While controversial comedy is certainly not a new phenomenon in popular culture, the surge of bold, unforgiving and often offensive humor in television demonstrates that many networks' focus has taken a decidedly different turn. Comedy Central's "South Park," one of my favorite TV comedies, exemplifies the lack of empathy for, and relentless ridiculing of, all things celebrity, popular and ultimately mainstream American. Finishing up its tenth season, "South Park," through its incisive commentary, has both created and lampooned its fair share of controversy, confirming its place in the realm of subversive comedy.
It might not be such a terrible thing that I, as a reformed television addict, have found less and less time to enjoy the offerings of the tube. Or rather, I've had to actually make time to pencil in an episode of some comedy or drama. There is, however, certain programming that demands my attention, simply because it is a relief to hear someone examine the things that others, myself included, are often too intimidated to question or could not mock as completely as certain idiocies demand. For this reason, I wanted to devote an entire article to my beloved politically-incorrect cartoons.
While the list of cult television comedies continues to grow, Comedy Central outshines its competitors in terms of subversively unpredictable contemporary humor. Comedy Central has consistently been one of the top ten cable channels in terms of viewership among 18- to 34-year- olds -- a coveted audience, according to Nielson ratings -- and "South Park" is one of its highest-rated shows, along with "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report."
"South Park" has garnered attention for many episodes over the years, but this past season has inspired some of the most intense opposition of the show's history. While earlier episodes attacked everything from the fantasy card game fad to plastic surgery, a recent episode that took blatant swipes at Tom Cruise and the Church of Scientology resulted in an unprecedented uproar. That the show capitalized on the Mohammed cartoon scandal in a later episode only fanned the flames.
Despite having taken aim at other religions ranging from Judaism to Mormonism, media speculation and attention surrounded the show when this unusually controversial episode, which mocked the beliefs of Scientologists, aired on television.
Among the list of offenses:
1) One of the characters was penned as the second coming of the religion's leader, L. Ron Hubbard.
2) A prominent scene reenacts Scientology's creation story as an inter-galactic action film played with the caption "This Is What Scientologists Actually Believe."
3) Tom Cruise goes and hides in a closet after he doesn't receive approval from his leader-incarnate, only to have to be coaxed out of the closet by John Travolta, Nicole Kidman and R. Kelly (R. Kelly is not a Scientologist, but his song series "Trapped in the Closet" provided a perfect opportunity for him to be incorporated into the plot).
Further conflict ensued when Grammy winner Isaac Hayes, who voices the character Chef, quit the show after the episode, citing that he could no longer stomach their take on religion.
"There is a place in this world for satire, but there is a time when satire ends and intolerance and bigotry towards religious beliefs of others begins," the 63-year-old soul singer and outspoken Scientologist said to MSNBC. "As a civil rights activist of the past 40 years, I cannot support a show that disrespects those beliefs and practices."
"This is 100 percent having to do with his faith of Scientology. ... He has no problem -- and he's cashed plenty of checks -- with our show making fun of Christians," the show's co-creator, Matt Stone, fired back.
The episode was notably pulled by the channel -- some say through Cruise's influence with Viacom, which owns Comedy Central and produced Cruise's film "Mission: Impossible III." However, this was not the last time the show used religious controversy in its episodes.
After the publication of offensive, Islam-attacking cartoons in a Danish newspaper, "South Park" aired an episode in which Fox's highest-rated cartoon comedy, "Family Guy," sought to air an episode that would feature the prophet Mohammed's face, thus supposedly sparking more terrorist activity against the United States. What started out as resembling an attack on Islam cleverly became an attack on fellow cartoon comedies. The episode portrayed "Family Guy" as brainless, dull and essentially inferior to "South Park" in its humor, and cited its removal from television as a solution to the terrorist issue. (I'm actually a fan of both shows, but "South Park" definitely made some amusing points.) Though there was less issue with this episode, its focus on such a current topic led many to question how far the writers could go.
There has been a positive result amid all of the seemingly negative attention the show received. In early April, "South Park" was selected as one of three television shows that would be recipients of the Peabody Award, a prestigious journalism and mass communication award from the University of Georgia. The show was noted for its "notoriously rude, undeniably fearless lampoon of all that is self-important and hypocritical in American life, regardless of race, creed, color or celebrity status." For Matt Stone and Trey Parker, every aspect of American culture is a potential target -- no exceptions.
And that is perhaps the lesson that is best taught in every episode of "South Park." The show doesn't purposely seek out every controversy of American society and popular culture, but it does encourage us to see our illogical reasoning and the absurdity that often obscures our thinking. One recent episode featured Eric Cartman's mother seeking an appointment at a pregnancy clinic so that she could abort him -- keeping in mind that Eric is an eight-year old third grader. As depraved as this may sound, it didn't seem nearly as ridiculous as a recent People magazine article that featured a couple who were seeking damages from their doctor for not informing them that they could have done tests to determine whether their child had a cognitive illness, thus aiding them in deciding whether to abort the fetus or not. Their daughter is currently two and has spina bifida, but they refuse to admit that they would have aborted the pregnancy if they knew about her condition. Not exactly the same situations, but both shed light on how much (or how little) human life is valued in American society.
"South Park" has never ceased to shock and challenge the limits of its audience, and as long as culture provides the material, "South Park" will have a product.
