South Park

[fr34k]

I think shifting the perspectives between Stan and the perception of the others more often would have been great.

[TCO]

I loved this episode. One of my favourite TV show mechanics is comedies that have you laughing the entire way and kick you hard in the end with genuine heartwrencher/tearjerker. Futurama is the expert at this and yeah I got teary and still do infact at the end of Jurrasic Bark and Luck of the Fryish. That episod was the first time South Park used this and it worked to perfection.

The future of the show will surely change somewhat after this and I have trust in the creators to work with it. The ending aside it was a really funny episode anyway, the the rednecks rescuing the britches in the backdrop while Randy and Sharon were talking was brilliant.

[tenaciousg]

I think Kenny has pretty much long outlived being funny. He's only really around any more because he's one of the core members, but Butters is just so much funnier. Stan has pretty much long outlived being funny too, he doesn't really do anything any more. He's only really worth keeping around because Randy is just awesome.

I didn't think that much of this weeks episode. It was good, but I could have done without the constant shit noises and everything being shit. I think it would have been funnier if, for example the trailers bit, they just did the trailers without it and made it obvious to only Stan how crap the films look.

Then again maybe I just have a serious case of being a cynical asshole. >_>

The trailers scene wouldn't have worked if we couldn't see what Stan had seen. It was funnier to see shit shitting on shit than to hear Stan say "Aw! It's just a piece of shit shitting on another piece of shit!".

[Lint]

Someone at imdb posted a VERY in depth analysis of the episode..I'll spoiler tag it due to length..

I know this is daunting, but I promise you will be left understanding last night's episode and the show in general better then ever.

This episode of South Park is unlike any they've ever made, in fact the only thing they've done that might have matching metaphorical depth is the film, but the film still was comedy, satire that was self reflexive, going after everyone going after their film and trying to ban it. This episode had yet another level of subtext and meaning for one reason: It's Sincere.

There's a ton going on with this show but it all starts with one thing: aging. The very fact that we begin with a birthday indicates big time change is on the horizon. From here the big question starts to become who and what represents what. All of the depth of the episode is started by Kyle getting a teen wave album, only for his mom to take it away, and the fact that she literally takes it away is key. When he gets home, Stan's dad asks her about it. The key here is that there's no moral reason the music is off limits, it's all quality, thus Randy protests telling Stan what to listen to, but Sharron insists that they shouldn't let Stan listen because it just sounds like *beep* This leads to a key theme, Randy rejects the concept that they've become the old people who don't understand the young tastes while Sharron insists that it's not about that, it's about it literally sounding like *beep* Still Randy goes and listens and, despite being clearly uncomfortable, pretends to like it all to hold on to his youth and hope.

The big moment that changes South Park ever is next when Stan sneaks his old i-pod to bed to listen to tween wave, only for it to suddenly sound like *beep* Something's changed. The key thing to remember is that Stan's mom took the album away from Stan because she doesn't want him listening to such *beep* Somehow Sharron taking the album and disallowing Stan to listen to that *beep* music made him recognize how terrible it is.

Before this is a key moment, all the parents talk to the kids and try to force them to stop listening to Tween Pop, while Randy pretends to be a kid. They try and show them how much better The Police is but the kids hear just *beep* they aren't ready for it nor is it their music, so they naturally hear *beep* in what the adult's know actually is much better. Randy is both key and funny here, mystified at what to do because he clearly doesn't hear *beep* and likes the Police. He keeps his mouth shut as to not expose himself as an adult with adult tastes, but he looks pathetic and uncomfortable in the process, the lie is nonetheless accepted by everyone present. He's also the only parent that doesn't line up on The Police side.

Stan goes to the busstop and him and Kyle are at odds over Stan now thinking the music sounds like *beep* He goes to the doctor and makes a point to say the music that now sounded like *beep* sounded normal a year ago, making clear this is his old 9 year old music. It seems Sharron taking the album he got for his 10th birthday and implanting the idea that it's *beep* music has effected Stan so that he now can see that his youth music sounds like *beep* The big issue is he got here to quick because of what Sharron did, but at the same time he still is young and undeveloped or without taste, so he thought the police and everything the adults preferred was *beep* as would be normal. We learn something bad has happened to Stan, his wires have crossed, by having his youth innocence exposed while not ready for his tastes to mature, he's left thinking everything sounds like *beep* he hates everything. By disconnecting with his youth but not growing up enough to have taste, he's become a lost soul. It should be noted that it's clear here that it's the lyrics that have been replaced by the literal *beep* in the listener's ear. Stan is able to see that the lyrics of his *beep* music are just feeding him *beep* but he's in no way ready for Bob Dylan either, he's entirely too young, Dylan takes poetic analysis and appreciation for folksiness and the abstract, this naturally sounds to Stan like someone's *beep* in his ear because it doesn't even make any sense to him.

Now we pretty much have the setup and how everything got *beep* up. We see Stan's dad in the next important segment, he argues with Shannon who says there's no way he can like it because it's simple and incredibly stupid and anyone can do it, and Randy hears it but doesn't reject tween wave as a result, instead he decides he can be a rock star now if anyone can do it. He goes and takes the name and respect of a loved artist and turns it to *beep* now the attempt to pretend tween wave isn't terrible is turning adult tastes, good music, terrible.

The old men comment on how he's *beep* his britches. This comes from the idea of too big for one's britches, which means more talk then show, arrogance to where one has made themselves bigger then their pants, their identity bigger then their accomplishments and capabilities. So using that saying it's clear that what the old men are saying here is that Randy, and later the Fat old women that does the same to Stevie Nick's music, are *beep* their britches, they're actually undermining and discrediting the accomplishments of accomplished people and an accomplished part of culture by adding tween standards to it. In essence, this commitment to youth and the new is *beep* on and completely destroying actual art, music of actual value.

Meanwhile, the effect of Stan becoming dysfunctional begins to isolate him, his friends ditch him because his cynicism ruins their blissful, naive good time. They go to see X-Men First Class but they don't make it past the trailers, Stan can't help but see that everything coming out is complete *beep* and inane *beep* at that. They run out and Cartmen says straight up they don't want to hang out with him anymore, then comes the first sad moment. Kyle tells Stan that he's changed, and they can't hang out with him because they don't want to change, effectively saying Kyle can't have friends who challenge his innocence and or ignorance, almost immediately Kyle turns to a pile of *beep* after. Heartbreaking this is because friends were the only thing left to Stan that weren't *beep* but their opposing views on mainstream culture make his friends reject him and align themselves with the *beep* Stan's cynicism is completely isolating him.

With Stan now completely isolated, we switch to Randy and Shannon. Shannon exposes Randy for latching onto something pathetic every week because he's still a child, afraid to grow up. We switch to the old men but listen close and you can hear that Randy responds by saying that Sharron is dead inside. It all escalates, Randy says Shannon doesn't understand her and never has in that he years for youthful energy and needs her support, she responds that it's because it makes him an idiot. He yearns for youthful inspiration and she is so disconnected with her youth that she seems to have no dreams, or find them silly.

Then the bombshell, it's all because they're both unhappy. They comment on not being able to do this again and again, transparently talking about how the show resets each week with a new focus, and she says in plain words that because the show is stale or is repeating itself, it's getting more and more ridiculous. Randy says that he doesn't know who changed but he knows he's not sure how much time is left and he wants to be happy, she does too and says the big line that inspires the final sequence: They're growing older and it's natural for people to grow apart, they need to let that happen instead of staying together even though they've both become *beep* to each other. And that's that, they're getting divorced.

Now things get interesting. Landslide plays over the next sequence, where Stan reflects lonely, first in nature next to a pond (Kyle sees him and things about approaching, but decides to leave him isolated, and in this isolation, even a flower is *beep* Randy leaves, they move out of the house, Stan sits in an old swing joylessly, lacking his youthful innocence and bliss, and in continuation all his friends and his school are now *beep* Stan walks past his polar opposite, a duck that quacks *beep* it looks at him and spits *beep* all over him, the inane *beep* has defeated Stan and covered him in *beep* his world is now as *beep* as the *beep* lyrics and movies. He's covered in *beep* so he no longer can even differentiate what does have value, the inane *beep* *beep* has entirely corrupted his world.

This sequence has far more layers though. For one there is a quick shot of Cartman and Kyle that said an incredible amount in not much more then a second. The two of them are playing video games and enjoying them together when they lock eyes and smile, they now are best friends it is to be presumed. Despite everything that Cartman has done to Kyle, all of the abuse and all of the dysfunction, Kyle chooses him to align with because he replicates his taste and values, he won't challenge him or make his life miserable by pushing him to face all the *beep* Kyle has started a path indicative of how good, intelligent people lose their soul and perspective in service of insecurity, the need to be one of the group overrides all intellectual and logical instincts. It's something we saw get set up in the Crack Baby episode, Kyle showed a clear ability to tie himself to Cartmen if it made his life easier and more prosperous. Now he's crossed the line, he will live out of fear and insecurity instead of intelligence and principle. How heartbreaking it is to see the de-identification of a character we know to have been an intelligent, stand up kid. And from here the pattern is destined to continue, Kyle will make his life around staying in the masses and without growth will not gain adult maturity and perspective. In fact, he'll struggle to stay Moral, as Cartman is a dangerous sociopath at heart who shows clear paranoia and narcissism and does hateful, demented things to protect his delusional sense of identity. If a good kid like Kyle is choosing sociopath manipulation with comfort over cynicism and isolation to retain principles and really his humanity, then what does that say for the world?

Finally we come back to Stan and Landslide. Landslide, for those who know, is about facing a mountain of obstacles, and by reverse havng everything avalanche down and fall on someone so they are in disarray (Stan right now). It goes on to express that it's tough to change and grow when ur life is tied to those you connect with, but with time you become bold and even those who are still children should grow unless as delusional as Randy,

The other key parts of the song are oh great sky in the mirror what is love? This is referring to the sun, which Stan stares at and sees *beep* he's left feeling that love is *beep* because everything he loved has abandoned him with heartbreaking disregard. The portrait of an individual isolated into desiring isolation, this moment indicates that Stan will become a shut off individual because his childhood love expressed came to an end by devouring him in an avalanche of change and pain.

Finally, Stan is left laying in bed, no longer reflecting on the world but instead himself and his own life, what's next for him? I'll go into the disarming nature of this ending in a bit, but first notice his Terrance and Phillip shirt. Look back and you'll see Terrance and Phillip are reoccurring throughout the episode. They're on the cake, they're on his wall as his dad explains what's happened to him, they're on his shirt every single time he's home, only not when he has his regular outfit in public. What does this mean? Does it indicate Stan represents Trey and Matt? Terrance and Phillip have long been known to be indicative of the show itself if not Matt and Trey. This is clearly important...

[Lint]

part 2

It's time to figure out what everything means:

Even without layered real life implications, the depth of meaning is striking already, setting up a complex and incredibly thought out model for how our society has become infused with *beep* entertainment and expression, resulting in grown children who are just as desperate to fit in as ever and young introspective kids left with no home, not naive enough to buy into the *beep* but not nearly grown enough to enter the bob dylan world of layers and abstract-ism, only anger and frustration is left, anger and frustration that alienates them out of not being comfortable social company, and continues to pile until the world is full of *beep* and love is a *beep* proposition filled with more isolation and pain then joy. In other words we see in Stan anxious depression, in Sharron pessimistic numbness, in Kyle misguided narcissism, and in Randy discontent delusion, look what has happened to the characters we've loved for so long, all sparked by the degradation of entertainment and pop culture into being pure *beep* *beep* that infects minds and mushrooms into dysfunction and pain from characters we know can be happily devoted to each other at their best.

So the final question is how does this relate to the show? Well the key is certainly Randy and Sharron's split and how it effects Stan. Sharron is all to aware of the idiocy of pop culture to where she is in a loop of constantly having to bring her immature husband back down to earth. In the process she becomes very forward about wanting Stan to be different and to have maturity and tastes, the result is that Stan in fact can see that tween pop culture is absolute *beep* At the same time, Randy gains disdain for Sharron's cynicism, still veering towards being a dreamer and having hopes then accepting the world as it is solid all the way through, he doesn't want to be dead like her, but out of that worry he reacts with immaturity and *beep* up bad. He lies to himself and others about who he is, scared to admit he's grown past pop culture, so not only does he support Stan being exposed to the *beep* but he is scared to admit that he can tell the better song by the police isn't *beep* he lets Stan believe that his father like him thinks it's *beep*

A mother protective over her son's personality can and really should be able to be fine but not when the father is immature and selfishly delusional, MORE DEDICATED TO ACHIEVING HIS IDEAL ADULTHOOD THEN RAISING HIS SON. Stan's transition is *beep* up bad because when his interest should be growing in more meaningful, challenging fair if he's grown past bad music he has no father to show him what good music is, his father is lying and standing on Stan's side, so the lesson that Gerald was teaching Kyle about music is nowhere to be found. Stan knows that *beep* is *beep* but doesn't know what he's supposed to embrace, so without that guidance adult music never really gets its start with Stan, and without that base Stan is completely confused lost and unappreciative of a valuable genius like Bob Dylan. If you don't first learn that genuine pop like The Police are more intellectual then the *beep* then you have no way to grow into someone who can appreciate brilliance like Bob Dylan.

How does this spell out the message of it all? Well if you use logic but also if you use the show itself, which always has Randy encapsulating the *beep* of society and Sharron telling him to get a grip, you find that Randy is pop culture or mainstream culture, and Sharron is indicative of the show (and thus Trey and Matt). Trey and Matt are in an unhealthy relationship with the mainstream culture that they're satirizing, society has shown no growth but only increasing stakes in their idiocy and *beep* spewing, and Trey and Matt have just grown increasingly frustrated that our society isn't growing at all, it keeps making the same mistakes again and again. The result: society (Randy) breaks down and finally admits that he's been making the same mistakes over and over again because he's unhappy, the subtext being that these desperate absurd attempts to capture weaker and weaker ideals comes from a core unhappiness that society hasn't come to terms with. Dedicated satirists Trey and Matt, also representing analytical intellectuals in general, are similarly unhappy, seeing no effect of their criticism and instead having to endure the same *beep* over and over as it only gets more absurd.

In other words, the mass theory is correct, the show is announcing that it needs change if not to completely move on. Randy and the often idiotic mainstream culture he represents picks up and leaves South Park, appearing to mean that South Park will seek growth by no longer satirizing culture and mass through (it's tough to theorize about how pop culture might grow accept to say that left to it's own devices it might have to face itself more without the constant criticism and mirror of comedy to show them their faults).

But where do we play in? Well, with our show aging and our own growth into real people, we're no longer left with satire to rely on as identity, Stan and Kyle both have to make choices and so do we, but we're actually one of 4 people.

Cartman represents those that have always been sick and disturbed and seen South Park's behavior as functional, those that have no sense of irony and laugh at the antisemitism and heavy prejudice the show presents on a literal level, agreeing with the things said. They can maintain being in the *beep* the dysfunction, the backwards thinking..

Some of us have chosen, as we grow, to grow into the main society that we once shared disdain for through this show, and who can blame those? It's not a strong decision and the effect of it isn't good, but ultimately they're left with a moment when the cynicism of Satiric perspective only ever serves to make things worse, and it's only natural to choose to be happy over choosing to be miserable, even if the latter is tied to seeing the world as it is. But there's a line, what if they begin to take part in social class-ism and political bureaucratic dysfunction in order to fit, then they've become part of the problem, and that's the question were left with when Kyle bonds with Cartman. How far will this lead him down the path of backwards dysfunction? Will he maintain a good sense of his critical self?

Kenny represents the muffled, the quieted, the almost invisible. Those who have satirical perspective but are left to never actually express it clearly nonetheless do anything with it, they'll just drift within a system they quietly hold some level of disdain for.

Finally we have Stan, Stan makes his move and rejects mainstream culture, he's a true product of the show, of Matt and Trey, and he has veered in their direction over Randy's mainstream. The Stans are forever changed by the experience of embracing satirical perspective, and will be left outsiders, but this means they have to find their own value. And there lies the rub, raised by a dysfunctional desperate consumer identity obsessed culture (Randy) have we ever learned to find new, abstract, poetic value? For now Stan's answer is no and he's left cynical isolated and likely to not have healthy relationships, but whether we can hear Bob Dylan will all depend on circumstance and personal approach, Did we have a parent who taught us the value? Or a friend who instead stayed an outcast with and thus they can build an intellectual world together? Will Stan's personal reflection allow him to grow? It's a question South Park's most true fans are faced with.

But Stan is still wearing that Terrance and Phillip shirt, so we know his satirical perspective remains, whether he and for that matter we can find value in a world seperate of mainstream culture, or we will get desperate until we turn into Randy and desperately try to ignore that we know it's all *beep*

This is quite the open ended note to leave on, leaving philosophical questions and simple plot ones about how things will continue, and only time can tell. But it's going to be tough, because our britches, our accomplishments and capabilities, the old men tried to salvage them but the police cracked down and stopped them, showing the government and controlling culture's irreverent approach to our culture's strength and depth.

We're still left unsure of what comes next, but that's the brilliance of this episode. When South Park tired as a contained and overwhelming source of satire and criticism, they regained their sense of irreverence, they remembered (in an idea planted in the Germany episode) to not take their own comedy world seriously or they'll cease to be comedians, and with all of that they did the most brilliant move no one ever saw coming, they had an episode filled with un-ironic value ending on a note of complete sincerity, all after the poetic use of a song that in no way was tongue in cheek. They turned their satirical, critical perspective that calls for change and they inverted it onto themselves, recapturing their satirical soul by, ironically, making an incredibly serious episode, one that stays irreverent to the show itself, capturing comedic spirit in a very Joker like fashion, by making the greatest joke the vulnerability and imperfection of it's own world. The only way to not treat the show as so serious and with so much respect for its formula was to finally take the show seriously.

Afterall, it was time, we must keep growing or we'll become unhappy and dysfunctional, South Park's growth was to emotionally ask, what do we do now? What's left for us? How do we evolve into a happy perspective again?

This episode, full of reflection honesty and choice, is a great place to start.

[Maxx]

And...it's ruined.

Thanks again, internet.

[The Quasi Juice]

How is it ruined? Everything the guy said in that article makes sense, but it doesn't ruin anything. I found it very obvious after the episode that things are about to change. Perhaps the characters will start to grow older instead of always staying around the same age? Perhaps it'll become a show with continuing stories instead of separate episodes about things that happened in the world? This would mean they make all the episodes beforehand instead of making one every week in between eps.

[Maxx]

Because no one knows how to shut the fuck up about things and let them resonate anymore. This will be just the tip of the iceberg and you'll get a bunch of theories like that oozing out from everyone who thinks they know more than the creators. Just like Inception, just like anything these days that has an ambiguous or abnormal ending. People can't just let things be anymore, they have to write fucking novels about it and point out every detail and every subtlety the creators tried to work in. Subtlety isn't subtle when it's put under a microscope like that.

[Herr Matzat]

How is it ruined? Everything the guy said in that article makes sense, but it doesn't ruin anything. I found it very obvious after the episode that things are about to change. Perhaps the characters will start to grow older instead of always staying around the same age?

While SouthPark is smart you should not overanalyse it. The show always switched things up every now and than. Not only wen they had to (Chef) but also wen they wanted to. Turning Mr Garison into a Woman, bringing in Miss ChoksOnDick, Tweek, Butters, Timmy or replacing Kenny for a longer time, having them go up a grate ect.

Jesus, those people on IMDB are ideots, they act like there has never been a clifhanger on southpark...

Edited June 12, 2011 by Michael Matzat on a Plane

[TCO]

Nobody noticed the guy initially mispelled Sharon's name as Sharron then reverted to just calling her Shannon?

[Zeel1]

Yeah, comedy shows like South Park, while occasionally deep, shouldn't be looked at so seriously... Funnybot taught us that.

[Lineker]

Damn, that was good. If that actually was the end of South Park, even if it's just for a little while, then that was a hell of a way to go out. As long as Randy stays around, a new fresh dynamic is what the show could benefit from long term.

The movie trailers were brilliant, too.

[apsham]

I despise reading too much into this episode.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tale_of_Scrotie_McBoogerballs

[David Hassellhoff]

Please don't post anything from IMDB ever again if it's half as bad as that was.

[Maxx]

And you can piss on all of it because Trey and Matt were on the Daily Show tonight and shit on the notion that there was some hidden meaning behind the episode and that they might be ending the show.

[Lint]

So a promo is airing on Comedy Central. The return date is October 5th, and the promo goes "And whats going to happen? Well...umm..we don't know.."

[Guest BK2010]

I'm gonna say one thing about the second half, it better be infintely better than the dross that was the first half. Otherwise I think I might through with the show for good.

[apsham]

Save for HumancentiPad and Crack Baby Athletic Association, I didn't have a problem with the first half of the season to be entirely honest.

[hot rod]

I didn't mind any of them besides the Funny Bot episode, that one was so bad. I recently rewatched Royal Pudding, and I almost forgot how hilarious Mr. Mackey was in that episode. They have all the episodes from the first half of the season on demand, in case nobody has checked or noticed.

[Matt]

Yeah the first half of the season's taken a lot of stick. A couple of the episodes were poor and generally it hasn't been the funniest season of South Park but it's not been horrible. The only episode I really, really didn't like was the Funnybot one. Everything else at least had its moments.