Well, to start South Park is very dynamic, why? Well, because it’s constantly changing. Kenny’s death was, during the first seasons, a recurrent joke, but from the third one the creators themselves started to make fun of the idea; Kenny is still dying but that doesn’t even surprise the characters.
In the other side, many people classify South Park as a show for kids. South Park hides the criticism to the North American society, according to the beliefs of the authors, of course. Watching the series, you can see how they attack for example the parents’ lack of interest to their sons, the hypocritical society, the racial prejudices, the government’s stupidity and … a long list.
At the same time, using 8 year old kids means a big load. Yes, they are bad-mannered and very “mature” at the same time, but at the end they are still being just kids and this is shown in a lot of episodes where they do “bad” things without knowing and in an innocent way.
It is also much criticized that Cartman is the engine of the series. He is, without any doubt, who causes the 90% of the conflicts, but we need to know that in these kind of series there’s always a character who stands out from the rest. For example if we remove Homer from The Simpsons, the series would disappear entirely.
That’s why South Park has a deeper content of what it seems at first glance. The series has an acid criticism of the North American society, from a point of view that we can share or not, but that exists indeed. Those who criticize the series as a thing without any depth, it is obvious that they are doing a simplified review without any commitment for the series. At the end South Park is always evolving and keeps the same pattern. It changes and gets renewed day by day and that’s why it has lasted so many seasons.
Quote from: Adrian Ling on September 15, 2009, 01:06 AMWell, to start South Park is very dynamic, why? Well, because it’s constantly changing. Kenny’s death was, during the first seasons, a recurrent joke, but from the third one the creators themselves started to make fun of the idea; Kenny is still dying but that doesn’t even surprise the characters.I think that it's ability to talk about recent events very soon after they happen also provides legitimacy.
QuoteIn the other side, many people classify South Park as a show for kids. South Park hides the criticism to the North American society, according to the beliefs of the authors, of course. Watching the series, you can see how they attack for example the parents’ lack of interest to their sons, the hypocritical society, the racial prejudices, the government’s stupidity and … a long list. I think that the reason it's so popular is everybody in America knows from some degree or another that things aren't going so smoothly and a lot of things are wrong in our culture. South Park is one of the only shows that takes a crack at it and hits well. Some people are angry (tea party), a bunch of the youth doesn't vote. (myself included), our government is doing who knows what, and it just kinda sucks. Now, some people might disagree with my view, and I'll accept that, but still I don't think they can deny that much of south parks popularity stems from what Adrian mentioned.
QuoteAt the same time, using 8 year old kids means a big load. Yes, they are bad-mannered and very “mature” at the same time, but at the end they are still being just kids and this is shown in a lot of episodes where they do “bad” things without knowing and in an innocent way. The south park kids are probably somewhere in between eight years old and high school age mentally, but I think (at least from my childhood experience) kids are worse mannered and more 'mature' when they are away from their parents or authority influences. It's more of a reflection on real life then just being crude to be crude.
Episodes like the parody of The Lord of the Rings, where the kids carry a pornographic movie without knowing because they thought it was an ordinary movie and only wanted to deliver it back since it is causing strange things is a clear example of the protagonists’ innocence.
