By Alex Doust
Lots of people will look at this and think “What? How can you not like South Park?” looking back to all the classic moments from the 16 years it’s been on the air. But I’m sorry, anyone who watches the latest series cannot deny that the program has gone on far too long…
Lots of people will look at this and think “What? How can you not like South Park?” looking back to all the classic moments from the 16 years it’s been on the air. But I’m sorry, anyone who watches the latest series cannot deny that the program has gone on far too long…
So most of us are in agreement that when the series started in 1997 it was new, it was fresh, it was exciting. These were writers who wanted to break rules, not scared to swear, show illicit content, be racist, homophobic and take the mick out of religions! If you’ve never watched the show, this is never in an insulting way, which is to say they make these jokes so you can laugh at the ignorance of the characters, or so you can laugh at the crazy situations people get themselves into, it’s never… well, it’s rarely a personal attack on the viewer.
The first few seasons are brilliant, they are funny, the stories have points and morals, the characters are well developed, voices are done well and looking back at these episodes now they have a wonderful nineties nostalgia about them. Then we hit Seasons five onwards and a lot of that charm is gone, the episodes seem less thought out and the humour and illicit content is there more for the sake of trying to be funny than trying to make a point.
The first few seasons are brilliant, they are funny, the stories have points and morals, the characters are well developed, voices are done well and looking back at these episodes now they have a wonderful nineties nostalgia about them. Then we hit Seasons five onwards and a lot of that charm is gone, the episodes seem less thought out and the humour and illicit content is there more for the sake of trying to be funny than trying to make a point.
Created and Voiced by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the Show is about to enter its 17th Season this September and I have to say, it should have ended a long time ago. Nearly every episode after Season 3 has been written by Trey, and the man is running out of ideas, he now focuses most of his episodes on the news, usually focusing around politics or a big news story. This leads to an often cheesy ending with a half-baked political idea or crappy political satire, with a few Jewish jokes thrown in for good measure.
To give you an example, a recent story revolved around Cartman and Stan who, after football practice, head off to KFC only to discover it has closed and the store has become a medical Marijuana store. Stan excitedly goes in to get some but is told he can’t without a doctor’s note, after a check-up he is told he is perfectly healthy, so decides to give himself cancer. His chosen method, microwaving his testicles, succeeds and he gets cancer and balls the size of a dustbin that he happily bounce around on. He tells the other men in South Park what to do and soon enough all the men are bouncing around on giant cancer riddled balls smoking pot.
To give you an example, a recent story revolved around Cartman and Stan who, after football practice, head off to KFC only to discover it has closed and the store has become a medical Marijuana store. Stan excitedly goes in to get some but is told he can’t without a doctor’s note, after a check-up he is told he is perfectly healthy, so decides to give himself cancer. His chosen method, microwaving his testicles, succeeds and he gets cancer and balls the size of a dustbin that he happily bounce around on. He tells the other men in South Park what to do and soon enough all the men are bouncing around on giant cancer riddled balls smoking pot.
Meanwhile Cartman discovers new Government rules have forced KFC to close in almost all states. So Cartman gets withdrawals and soon discovers an underground trade in KFC which he soon becomes the head of. In this episode KFC is a metaphor for hard drugs, in case you managed to miss that… So you’ve sat down for half an hour to watch this, you’ve maybe had a snigger or two, but what have you learnt? What have you gained from this show? What will you remember about it in the future? The answer to all three, is nothing.
It’s for this reason more than any other you might find that I think it should be cancelled; it’s lost its purpose. The offense is still there, it’s humour is still as black today as it ever was but the stories are weak, the humour is gone and all that’s been left to replace it is poor political satire. It’s a shame, but it’s a classic example of what happens when a show is dragged on for too long, South Park is still set to go to at least 2016, but I wouldn’t expect anything amazing from them…
It’s for this reason more than any other you might find that I think it should be cancelled; it’s lost its purpose. The offense is still there, it’s humour is still as black today as it ever was but the stories are weak, the humour is gone and all that’s been left to replace it is poor political satire. It’s a shame, but it’s a classic example of what happens when a show is dragged on for too long, South Park is still set to go to at least 2016, but I wouldn’t expect anything amazing from them…
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