Two years ago The Spirit of Christmas, an internet video clip featuring a kung-fu showdown between Jesus Christ and Santa Claus, infiltrated the typically sugarcoated holiday. T-shirts portraying a plain and pudgy cartoon third grader proclaiming his affinity for the fictitious snack food, "Cheesy Poofs," have been sighted on pedestrians all around the nation. Perhaps puzzling calls of "Beefcake! BEEFCAKE!" across courtyards are slowly getting on your nerves. But what exactly is this strange-tongued, infantile-seeming phenomenon and why has it taken America by storm?
In our information age, South Park exemplifies the speed with which our culture latches on to trends. Only a few years ago, the show's creators, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, graduates of the University of Colorado, were in dire straits. A 20th Century Fox executive gave them their lucky break – $1,200 to make an animated Christmas card.
The result was the now legendary The Spirit of Christmas. The comics crudely fashioned the five-minute cartoon crudely fashioned out of construction paper. With the support of stars like George Clooney, the video permeated the Web. Soon thereafter, network producers were fighting over the duo's talents. Since the show's August launch by Comedy Central, South Park has achieved high ratings and cult status from dorm rooms to offices across America.
Celebrities are only one of the many groups to embrace this rebellion against the moral right. South Park's avid audiences are perhaps equally as fed up with Kathie Lee and David Hasselhoff as its star supporters. Its viewers range from grade-schoolers attracted to the series' foul language to adults amused by the refreshingly honest humor.
The setting and characters are simple: Four elementary school students, their quirky parents, a schizophrenic schoolteacher, the playboy chef (voiced by Shaft's Isaac Hayes) and several inept town officials (one of whom claims to be a Princeton grad) comprise this small, ignorant town in Colorado.
The four boys – Stan, Kyle, Kenny and Cartman – epitomize the disturbing and ruthless inner child in all of us. Parker explains that "kids are malicious little f—kers. They totally jump on any bandwagon and rip on the weak guy at any chance." And my, do they rip. Going against the grain of political correctness prevalent on network TV, the characters of South Park mercilessly attack every conceivable minority, ethnicity and religious group. At the start of every episode, a disclaimer ironically reads, "Due to the content of this show, it should not be viewed by anyone."
This offensive assault is so over-the-top it can't be taken seriously, perhaps serving as the backbone for South Park's soaring ratings. The elementary schoolteacher calls Jews "pagans." Cartman's message to women is "hey you, get your bitch ass back in the kitchen and make me some pie!"
In one episode, the children are told that "gay people are evil. Evil right down to their cold black hearts." For a school project, a student tells the class that "Asian culture has plagued our fragile earth for many years." At Thanksgiving, Cartman refuses to help a canned food drive and says, "I'm not bringing in food for poor people, screw them!" Even lovable Chef is not spared from the stereotypical role of the lusty black cafeteria worker. He affectionately calls the white kids "crackers."
Because South Park uniformly doles out its insults, one is forced to look lightheartedly upon offense. Since it spares no group from verbal scorn, it cannot be accused of pointed racism or intolerance. South Park is a refreshing departure from repressive, stifling political correctness. It is escapism in its most extreme form, humorously uniting all by antagonizing everyone.
The harsh social commentary is funny and palatable in a similar way to programs like The Simpsons and King of the Hill. Because the cartoon medium makes the characters seem distant and inhuman, their poor taste and indecent behavior is forgivable and even funny, whereas in a sitcom situation, we would likely be appalled. South Park's low-budget animation and coarsely shaped characters mask the show's scathing criticisms of society. We cannot take them seriously because they look so silly. Cartoons like this and MTV's Beavis and Butthead and Daria make social commentary easier to swallow. This gives animators free rein to poke fun at everything and anything. We can just laugh along with them.
Next Wednesday's season finale will undoubtedly leave fans eagerly awaiting more weird adventures from the dynamic duo of Parker and Stone. Whether it will be more alien anal probes, killer mutant turkeys or gay dogs, there is no doubt that new episodes of South Park will be greeted across America with resounding calls of "Shweet!"
The season finale of South Park airs next Wednesday at 10 p.m. on Comedy Central (www.comedycentral.com).
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