I'm still enjoying this season, and critics are still determined to say that it's at best average. I hate always bringing things back to my opinion, but part of analyzing TV is viewing how it reflects culture, and even though many people watch South Park, they are still far outnumbered by the people who don't. I, however, am even farther from the everyman than any South Park fan. This is probably, subliminally, why I have been jumping between the two opinions, in a poor attempt to give the full reflection of our culture. How about we get to that episode now? Cartman starts a new sport pitting crack babies in a cockfight, and convinces Kyle to get in on the business. The episode is spent with the team trying to work around paying the babies, while Kyle constantly tries to ethically justify the whole business.
I'll spell it out for the three people who don't understand what's going on. You see, college athletes do not, and are in fact not allowed, to receive compensation for anything. This is something I disagree with, and apparently so do Matt Stone and Trey Parker. In this episode we get to watch as student athletes are compared to slaves, and Cartman gets to do one of his famous catchphrases in a funny accent. Is South Park trying to appease fans with some abortion jokes and other crude humor? I don't think so, there's really only one point where I would call the humor fairly crude, and even that is still tame by South Park standards.
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| Kyle is crying with laughter |
What's amazing is the first 25 seconds of the episode are, what I think is a satire of the South Park audience. In these short seconds we see Terrance and Phillip (the crude Canadian television show) fart and poop on each other. This is immediately followed by Kyle and Stan pronouncing it the best episode ever. It's possible that I'm reading between lines that don't exist, but this would not be the first time that Terrance and Phillip were used as a double-coded messenger representing South Park. With critical response still only grudgingly conceding that the newest episodes are average, I think Matt Stone and Trey Parker are painting a picture of their audience, namely that they are childish and live to see crude and offensive material. Given that any message in South Park is exaggerated, this is a justified message. The South Park audience is mostly under 30, and many children watch it as the quintessential middle finger to their parents. And while I'm tempted to disagree with the second portion of the statement, the currently most popular episodes this season are "T.M.I." and "HUMANCENTiPAD" which each have more crude humor than any of the other episodes.
I don't think Matt Stone and Trey Parker hate doing South Park, and I'd be surprised if they didn't love their audience, but it has been clear all season that the two want to branch out a little. This is exactly what they've done this season and it hasn't sat well with fans. It is important to note that the last contract between Matt Stone, Trey Parker and Comedy Central, required the two to finish 15 seasons of the show, but I have not seen anything about renewing the show for a 16th. Do not fret, I have no doubt that South Park will be around for another 5 or 10 years, but with the negative reception to the creators ideas, they might not have such a prominent role with the show in the upcoming years, especially with Matt Stone and Trey Parker running off with their musical dream. So either fans will warm up to the new humor, a new audience will emerge, or the show will revert to using the same old poop jokes as before. I have no idea what will happen, but if it's the last option, I will not be the only one to cry, and it won't be happy.
