Brennan Grimley
Soc 201
Prof. Maniscalco
28 November 2016
South Park: American Culture told in Satire
South Park,the television show, would be considered by many to be a crude and lude form of entertainment with no relevance to the society we live in. To discount the value of it without thought,is a mistake. South Park uses its crude “toilet humor” (Gournelos 151) to address social issues in a more approachable manner allowing the viewer to be made to really question an issue without knowing so. It does this masterfully through the use of absurd situations and exaggerations of real issues “ [a]s most episodes rely individually on internally dissonant tropes, the show is never as simple as a singular “text” or “viewer” or “message.” Even audiences …show more content…
South Park aims to show that celebrities have no business influencing American opinion argues Solomon when he writes “ While these conflicts might seem ridiculous and pointless, they are entirely germane to one of the show’s primary messages: celebrities are just like everyone else. They do not know better, and they should not pretend to be such great specimens of the human race, guiding and saving the American people” (4). The creators of South Park make it quite clear that the opinions of celebrities on social matters of this country should not be taken seriously. One example of this is seen in an episode featuring John Edwards a man who claims he can speak to the dead (Solomon 5). The episode goes into great detail about how gullible people are and how he gets them to believe this ridiculous claim. Throughout the episode the characters constantly remind Edwards of how big of a “douchebag” he is. To top it off the episode ends with Edward's receives the galactic award for biggest d-bag. South Park her is expressing somewhat of a frustration with American society, they feel as if celebs have too much power over american opinion and quite loudly voice this
Soc 201
Prof. Maniscalco
28 November 2016
South Park: American Culture told in Satire
South Park,the television show, would be considered by many to be a crude and lude form of entertainment with no relevance to the society we live in. To discount the value of it without thought,is a mistake. South Park uses its crude “toilet humor” (Gournelos 151) to address social issues in a more approachable manner allowing the viewer to be made to really question an issue without knowing so. It does this masterfully through the use of absurd situations and exaggerations of real issues “ [a]s most episodes rely individually on internally dissonant tropes, the show is never as simple as a singular “text” or “viewer” or “message.” Even audiences …show more content…
South Park aims to show that celebrities have no business influencing American opinion argues Solomon when he writes “ While these conflicts might seem ridiculous and pointless, they are entirely germane to one of the show’s primary messages: celebrities are just like everyone else. They do not know better, and they should not pretend to be such great specimens of the human race, guiding and saving the American people” (4). The creators of South Park make it quite clear that the opinions of celebrities on social matters of this country should not be taken seriously. One example of this is seen in an episode featuring John Edwards a man who claims he can speak to the dead (Solomon 5). The episode goes into great detail about how gullible people are and how he gets them to believe this ridiculous claim. Throughout the episode the characters constantly remind Edwards of how big of a “douchebag” he is. To top it off the episode ends with Edward's receives the galactic award for biggest d-bag. South Park her is expressing somewhat of a frustration with American society, they feel as if celebs have too much power over american opinion and quite loudly voice this