I must admit, I dismissed the series out of hand before college. The repeated deaths of Kenny alone put me off to the whole thing. Since then, I've come to enjoy the series for what it is. It's often low-brow humor, that is undeniable, but its still enjoyable, and there is, in fact, a so-called "point," to every episode.
The show's creators do not, as silverking claims, try to be "smarter than they are." Such a charge is simply untrue and--if you read silverking's other reviews here--quite hypocritical. Beyond South Park, Parker has been responsible for such gems as Orgazmo. From his career, it's clear that he doesn't fancy himself much more than an entertainer; though he takes advantage of his medium to convey his opinions, or to use humor to draw attention to issues oft ignored by the masses, I've seen no evidence that he holds himself to be particularly profound, and quite frankly his work has more artistic merit than many of the self-styled artists out there.
I remember a common charge leveled against another Comedy Centry offering, The Daily Show, was that "too many people come to it for news." As these arrogant critics insulted the intelligence of the common viewer, silverking does so here: Nobody watches this show for intelligent discourse, they watch it for silly, slapstick humor, with a hint of social commentary. If you watch the show and don't care for it, then its just a matter of taste. If you keep watching it, expecting it to be something its not, all while looking down on the people who enjoy it, then frankly you're not nearly as smart as you fancy yourself, and I imagine there's an episode of South Park poking fun at you.
What I like best about this episode is it's irreverence: It blatantly pokes fun at itself and flies in the face of political correctness. Though this episode pokes fun at a liberal issue, on the whole the show takes pot shots at both sides of the political spectrum, as well as itself, so much that even when it pokes fun at something I care about, I can still laugh about it. In a world of Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter, that certainly says something.
The show's creators do not, as silverking claims, try to be "smarter than they are." Such a charge is simply untrue and--if you read silverking's other reviews here--quite hypocritical. Beyond South Park, Parker has been responsible for such gems as Orgazmo. From his career, it's clear that he doesn't fancy himself much more than an entertainer; though he takes advantage of his medium to convey his opinions, or to use humor to draw attention to issues oft ignored by the masses, I've seen no evidence that he holds himself to be particularly profound, and quite frankly his work has more artistic merit than many of the self-styled artists out there.
I remember a common charge leveled against another Comedy Centry offering, The Daily Show, was that "too many people come to it for news." As these arrogant critics insulted the intelligence of the common viewer, silverking does so here: Nobody watches this show for intelligent discourse, they watch it for silly, slapstick humor, with a hint of social commentary. If you watch the show and don't care for it, then its just a matter of taste. If you keep watching it, expecting it to be something its not, all while looking down on the people who enjoy it, then frankly you're not nearly as smart as you fancy yourself, and I imagine there's an episode of South Park poking fun at you.
What I like best about this episode is it's irreverence: It blatantly pokes fun at itself and flies in the face of political correctness. Though this episode pokes fun at a liberal issue, on the whole the show takes pot shots at both sides of the political spectrum, as well as itself, so much that even when it pokes fun at something I care about, I can still laugh about it. In a world of Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter, that certainly says something.
