South+Park

=South Park=

Traditionally, cartoons have been considered a children's genre and have been limited to Saturday morning or after-school time slots. The notion that cartoons could target other demographics beyond children became mainstream with the airing of //The Simpsons// in 1988, which has now gained the title of longest running cartoon show¹. Even though The Simpsons was considered to be a children's program at first glance, it dealt with topics and humour that children simply wouldn't fully understand. The Simpsons broke the way for cartoons to target older demographics. Today, another cartoon is making headways not only for its humour, but for its underlying messages and themes; this show is South Park.

A Brief History
South Park was created by two University of Colorado film students, Trey Parker & Matt Stone, and the first full-length episode was aired on Comedy Central in 1997². Originally, the show was animated by manipulating construction paper cut-outs through stop-motion film techniques, but has grown to use computer mediated animation software³. To date, the series is entering its 11th season and has aired over 150 episodes. Creators Trey Parker & Matt Stone have agreed to produce 12 seasons for Comedy Central, but they have the option to extend this contract. Upon its debut, South Park made headways for its heavy use of toilet humour and profanity, which was considered highly controversial because the main characters of the show are 4 boys in middle-school. However, the show has been able to use humour to raise and question issues. South Park's ability to touch basic on current (and most often controversial) issues with humour has enabled it to be one of the most successful cartoon shows on television today.

Themes & Issues on the Show
If there has been a major public issue in the last year, odds are that it has been brought up on South Park. Right from it's first season, South Park began using satirical humour to bring up issues that normally would never be parodied. Episode 6 of Season 1, entitled 'Death' dealt with euthanasia where Stan's grandfather pleads for someone to help kill himself4. In the most recent season, Season 10, South Park has dealt with such issues as the 'Mohammed Cartoon', the James Frey & Oprah incident, conspiracy's about the 9/11 attacks, the double standards regarding sexual abuse by teachers, and atheism, evolution & religion4.

Parker & Stone often have several themes congruently present in each show, where the smaller themes work to bring out the issue of the larger, underlying theme. For example, in Episode 12 of Season 7, entitled All About Mormons, the Mormon faith is explained (and ridiculed) through the introduction of a new character from a different town, named Gary. Upon learning about Mormonism, Stan believes it is a ridiculous religion based on fiction and that Mormon’s in general are weird. Through out this whole time, Gary still is being friendly towards Stan. The episode concludes with Gary explaining to Stan that his religion (which can be applied to all religions) may not be based on solid evidence, but the important thing is that it promotes good family values. Gary finishes the episode telling Stan that, "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."5. Parker & Stone show that people shouldn't be judged by what they believe in, but rather how they act as a person.

Awards
Over the years South Park has won several awards from a number of different organizations. Some of its more notable awards have been an Emmy Award for the episode entitled Best Friends Forever. This episode made references to the Terri Schiavo case, where a huge legal and public debate ensued over who had the right to decide if life-support should be used to keep a person alive in a permanent vegetative state. Remarkably, the episode aired hours before the real Terri Schiavo passed away after being removed from life-support6. South Park has also won an Emmy Award, GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) Award for Outstanding TV, even though critics of the show say it is derogatory towards homosexuals².

¹ "[|A Brief History of the Simpsons". The Simpsons Archive. 23 Dec. 1999] ² [|"South Park". Wikipedia. 7 Dec. 2006] ³ "[|South Park Animation". Everwonder.com.] 4 [|"List of South Park Episodes". Wikipedia. 5 Dec. 2006] 5 [|"All About Mormans". Wikipedia. 2 Dec. 2006.] 6 [|"Best Friends Forever". Wikipedia. 2 Dec. 2006.]