South Park

For other uses, see the television series.

South Park
File:South Park into.jpg
Created by	Trey Parker Matt Stone
Starring	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 and Adrien Beard
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	153
Production
Running time	21 - 23 minutes.
Original release
Network	Comedy Central
Release	August 13, 1997 – present

Template:Infobox TV ratings South Park is a Peabody Award and Emmy Award-winning American animated television series about four fourth grade school boys who live in the small town of South Park, Colorado. The series was created and written by Matt Stone and Trey Parker, and has been distributed and aired by Comedy Central since 1997. The series is known for its characteristically blunt handling of current events and its pop-culture parody.

Since its premiere on August 13 1997, 153 episodes have been produced in over ten seasons. Two more seasons are 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.

Origins

South Park began in 1992 when Trey Parker and Matt Stone, then 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' and an unnamed character who resembles Kyle bringing a murderous snowman to life with a magic hat.

In 1995, FOX executive Brian Graden, after seeing the film, commissioned Parker and Stone to create a second short film to send to friends as a video Christmas card. Titled The Spirit of Christmas, it more closely resembled the style of the later series, 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 premiered on August 13, 1997. A clip of the short can be seen in the opening sequence of South Park within a billboard; Jesus vs. Frosty can also be seen on an old television.

Evolution

File:Southpark disclaimer.png

The satirical disclaimer that begins most episodes

South Park's early episodes tended to be shock value-oriented. Although satire had been used on the show occasionally in its early and middle years, it has become more evident around the eighth season; with episodes involving Michael Jackson visiting South Park ("The Jeffersons"), the boys seeing The Passion of the Christ ("The Passion of the Jew"), blue-collar workers in South Park losing their jobs to immigrants from the future ("Goobacks"), and an episode featuring a "Paris Hilton" toy video camera ("Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset").

The pilot episode, "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe,” took three months to make and was produced using construction paper and traditional cut-out animation techniques. Current episodes duplicate the original, amateurish look using modern computer animation tools - first PowerAnimator, then Maya (which Parker and Stone have described as "building a sandcastle with a bulldozer" on a VH1 special, Inside South Park). This allows for a short production schedule that enables the creators to respond quickly to current events. For instance, the December 17, 2003 episode ("It's Christmas in Canada") depicts the capture of Saddam Hussein a mere three days after his capture by U.S. forces, even referring to the "spider hole" where he was found. In the case of this and the Elián González episode ("Quintuplets 2000"), the creators stopped and changed production of an episode to focus on these events. Another example is the "Trapper Keeper" episode which originally aired just eight days after the 2000 Election and featured a kindergarten class president election being delayed by, among other things, an undecided girl named "Flora,” an obvious reference to the undecided vote-count in the state of Florida. AWESOM-O was made in three days, which is the shortest amount of time in which an episode has been made.

In 2002, the episode "Free Hat" was aired. In this episode, prompted by Kyle's comment on Ted Koppel's Nightline that changing E.T. would be like changing Raiders of the Lost Ark, the South Park depictions of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg decide to alter the first Indiana Jones film. Soon after Free Hat aired, the real Lucas and Spielberg announced that they would not be altering Raiders of the Lost Ark for DVD release contrary to rumors. Stone and Parker later claimed that their episode prevented any alterations from happening when they appeared on a VH1 special, Inside South Park.

Characters

File:SouthPark.PNG

Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny drawn photorealistically in the episode "Free Willzyx.”

Matt Stone and Trey Parker voice most of the series' male characters, while April Stewart and Mona Marshall currently voice most of the female characters, which were formerly voiced by Mary Kay Bergman and Eliza Schneider. Other voices are currently provided by Adrien Beard (Token) and John Hansen (Mr. Slave).

Main characters

The main characters of the show are four elementary school students (often called "the boys" when as a group for easier reference):

Stanley "Stan" Marsh

Often the "straight man" of the group. Generally good natured and clear-thinking, albeit over-sensitive at times, Stan usually tries to come up with logical solutions to their outrageous situations. Designed as the alter-ego for co-creator Trey Parker, Stan often attempts to summarize the message or moral of the episode, though sometimes without success. He is best friends with Kyle and their relationship is central to several episodes.

Kyle Broflovski

Easy-going, Jewish (but not particularly religious), skeptical, intelligent and at times short-tempered. He hates Cartman because of his constant ridiculing of his faith and race and for frequently calling his mom a "big fat stupid bitch". Kyle is effectively the alter-ego of co-creator Matt Stone. Along with Stan, Kyle often provides a reasonable perspective on the crazy behavior of the adult world around them. Kyle is often depicted as the most moral member of the four.

Eric Theodore Cartman

Often the catalyst for the plot, Cartman is an abusive, anti-Semitic, violent, campy, aggressive, greedy, corrupt, sexist, bigoted, self-centered, rude, racist, wildly insecure and extremely manipulative young sociopath.

Cartman commonly acts in a manner directly opposed to, or against, that of the other boys. Cartman regularly insults Kyle for being Jewish, Stan for being "a pussy,” and Kenny for being poor. His pretentious and often sociopathic ways often cause him to be disdained by the other boys, who continuously wonder why they keep putting up with him. He also demonstrates an uncanny ability as a businessman and leader, and was seen dressed in a way that mimics Adolf Hitler three times. Cartman also occasionally serves as a mouthpiece for some of Parker and Stone's more extreme social commentary and has a rabid hatred for anyone he considers to be a "hippie" (one episode was devoted to Cartman's career as a hippie exterminator). Cartman is also often referred to as a "fatass" by the boys, especially Kyle. In the older episodes, Cartman would respond by saying, "I'm not fat! I'm just big-boned!"

Part of his behavior may be due to the fact that he has never had a father and that his mother is an intersex person who is also commonly acknowledged to be a "crack whore" who spoils Eric with gifts, food, and giving into his many complaints. (She was featured on the cover of one issue of Crack Whore magazine and has been known to appear in German "scheiße videos".)

Kenneth "Kenny" McCormick

Kenny comes from a poverty-stricken family in South Park's equivalent of the pre-gentrification NYC "Lower East Side.” He is the most worldly-wise of the four boys and is often sought out for answers when the other boys encounter a sexual term they have never heard before. His speech is difficult to understand due to the fact that his hood is closed around his face, although all of his lines are real dialogue that are always understood by Stan, Kyle and Cartman; however in some episodes, Kenny's dialogue is occasionally visible by closed captioning.

During the first five seasons, Kenny served as the eternal victim, routinely killed in a number of grotesque ways meant to entertain during each episode, only to appear in the next episode without explanation, only occasionally escaping this fate. At the end of Season 5, Kenny died and remained dead through numerous following episodes before coming back. Parker and Stone explained at the time that this was due to their feeling creatively boxed in by the requirement to kill Kenny in each episode.

In season 6 he is replaced by Butters and then later, Tweak as the boys' "fourth friend.” However, due to Kenny's lasting popularity, he was included in a "soul" arc involving his soul being trapped in Cartman's body (Cartman drank Kenny's ashes, believing them to be chocolate milk mix), and then brought back permanently for the seventh season. Kenny's deaths have since been much more rare. The show's oldest gimmick, existing from the first cardboard concept video, began with Stan shouting, "Oh my God, they killed Kenny!" followed by Kyle responding, "You bastards!" whenever Kenny is killed. This is sometimes parodied, being applied to other characters (such as Chef in The Return of Chef) or by a variation on the theme.

Leopold "Butters" Stotch

(Appeared in earlier seasons but replaced Kenny as a main character during the first part of the Season 6 and was later replaced by Tweek. Though Kenny was brought back for the 7th season, Butters has remained prominent)

Butters is nervous, naive, easily manipulated, and repressed — while at the same time remains ironically optimistic, wistful and sometimes insightful. He is often punished by his callous and overbearing parents, and is meanwhile blatantly vilified, taken advantage of and/or disregarded by Cartman, Stan, and Kyle. Adding to the tragic nature of his character, his birthday is September 11.

When Kenny seemed to be permanently dead in season 6, the boys tried Butters out as their fourth friend for a while, and when it did not work out a spurned Butters adopted the alter ego of "Professor Chaos,” whose costume is clearly inspired by that of Dr. Doom, and he has a sidekick called "General Disarray" (Dougie, a first-grader). Butters tried various schemes to destroy the world, but his niceness and general ineptitude doomed all of his efforts. His character is based on animation director, Eric Stough.

Recurring characters

Main article: South Park adults

Main article: South Park children

Mrs. Garrison

Mrs. Garrison is the boys' 4th grade teacher (previously their 3rd grade teacher). In early seasons he was a gay man, accompanied by his hand puppet Mr. Hat and then his "Life Partner" Mr. Slave. In the 9th season, Mr. Garrison undergoes a sex-change operation to become Mrs. Garrison, and leading to his breakup with Mr. Slave, who is gay and not interested in women.

Mr. Mackey

Mr Mackey is the school counselor at South Park Elementary. He teaches the boys moral studies and is often involved in handling discipline at the school, along with Principal Victoria. He is often mocked by the children for being socially inept, and for constantly flavoring his speech with the word "M-kay."

Chef (1997-2006)

Chef is the cook at South Park Elementary. Always the brains of the town, Chef seems to know right from wrong, and is who the children turn to for advice. Chef also has a quite a reputation with the ladies. Isaac Hayes, the voice of chef, quit in Season 9 over South Park's mocking of Scientology (Trapped in the Closet (South Park)), and Matt and Trey retaliated by mocking and killing his character horribly to open Season 10 (The Return of Chef). At the end of the episode he is saved by the Super Adventure Club and revived, though horribly mangled, and his character now resembles Darth Vader from the Star Wars films and is unofficially referred to as Darth Chef.

school bus driver The school bus driver is generally represented as a fierce scold who usually scares all the kids. Like Arthur from King of Queens, she's given to random outburts. She scares all the children and they usually obey her. However, she's also been known to scare Cheff. Stan usually will insult her, leading her to question what he's said. Stan will then say something that rhymes with his insult and she'll scream, "OH OK!!!"

Minor characters and celebrities

Main articles: List of celebrities on South Park and Fictional races in South Park

Part of the show's surrealist nature derives from the minor characters that appear in the series. Some of these include:

• God, has made an appearance in several episodes and is a furry, midget creature with a long tail. Although a four-legged hippo-rodent, he often stands on his hind legs. God also has a reptilian tongue that shoots out in short bursts used to catch and eat flies, like that of a frog. Satan often comes to his arch-enemy, God, for advice and the two have a friendly relationship. Satan is also the much bigger and physically stronger of the two. On the show, God is a Buddhist.
• Jesus, who owned a home and hosted a public-access television talk show in South Park called Jesus and Pals. Jesus often poorly tried to trick everyone into thinking he had powers, such as by telling Stan to keep his eyes closed while he flies on Jesus to another location. The two are actually on a plane ride and Jesus is reading the newspaper. He was killed in Red Sleigh Down, and has not been in any subsequent episode.
• Satan, who has cow legs, horns, and somewhat of a large, dark red, and muscular human body, has been romantically connected to Saddam Hussein, and a sensitive 90's guy named Chris. Satan is sweet, sensitive, and loves to party with his friends. He sometimes behaves like a child who always has to get his way however, such as when he demands to wear his ogre friend's Britney Spears costume and have a car cake for his birthday party.
• Moses, a giant glowing dreidel who appears exactly as the Master Control Program (MCP) does in the Disney film Tron and demands pictures made of macaroni glued to paper plates from his faithful
• The Jakovasaurs, whom Cartman finds hilarious and everyone else finds annoying.
• Death, who rides a tricycle & finds Terrance & Phillip hilarious.
• Terrance & Phillip, two fictional Canadian television personalities that the boys idolize. Their comedy predominantly revolves around farting.
• Mr. Hankey "the Christmas poo,” who adds to the holiday festivities in much the same spirit as the 1960s Rankin-Bass cartoons.
• The Crab People, an ancient race of crustacean-like creatures that try to take over the world by dressing up as the men from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, in order to have straight men dress more metrosexually, turning them into "metrosexual", thus potentially destabilizing the world and enabling the Crab People to take over. According to the fictional TV executives of that episode, the Crab People made a similar attempt in the 1970s on The Jeffersons.
• Towelie, A genetically-enhanced towel created by the government, who is constantly high, and constantly asks the boys, "You wanna get high?" Also, when people look down on him by mentioning that he is a towel, he uses his signature comeback "YOU'RE A TOWEL!" He is also the author of the best selling novel "A Million Little Fibers": a parody of the controversial James Frey book, A Million Little Pieces. The boys are quoted saying often that Towelie is the worst character ever, which is a response to the critic's mention of him being a 'rip-off' of Mr. Hankey; this is ironic, as Towelie is an attempt by Matt and Trey to create the worst character they could. Towelie represents the worst character they could possibly create: a talking towel.
• Santa Claus, who regularly appears around the annual Christmas episodes. His first appearance in South Park involved a duel between him and Jesus over who was the central figure of Christmas, but the duel was resolved when the boys encouraged them that they were both essential to the spirit of Christmas. Santa's friendship with Jesus continued, although he still expresses occasional jealousy that Jesus is given more prominence in the Christmas season than he is. He was however able to set that aside after Jesus gave his life to rescue Santa from Iraq.

Episode guide

Main article: List of South Park episodes

Animation style

Originally, construction paper cut-outs were used in the original pilot animation and in the first episode made for Comedy Central. Every subsequent episode has been produced by computer animation that provides the same look, though the animation has arguably become less crude over time. The improvements in animation are mostly used for comedic effect; special effects such as prepackaged explosions have replaced cardboard-style fires, and light shading has been used to highlight "sappy" or movie-like moments and Eric Cartman's propensity for striking dramatic poses.

CorelDRAW is used to create the characters, which are animated using Maya. 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 have been completed in as little as three days. This allows current events that occur mere days before episode air dates are often included, such as the capture of Saddam Hussein to be mentioned.

Some episodes also contain sections of live action as well, such as "Tweek vs. Craig" and "Cat Orgy.

Music

For full article, see the List of South Park songs.

The show's opening theme song is an original musical score performed by alternative rock band Primus. The song has been remixed three times in the course of the series (as of the second half of season ten), and certain lines have been altered (see below). In series 10 the title music is replaced by the song Whamola by Les Claypool's Famous 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 (with the exception of two lines in episode 807, The Jeffersons, and when he says "Goodbye, you guys" in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut) are muffled by his parka hood, which covers his entire face except for his eyes.

In the theme song Kenny actually says:

Season 1 to 2 (Original Theme): "I love girls with deep vaginas, I love girls with big fat titties"

Season 3 to 5 (Season 3 Re-Recorded Theme & Fourth Grade Theme): "I have got a 10-inch penis. Use your mouth to help me clean it".

Season 6: (Note: Kenny has been replaced by Timmy) "Timmy, Timmy, Timmy, Timmy, Timmy, Timmy, live a lie Timmy!"

Season 7 to Season 10A and syndication: "Someday I'll be old enough to stick my dick up Britney's butt".

Season 10B : "I would like to smell your pussy, clean it with my finger for you". Backwards: "Suck my penis, Suck my penis, Suck my penis, Suck my penis".

With the exception of the latest line, all of these lines have been proven official in an interview with the creators.

The general unintelligibility of Kenny's lines has helped them avoid being censored by television networks on a number of occasions, although the gist of it 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 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 featured songs like Mountain Town, La Resistance Medley, Uncle Fucka, What Would Brian Boitano Do? (a song to which Brian Boitano has been known to figure skate), I'm Super, and Blame Canada (nominated for an Oscar, see below). Several of the songs from the movie were 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 One Day More from the stage musical Les Miserables, and Tonight from West Side Story.

Parker and Stone have, on occasion, performed these and other songs, such as "Little Boy You're Going to Hell" from the South Park Movie, 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 old Donna Summer song, She Works Hard For The Money during an audition for Cheesy Poofs. In the episode, Simpsons Already Did It Cartman sings about how the sea people will "take me away from this damn planet full of hippies". 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. And, of course, there's Cartman's 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 hates Cartman, takes advantage of this and forces Cartman to finish the song so many times that Cartman becomes literally unintelligible.

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 about Jesus, by taking sexually suggestive love songs and substituting the word "baby" for "Jesus" and singing about sexual, or physical love for Jesus instead of spiritual love.

In Fat Butt and Pancake Head, Cartman's hand puppet (who pronounces her name as "Hennifer Lopez" and is revealed at the end to be a con man named Mitch Connor) recorded a hit single titled "Taco Flavored Kisses,” incited the wrath of the real Jennifer Lopez (wrecking her career, so that she ends up working in a taco restaurant) and got sexual advances from Ben Affleck. At the end, Cartman, who had credibly denied having any control over "Ms. Lopez" yelled "Hah hah hah hah hah! I got you kinda!" (which he invariably does whenever he succeeds in putting something over on the others) after Kyle finally agreed to admit that it was possible Cartman had been telling the truth about having no control over what was going on.

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.

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

Controversy

Main article: Subject matter in South Park

The show has faced numerous controversies since its inception, from its use of vulgarity to its satire of subjects such as Scientology, religion and global warming. 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.

Public protests

The show's provocative, adult-oriented material quickly drew protest from various spokesmen, who deemed the program offensive, and South Park merchandise (especially T-shirts) were banned from a number of public schools, day care centers, and other public places. This occurrence is similar in a manner to the prohibition of Bart Simpson T-shirts in the early 1990s, after The Simpsons was accused of contributing to juvenile delinquency. Comedy Central defended South Park by noting that the show is given a "Mature Audiences" TV rating (TV-MA) and is not meant for children to watch. They also pointed out that it only airs the show during night-time hours and never during the day, when children may be more likely to see the show. In fact, at least for the earlier part of the show's run, trailers for the series did not run until after 9 PM.

More recently, the program has received some publicity over their use of the recently deceased Steve Irwin in an episode where he shows up at Satan's Halloween party. Typically this issue rated a few short paragraphs in mainstream newspapers.

Vulgarity

In the episode "It Hits the Fan", South Park broke the swearing record by using the word shit a total of 162 times, uncensored. The 22-minute episode averages one 'shit' every eight seconds, and there was a counter throughout the episode displaying the number of times it was said. A song by Mr. Garrison that consisted of, 'Hey, there, shitty shitty fag fag, shitty shitty fag fag, how do you do?' (sung to the tune of the title song from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang), repeated for two verses, provides an example of how 'shit' was so abundantly used. This was meant as a satire of an episode of NYPD Blue, released shortly before this episode, where one of the main characters said the phrase 'shit happens' without being censored, and the American public discussed this for weeks. An additional gag in this episode allowed homosexual or bisexual characters to use the word 'fag' freely, while heterosexual characters were bleeped when attempting to use the same word (this episode suggested that Stan's uncle Jimbo was actually gay or bisexual, as he was able to say 'fag' without being bleeped).

Scientology

Main article: Trapped in the Closet (South Park)

File:Tom Cruise.jpg

Tom Cruise as depicted in Trapped in the Closet.

In November 2005, South Park satirized the Church of Scientology and its celebrity followers, including actors Tom Cruise and John Travolta in the top-rated episode, "Trapped in the Closet.” R&B star R. Kelly is also featured in the episode, in a nod to his 12-part "hip-hopera" called "Trapped in the Closet.”

In the episode, Scientology leaders hail Stan as a reluctant savior while Cruise locks himself in Stan's closet and will not come out. "Coming out of the closet" is widely used as a term for homosexuals revealing their orientation; Tom Cruise, R. Kelly and John Travolta have often been rumored to be gay.

Dubbed 'Closetgate' by the Los Angeles Times, the controversy continued as Comedy Central pulled the episode from a scheduled repeat on March 15, 2006 at the last minute (although it has since been repeated several times). It is alleged that Tom Cruise threatened Paramount with withdrawal from promotion of his latest film Mission: Impossible III if the episode was re-broadcast (both Paramount and Comedy Central are owned by Viacom). Though Paramount and Cruise's representatives deny the allegation, The Independent reports that "no one believes a word of it". In typical satirical form, Parker and Stone issued the following statement, with several mocking references to Scientology: "So, Scientology, you may have won THIS battle, but the million-year war for Earth has just begun! Temporarily anozinizing our episode will NOT stop us from keeping Thetans forever trapped in your pitiful man-bodies. Curses and drat! You have obstructed us for now, but your feeble bid to save humanity will fail! Hail Xenu!!!"

The Los Angeles Times reported that, "For Stone and Parker, Closetgate will be the gift that keeps on giving" because there are likely endless storylines that can follow, considering South Park's consistent satirizing of Scientology. This episode was also recently nominated for an Emmy, and is included on South Park's 10th Anniversary DVD, called "South Park The Hits: Volume 1".

As a parodic response to The Church of Scientology's litigiousness, the final lines of the episode feature Stan taunting the church to sue him, and the ensuing credits read only "John Smith" or "Jane Smith".

Main article: The Return of Chef

In response to Isaac Hayes quitting the show, Parker and Stone used South Park's 10th season premiere to lambaste Scientology again, as well as kill off Hayes's character, "Chef.” Template:Endspoilers

Catholicism

In December 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 cancelled a scheduled airing of the episode which coincided with the Christian holiday season. In early 2006, Comedy Central denied that they were bowing to that group's request to pull the episode from future repeats and DVD releases. In New Zealand, C4 pushed the airing date for the episode forward after much publicity from Catholic bishops who urged a boycott of the station and its advertisers. The protest backfired as viewer numbers increased by 600% during the episode. The episode was later referred to the Broadcasting Standards Authority where they ruled, "The material in the cartoon was of such a farcical, absurd and unrealistic nature that it did not breach standards of good taste and decency in the context in which it was offered". It has since been rebroadcast on Comedy Central. SBS in Australia has "deferred" the episode possibly due to their recent problems with the "Trapped in the Closet" episode. The episode has aired in Australia on the Pay T.V. channel, The Comedy Channel.

In February 2006 in the Philippines, authorities threatened to ban the showing of South Park on television as it offends the sensibilities of the predominantly Roman Catholic country. South Park is still shown in the Philippines with 1-hour double episodes, though showing South Park in the Philippines has become a politicized issue there, and the future of South Park in the Philippines is unknown.

In 2001, South Park was shown on public television between 9pm-10pm slot at the now closed Channel [V] Philippines (formerly Citynet UHF Channel 27 handled by GMA Network). Because most of the programs in the Philippines are highly viewed in primetime slots, it is rated as PG (Parental Guidance) with all of profanity and such, censored.

On August 2, 2006, Comedy Central reran the episode at 10:00 PM EST.

Islam

Most recently South Park has indirectly attacked the rising censorship in its April 5, 2006 episode "Cartoon Wars Part I", which ended with the statement that the second part of the two-parter episode, will only be shown if Comedy Central does not "puss out".

The following episode "Cartoon Wars Part II" that aired April 12, 2006, replaced the scene of Muhammad on Family Guy with a message stating that Comedy Central had refused to show a depiction of Muhammad on their network, thereby "pussing out.” With the episode, the South Park boys make an impassioned, anti-censorship plea to a network exec named Doug, a reference to Comedy Central president Doug Herzog. This comes months after the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy in Denmark, in which an editorial cartoon depicted Muhammad also in a satirical way. However, he can in fact be seen in the season 10 opening credits from the episode "Smug Alert!" onwards and was featured in the "Super Best Friends" episode, which aired on July 4, 2001, though at the time there was no pre-existing controversy over depicting Muhammad.

It has come out via AP television writer David Bauder that Comedy Central did in fact, citing safety concerns, opt to censor the image of Muhammad, a situation that was satirized in "Cartoon Wars Part II.” Furthermore, while the channel refused to broadcast an image of Muhammad, Comedy Central opted not to censor images of Christ, the president and the American flag being defecated upon. Stone and Parker's choice has drawn fire from frequent South Park critic William A. Donohue of the anti-defamation group Catholic League. Donohue has called on Parker and Stone to resign out of principle, and was quoted as saying, "The ultimate hypocrite is not Comedy Central — that's their decision not to show the image of Muhammad or not — it's Parker and Stone.” It should be noted though, that Stone and Parker made the choice to mock Christ to illustrate the hypocrisy in censoring the mockery of one religion and not another, echoing their similar stance on Scientology. Additionally, the images were shown in the context of an Islamic leader's humorously anti-climactic response to the portrayal of Muhammad (and were thus not very graphic).

Recurring themes

Political issues

Stone and Parker spend a great amount of time on current events and issues of the day. The stance that the show takes reflects the beliefs of the creators; Both creators have at one time or another described themselves as libertarians. Politically-active celebrities have been ridiculed on the series, as well as liberal and conservative ideas, stereotypes and actions. Bill Clinton was frequently ridiculed on the show, George W. Bush less so (although he was shown as a tool of Satan in one episode, and in the 9/11 conspiracy episode of 2006 he is portrayed as the mastermind behind the conspiracies). Liberals are portrayed as being snobby intellectuals, arrogant hippies or anxious yuppies, and conservatives as bible thumpers, angry rednecks and greedy businessmen, hence the characters "Aging Hippie Liberal Elite Douche" or "stoner" and "Pissed Off White Trash Redneck Conservative" or "racist". Both sides are portrayed as imposing their views on others and generally having a malignant influence.

In general, Stone and Parker are extremely disdainful of any person they perceive to be overly preachy and lecturing about their political or religious views. The show itself is, ironically, regularly quite preachy on these subjects, often ending with an obvious or even directly explained moral. This may be meant (or taken) as a meta-critique, poking fun at the show itself, as these morals are often ultimately undercut by comic absurdity.

The episode that aired the week following the 2000 presidential election used a school election to poke fun at Florida's inability to certify a winner and Al Gore's contesting of the results. The episode included an angry Rosie O'Donnell coming to the defense of the loser and finally getting gruesomely killed, in another example of how the show is highly critical of celebrity activism.

The term "South Park Republican" was coined after Parker and Stone claimed to be Republicans whilst receiving an award from the liberal advocacy group, People For the American Way (PFAW) in 2001. At the same time they declared TV producer Norman Lear, the founder of PFAW, to be one of their heroes, and Lear subsequently worked on South Park. More recently, a small movement has sprung up of youngish, South Park Conservatives who hold ideas from extreme ends of the political spectrum. In an interview in Time Magazine (March 13,2006) the two have stated that the only reason people might peg them for conservatives is that they are willing to mock anti-smoking laws and hippies. They also stated that the show could just as easily be pegged as a show supporting liberal ideologies. The interview ended with Trey quipping "We still believe that all people are born bad and are made good by society, rather than the opposite" and Matt adding "Actually, I think that's where we're conservative". Stone has also stated: "I hate conservatives, but I really fucking hate liberals". [9]

Parker and Stone are apparently critical of political correctness and satirize it by contrasting the child and adult's public personae. Whenever a sensitive issue is explored or a crisis occurs, it is expected that all the adults in South Park will over react whilst the children will act calm and collected about it. Examples of this can be seen in episodes such Child Abduction Is Not Funny, Smug Alert and Two Days Before the Day After Tomorrow.

Gay rights

The show has supported gay rights through satirizing the opposing side with the normal over-the-top South Park style. In the episode "Follow That Egg!,” gay marriage is deemed "too offensive" to people with religious values who suggest that it should be re-designated as something else. In the end of this episode however, gays are shown as capable of raising children, and gay marriage is made legal in South Park. "Mr. Garrison's Fancy New Vagina" is critical of transgendered individuals for not keeping the bodies that nature gave them. In the end of the episode, everyone who received changes decides to go back to their natural selves, save Mr. Garrison who is no longer able to go back to being a man since his testicles were destroyed by Kyle in a game of basketball. In "Cripple Fight,” the creators take the position that the Boy Scouts of America should not have been forced to allow homosexuals to be Scoutmasters, whilst at the same time mocking the Boy Scouts for trying to exclude homosexuals from the organization. They use the example of a married heterosexual child abuser to suggest sexuality is unrelated to child abuse. Furthermore, in an earlier episode "Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride,” homophobia is portrayed sarcastically when Mr. Garrison says to Stan when he asks what a homosexual is, "Gay people, well, gay people are EVIL, evil right down to their cold black hearts which pump not blood like yours or mine, but rather a thick, vomitous oil that oozes through their rotten veins and clots in their pea-sized brains which becomes the cause of their Nazi-esque patterns of violent behavior. Do you understand?" The episode also features Stan Marsh stating that it is okay to be gay, and was nominated for an award by GLAAD. Later in the series, Mr. Garrison "outs" himself as homosexual.

Child abuse and neglect

Child sexual abuse and child neglect are recurring thematic elements in South Park. For example, emotional, verbal, and physical abuse is usually inflicted upon Butters in episodes in which he appears. Cartman is shown several times as a target of actual or attempted sexual abuse, such as when he unknowingly gets involved with NAMBLA. There is other evidence where he has been sexually abused in the episode "Simpsons Already Did It" where after getting semen ("sea-men") from a sperm bank, he is filling up a fish tank for his "sea people" and tells his friends that he got the rest of the semen from a guy in an alley who told him to "close his eyes and suck it out of a hose". This scene is partially censored on some local networks. In the episode "Fun with Veal" Cartman cries "No, uncle Jesse! No!" while sleeping, but this is most likely a reference to a popular character on Full House. Matt Stone and Trey Parker are very good friends with John Stamos, the actor that played Uncle Jesse, further leading to this conclusion. Episode Fat Butt and Pancake Head suggests a sexual encounter between Ben Affleck and Cartman's hand, animated by an independent Jennifer Lopez-like personality. In a recent episode (Hell on Earth 2006) various depictions of Catholic priests with naked young boys on leashes references the ongoing controversies of priests abusing altar boys. In fact this subject had been referenced in Red Hot Catholic Love and is not a stranger to the South Park world.

The treatment of this theme ranges from realistic to cartoonish. For example, the character Butters Stotch clearly has some psychological issues as a result of the treatment he suffers at the hands of his parents; he is incontinent (in "AWESOM-O,” Cartman has to put a suppository in his rectum), has low self-esteem, and wrings his hands (although, strangely, Butters is also an unfailingly optimistic character and is one of the few genuinely nice people in the whole town, which often makes him a constant target for ridicule and abuse). However, his parents' emotional manipulation of him is shown as completely "over-the-top;" at one point, they try to sell Butters to Paris Hilton. Butters reveals that he has received anilingus from his uncle when detectives are questioning the children whether Chef has molested them, and in "Butters' Very Own Episode" his mother tries to kill him when she goes temporarily insane after learning of her husband's gay bathhouse proclivities. Butters, of course, survived with no knowledge of what was going on, until his parents publicly admitted what had happened (thus, yet again, crushing Butters' hopes for a functional family).

While Cartman and Butters have more overt personal experiences with their families, to the point of farce at times, Kenny, Stan and Kyle have also been shown to be neglected on a more subtle level.

Kenny comes from a poor family and, as a result, he and his siblings are shown to be malnourished due to his family's poverty. His father is an unemployed, barely functioning drunk who, while not abusive towards Kenny, is usually shown verbally arguing with his wife or being berated by her.

Stan suffers from a subtler type of neglect. His father likes to party (after he and Sharon separate he ends up at the party, for much younger people, at Cartman's "clubhouse") and is a frequent drinker, although he is nowhere near the level of alcoholism of Stuart McCormick and is able to provide for his family. Stan's older sister Shelley is a borderline sociopath who regularly physically abuses Stan and considers her younger brother to be subhuman. His relationship with his mom is equally strained, as she considers Stan's happiness secondary to her own, which she actually told him on one occasion in the episode, "Clubhouses.” She and Randy are completely blind to Shelley's abuse of Stan.

Kyle suffers at the hand of Cartman's continual racial slurs. Kyle's mother is over-protecting, attempting to censor the world that her son and the rest of the children experience. Her belief in her own moral compass has gone so far as to start a war with Canada over Asses of Fire, the Terrance and Phillip movie.

Religion

Multiple episodes have tackled the shaky logical foundations of cults, religious leaders who exploit worshipers for money, and the general problems with following religion too literally. Perhaps most indicative of the blasé notion towards over-fervent worship, the show's depiction of God in physical form is a strange hybrid of many animals. Further deepening the satire is God's claim to be a Buddhist. The show suggested at one point, in a joking matter, that heaven is full of Mormons who spend eternity cheerfully singing songs and making craft projects (implying that this is because that is the one "correct" religion). This is ironic because in the episode "All About Mormons" the show implies that Mormonism is a complete hoax made up by someone who was obviously lying. Other episodes discuss anti-Semitism and Jewish jokes. The family of Jewish character Kyle exhibits common Jewish stereotypes, like his strict demanding mother is a conservative activist and his father is a lawyer dressed in Hasidic Jewish garb.

In addition Jesus has been shown multiple times, living in South Park and hosting a public access call-in talk show (Jesus and Pals), and in one episode fighting Satan. (Within the world of South Park, Jesus died in 2002, saving Santa Claus from Iraqis; Santa said that, from now on, Christmas should be a celebration of Jesus). In a third season episode, "Jewbilee,” at a Jew Scouts camp, Moses appears in the form of the Master Control Program from Tron and tells the assembled children in an ominous voice, "I desire... macaroni pictures". He also appears this way in "Super Best Friends" and with VCR capabilities to boot. He also appeared as a judge in the episode Chef Aid.

The criticism of anti-religion is also apparent in South Park. In "All About Mormons" Stan ridicules the Mormons for believing a story that offers no proof. However, at the very end, a Mormon named Gary whom Stan had been hanging out with for most of the episode delivers his side of the story:

• Gary: All I ever did was try to be your friend, Stan, but you're so high and mighty you couldn't look past my religion and just be my friend back. You've got a lot of growing up to do, buddy. Suck my balls. (Gary walks off in disgust, leaving Stan and his friends stunned)
• Cartman: (after a pause) Damn, that kid is cool, huh?

South Park often hints that religious people may be illogical and that atheists can be overly arrogant. In "Red Hot Catholic Love,” Stone and Parker depict the recently converted atheist townsfolk as literally spewing crap from their mouths, coughing out actual feces as they discuss their dislike for religion and how exposure to religion could harm their kids (Cartman had recently found a way to eat by shoving food up the rectum and defecating out the mouth).

Similarly non-religious cults of personality which cross over into a religious-like structure are caricatured, such as the episode where a cult of "Blaintologists" (named for charismatic illusionist David Blaine) forms, and progresses to ritualistic mass cult suicide unless they obtain their tax-exempt status. According to the show's creators, it is a reference to Scientology, their first of many more to come.

The show has come under fire from conservative religious groups for its portrayal of Satan, who appears occasionally. Satan appears as a generally nice, easygoing guy just doing a difficult job. He hosts luaus in Hell, and is also presented as a homosexual, shown in committed relationships with some of Hell's denizens, including Saddam Hussein, who is the dominant one in the relationship, mentally and verbally abusing Satan, leading to Saddam's deaths and Satan's eventual single status; Satan's follow-up relationship with Chris ends when he learns (after visiting Heaven and asking advice from God) that Chris is "a pussy". A more recent episode has shown Satan having a Halloween party that everyone wants to be a part of and many of the Christian clergy have little boys wearing nothing but leashes.

In the tenth season episode "Go God Go", Ms. Garrison begins to date famous biologist Richard Dawkins after he convices her that there is no god. They make a plan to convert the whole world to atheism, and they eventually do. This is shown when Cartman freezes himself because he "can't wait for Nintendo Wii" and is awoken 500 years in the future where the whole world is atheist. Ironically, this all-atheist world is home to several warring factions in a dispute over what name to use for their atheist organization.

Environment

South Park has had multiple episodes with anti-environmentalist themes.

In the 1999 episode "Rainforest Schmainforest" an environmental activist, voiced by Jennifer Aniston, made a harrowing trip to the rain forest of Costa Rica with the children, and the experience caused her to conclude that the rain forest "sucks ass.” This episode seems to highlight the lack of in-depth knowledge many people have about a cause they are supporting, and the way in which they appear to 'jump on a bandwagon'.

The 2001 episode "Terrance and Phillip: Behind the Blow" is about the South Park Earth Day "Brainwashing Festival" where a group of conservationists try to brainwash the crowd into caring about the environment. They eventually start mutilating Kenny as punishment for the boys not keeping their promise of Terrence and Philip appearing at the festival.

In the 2005 episode "Two Days Before the Day After Tomorrow" mocks the connections between recent hurricanes and global warming. The title and several plot elements are a play on the film The Day After Tomorrow.

The 2006 episode "Smug Alert!" mocked the self-satisfaction and 'smugness' of people that drive hybrid vehicles (which cause "smug" instead of "smog") and featured George Clooney's Academy award acceptance speech as a major contributor to the dangers of "smug.” The importance of hybrid cars and the underlying good that they do for the environment is highlighted at the end of the episode indicating again that it is the people who are being satirized rather than what they represent. A further 2006 episode, "ManBearPig" mocked Al Gore's "attention seeking" outspokenness about the danger of global warming, ending with Al Gore going on to "...make a movie... a movie starring me!..." in what is presumably a jab at the film An Inconvenient Truth.

Awards

• South Park has been nominated for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Series six times (1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2005, and 2006). So far the show has only won once, for the 2005 episode Best Friends Forever.
• On April 5, 2006, it was announced that the show had won a Peabody Award. This is the third Comedy Central show to win, following two awarded to The Daily Show for its 2000 and 2004 presidential election coverage and one given to Mystery Science Theater 3000 in 1994.
• 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 was defeated by the show Family Guy.
• South Park: Bigger Longer and Uncut was nominated for an Oscar for "Best Music, Original Song" for the song "Blame Canada.” It was performed by Robin Williams during the program.

Future

On September 9 2005, Comedy Central struck a deal with Parker and Stone for three more seasons of the show. The network has committed to three more seasons of South Park over the next three years, meaning 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. [10] 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.

Trivia

• In 1995, George Clooney received a tape version of The Spirit of Christmas, the video greeting card which would inspire South Park. He thought it was so funny that he made copies and sent it around the LA area; Stone and Parker were so thankful for his help that they invited him to play a role in the show (voicing Stan Marsh's gay dog Sparky). He later appeared in the film South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut as the doctor who fails to save Kenny. Despite this history, Trey Parker and Matt Stone lampooned Clooney for his outspoken political views in their show ("Smug Alert") and their feature film Team America: World Police. Clooney later said that he would have been offended if he were not made fun of in the film.
• A short tribute sketch was shown for the 30th anniversary of Monty Python which parodied the Dead Parrot sketch. The parody takes part in a friend store, where Cartman walks in and complains that Kenny, the friend that he bought, is dead. Eventually, an ending showing crude cut outs of Terry Gilliam, Venus de Milo, and the Monty Python foot appear. Additionally, Parker has animated a South Park version of a joke called The Aristocrats for the documentary film of the same name.
• The Parker-Stone production company is named Braniff Productions, after a defunct airline. The logo (which featured a computer-generated shot of the Braniff airline with the subtitle "...believe it") originally appeared in Episode 101 as a joke, but it was decided that the logo would close every episode. The melody that plays while the airplane is shown is taken from Shpadoinkle, a song that appears in Trey Parker's first movie, Cannibal! The Musical.
• So far, seasons five, nine and ten are the only seasons to not feature a Christmas episode. Seasons nine and ten are the only seasons to have all of the episodes air in the correct production order.
• Warner Bros. originally distributed the first two seasons on VHS and DVD, which included various opening segments like "A Fireside Chat with Matt and Trey" and "Makin' Bacon with Macon”; Time Warner and Viacom both owned 50% stakes in Comedy Central, with the DVD rights belonging to Warner Bros. Beginning with the third season discs, the DVD rights were transferred to Paramount (after Viacom bought Time Warner's 50% of the network in April 2003, making it a fully-owned MTV Network), and since then future titles and seasons have begun without any opening segments or sketches.

See also

• List of South Park episodes
• South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut
• South Park Republican
• Cheesy Poofs
• South Park Slash
• Chewbacca defense
• Chocolate Salty Balls
• Colorado
• Park County, Colorado

External links

• South Park Studios Official website
• South Park at Comedy Central
• South Park at IMDb