South Park - In Theory

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Hey.  Topic 1: I'm back in for the post-a-day challenge.  I promise I won't sleep until I write a post.

The project I've been most involved in recently is No Refund Theater's production of "South Park: The Movie: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut: The Musical."  There's a rumor that Stephen Sondheim told Matt Stone and Trey Parker in a letter that they had written the best musical he heard in fifteen years, and they immediately hung it up.  Some tell that they replied, "Well, you've written some pretty good stuff, too!"

But in all seriousness, the movie has some incredibly artistic qualities.

Warning: These clips are pretty vulgar.



Here is Satan's big show-stopper, "Up There."  Not only is it phenomenal music, but it presents Satan, the symbol of all that is evil, as an identifiably tragic character.  We feel for him.  Meanwhile, Saddam is presented as the evil one.  Satan must take over Earth because it is his destiny; Saddam is simply greedy and uncompromising.  And note the gospel chorus singing with Satan.  It should be noted that when Jesus appears on South Park, there a quite a few times he's labeled as fictional, although Satan reoccurs as real and as a pathetic character.

The obvious theme of the movie is how the world naturally corrupts its children, and how reluctant parents are to blame themselves or fix it, a problem which seemed much more common a decade ago. One of the big themes of the movie is that what we derive as good and evil are constructs that we create ourselves, either as mere extensions of our existence (such Terrance and Phillip's fart jokes and bad language) or as a bastardization of misunderstanding (such as the war against Canada or the characterization of Saddam Hussein), and it is our responsibility to manage our developments and control them as necessary.

Now for one more juxtaposition:  This one's very vulgar.



Lots of swearing.  Lots lots lots lots lots of swearing, but in a very jovial setting.  Compare this to Saddam Hussein's disrespect for Satan (or the rest of mankind), or to the racism against Canada and the use of Canadians as scapegoats, or the discovery of Cartman's mom as the star of a German scheise film (don't ask).  The culprits of corruption are ubiquitous, and especially in this day and age, it's not the people we must fight against to protect children.  We just have to care for the kids.

And beyond that, everyone has a different level of intolerance.  Some people would be irate over the projection of Satan as an emotionally identifiable character.  Some would be bothered by the level of vulgarity in the Terrance and Phillip scene.  And others still would be able to sit through a scheise video without squinting.  Our world caters to all, and our oddly placed creativity, no matter how conventional or unconventional, and no matter how vulgar, will continue to offend even though it's nothing compared to the evil of men like Saddam Hussein.

In conclusion, I present Robin Williams' rendition of "Blame Canada."  I think it's a fitting person for a live televised performance of the song.  Imagine a world with Robin Williams silenced.  There'd be less swearing and vulgarity, but there'd be less happiness and creativity, too.  And so to protect the honor and respect of artists, vulgarity shouldn't be silenced.  We just need to learn morality and ethics to be prepared for a world of ubiquitous influences of all kinds.



P.S. Oddly, the beginning of the film reminds me of Toys.  I think I'll do a post on that soon, too.

P.S.S. If you haven't seen recent episodes of South Park, I highly recommend you do.

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1 Comment

First, I'm glad you're back in. Second, I love South Park. We own every season on DVD and it never fails to amuse us. I'm also really curious about a live action production of the movie. Sounds like something I'd enjoy. If it's good, it will be good. If it's bad, it will still be good.

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This page contains a single entry by Ryan C. DeNardis published on February 4, 2009 5:46 PM.

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