Common threads: The new season of “South Park” takes aim at familiar themes

BY ISABELLA MARCON

Leading up to the season 22 premiere of Comedy Central’s animated show, “South Park,” series creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker have actively promoted mildly concerning campaigns for both the cancellation of their show and for the show’s upcoming season premiere.

The show’s Twitter account posted a video demanding for their show to be canceled. The video lasted only a few seconds, and displayed a black background with white text stating that “America has reached a crossroads” and asking, “What will we do next?” The video ended with  “#cancelsouthpark” and the date of their season premiere.

It’s not uncommon to see the creators of “South Park” pulling crazy marketing stunts for the sake of the show’s publicity. In fact, fans believe that this promotion was probably a way of teasing at the internet’s outrage culture or, alternatively, the lack of sensitivity that outrage culture causes. The first episode, “Dead Kids,” supports the latter interpretation.

In “Dead Kids,” the lead characters deal with the constant threat of a school shooting and other instances of gun violence at their school. At this point, no one protests the gun violence anymore and the town has accepted the violence as part of their children’s everyday life.

One of the parents is outraged by the school violence but is convinced to be indifferent by the end of the episode. The episode ends with another school shooting and the hashtag is displayed in the background of the ending credits.

In the following episode, “A Boy and a Priest,” South Park turns its satirical gaze on the Catholic church’s molestation scandals and well-documented coverups. The townspeople are no longer horrified by the scandals and use their time at church to share jokes about the issue.

A priest and the character Butters become friends after Butters empathizes with the priest, who is a leader of the church that no one takes seriously. The relationship is misinterpreted by the Roman Catholic church, and a coverup ensues. In the end, the priest strikes down the leaders of the church coverup and he resumes his role within the church. Like the first episode, this episode also ends with the hashtag.

The third episode, “The Problem With a Poo,” draws a parallel between the real-life Roseanne Barr’s controversial tweets that she later blamed on taking the sleeping aid Ambien and the character Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo’s own Ambien-fueled offensive Twitter tirade.

As with Roseanne and her television show, Mr. Hankey is terminated from his position in the town of South Park, the Executive Planning Manager of the city council. Mr. Hankey is desperate for redemption and pursues litigation, but no lawyer would take his case. A hearing takes places that lampoons the Kavanaugh hearings. Similarly to the subject of the real-life hearings, Mr. Hankey shows outrage and contempt towards his questioner, and he again blames his tirade on Ambien.

In the end, the people of South Park expelled Mr. Hankey from town, deciding that “racist awful beings” no longer belong in their society. Mr. Hankey shows up in Springfield, home of “The Simpsons.” The episode concludes with a black screen and a new hashtag, “#cancelthesimpsons.”

There seem to be some common elements linking all three episodes. All of the episodes deal with horrific, controversial topics in a comedic manner that demonstrates the seriousness of the issue while undercutting it with satire.

The show becomes a larger mirror of our society as a whole. We are constantly presented with sensational and graphic media images, so much so that outrage turns into exhaustion, and exhaustion ultimately turns into indifference.

The hashtag “#cancelsouthpark” reflects our outrage culture, but also suggests that “South Park” acknowledges that it too may share some responsibility for the desensitization problem. The creators seem to be asking, do animated satire shows like “South Park” and “The Simpsons” contribute to the moral collapse of our society and, if so, should they be canceled?

In the end, none of these issues are satisfactorily resolved, which still leaves the message of the first three episodes of season 22 of “South Park” subject to interpretation and confusion. Most viewers prefer straight-forward answers and self-contained episodes. However, it will be interesting to see how the creators of “South Park” will utilize the “#cancelsouthpark” campaign and their critique of outrage culture in the future.

Photo courtesy of Comedy Central