Is South Park Foreshadowing It's Own Conclusion?

[Favre4Ever+ 4,476]

South Park turned its critical gaze on itself last night, briefly admitting that "being a cynical asshole" alienates you from the people around you and makes you miserable in the long run. It's a weird message coming from the biggest voice in contemporary cynicism — but fifteen seasons in, South Park's fans, and maybe its creators, are sympathizing with Stan's plight.

 

"You're Getting Old" starts on Stan's 10th birthday, when he discovers that the "teencore" band he used to like now sounds like literal farts. Everything looks like turds, and he finds his friends' enthusiasm for things to be off-putting and ridiculous. He goes to the doctor, where he's diagnosed with a serious case of cynicism. By the end of the episode, not only are his parents getting divorced, but Stan's also completely separated from his pals. He ends the episode alone, gazing up from his bed. It's actually pretty sad and surprisingly evocative, given that the episode has been liberally sprinkled with fart noises and scat jokes. Aw.

 

The kind of emotional malignancy that comes with devout cynicism has been weighing on Matt Stone and Trey Parker for a little while. "You just get older, you start caring about things," Parker told New York back in March. The Book of Mormon represents a shift in the ideology of their storytelling, too; it's not strictly about proving a point or providing commentary. "We wouldn’t have been working on [Mormon] for six years if we weren’t trying to get the emotional payoff there,” according to Stone. "It’s not an episode of South Park."

 

South Park means no emotional payoff, and what Stan — and we? — learned last night is that that provides very limited gratification. The show will air seven more episodes later this year, but Parker and Stone's contracts are up after that. Is this the beginning of the swan song? [Zap2It, HitFix]

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2011/06/south_park_admits_being_cynica.html?imw=Y&f=most-emailed-24h5

 

It was one of the most serious episodes of South Park that I have every seen. I think this article may be onto something.

[RazorStar 4,025]

Yeah, though I think it crosses into nightmare fuel once you see everything as shit.

[blotsfan 2,112]

Yeah, I doubt they'll make any episodes after this season ends. I just hope they don't start the next episode with everything back to normal.

[Silentway 20]

The tweenpop episode was unbelievable. I like South Park okay, and I think some episodes are really good but I'm not a huge fan. But this was a fantastic coming of age episode, it was funny and honest at so many points during the show.

[BwareDWare94 723]

It's tough to imagine no new South Park, so I kinda hope not. They tend to still be quite funny, and as long as they have something to criticize, they might as well keep it up. Was it better earlier on? Yeah, for sure, but it's still good. It's not like Family Guy, which is running out of ideas and has branched off into one decent show (American Dad) and one absolute shot in the dark that sucks (The Cleveland Show). All I know is I would keep watching if South Park kept on with seasons.

Edited June 26, 2011 by BwareDWare94

[KiLaSix9+ 398]

I've always liked South Park and have thought that these guys were geniuses for what they created. The way they can address a current issue or fad through the eyes and imaginations of kids was always impressive. Not only that but the fact they had the balls to do some of the shit they did on that cartoon cracked me up. I wish I had seen more but I honestly never catch it. I don't see how they could ever be irrelevant since their episodes are always about whats relevant but I guess after a while any show with that long of a run gets old.

[Turry 755]

It's tough to imagine no new South Park, so I kinda hope not. They tend to still be quite funny, and as long as they have something to criticize, they might as well keep it up. Was it better earlier on? Yeah, for sure, but it's still good. It's not like Family Guy, which is running out of ideas and has branched off into one decent show (American Dad) and one absolute shot in the dark that sucks (The Cleveland Show). All I know is I would keep watching if South Park kept on with seasons.

 

Even though its not made by seth mcfarlene Bob's Burgers is so awful.

[Favre4Ever+ 4,476]

I've always liked South Park and have thought that these guys were geniuses for what they created. The way they can address a current issue or fad through the eyes and imaginations of kids was always impressive. Not only that but the fact they had the balls to do some of the shit they did on that cartoon cracked me up. I wish I had seen more but I honestly never catch it. I don't see how they could ever be irrelevant since their episodes are always about whats relevant but I guess after a while any show with that long of a run gets old.

 

Early on, I always hated South Park because I thought it was just stupid... One liner, knee slap kind of humor. But I watched my first episode a couple years ago, and boy was I wrong. You actually have to have an understanding of current events to get and understand the jokes... And the show, overall, just has a lot more depth than I ever imagined.

[seanbrock 1,684]

Early on, I always hated South Park because I thought it was just stupid... One liner, knee slap kind of humor. But I watched my first episode a couple years ago, and boy was I wrong. You actually have to have an understanding of current events to get and understand the jokes... And the show, overall, just has a lot more depth than I ever imagined.

South Park honestly has more depth than 95% of news programs on tv that show us what? Twitter updates?