Let’s be honest, Trey Parker and Matt Stone did not create South Park for the sole reason to be socially conscious. Most people can’t even stand to watch it because of its vulgarity. However, in between the obscene language and fecal matter references lies a reflection of the state of our community. Trey Parker continues to reference and mock pop culture as it became a bigger part of our everyday lives. It’s almost scary how one can enjoy the humor in a South Park episode then suddenly stop and feel uncomfortable. This uncomfortable feeling is almost like arguing with a spouse and they point out something so true about you that you’re not even willing to admit it. South Park delivers a huge dose of reality on a weekly basis, don’t brush off the truth just because it’s a cartoon. Here are five episodes that hit closest to home.
1. Safe Space (Season 19, Episode 5)
This episode starts with Cartman (an obese sociopathic fourth grader) posting a picture on the internet of him with his shirt off. Of course people on social media called him fat and instead of not posting pictures anymore or losing weight he hires Butters (a sweet innocent fourth grader) to filter all negative comments. Along with Cartman, a handful of celebrities used Butters to filter negative content. When reality personifies itself as a human to rid the town of its delusion, the town responds by hanging him and cheering after he dies.
The world we live in today is definitely seeing a decline in realism. Instead of admitting we have imperfections as a society and looking to improve, we expect everybody to ignore them and only point out the positives. How is our community going to evolve and prosper if we don’t give attention to the issues that are holding us back.
