South Park is an Americananimated television series created, written and voiced by Matt Stone and Trey Parker. Distributed by and airing on Comedy Central since 1997, it follows the adventures of four grade school boys who live in the small town of South Park, Colorado. The show emulates stop motioncutout animation which was the original form of animation for the show but has since been replaced by computers. South Parksatirizes (sometimes surreally) many aspects of American culture and current events, and challenges deep-seated convictions and taboos, usually employing parody and black comedy. The series is known for its characteristically blunt handling of current events and its pop-culture parody. The animated series has brought on angry critics, from religious conservatives to those who claim South Park is politically incorrect.
The first half of South Park's tenth season ended on May 3, 2006, and the second half will begin to air on October 4. Since Season 4, each season has aired in roughly two parts (the first in Spring and the second in Autumn). After the second half of Season 10, two more seasons of South Park are scheduled for production, allowing the series to run until at least 2009. This would make South Park the second longest-running animated series in US television history, after The Simpsons. In March 2005, South Park hit the number three spot in the 100 Greatest Cartoons, losing to Tom and Jerry at number two and The Simpsons at number oneChannel 4's 100 Greatest Cartoons.
South Park began in 1992 when Trey Parker and Matt Stone, then film students at the University of Colorado, created an animated short called Jesus vs. Frosty. The crudely-made film featured prototypical versions of the kids of South Park, including a character resembling Cartman but called 'Kenny' and an unnamed character that resembles Kyle bringing a murderous snowman to life with a magic hat.
The creators of South Park, Matt Stone and Trey Parker
Executives at FOX saw the movie, and in 1995, executive Brian Graden commissioned Parker and Stone to create a second short film to send to friends as a video Christmas card. Titled The Spirit of Christmas, it closely resembled the style of the later series, and featured a martial arts duel and subsequent truce between Jesus and Santa Claus (two characters who have since been recurring characters in the series) over the true meaning of Christmas. This video was later featured in the episode "A Very Crappy Christmas" in which Stan, Kyle, Cartman, Kenny, Mr. Hankey and Anna Gundry 'save' Christmas. The video was a hit and was quickly shared, both by underground duplication and over the burgeoning Internet. This led to talks to create a series, first with FOX, then with Comedy Central, where the series premiered on August 13, 1997. A clip of the short can actually be seen in the opening sequence for the series contained within a billboard. The first short can also be seen during the opening sequence on an old television.
The show's provocative, adult-oriented material quickly drew protest from various spokespersons, who deemed the program offensive, and South Parkmerchandise (especially T-shirts) were banned from a number of public schools, day care centers, and other public places. This occurrence is similar in a manner to the prohibition of Bart Simpson T-shirts in the early 1990s, after The Simpsons was accused of contributing to juvenile delinquency. Comedy Central defended South Park by noting that the show is given a "Mature Audiences" TV rating (TV-MA) and is not meant for children to watch. They also pointed out that it only airs the show during night-time hours and never during the day, when children may be more likely to see the show. In fact, at least for the earlier part of the show's run, trailers for the series did not run until after 7 PM.
In February 1998, one episode of South Park posed the question of who Eric Cartman's father was. The episode ended with the announcement that it would be revealed in the next episode. A month later, the airing of an episode about Terrance and Phillip (two fictional Canadiancomedians who the main characters idolize) in place of the anticipated episode prompted outrage, and caused Comedy Central to push the true season premiere up earlier than expected. It was apparently a well-planted April Fools gag, meant to poke fun at season-ending cliffhangers. The joke was repeated in "Cartoon Wars Part II", which begins by teasing audiences about Comedy Central refusing to air the episode, and then cutting into an introduction featuring Terrance and Phillip in a short film involving Muhammad (who is not shown). Alternatively, the joke was taken in an opposite direction at the end of "Professor Chaos", where three questions were posed, supposedly to be answered in the following episode, except that they were answered immediately, following which, the credits ran.
In 1999, the full-length animated feature film South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut was released to generally enthusiastic reviews. The film managed to satirize both itself and the anticipated reaction that it engendered from moralconservatives. It also presented a twisted but seemingly sincere tribute to the film musical with a number of songs, including "Uncle Fucka," and "Blame Canada". The latter was nominated for an Academy award and was performed by Robin Williams during the awards show. It has been speculated that "Blame Canada" was chosen from other Oscar-worthy songs in the movie because it was the only one that could be performed on live TV with its lyrics relatively intact (as the song contains only two examples of profanity). While it is true that "Up There" (by Satan) contains no swear words at all, it would most likely have created far more controversy on religious grounds, given its sympathetic portrayal of Satan and his justification of evil in the lyrics. Phil Collins won the Oscar, however, with his song "You'll Be In My Heart" from Disney's Tarzan, which prompted a number of Phil Collins jokes in a subsequent South Park episode. The film also got into the Guinness Book of World Records for most obscenities in an animated movie, with a count of 399.
On November 11, 1999, shortly after the U.S. theatrical release of South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, actressMary Kay Bergman, who had provided all of the female voices on the animated series South Park and in the full-length movie, committed suicide in her suburban Los Angeles home. After her death, it was revealed that she suffered from a severe form of clinical depression. Her husband, Dino Andrade, founded the Mary Kay Bergman Memorial Fund, at the Suicide Prevention Center of Greater Los Angeles, in an effort to help and educate people with the same type of depression that his wife suffered.
In the episode "It Hits the Fan", South Park broke the swearing record by using the word 'shit' a total of 162 times, uncensored. The 22-minute episode averages one 'shit' every eight seconds, and there was a counter throughout the episode displaying the number of times it was said. A song by Mr. Garrison that consisted of, 'Hey, there, shitty shitty fag fag, shitty shitty fag fag, how do you do?' (sung to the tune of the title song from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang), repeated for four verses, provides an example of how 'shit' was so abundantly used. This was meant as a satire of an episode of Chicago Hope, released shortly before this episode, where one of the main characters said the phrase 'shit happens' without being censored, and the American public discussed this for weeks. An additional gag in this episode allowed homosexual or bisexual characters to use the word 'fag' freely, while heterosexual characters were bleeped when attempting to use the same word (this episode suggested that Stan's uncle Jimbo was actually gay, as he was able to say 'fag' without being bleeped).
On September 92005, Comedy Central struck a deal with Parker and Stone for three more seasons of the show. The network has committed to three more seasons of South Park over the next three years, meaning the show will run until at least 2009. Parker and Stone will continue to write, direct, and edit every episode of the show, bringing the series total to 182 episodes by the end of its twelfth season. Slightly less "questionable" versions of South Park episodes, with the TV-14 rating, began broadcasting in syndication on September 192005 on various local channels around the US.
The pilot episode, "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe", was produced using construction paper and traditional cut-out animation techniques, but current episodes duplicate the original, amateurish look using modern computer animation tools - first PowerAnimator, then Maya (which Parker and Stone have described as "building a sandcastle with a bulldozer"). This allows for a short production schedule that enables the creators to respond quickly to current events. For instance, the December 17, 2003 episode ("It's Christmas in Canada") depicts the capture of Saddam Hussein a mere three days after his capture by U.S. forces, even referring to the "spider hole" where he was found. In the case of this and the Elián González episode ("Quintuplets 2000"), the creators stopped and changed production of an episode to focus on these events. Another example is the "Trapper Keeper" episode which originally aired just eight days after the 2000 Election and featured a kindergarten class president election being delayed by, among other things, an undecided girl named "Flora", a reasonably obvious reference to the undecided vote-count in the state of Florida.
In the audio commentary on the Season 4 DVD set, Parker and Stone remarked that beginning with episode 408, "Chef Goes Nanners", they began to consistently make episodes centering on a single issue, rather than multiple subplots.
In 2002, the episode "Free Hat" was aired. In this episode, prompted by Kyle's comment on Ted Koppel's Nightline that changing E.T. would be like changing Raiders of the Lost Ark, the South Park depictions of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg decide to alter the first Indiana Jones film. Soon after "Free Hat" aired, the real Lucas and Spielberg announced that they would not be altering Raiders of the Lost Ark for DVD release contrary to rumors. Stone and Parker later claimed that their episode prevented any alterations from happening when they appeared on a VH1 special, Inside South Park.
What little censorshipSouth Park has is usually done by way of bleeping out certain words, like most other shows on Comedy Central. However, South Park is not limitless. The episode "Jared Has Aides" was never aired again on Comedy Central because it showed abuse towards Butters and made light of AIDS (though it has been aired in syndication on local stations), though some have claimed the reason for the banning of the episode was from a press release by Subway. The words "asshole", "bastard", and "bitch" always go uncensored (although when the word "asshole" is said, usually "hole" is censored instead of "ass". The word "shit" is left uncensored only in two episodes. The word "fuck" is censored in all episodes(though Kenny has been known to say it, though it is said in his usual muffled speech), but not within Bigger, Longer & Uncut, which Comedy Central has aired uncensored several times in the Secret Stash after midnight. The word "cock" is occasionally beeped, while other times left uncensored, as evidenced in the episode "It Hits the Fan". Some local networks choose to bleep out words that are not censored in the original cartoons. In 2005, South Park began airing on U.S. broadcast stations, and the syndicated distributor, Mort Marcus, a former Disney executive (in conjunction with Tribune Entertainment), worked with a panel of representatives from stations purchasing the show to make it acceptable for broadcast. Some episodes may not air at all, if the creators of the show do not approve of the changes. Many rerun episodes on syndicated TV stations removed and omitted ethnic jokes and slurs about minority groups, especially the episode which cuts off before Mr. Garrison uses the "N-word". In "Here Comes the Neighborhood", the town's wealthiest and only black child "Token", wanted (and got) more "rich" friends, a code word for "black" on the episode (though the kids were, in fact rich, being the offspring of Will Smith, Quincy Jones, etc.). Mr. Garrison organized a mob to remove the rich people from South Park. Also in "It Hits the Fan" only Mr. Garrison and Jimbo can say fag but if anybody else says it in "It Hits the Fan" they get bleeped. In the episode "Cartoon Wars," the Muslim prophet Muhammad is shown by South Park carrying a "salmon helmet," however Comedy Central chooses to censor the Muslim prophet. This censoring, though, is only part of the plot. In the original showing of the second part of "Cartoon Wars," Comedy Central did not allow South Park to show Muhammad. The scene where Muhammad was supposed to be shown was replaced with text stating that Comedy Central had censored the episode.
In November 2005, South Park satirized the Church of Scientology and its celebrity followers, including actors Tom Cruise, R. Kelly and John Travolta, in a top-rated episode called "Trapped in the Closet". In the episode, Stan is hailed as a reluctant savior by Scientology leaders, while a cartoon Cruise locks himself in Stan's closet and will not come out. "Coming Out Of The Closet" is also commonly used as a term for people who have not admitted their homosexuality. This episode is also a possible ironic statement on the often rumored homosexuality of Tom Cruise, R. Kelly and John Travolta. Dubbed 'Closetgate' by the Los Angeles Times, the controversy continued as Comedy Central pulled the "Trapped in the Closet" episode at the last minute from a scheduled repeat on March 15, 2006. It is alleged that Tom Cruise threatened Paramount with withdrawal from promotion of his latest film Mission: Impossible III if the episode was broadcast; both Paramount and Comedy Central are owned by Viacom. Though Paramount and Cruise's representatives deny the allegation, The Independent reports that "no one believes a word of it". In typical satirical form, Parker and Stone issued the following statement: "So, Scientology, you may have won THIS battle, but the million-year war for Earth has just begun! Temporarily anozinizing our episode will NOT stop us from keeping Thetans forever trapped in your pitiful man-bodies. Curses and drat! You have obstructed us for now, but your feeble bid to save humanity will fail! Hail Xenu
As a parody attempt to block a potential lawsuit, the credits for this episode only read John or Jane Smith, so no one can be named.
Response
In response to Isaac Hayes quitting the show, Parker and Stone used South Park's 10th season premiere to lambast Scientology again, as well as kill off Hayes's character, "Chef." In the episode, entitled "The Return of Chef", Chef returns from a three month long stay with the Super Adventure Club (SAC), an organization full of Colonel Mustard-type adventurers who scour the world for adventure and children to have sex with. This "fruity little club" is a parody of Scientology. Though Chef returns, he is in a zombie-like state and his dialogue is obviously patched together from recordings of past episodes, intended as part of the joke. Eventually in the episode, all Chef begins to talk about is child molestation.
There are other similar examples of Chef's new strangeness, and the boys visit the Super Adventure Club in an effort to learn what is wrong with him. They learn the true nature of the club and eventually free Chef from the its thrall with a trip to the good ol' Peppermint Hippo (a strip club), but the Super Adventure Club kidnaps Chef and return him to their stronghold. As the kids try to re-rescue him, Chef ultimately decides to return to the SAC and is killed by being struck by lightning, falling down a cliff, landing onto a jagged tree stump, being shot multiple times then eaten by a mountain lion and a grizzly bear, finally voiding his bowels as "proof" that he is really, really dead. Kyle delivers a eulogy at Chef's funeral, urging the town to remember the good times with Chef and to forgive him for his transgression ("We shouldn't be mad at Chef for leaving, we should be mad at the fruity little club for scrambling his brain"). After this, Chef is resurrected in a "Darth Vader"-style scene highly reminiscent of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. The "light saber" he holds at the end is a glowing red spatula.
Catholicism
In December 2005, the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights protested the season finale episode, "Bloody Mary", for its depiction of a statue of the Virgin Mary bleeding out her rear. The group claimed a victory when Comedy Central voluntarily cancelled a scheduled airing of the episode which coincided with the Christian holiday season. In early 2006, Comedy Central denied that they were bowing to that group's request to pull the episode from future repeats and DVD releases."South Park" Parked by Complaints? - Eonline In New Zealand, C4 pushed the airing date for the episode forward after much publicity from Catholic bishops who urged a boycott of the station and its advertisers. The protest backfired as viewer numbers increased by 600% during the episode. The episode was later referred to the Broadcasting Standards Authority where they ruled, "The material in the cartoon was of such a farcical, absurd and unrealistic nature that it did not breach standards of good taste and decency in the context in which it was offered." Bloody Mary ruled too absurd to offendBoycott backfires: South Park gets record audience - CBC.ca It has since been rebroadcast on Comedy Central. SBS in Australia has "deferred" the episodeSBS drops South Park episode on the Pope - The Age possibly due to their recent problems with the "Trapped in the Closet" episode.
In February 2006 in the Philippines, authorities threatened to ban the showing of South Park on television as it offends the sensibilities of a number of religious Roman Catholic conservatives. South Park is still shown in the Philippines with 1-hour double episodes.
On August 2, 2006, Comedy Central reran the episode at 10:00 PM EST.
"Cartoon Wars"
Muhammad as depicted in "Super Best Friends".
Most recently South Park has indirectly attacked the rising censorship in its April 52006 episode "Cartoon Wars Part I", which ended with the statement that the second part of the two-parter episode, will only be shown if Comedy Central does not "puss out".
The following episode "Cartoon Wars Part II" that aired April 12, 2006, replaced the scene of Muhammed on Family Guy with a message stating that Comedy Central had refused to show a depiction of Muhammed on their network, thereby "pussing out". With the episode, the South Park boys make an impassioned, anti-censorship plea to a network exec named Doug, a reference to Comedy Central president Doug Herzog. This comes months after the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy in Denmark, in which an editorial cartoon depicted Muhammed also in a satirical way. However, he can in fact be seen in the season 10 opening credits from the episode "Smug Alert!" onwards and was featured in the Super Best Friends episode, which aired on July 4, 2001, though at the time there was no pre-existing controversy over depicting Muhammed.
It has come out via AP television writer David Bauder that Comedy Central did in fact, citing safety concerns, opt to censor the image of Muhammad, a situation that was satirized in "Cartoon Wars Part II". Furthermore, instead of showing an image of Muhammad, Comedy Central opted not to censor images of Christ, the president and the American flag being defecated upon. Stone and Parker's choice has drawn fire from frequent South Park critic William Donohue of the anti-defamation group Catholic League. Donohue has called on Parker and Stone to resign out of principle, and was quoted as saying, "The ultimate hypocrite is not Comedy Central â€" that's their decision not to show the image of Muhammad or not â€" it's Parker and Stone". 'South Park' Creators Skewer Own Network - Yahoo News and The Associated Press It should be noted though, that Stone and Parker made the choice to mock Christ to illustrate the hypocrisy in censoring one religion and not another, echoing their similar stance on Scientology.
On a "South Park Studios" FAQ, Trey and Matt claim that they never made the drawing of Mohammed, and that videos on the Internet was not made by them.
In simplest terms, the politics of South Park seem to have a generally libertarian slant. Political figures, personalities, and politically active liberal celebrities (such as in the recent episode "Smug Alert" with the "smug" from George Clooney's Academy Awards acceptance speech) have been ridiculed as well. They have sometimes been categorized as "libertarian conservative", and a small movement has sprung up of youngish, South Park Conservatives who hold ideas from extreme ends of the political spectrum, believing, for instance, that global warming is a myth while supporting gay rights. The show, however, has not explicitly supported gay rights, such as in the episode "Follow That Egg" where gay marriage was deemed "too offensive" to people with religious values and should have been redesignated something else, "Mr. Garrison's Fancy New Vagina" which was highly critical of transgendered for not keeping the bodies that nature gave them, and "Cripple Fight" where the creators took the position that the Boy Scouts should not have been forced to allow homosexuals to be Scoutmasters and mocked calling its opponents homophobes. It also demonstrates that while many homophobic parents may worry about gay men molesting their children, it is just as likely, if not moreso, to have the straight, married, pillar-of-society taking naked pictures of them.
Stone and Parker spend a great amount of time on current events and issues of the day, more so in recent years than they used to, which some fans have complained about. The stance that the show takes reflects the beliefs of the creators; Both creators have at one time or another described themselves as libertarians.
In an interview with the two in Time Magazine (March 13, 2006) the two have stated that the only reason people might peg them for conservatives is that they are willing to mock anti-smoking laws and hippies. They also stated that the show could just as easily be pegged as a show supporting liberal ideologies. The interview ended with Trey quipping "We still believe that all people are born bad and are made good by society, rather than the opposite," and Matt adding "Actually, I think that's where we're conservative."
Child abuse and neglect
Child sexual abuse and child neglect are recurring thematic elements in South Park. For example, Butters' emotional, verbal, and physical abuse by his parents is usually depicted in episodes in which he appears. Cartman is shown several times as a target of actual or attempted sexual abuse, such as when he gets involved with NAMBLA. There is other evidence where he has been sexually abused in the episode "Simpsons Already Did It" where after getting semen ("sea-men") from a sperm bank, he is filling up a fish tank for his "sea people" and tells his friends that he got the rest of the semen from a guy in an alley who told him to "close his eyes and suck it out of a hose." Shelley is depicted as physically abusing her younger brother Stan and other major characters in earlier episodes. Kenny's parents are depicted and referred to as dysfunctional alcoholics, and his brothers appear to be neglected.
The treatment of this theme ranges from realistic to cartoonish. For example, the character Butters Stotch clearly has some psychological issues as a result of his treatment by his parents; he is incontinent (in "Awesome-O," Cartman has to put a suppository in his rectum), has low self-esteem, and wrings his hands (although, strangely, Butters is also an unfailingly optimistic character and is one of the few genuinely nice people in the whole town, which often makes him a constant target for ridicule and abuse). However, his parents' emotional manipulation of him is shown as completely "over-the-top"; at one point, they try to sell Butters to Paris Hilton, Butters reveals that he has received anilingus from his uncle when detectives are questioning the children whether Chef has molested them, and in "Butter's Very Own Episode" his mother tries to kill him. Tweek's constant state of tension has both comic elements (his parents, owners of a small coffee shop, keep him dosed on coffee without the realisation of the problems it causes him), and more serious and realistic ones (his problems, caused by his family, are misdiagnosed as ADD, and it is implied that he has a therapist who treats his problems as purely personal and ignores the role of his parents).
In the episode "Jared Has Aides" it is implied but not shown that Butters is subjected to extreme physical abuse by his parents.
Animal sexuality
Another recurring theme includes animal sexuality, whether full sex ("Chickenlover"), masturbation ("Proper Condom Use", in which older boys teach Cartman and Kenny to manually pleasure a dog, telling them it's the same as milking a cow), cross-species breeding ("An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig"), a pony simulating oral sex by sucking on a hot dog ("Scott Tenorman Must Die"), or simply that an animal is discovered to enjoy gay sex ("Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride"). In the episode "Douche and Turd", South Park satirizes PETA, the animal rights organization, when Stan discovers that the PETA members in their forest encampment have grown physically close with their animals to the point of bestiality. Other episodes containing this theme include "Woodland Critter Christmas", in which a group of talking satanic animals engage in a "blood orgy".
In addition Jesus has been shown multiple times, living in South Park and hosting a public access call in talk show(Jesus and Pals), and in one episode fighting Satan. (Within the world of South Park, Jesus died in 2002, saving Santa Claus from Iraqis; Santa said that, from now on, Christmas should be a celebration of Jesus.) In a third season episode, "Jewbilee," at a Jew Scouts camp, Moses appears in the form of the Master Control Program from Tron and tells the assembled children in an ominous voice, "I desire... macaroni pictures."
The criticism of anti-religion is also apparent in South Park. In "All About Mormons," Stan ridicules the Mormons for believing a story that offers no proof. However, at the very end, a Mormon named Gary delivers his side of the story by pointing out that all he had ever done was try to be Stan's friend, but Stan acted so "high and mighty" that Gary's religion was the only part of his personality to which Stan responded. *Gary: "All I ever did was try to be your friend, Stan, but you're so high and mighty you couldn't look past my religion and just be my friend back. You've got a lot of growing up to do, buddy. Suck my balls." (Gary walks off in disgust, leaving the four boys stunned.) *Cartman: (after a pause) Damn, that kid is cool, huh?
South Park often hints that religious members may be illogical and that atheists are overly arrogant (as in "Red Hot Catholic Love").
Similarly non-religious cults of personality which cross over into a religious-like structure are caricatured, such as the episode where a cult of 'Blaintologists' (named for charismatic illusionistDavid Blaine) forms, and progresses to ritualistic mass cult suicide unless they obtain their tax-exempt status.
The show has come under fire from conservative religious groups for its sympathetic portrayal of Satan, who appears occasionally. Satan appears as a generally nice person doing a difficult job. He hosts luaus in Hell, and is also presented as a homosexual, shown in committed relationships with some of Hell's denizens, including Saddam Hussein who is the dominant one in the relationship, mentally and verbally abusing Satan, leading to Saddam's deaths and Satan's eventual single status.
Environment
"Manbearpig" satirized Al Gore's global warming views
South Park has had multiple episodes with anti-environmentalist themes. However, it should be pointed out that it is usually the attitudes of environmentalists that is satirized, rather than South Park actually promoting an anti-environmental attitude.
In the 1999 episode "Rainforest Schmainforest," an environmental activist, voiced by Jennifer Aniston, made a harrowing trip to the rainforest of Costa Rica with the children, and the experience caused her to conclude that the rainforest "sucks ass." This episode seems to highlight the lack of in-depth knowledge many people have about a cause they are supporting, and the way in which they appear to 'jump on a bandwagon'. It is therefore unlikely that the episode is intentionally trying to justify the destruction of the rainforest.
The 2006 episode "Smug Alert" mocked the self-satisfaction and 'smugness' of people that drive hybrid vehicles (which cause "smug" instead of "smog"). The importance of hybrid cars and the underlying good that they do for the environment is highlighted at the end of the episode indicating again that it is the people who are being satirized rather than what they represent. A further 2006 episode, "Manbearpig" mocked Al Gore's "attention seeking" through his outspokeness about the danger of global warming, or in the episodes case, Manbearbig.
The characters and backgrounds of South Park are crude; in fact, paper cut-outs were used in the original pilot Parker/Stone animation and in the very first Comedy Central episode. Every subsequent episode aired on TV has been produced by computer animation that provides the same look, though the animation has arguably become less crude over time. The style of animation used for South Park was inspired by the paper cut-out cartoons made by Terry Gilliam for Monty Python's Flying Circus, of which Trey Parker and Matt Stone are lifelong fans. For perspective, the average episode of The Simpsons takes eight weeks to create, while episodes of South Park have been completed in as little as three days (which explains why current events that occur mere days before episode airdates are often included, such as the capture of Saddam Hussein). Some episodes contain sections of regular film as well (e.g., "Tweek vs. Craig" and "Cat Orgy").
Matt Stone is the voice of many of the characters including Butters, Kenny, Kyle, Gerald Broflovski, Stuart McCormick, Jimbo Kern, Jesus, Saddam Hussein, Pip, Terrance, Tweek, and many others. Trey Parker is the voice of Cartman, Stan, Randy Marsh, Grandpa Marsh, Big Gay Al, Craig, Dr. Alphonse Mephesto, Mr. Garrison, Mr. Hankey, Mr. Mackey, Miss Choksondik, Phillip, Timmy, Jimmy, Satan, Officer Barbrady and many others. Other voices are provided by April Stewart (Liane Cartman, Sharon Marsh, Mrs. McCormick, Shelley Marsh, The Mayor, Principal Victoria, Mrs. Crabtree, Wendy Testaburger, others), Adrien Beard (Token) and formerly, Isaac Hayes (Chef). Mary Kay Bergman, sometimes credited as Shannen Cassidy, voiced most of the series' female characters from 1997-1999 and Eliza Schneider, AKA "Blue Girl", voiced them from 1999-2003. Eric Stough, the animation director, was the inspiration for the character of Butters.
Major characters
The main characters of the show are four elementary school students (often called "the boys" when as a group for easier reference):
;Stanley "Stan" Marsh:Often the "straight man" of the group. Generally good natured and clear-thinking, albeit over-sensitive at times, Stan usually tries to come up with logical solutions to their outrageous situations. Designed as the alter-ego for co-creator Trey Parker, Stan often summarizes the message or moral of the episode. He is best friends with Kyle and their relationship is central to several episodes.
;Kyle Broflovski:Easy-going, Jewish, skeptical, intelligent and at times short-tempered. Kyle is effectively the alter-ego of co-creator Matt Stone. Along with Stan, Kyle often provides a reasonable perspective on the crazy behavior of the adult world around them. Kyle is often depicted as the most moral member of the four.
;Eric Theodore Cartman:Based on Archie Bunker, and almost always the catalyst for the plot, Cartman is abusive, violent, campy, aggressive, greedy, corrupt, sexist, bigoted, self-centered, overweight, rude, racist, and extremely manipulative. He regularly insults Kyle for being Jewish, Stan for being a pussy, and Kenny for being poor. His pretentious and sociopathic ways often cause him to be disdained by the other boys, who don't quite know why they put up with him. Cartman commonly acts in a manner directly opposed to, or against, that of the other boys. He also demonstrates an uncanny ability as a businessman and leader, and was once or twice seen dressed in a way that mimics Adolf Hitler, whom it is thought Cartman idolizes because of his anti-Semitic views. Cartman also occasionally serves as a mouthpiece for some of Parker and Stone's more extreme social commentary and has a rabid dislike for hippies. Every episode in which he appears to be doing something good ends with his true motives being revealed.
;Kenneth "Kenny" McCormick:Kenny is the misunderstood kid who comes from a poverty-stricken family. He is the most perverted and world-wise of the four boys and is often sought out for answers when the other boys encounter a sexual term they have never heard before. His speech is difficult to understand due to the fact that his hood is closed around his face, although all of his lines are real dialogue that are always understood by Stan, Kyle and Eric; however in some episodes, Kenny's dialogue is visible by closed captioning. During the first five seasons, Kenny served as the eternal victim; routinely killed in a number of grotesque ways meant to entertain during each episode, only to survive and come back in the next episode. Parker and Stone let Kenny live in only one episode from the first season ("Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo"). In season 4 he was run over by a bus in part one of a two part episode ("Do the Handicapped Go to Hell?") however in part 2("Probably") it shows that he lived, but ended up trapped in Mexico which Jesus claims at the end of the episode is a fate worse than death and Hell. At the end of Season 5, Kenny was more permanently left off for a while, since he had to survive for some time before coming back. Parker and Stone explained at the time that this was due to their feeling creatively boxed in by the requirement to kill Kenny in each episode before he survives and comes back. In season 6 he is replaced by Butters and Tweek as the boys' "fourth friend". However, due to Kenny's lasting popularity, they brought him back for the seventh season (so Kenny went one season without appearing), and now he no longer dies (except on the very occasional episode). It was what started the show's oldest gimmick with Stan shouting, "Oh my God, they killed Kenny!" followed by Kyle responding, "You bastards!" whenever Kenny is killed. This is parodied in "The Return of Chef". When Chef is killed, Stan screams "Oh my god, they killed Chef!" followed by Kyle who yells, "You bastards, you BASTARDS!" Kenny said in episode #202 (Cartman's mom is still a dirty slut), when Mephisto was shot, he said "Oh my god, they killed Mephisto." Kyle responds "You bastard!" Since Kenny has stopped dying, this is scarcely used now and he is better than ever.
;Leopold "Butters" Stotch(Appeared in earlier seasons but replaced Kenny as a main character during the first part of the Season 6. Though Kenny was brought back for the 7th season, Butters has remained prominent)
Butters is nervous, naive, easily manipulated, and repressed â€" while at the same time remains ironically optimistic, and sometimes insightful. He is often callously punished by his overbearing and oppressive parents, and is meanwhile blatantly vilified, taken advantage of and/or disregarded by Cartman, Stan, and Kyle. Adding to the tragic nature of his character, his birthday is September 11. When Kenny seemed to be permanently dead the boys tried Butters out as their fourth friend for a while, and when it didn't work out a spurned Butters adopted the alter ego of Professor Chaos, whose costume is clearly inspired by that of Magneto, and he has a sidekick called General Disarray (Dougie the 1st grader). Butters tried various schemes to take over the world, but his niceness and general ineptitude doomed all of his efforts. His character is based on Director of Animation Eric Stough.
Minor characters and celebrities
Part of the show's surrealist nature derives from the minor characters who appear in the series. Some include God (who appears as a small creature resembling a hippo-rodent hybrid), Jesus (who owns a home and hosts a public-access television talk show in South Park (Jesus and Pals), Satan (with or without his lover Saddam Hussein), Chris (Satan's boyfriend after Saddam), Moses (who appears exactly as the Master Control Program (MCP) does in the Disney film Tron and demands pictures made of macaroni glued to paper plates from his faithful), the alien Marklar race; the Jakovasaurs; Death; Mr. Hankey "the " (who adds to the holiday festivities in much the same spirit as the 1960s Rankin-Bass cartoons), and the "Crab People," an ancient race of crustacean-like creatures that try to destroy mankind by turning men into "metrosexual pussies".
The show's opening theme song is an original musical score performed by alternative rockers Primus. The song has been remixed twice in the course of the series, and certain lines have been altered (see below).
Kenny's lines in the song, like the rest of his speech in the show (with the exception of two lines in Episode 807, "The Jeffersons"), are muffled by his parka hood, which covers his entire face except for his eyes. Kenny actually says, "I like girls with big fat titties, I like girls with big vaginas." The general unintelligibility of Kenny's lines has helped them avoid being censored by the network on a number of occasions, although the gist of it can usually be understood. It is sometimes easy to comprehend the lines, given the context in which they are delivered.
Popular songs such as "Kyle's Mom is a Bitch" originated on the show, but the creators' musical abilities were not frequently used until the release of South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut. The film's soundtrack featured songs like "Mountain Town", "La Resistance Medley," "Uncle Fucka", "What Would Brian Boitano Do?" (a song to which Brian Boitano has been known to figure skate to), "I'm Super", and "Blame Canada" (nominated for an Oscar, see below). Several of the songs from the movie were satires of tunes from Disney cartoons. For instance, "Mountain Town" is highly similar to "Belle" from Beauty and the Beast. "Up There" is a take-off of two different Disney songs, "Out There" from The Hunchback of Notre Dame and "Part of Your World" from The Little Mermaid. "La Resistance Medley" spoofs "One Day More" from the stage musical Les Miserables, and "Tonight" from West Side Story.
Trey Parker and Matt Stone have, on occasion, performed these and other songs (some unrelated to the show, such as "Dead Dead Dead"), under the band name DVDA.
In the show, Eric Cartman will often burst into song to convey a false altruism or optimism that belies his baser motivations. In "Red Sleigh Down", he sings "Poo-Choo Train", an unnervingly cheery Christmas carol, in an obvious attempt to convince Mr. Hankey and Santa Claus that he is worthy of Christmas presents. In "The Death of Eric Cartman", Cartman sings "Make It Right" with Butters in a weak attempt to reconcile his sins. In Roger Ebert Should Lay Off the Fatty Foods, Cartman sings "She Works Hard For The Money" during an audition for Cheesy Poofs. In the episode, "Simpsons Already Did It" Cartman sings about how the sea people will "take me away from this damn planet full of hippies." In the episode "Ginger Kids" he sings a song about tolerance once he realizes he's not one of the "Gingers" and that he just convinced every "Ginger" in town to exterminate non-Ginger people. Cartman also uses the song "Heat of the Moment" in Episode 513 (Kenny Dies) to convince the U.S. Senate to approve stem cell research. And, of course, there's Cartman's mental quirk that forces him to finish singing Styx's "Come Sail Away" whenever someone sings a few bars of the song.
Cartman was also the lead singer for "Faith + 1", a Christian band he formed with Butters and Token in the episode "Christian Rock Hard", singing several "Christian" songs about Jesus, which actually contained lyrics referring to physical (sexual) love for Jesus instead of veneration and worship.
Additional musical contributions to the show come from the band Primus, which performed the original opening and ending themes for the show, and formerly from Isaac Hayes, who voiced Chef's singing of usually-sexual songs to explain certain adult themes to the boys. Another high point of the series is its dramatic score. It often dramatizes common and deep parts with a very heartwarming, melancholic, or mysterious soundtrack.
Air Arabia promotional characters in use from 2003-2006
*Stan and Kyle's immediate families have the same names as Trey Parker and Matt Stone's. *So far, seasons 5 and 9 are the only seasons that do not have a Christmas episode. * Pip, and A Million Little Fibers are the only episodes to not feature any of the main boys. (In Not Without My Anus, Cartman [if not all the boys] is visible on a television.) In addition to these episodes Butters' Very Own Episode, Krazy Kripples and Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset feature the main boys, but none of them have a large part. *Season 9 is the only season so far to have all of the episodes air in the correct production order. Future seasons will most likely air in the correct order since Trey and Matt claim to make each episode a week before it airs. *Since 2003 some Air Arabia advertisements and their webpage have featured cartoon characters which some believe resemble a striking similarity to the characters in the cartoon.
Running gags and catchphrases
* Kenny died in almost every episode during the first five seasons, usually near the end. In a few episodes, his death is used as a plot device, most notably in the movie, where his friendship with Satan in Hell is essential to the story, to the point of providing the final deus ex machina. In the episode Kenny Dies, all the characters are very upset when Kenny gets diagnosed as terminally ill. * When Kenny dies, Stan says "Oh, my God! They/We killed Kenny!" Kyle will then say "You bastard(s)!" These lines are sometimes used as jokes, such as in the episode "Super Best Friends", where Stan used his line as echolocation, Marco Polo style, to find Kyle. This is again used when Kenny is killed in Cartman's tree house; Cartman says Stan's line and Kyle, walking by the tree house, stops to say "You bastards!" In another episode, when Cartman is trampled by a bull, Kenny utters Stan's line, although Cartman isn't actually killed. In recent seasons, this exchange between Stan and Kyle happens when anyone on the show dies, including Kenny. * Frequently when Kenny dies, rats scurry onscreen, eat his corpse, and then scurry off. * When Cartman gets aggravated by his friends, he often leaves, saying "Screw you guys, I'm goin' home", however, when the current situation requires his attention, he usually comes right back or doesn't leave at all. * Cartman always mispronounces authority as "authoritah" and has similarly mispronounced several other words including "integritah", "Molestered", "hyaah" (here, as in "Guys, get me down from hyaah!") and "Confederacah" * In the earlier episodes, usually at the end after a wild series of events has occurred, Stan says, "Dude, this is pretty fucked up right here." * Near the end of most episodes, someone starts a moral to the episode with "I learned something today..."
Religious humor
South Park often satirizes and insults organized religion, such as in "Super Best Friends". Throughout the years, critics complained on the heavy use of references on Jews and Jewish stereotypes (the Broflovskis). Kyle's father is dressed in hasidic garb and the town's only lawyer, and Kyle's mother is a strict mother, a liberal activist and resembles Barbra Streisand. Kyle's adopted baby brother Ike sounds like an ethnic slur held offensive to Jews, however it indicates Jews are more a religious group as Ike is a convert. According to the episode "Red Hot Catholic Love", South Park is a predominantly Catholic town and all the major and recurring characters in South Park are Roman Catholic, except for: * The Broflovskis (Kyle's family) are Jewish, and apparently"are the entire Jewish community" of South Park. * The Harrisons are Mormon (they only appear in one episode). * Chef, who converts to Islam in "Chef Goes Nanners" and denounces his "slave name" requesting that everyone address him as Abdul Mohammed Jabbar-Rauf Kareem Ali (a combination of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Muhammad Ali, El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz and Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, all the names of prominent African-American Muslim converts). He eventually renounced his newfound religion, only to become a member of the Super Adventure Club (a parody of the Church of Scientology), which brainwashed him into becoming a child molester. * Chef's parents (who are from Scotland) practice Voodoo and Occult rituals (though their precise faith is unknown). Chef, however, states in the episode Damien that his mother would be upset if he beat Jesus, his sparring partner, so his mother must at least have respect for Jesus. * The Super Best Friends - a satire of the Superfriends cartoons. The founders of all the world's major religions are super best friends with each other and use their special powers to fight evil (except Buddha, who doesn't believe in evil). * God, who claims to be a Buddhist. * David Blaine â€" before South Park "exposed" the Church of Scientology, there was David Blaine's cult/religion Blaintology, an episode with commentary suggesting there is no difference between magic and miracles (i.e. the tricks performed by David Blaine are as real as the miracles performed by Jesus Christ). * Stan, who in "Trapped in the Closet" was claimed to be a reincarnation of L. Ron Hubbard from The Church of Scientology, but denounced it at the end of that episode. * In the episode "Probably", it is claimed that the only people who get into heaven are the Mormons, though this changes in "Best Friends Forever" when God decides that the Mormons aren't tough enough to go against Satan's forces. Hell doesn't really seem so bad either, having orientation and luaus. The episode "Best Friends Forever" also asserts that Japanese people don't have souls, nor do "Gingers" (red heads with freckles and pale skin) according to Cartman in "Ginger Kids". * In 2006, Comedy Central would not allow South Park to show an image of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, likely due to the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy, and fear of similar repercussions. In response, South Park aired a 2-part episode culminating in President Bush, Jesus Christ, and various Americans defecating on each other and the American flag to point out the hypocrisy of not allowing the Muslim prophet to be shown at all but allowing the Christian Savior to be shown in an insulting manner (this episode originally aired on the Wednesday before Easter Weekend). Interestingly, however, Muhammad is shown as one of the super best friends in the episode of the same name.
