South Park: Crude, Rude, and Completely Relevant

"Oh my God, they killed Kenny!" "I love chocolate salty balls!" "Don't forget to bring a towel!" "The choice is between a turd sandwich and a giant douche." What do all of these seemingly unrelated phrases mean? Where do they come from and what relevance do they have to our culture and in our society? The answer lies within four children who hail from a small town in Colorado called South Park. Since 1997, they have changed the world of adult cartoons and continue to remain socially relevant while poignantly remarking on today's culture and lifestyle.

In the beginning, South Park began as a cartoon filled with profanity, cheap laughs, fart jokes, and crude humor. Told through the eyes of four 3rd graders, South Park began as a cartoon that mainly functioned and lasted as a result of shock value. Today, the Comedy Central staple has evolved into a media powerhouse as well as an incredibly accurate and intelligent commentary on the way America holds itself politically, culturally, and globally. The show is still told through the eyes of the four young children but the tone of the show has dramatically shifted. The situations that the children get themselves into now often show the ignorance and stupidity of the adults of South Park. Trey Parker and Matt Stone have created a variety of characters whom reside in South Park in order to act as a mirror for America's ignorant and often absurd culture. Extremely racist, sexist, and homophobic ideals are often characterized through the different people living in South Park and the situations that they get themselves into. In one episode, the citizens try to eliminate all African Americans from their town because they are all too rich. They don "ghost costumes" (which look remarkably similar to Ku Klux Klan uniforms) in order to scare the African Americans from the town. Of course, the children see right through the ploy and the adults are left to appear ignorant and stupid.

Although the show is highly offensive, it comments on political and social situations in a very unique manner, using tongue-in-cheek methods to hyperbolize the mentalities and actions of Americans so that viewers can easily understand the meaning and apply it to their own lives. Soon after George Bush's second term in office began, an episode of South Park was released portraying the school mascot elections of South Park Elementary as a choice between a turd sandwich and a giant douche. Although rather inappropriate and seemingly childish, the social context in which the episode was presented was obviously a large factor in the reason it was created. It contains a high degree of symbolism and tongue-in-cheek humor which comments on global issues. Nobody is safe in South Park. Celebrities, presidents, homosexuals, African Americans, poor people, rich people, carnies, the Internet...you name it. The show has even made fun of their own creators and staff. South Park has officially invaded America in an effort to entertain and comment on the pitfalls of America and its global position.

South Park is not only a representation of globalization because of its humor and its ability to tackle global issues. It is also a gigantic source of merchandise revenue, selling t-shirts, dolls, video games, movies, drink coasters, hats, television on DVD, and much more. It is a well constructed media text that has multiple layers: it is both humorous and culturally relevant. It is a brazen and unabashed show, refusing to answer to anybody (including the television censors.) It appeals to a variety of demographics and with an intelligent outlook, can be viewed as much more than a simple, vulgar cartoon. South Park proves that a television can be globally important in a subtle manner and stresses the importance for analysis of globalization in the current media.