A viewer sent me this trilogy as a "must see."
I don't watch much Teevee, so have seen only a half dozen South park episodes. As a result, I don't know weather this little gem will get buried among a bunch of other episodes. If so, that may be too bad.
These may be some of our most important satirists. Important because they are on TeeVee. Important because (to judge from the comments here) people tune in for only one purpose: to laugh. And important because they wear their roles in the open, like Jonathan Swift. The formula is too subtle for me to be attracted to except in small bits, but the big joke in good satire is that the people being satirized are the ones most likely to laugh without getting the joke.
What makes this valuable is they have the nub right. Religion is an imaginary exercise. Probably it is necessary in some way, but the genius here is the placing of Jesus next to Popeye and Santa. (Odd that they had the guts to start this thing with Islam attacking the world's imagination, but not to place Mohammad in imaginationland. As that would be an immediate and automatic death sentence for all involved, the silence of his absence thunders.)
The second stroke of genius is to cast it as a sort of Narnia done right, one that isn't a fundamentalist text of precisely the kind that threatens the world in the final war. It successfully pulls the legs out from C S Lewis that dangerous closer of minds in the name of God. Satire is our best weapon against these guys.
Then there's all the jokes: stuff about the military, about sexual games and dominance, and about various characters.
And finally, as the last writing stage, I think they add in making fun of celebrities at the last stage. I think most of this clouds things, but they know what works, and I suppose finding that sweet spot of cloudy clarity is what its all about. I think I prefer the Doonesbury route. Today its Cheney as Emperor Palpatine. But then, I don't need to be tricked.
Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.
I don't watch much Teevee, so have seen only a half dozen South park episodes. As a result, I don't know weather this little gem will get buried among a bunch of other episodes. If so, that may be too bad.
These may be some of our most important satirists. Important because they are on TeeVee. Important because (to judge from the comments here) people tune in for only one purpose: to laugh. And important because they wear their roles in the open, like Jonathan Swift. The formula is too subtle for me to be attracted to except in small bits, but the big joke in good satire is that the people being satirized are the ones most likely to laugh without getting the joke.
What makes this valuable is they have the nub right. Religion is an imaginary exercise. Probably it is necessary in some way, but the genius here is the placing of Jesus next to Popeye and Santa. (Odd that they had the guts to start this thing with Islam attacking the world's imagination, but not to place Mohammad in imaginationland. As that would be an immediate and automatic death sentence for all involved, the silence of his absence thunders.)
The second stroke of genius is to cast it as a sort of Narnia done right, one that isn't a fundamentalist text of precisely the kind that threatens the world in the final war. It successfully pulls the legs out from C S Lewis that dangerous closer of minds in the name of God. Satire is our best weapon against these guys.
Then there's all the jokes: stuff about the military, about sexual games and dominance, and about various characters.
And finally, as the last writing stage, I think they add in making fun of celebrities at the last stage. I think most of this clouds things, but they know what works, and I suppose finding that sweet spot of cloudy clarity is what its all about. I think I prefer the Doonesbury route. Today its Cheney as Emperor Palpatine. But then, I don't need to be tricked.
Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.