South Park Parody Of Society Essay

South Park as Parody of Society South Park began airing in 1997. The commercials that preceded it gave the impression of it beinganother stupid cartoon; however, when I began watching, I realized important issues were being covered through the repeated behaviors and actions of its characters, through the influences these actions could have on the viewers, through the reinforcement and rejections of certain stereotypes, through the long-term effects that could result from watching the program, and through its reflection of social reality. Some of the repeated behaviors and actions of the characters include one of the children (Kenny) dying during each episode (followed by Stan yelling, "Oh, my God! They've killed Kenny" (South Park); the children ragging the overweight kid; the African-American chef obsessing about sex; and the geneticist performing insane experiments in his spooky laboratory. Kenny has been shot, run over by a train, impaled on a flag pole, beheaded, crushed by Mir, and taken by Death himself--to name a few. Cartman, the overweight kid, has been called "fat ass," "lard ass," and "the fat kid" (South Park). There are numerous references to his weight throughout each episode; he eats continuously, thanks to his Mother's cooking and offering cookies,
American society has suffered from the rules of political correctness, the fear of AIDS, and the fear of knowledge (the fear of going too far into God's domain--thanks to our Puritanical background). Maybe South Park gives us release from repression by allowing us to laugh at the things we fear the most: death, ridicule of our differences by our peers, the contracting of deadly diseases, and advancements in science. (I am sure that most of us need release from the built-up tensions of daily life; South Park has given us this