South park
Southpark is an american animated tv series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone. It first aired in 1997 on Comedy Central and since then every year new seasons are released. The basic plot is quite simple. It tells a story about four, ten years old, boys from fictional town South Park, Colorado. Stan Marsh is the most average of them, nothing charactering about him. Kyle Broflovski is a redhead jew and also he is from Jersey. Eric Cartman is a anti semitic obese kid who is also narcissistic. The last boy Kenny McCormick is the poor one whose parents took a part in cthulhu cult which resulted in Kenny's immortality. During the first five sezon Kenny died in every episode. Except boys there are a lot other main characters as their parents, classmates, teachers, god, satan, Chef, Towelie( talking towell who gets high all the time), Mr. Hankey the christmas poo,and many more.
In South park there is a lot of poop humor but it’s not all there is. South park touches sometimes serious subjects and mocks but also teaches about them. I’ m going to give you some examples of that.
In "Le Petit Tourette" (s11e08) Cartman pretends to have Tourette syndrome so that he can say whatever he wants without getting into trouble. After airing Tourette Syndrome Association conceded that the episode was well researched and provided basic knowledge and raises awareness about disorder.
In "Trapped in the Closet" (s09e12) they mock scientology religion by saying what scientologists believe. Tom Cruise boycotted this episode(because he is a scientologist) by refusing to promote new Mission Impossible and forced the studio not to air the episode. Studio executives had to listen to him because Comedy Central and Paramount pictures have the same owner. His actions postponed airing of this episode by a year when tv show creators threatened to leave Comedy Central if they didn't air this episode.
Last year there were a lot of situations in the USA where people or companies supported protesters from honk kong. As a result of this support, China has to use its power of a big consumer market and make those people apologize. At that time the episode “Band in China '' (s23e02)(sounds like banned in China) has been aired. After less than a week South Park has been banned in China because of criticism of chinese government.
Fun Fact about creators
In 2019 during the Academy awards everybody was shocked when they saw some man wearing a dress. They said he was the first man to wear a dress to the gala. False. Trey Parker and Matt Stone did this in 2000 when they dressed up as Jennifer Lopez and Gwyneth Paltrow. During this evening they were on acid and also were nominated for Blame Canada, a musical sequence in the movie, South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut. Unfortunately they lost to Phil Collins.
You can watch South Park any time you want on their official site for free southpark.cc.com.
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Questions
1. Have you seen South Park before? Were you aware that South park discusses such serious topics? If you haven’t watched you, would you watch it now after the things I told you?
2. Do you know any other tv series that raises important matters in a sarcastic way?
Extra question for people who have seen it
Who are your favorite characters? And why is Cartman and Randy?
Comments
2. Maybe it’s not the best possible example, but polish tv series “Świat według Kiepskich” often raises topics associated with the political situation in Poland. I remember for example the episode “Ferdynand K.” which is a parody of “The Trial” novel by Franz Kafka set in the reality of Poland under the rules of the first PiS government, when Zbigniew Ziobro was a ministry of justice. Another, more recent example of such series would be the “The Chairman’s Ear” (“Ucho Prezesa”)
I love South Park! I watch it almost every day. I have seen all of the episodes, so I am aware that some topics the show touches are indeed serious. Especially new episodes are more serious than older ones. I think it is because the producers are older, so juvenile humor doesn’t suit them anymore.
2. Do you know any other tv series that raises important matters in a sarcastic way?
Rick and Morty is good successor of South Park. Graphics and animations are much better, but there are more annoying characters like Jerry or Summer and her friends who I despise.
Extra question for people who have seen it
Who are your favorite characters? And why is Cartman and Randy?
My favorite characters ARE Cartman and Randy? How did you know?
They are the most interesting and characteristic of all heroes in the show.
Yes, I watched it all. I really had to rest after engineer degree so I finished 4 seasons in a week.
2. Do you know any other tv series that raises important matters in a sarcastic way?
Propably Simpsons as they did everything, but I never watched though.
My favorite characters are actually Kyle, Stan and Kenny, but Randy is also nice though during his farm time he get kind of annoying by the end of the season. Cartman is just fatface that can be funny but sometimes he can really piss me of, don't know why though.
I've never seen this show. But I heard it's controversial.
2. Do you know any other tv series that raises important matters in a sarcastic way?
The Simsons are a satirical look at the American lifestyle and culture, From the Polish animated seasons it seems to me that Captain Bobma and other animated series by Walaszek are similar to the series you presented.
I did. In fact, I watched it when I was a kid, and did not realize about the level of seriousness it raises.
2. Do you know any other tv series that raises important matters in a sarcastic way?
The Simpsons, definitely. Other examples might be The Family Guy, although it is more of a satire about the American lifestyle.
It may sound unbelievable, but I didn't watch it. What's he talking about I already know - such a small spoiler. Your statement tempts me to devote some time to this film. Maybe this isn't a bad idea.
2. Do you know any other tv series that raises important matters in a sarcastic way?
They certainly exist. The only question is what is important to whom? Important because political or important because of life.
No, I have never seen South Park before. I have just heard about this sarcastic cartoon a lot, including the fact that there are discussed such topics in it. But I didn`t know exactly the examples which you described in the presentation, so it was interesting for me.
Yes, maybe I will watch South Park one day.
2. Do you know any other tv series that raises important matters in a sarcastic way?
Yes, I think Simpsons is such an animation series that makes fun of serious modern problems. Plus recently I began to watch Rick and Morty, an adult animated science fiction sitcom. And there is also a lot of sarcasm about "serious" things.
I have never watched South Park, but I have heard about it for quite some time. it seems too long to me and I don't think I will have time for it.
2. Do you know any other tv series that raises important matters in a sarcastic way?
I can't think of one in English right now but I know many raised serious matters in sarcastic ways. But "When They See Us" is a Netflix tv series that raised serious matters but not through sarcasm.
2. I know several series, youtube channels, which try to present current events in this way. Certainly they are such series as "President's Ear", which discusses current political events. In addition, I know and recommend the channel yt "Hrtejerzy" - it presents the daily adventures of IT employees.
3. Unfortunately, I used to watch the series and now unfortunately I don't recognize heroes anymore. I know that this fat man - Cartman worried me the most. Oh, he was funny but also irritating.
2. I don't watch this type of series to be honest. I'm not a fan of this type of entertainment. I want to watch a series with real actors or some documentary. I don't know why but I really cant stand series like south park.
Yes, I have seen it before, but I didn’t learn English at that time, so I only watched the version with subtitles, and there was only one season when there was a translation, so I only watched no more than 20 episodes. I remember the things discussed in the first season are not very serious. After reading your presentation, I am interested in watching the new seasons.
2. Do you know any other tv series that raises important matters in a sarcastic way?
Sorry, I seldom watch this kind of tv series in English, so I hardly can give any example, maybe The Family Guy? I only watched few episodes.
3. Who are your favorite characters? And why is Cartman and Randy?
Cartman, he is the most interesting character in the first season, he is such a bad kid XD
2. If we think about animated ones then 'The Simpsons" are a must on such list. Aside from that, I think in lesser degree "Family Guy" and from newer things "BoJack Horseman".
3. Yes. Indeed those two. This show wouldn't be a success without them. I'd have a problem to pick one of them though. I think Randy is a bit more important and for sure a lot more likeable character. At least now. It's interesting how initially supporting cast, since South Park initially focused on kids, with aging creators, began to shift its focus onto adults.
2. Nothing I'd reccomend.
3. As I said before I haven't seen South Park
2. I highly recommend Bojack Horseman. This Netflix production mixes human characters with anthropomorphic animal characters to create a satire on the Hollywood bubble. The show is highly-praised for its realistic take on dealing with depression, trauma, addiction, self-destructive behavior, racism, sexism, sexuality, and the human condition. In my opinion, Bojack Horseman redefines the term ‘dark humour’.
3. I can't think of any, since it's been a while since I've watched it.
I love South Park and I have seen many of their seasons. Not all of them but many. Their approach to serious topic with this satirical and yet smart joke is something the works with my sense of humour. This show is great at presenting how silly some things in politics, life and generally reality are. People might call it dumb and they might be right in some way but our reality is dumb as well and that makes this show relatable.
2. Do you know any other tv series that raises important matters in a sarcastic way?
There are many of those. I haven't seen this partiular one myself but from what I heard the best show that presents reality in a silly way might be "Curb your enthusiasm".
Who are your favorite characters? And why is Cartman and Randy?
Cartman is the biggest asshole that I have ever seen and because of that it is so hard not to love him. You just want to hate him but he is so bad that you just can't. Randy however is just great. Dumb but great.
2. Not really, South Park is the only sarcastic tv series i have ever seen.
You interested me in watching this particular episode of kiepskich, i’m going to google it up.
2. It seems to me that I don't know any other TV series that deal with various issues in a sarcastic way. Maybe because I don't have time to watch.
3. As I said before, I didn't watch South Park, so I can't answer this question.
Rick and Morty is my new favourite animated tv show, their humor is very intense.
How did I know about Cartman and Randy? Because they do most of terrific stuff.
Every kid (in every town) needs to have some knowledge of South park, and its impact on the youth. The creators, which is the rest of the company, are brilliant creators. They are trying to make a 4,000 episode series, and its not a big step.
2. Do you know any other tv series that raises important matters in a sarcastic way?
I think that rick and morty can be argued as being politically relevant but the show also makes fun of both western politics and the japanese, making it a lot less topical.
I have seen only some parts of its episodes. And yeah I've heard about serious topics in it. The reason I haven't seen it yet is that I don't like the way its animation looks. Just not attractive to me. But I know fans of this show and their opinion so probably it is good.
2. Do you know any other tv series that raises important matters in a sarcastic way?
Rick and Morty, Simpsons, somehow Gravity Falls and Adventure Time. If we talk about cartoons. It is difficult to remember some other than cartoons but they exist, 100%.
2. I think that Dr. House's sense of humor may be quite sarcastic. I haven't seen many episodes but from what I can remember this may be similar.
2. Yes, Bojack Horseman. Although this series is not so sarcastic, it raises many important questions. But for the most part they are existential, not public issues. Must watch.
3. My fav character is probably Kyle Broflowski. He is righteous and in the same time he's an ass, a very realistic character. Cartman is a cool char because he is funny. Randy is good because he is funny and clumsy and a bit mentally retarded.
2. Do you know any other tv series that raises important matters in a sarcastic way?
1. Yes, and unfortunately I have to admit that I tried many times and unfortunately I did not like it. It's not that the humor is too offensive to me or the fact that it's an animation because, for example, I had a great time watching Rick and Morty and South Park didn't have that much fun. And unfortunately, I still can't get another try with South Park, even though the topics you mentioned were very interesting, I can't, I don't feel like it.
2. Unfortunately, no, I watch very little TV in general, and I could even say practically not at all. I'm sure there are a few because ridiculing and stigmatizing human stupidity in a sarcastic way will always be good to see but I can't give you specific titles
1. Oh man, of course I've seen South Park before. It's one of my favourite TV shows ever! I'm very aware that South park discusses such serious topics but I love how it never fails to also make fun of said topics. I especially remember when after the World Trade Center attacks they made an episode about Osama Bin Laden getting owned so the Americans could dissociate themselves from the entire situation. But I really hate how South Park used to be about parodying reality and nowadays it simple shows the reality because it's already a parody on it's own.
2. Of course I know many shows like that. "The Simpsons", "Bojack Horseman" , "Rick and Morty" (but this one is for people with very high IQ only)… There's also classics like "The Office" or more recent "After Life". Honestly, these kind of shows are my favourite.
3. Ah, yes, Cartman and Randy are very cool and nice but it's Kenny who's my absolute favourite. I just really like the fact that he's an immortal being and a friend of Satan. But I also love Randy, especially knowing that he adds Crème fraîche to all of his dishes. ;) And Cartman's song about Kyle's Mom used to be my ring tone for a long time.
Yes, I used to watch it, I definitely like this cartoon, and I would like to watch it again. I do remember some topics about politics, mass media and etc.
I remember one episode where the topic was that media concentrated more on entertainment problems then on real people problems. The way they showed it was really funny and at the same time they showed real situation.
2. Cartoons I think it is Simpsons and Rick and Morty, I don't know others. I watched Rick and Morty it is very funny and there are lots of sarcastic jokes about politicians. I haven't watched The Simpons a lot.
I have seen some episodes before. I am not a big fan of animated videos but a lot of movies have something else to offer than you can see at the first.
2. Do you know any other tv series that raises important matters in a sarcastic way?
I didn't watch this one but i heard few times the simpsons can be quite similar to south park.
2 / Many animated series raise important topics or focus on a more adult listener. I can immediately recall such as: Family Guy, The Simpsons, Mr. Pixel and Horse Jack.
I have seen a few episodes but never had enough time or interest to watch all the seasons. I am aware that it touches on important issues. Maybe someday I will get back to it.
2. Do you know any other tv series that raises important matters in a sarcastic way?
Maybe Rick and Morty, but it's more subtle. Also Family Guy.
2. I think that similar to South Park would be The Simson’s my friends actually showed me some episodes and this is the only tv series that I have watched and raised important matters in such sarcastic way.
I haven't seen South Park before but you convinced me to dig into that topic and the issues it sometimes rises.
2. Do you know any other tv series that raises important matters in a sarcastic way?
I'm not a fan of tv series at all. n a sarcastic way I barely don’t know but I loved to watch Game of Thrones which had many interesting references.
I wasn't able to watch any more episodes than the first season. Maybe I just don't get it. Perhaps if I watched the newer epispdes I would get into it. I prefer polish cartoon "Kapitan Bomba" [*].
2. Do you know any other tv series that raises important matters in a sarcastic way?
Rick and Morty because they focus on a variety of subjects and it is presented in a fun way. It's pretty great because they tie everything in with science. Maybe polish cartoons from Bartosz Walaszek. They are also pretty good and touch the subject of politics and current situation in Poland.
Yes, I have seen a lot of episodes actually. I was fully aware of the topics raised in the series, that is actually one of the factors that made me start watching it. I always loved the way the producers marginalize some of the taboo topics
2. Do you know any other tv series that raises important matters in a sarcastic way?
There are actually many of them. First ones that come to my mind are: Family Guy, The Simpsons, Rick and Morty and probably the most savage is Brickleberry.
2. I don't think I'm watching any movies/series that are supposed to be stupid or serious
I only once watched South Park, it was 10 years ago. I do not remember exactly. But at that time, this series did not make such a cool impression on me, which is probably why I never watched it anymore. But I read your article, I think that the authors have a very original way of ridiculing modern society. I think that I will watch at least one episode next time if I have such an opportunity. Probably 10 years ago I could not see this since I was young. And this series is clearly not for children.
2. Do you know any other tv series that raises important matters in a sarcastic way?
I can’t say 100% since I don’t watch a lot of TV series. I know the series Black Mirror, the questions of modern society, modern lifestyle and people we face almost every day are also raised there. This series has a very good idea. I can’t say that this is sarcasm, but at least the authors show with their creativity the sins of people in the 21st century.
I watched South Park a few years ago, I've never had a problem with the form or the topics discussed in this series. Unfortunately, I haven't seen any more episodes for years. For lack of time, I stopped watching around the 14th season and did not resume watching.
2. Do you know any other tv series that raises important matters in a sarcastic way?
Maybe the cult TV series "Married ... with children"? It addressed the problems of the lower social strata in the US while ridiculing everything and everyone - just like south park. In addition, everyone probably remembers the famous Al’s 4 touchdowns in one match :)
Extra question for people who have seen it
Who are your favorite characters? And why is Cartman and Randy?
Kenny is my favorite character. I like the story of his immortality and how nobody noticed his resurrections except Kenny of course. And I always loved his orange hoodie ^^
2. Like most, I think the Simpsons are a similar series. This series also tackles similar issues and persists in the climate. As for Polish series of this type, I also watched "Włatcy Móch".
3. Of course, almost everyone will answer that his favorite characters are Cartman and Randy. They are the most charismatic and interesting characters from this series.
About 7 years ago I tried to watch South Park but after second episode I gave up. As I remember I didn't like the style of animation and jokes, they are too immoral for me. To be honest, I don't want to watch South Part, there are a lot of TV series that raise social issues and ridicule current system.
2. Do you know any other tv series that raises important matters in a sarcastic way?
I am not a huge fan of such genre so can't tell you a lot of them I watched Rick and Morty, Misfits, Skins.
Yes, I watched it all. I really had to rest after engineer degree so I finished 4 seasons in a week.
2. Of course I know many shows like that. "The Simpsons", "Bojack Horseman" , "Rick and Morty" (but this one is for people with very high IQ only)… There's also classics like "The Office" or more recent "After Life". Honestly, these kind of shows are my favourite.
3. Unfortunately, no, I watch very little TV in general, and I could even say practically not at all. I'm sure there are a few because ridiculing and stigmatizing human stupidity in a sarcastic way will always be good to see but I can't give you specific titles
About Rick and Morty as you said they don't spent whole episode on discussing serious matters, they only do one liner punches.
Yes I did and there are some episodes that are hilarious. I thing it is very important that real events based histories are included to the show. It can spread some awarness of some facts or phenomenons.
2. Do you know any other tv series that raises important matters in a sarcastic way?
Yes. Rick and Morty is amazing Cartoon and many of the episodes are based on real physics that for some may be important. It is fun to see how creators of the show can use those theories to create something completely new, both hilarious and interesting.
Bojack is also a great show, it makes me believe that things shown there are really happening in hollywoo.
I think that creators started to show randy as an adult child and fits perfectly in to show about kids. This gave them ability to show irrational behavior among adult people.
I haven’t seen it but I heard many positive opinions about it. I am planning on doing it somewhere in the future, maybe during vacation. One of my close friends also recommended it to me and sent me a few YouTube links to watch.
2. Do you know any other tv series that raises important matters in a sarcastic way?
I think that BoJack Horseman might accord with similar genre. I only watched one season but I remember that I really enjoyed it. A friend who is a regular watcher, really likes it as well. Apart from that, I'd say that Rick & Morty might be similar as well.
Yes, I do. Of course it is the main reason why this series is great and that funny
2. Do you know any other tv series that raises important matters in a sarcastic way?
For example BoJack Horseman or Rick & Morty and probably many many Netflix or HBO production
No, I have never watched South Park before. I wouldn't see it even after this because I really don't like this type of graphics and animations.
2. Do you know any other tv series that raises important matters in a sarcastic way?
Yes, I know some. For example Disenchantment and A Series of Unfortunate Events are a great series with sarcasm, black humor and human's serious problems.
I have seen South Park before, and I was aware they raise important topics in their episodes. I was amused that they were so up to date with new episodes. I forgot about it and thanks to You, I'll definitely watch the newest episodes because it was a really cool series.
2. Do you know any other tv series that raises important matters in a sarcastic way?
I don't think so, nothing pops in my mind. There are a lot of tv series that are super sarcastic but I'm not so sure about raising important matters.