to the "dark side" to rid the town of Mysterion, enlisting the help of Professor Chaos (Butters), with his sidekick General Disarray (Dougie). Professor Chaos, at the urging of Cartman, threatens to destroy a hospital unless Mysterion reveals his or her identity. After Cartman plants the dynamite and leaves to buy detonators, Mysterion unexpectedly arrives and fights Professor Chaos and General Disarray on top of the building, as a crowd forms below and cheers on Mysterion. Cartman then makes a dramatic appearance fighting on the side of Mysterion, with the hopes that he too will be hailed as a hero. After their victory, Cartman convince Mysterion to unmask himself by claiming such threats to public safety will continue until Mysterion's secret is revealed. Despite being told by the police that he/she would be imprisoned for vigilantism, Mysterion unmasks himself (although the identity is left deliberately vague to television viewers, who see only a portion of Mysterion's face that looks similar to the majority of the show's younger characters). The crowd of people remark how they were shocked at the identity, while Cartman claims he correctly guessed it. Mysterion is hauled to prison and Cartman remains the only "super hero" in South Park, although he continues to receive little attention from South Park citizens.

Production

South Park co-creator Trey Parker wrote and directed "The Ring".

"The Coon" was written and directed by series co-founder Trey Parker. It first aired on March 18, 2009 in the United States on Comedy Central. Keo Thongkham and Kevin Dalton, who serve as South Park storyboard artists, drew the detailed image of Mysterion that appeared in a news broadcast within the episode. Within a week of the episode's original broadcast, the online retailer Zazzle and South Park Studios, the official South Park website, released t-shirts and hooded sweatshirts based on the episode, includes one with an image of Cartman as the Coon, and one of Mysterion with the words, "Who is Mysterion?"

Cultural references

"The Coon" is primarily a parody of the recent trend of dark-toned comic book movies. The Dark Knight (2008), The Spirit (2008) and Watchmen (2009) are the most commonly referred to films, but others such as Spider-Man 3 (2007) are also frequently referenced. The music used in "The Coon" is inspired by the style of film scores by James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer, both of whom collaborated on the scores for Batman Begins (2005) and The Dark Knight. The Coon and Mysterion use deep and ominous voices similar to that used by Christian Bale in the Batman films and Rorschach in Watchmen. Cartman and Mysterion both refer to themselves as "the symbol this town needs", a line from The Dark Knight, and Cartman encourages Butters to film a video threatening to blow up a hospital, the same as the Joker from a scene in that film. The opening shot of "The Coon" is also inspired by the opening sequence from Watchmen: both start at a close-up of a city sidewalk and zoom out to someone looking down from the top of a tall skyscraper. A poster of The Coon shown at Cartman's Coonicon 2009 is inspired by the front cover of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, the influential Batman graphic novel by Frank Miller. Other common comic book film traits spoofed in "The Coon" include costumes that do little to actually conceal secret identities, trophies adorning superhero secret lairs and sudden disappearing exits, and entrances.

Cartman's Coonicon 2009 convention is held at the Airport Hilton, the same place where he holds his "ginger pride" event in the episode "Ginger Kids" and the AIDS benefit in the episode "Tonsil Trouble". Butters dresses up as Professor Chaos, and Dougie dresses as General Disarray, both of which are the supervillian alter egos they first take on in the sixth season episode "Professor Chaos". Based on the physique of The Coon, Butters considers heavyset gay entertainers Bruce Vilanch and Harvey Fierstein as suspects for his secret identity. Cartman plans to purchase detonators for his dynamite from Ace Hardware, a real-life Illinois-based hardware company chain. Cartman refers to the economic recession as one of the primary factors that has led to an increase in crime. News footage of a group of South Park residents talking about Mysterion was inspired by a news report of residents of Mobile, Alabama, discussing a supposed leprechaun sighting, which became a popular video on YouTube over three years before the episode was broadcast.

Reception

In its original American broadcast, "The Coon" was watched by 3.27 million overall viewers, according to the Nielsen Ratings. The episode received a 1.8 rating/5 share among adults aged between 18 and 49, making it the most watched cable entertainment program in that age group for the week of March 16 to March 22.

The episode received generally positive reviews. Kofi Outlaw of ScreenRant said the episode was much less offensive than he expected: "really, no jaw-dropping, face-cringing moments in this episode. Hell, 'The Coon' title was probably the most offensive thing about it." Carlos Delgado of the If magazine said, "The mockery of comic book based movies is perfectly done...Though not quite as funny as last week’s 'The Ring', 'The Coon' is right up there as a classic episode, ... A beacon of hope in the sometimes drab world of television," while at the same time, he believed the episode title, "The Coon" (being a well-known ethnic slur against black people) was a jab intended for Barack Obama, the first African American U.S. President. Rick Ellis, television critic for the Philadelphia Examiner, called the episode "another highly politically-incorrect yet hilarious new episode." The Geeks of Doom blog said of the episode, "It’s been a little while since we’ve seen South Park this good, but superhero spoofing mixed with that harsh and patented South Park humor, as well as their always interesting racial silliness... how could it possibly go wrong?"

Perry Olsen, television editor for Student Life, said "The Coon" was an improvement over "The Ring" because it was less heavy-handed in its morals. Olsen also said it raised the question, "What ever happened to the goofy superhero movies? From Batman to the Hulk, it seems like every comic book hero movie has been given a splotch of mud and some dim lighting before being sent out the door." Genevieve Koski of The A.V. Club gave the episode a B+ grade, although she did not like the "non-reveal" ending. She also said the target material for "The Coon" is too easy ("ooh, a superhero parody, don't hurt yourself, guys"), but she said the episode was "really likable" and she particularly liked Cartman's growing frustration when his superhero persona is ignored. Travis Fickett of IGN also said he did not like the ending and, although he liked Butters's part in the episode and the riffing on comic book stereotypes, Fickett felt the episode lacked any "brilliant moments" and "ultimately runs out of steam with the super-hero riff". Mitchell Gellar of The Tufts Daily said the episode would be more enjoyable to people familiar with the comic book film franchise it was spoofing than it would be for those who are not, although he said Cartman "never ceases to be funny".

External links

• "The Coon" at Southparkstudios.com
• "The Coon" at IMDb