South Park Essay

            One of the things that South Park writers Trey Parker and Matt Stone have always done is take a relevant issue and push it to such an extreme that it’s funny.  This technique can also show viewers how ridiculous the reality actually is.  Their TV show has tackled issues such as the government bail outs, hate crimes legislation, and global warming.  While many people can toss South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut aside as a stupid, foul mouthed cartoon, it actually deals with issues quite relevant in American society, such as censorship, parenting, how children participate in the political process, and political overgeneralization. 

            South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut revolves around the same 4^th graders as the TV show: Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Kenny McCormick and Eric Cartman (who is often referred to by his last name).  The group goes to see the new Canadian film, “Terrence and Philip: Asses of Fire” even though it’s rated R.  The foulmouthed vocabulary of the duo quickly rubs off on all the children of the small mountain town, which of course outrages their mothers.  Kyle’s mother, Sheila blames Canada for turning her son into a potty mouth, and recruits the others to form Mothers Against Canada.  Meanwhile Kenny dies after setting a fart on fire (an act inspired by Terrence and Philip) and spends most of the movie in hell with Satan and Saddam Hussein, but this subplot is not as important in terms of politics.  The end result is an all out war between the United States and Canada along with the planned execution of Terrence and Philip and it’s up to Stan, Kyle and Cartman to save the day. 

            As Stan says at the end of the movie, “This is about freedom of speech, about censorship”.  Take “the V chip” that is mentioned in the movie.  It’s a device that is installed in a child (in this case, Eric Cartman) and gives him an electric shock whenever he swears.  When you think about it, this is a very unconstitutional practice.  However, we do it in real life all the time even if not to the same extent as what happens in the movie.  Most people, even Americans who believe in free speech, will agree that certain “swear words” shouldn’t be used by children.  Children are scolded for saying such words, and adults are frowned upon if they use these words around children.  However, as Cartman says in the movie, “What’s the big deal?  It doesn’t hurt anybody.”  Plenty of adults, including those in the public eye swear all the time, if anything some are known for their bad mouths.  Why is it that adults can get away with saying words that children can’t even when the words really don’t hurt anyone?  And one would think such words are as hurtful coming from an adult as a child.  How old does a child have to be before they are allowed use as much potty talk as they please under the protection of the Constitution?  All are questions provoked by South Park:  Bigger, Longer, and Uncut.

            Parenting is another issue that is talked about in this movie.  As the 4 main characters say right before they go to see the Terrence and Philip movie for the first time: “Off to the movies we shall go/where we learn everything that we know/because the movies teach us what our parents don’t have time to say”.  It’s not that hard to believe that children use movies, TV and the internet to learn things their parents don’t teach them.  Another issue is parents who blame others for their kids’ misbehavior.  At the end of the movie Kyle tells his mother “…you never took the time to talk to me.  Whenever I get in trouble, you go off and blame everyone else.  But I’m the one to blame, deal with me.  You keep going off and fighting all these causes, but I don’t want a fighter, I want my mom.”  The movie has an all around message telling parents that keeping their kids under control is their job, and that if every parent made it their responsibility to take care of their kids and not blame society (or in this case, Canada) for messing their kids up, the world would be a better place.  This message is also evident in the scene where Kyle is trying to tell his mom to stop her crusade against Terrence and Philip and the rest of Canada.  She ignores her son to tell a crowd how important is to protect America’s youth, making her look rather stupid.  Parenting is so important because how parents treat their children is one of the main sources of political socialization.  Later, when the 4^th graders form “La Resistance” (a group intended to save Terrence and Philip) the three characters who start it (Stan, Kyle and Cartman) are all sons of Mothers Against Canada.  While both groups fought on opposite sides, the kids still followed their mothers’ example in forming a political organization to fight for a cause they believed in. 

            Another concept in this movie is political overgeneralization, meaning the tendency to disagree with large groups simply because of something a few members of this group said or did.  For example, it seems absolutely ridiculous for Sheila to blame the entire country of Canada for the potty humor of two Canadian citizens.  However, this happens all the time in America, a great example being the 2006 midterm elections.  Democrats won the majority in congress and many people believe it to be because of Republican George W. Bush’s unpopularity.  For a citizen to vote against all republicans because they don’t like the Republican president is actually quite similar to what Sheila did to Canada. 

            One of the things I learned and thought to be particularly interesting is how the children participated politically.  In fact, the movie even portrays them as being smarter than the political figures, who are portrayed as idiots. When President Bill Clinton announces that the U.S. has declared war on Canada, he says it’s because Canada has killed the Baldwin brothers.  The general of the U.S puts all the black soldiers in a battalion and expects them to be a “human shield” for the white soldiers.  When one of them asks if he’s ever heard of the Emancipation Proclamation the general says that he doesn’t listen to hip hop.  Meanwhile, it’s the kids who realize just how crazy going to war with Canada over some bad words really is.

            I learned from South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut that kid play a crucial role in politics.  It is easy for many people to think kids are unimportant because they don’t vote, and voting is one of the main ways people get involved.  However, it is not only in the movie that kids participate in politics.  In both 2004 and 2008, popular children’s network Nickelodeon ran a campaign called “Kids Pick the President” where through TV and internet they encouraged kids to research the candidates and then cast a vote online (nick.com/kpp).  Over 2 million votes were cast in ’08.  The website was not just for voting though.  It included educational materials about the candidates and the election process itself, as well as messages boards for kids to express their opinions about the election. 

            Kids are also important in that they influence the way adults think, another idea portrayed quite well in South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut.  In one scene where Sheila debates with the Canadian Minister of Movies, the Canadian Minister says “Well the film is R rated and is not intended for children.” “But of course children are going to see it!” argues Sheila.  The Canadian Minister of Movies also says “The United States has graphic violence on television all the time.  We can’t believe that a movie with some foul language would piss you off so much.”  None if this would be an issue if Sheila didn’t have kids, or if say, there were no kids living in South Park.  The war with Canada is based entirely on the idea of protecting children, another theme common in American politics.  Countless political ads talk about protecting children, probably because it’s something few people can disagree with.  Whether it’s issues about education or spending money that the next generation will have to pay off, how different policies affect kids seems to be an ever-relevant issue.

            While the overall purpose of South Park: Bigger longer and Uncut it to entertain the audience as opposed to educate, this can actually be a benefit.  Because the movie was not necessarily written to give its viewers a new outlook on issues, but just to make them laugh, it can influence an entirely different group of citizens than a political movie.  If a film (usually a documentary) is produced solely to make a political point, oftentimes no one will go to see it unless they already believe in that point.  When people know ahead of time that a movie is going to preach to them, they will oftentimes make up their mind about the issue before the opening credits.  With South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut, people who don’t vote, don’t get involved, and don’t even have opinions about politics will still see it just for the laughs.  It can reach out to people who don’t even care about politics and perhaps provoke political thought in this demographic.  This is how South Park can influence public opinion and convince viewers to consider such important issues like censorship, etc. and why it plays just as important a role in politics as more serious films.