#south park critical

[medusasea]

South Park Younger Siblings

South Park creators, you have Ike from the very first episode, you give him tons of development and scenes and even make him unrealistically badass for his age.

Well done! Ike rocks.

You also had plans in Starvin Marvin to give Kenny a sister, but you decided not to, only to add her many years later after all, even though her existence doesn't make sense. Now, the South Park timeline doesn't make sense, but since the other children barely aged, it looks like Karen popped out into existence, since she is 6 years old. To be fair, the show sort of has selective continuity. It's not lie Avatar The Last Airbender, where such a decision would be horrendous. I still would've been more invested in Karen if she was from the beginning or at least if her existence didn't break story rules, but if you write her well I can forgive it.

What is Karen's role in the show? Kenny saves her and takes care of her. Sure, she is nice, but she didn't really help anyone or herself either, not on-screen at least.

She barely even showed personality traits. We know she is shy, sensitive, naive and does not like conflict. She is close to her mom and brother Kenny. She likes dolls. In the fractured but whole we learn she doesn't often get to socialize with others besides Kenny and thus she joined the vampire kids only to later realize how fucking lame they were and to join the Goth kids. Later she is no longer a goth with no explanation and no further character development. The show does not even use her in the Karen episode, but it makes Randy a Karen.

South Park creators, if you just wanted someone Kenny takes care of, he was already helpful and even heroic towards both his friends and strangers. Spoiler: He was even willing to die forever for his friends in the Coon trilogy. Did you plan for Karen to just be someone who Kenny takes care of even in Starvin Marvin, where you decided not to add her? You are capable of giving Ike tons of development, what is stopping you from giving Karen a little more development and importance?

Karen is barely more than a damsel in distress. The damsel in distress trope is not inherently bad, I only hate it when a competent character does something extremely stupid just so that they can become one or when the character in question has little to no personality and agency and is more a plot device than a character. About the latter, when I say the character needs agency, I am not saying they need to save themselves or others, but they should show skills or at least attempt to do something, otherwise they come across as unbelievably weak. The only exception where I don't care about this is if the characters overall don't get much development, like most old fairy tales or certain video games where the gameplay is more important than the story or characters. However, this is not the case with South Park. I used the term damsel in distress, but this can apply to any character regardless of gender, though it is more prevalent for female characters, in older stories at least. While South Park often underuses female characters in my opinion, it also underuses plenty of male ones too and most female characters have a fair share of development and agency even if I think they don't appear as often as they should. However, I can't help but find it fishy that out of the main characters' younger siblings the girl is reduced to a damsel in distress while the boy gets tons of development and relevance. It was probably not intentional, but it reminds me of the sexist world view of women being inferior to me and needing constant protection.

[pheonixkenny]

All right, since this is a South Park blog I’m going to attract South Park fans on here, and they may be pissed off, but here we go. I actually feel really bad about being in this fandom and the brainrot that has consumed me and makes me think about this show so goddamn much. Because here’s the thing, there’s a lot I dislike about it. I don’t like all the slurs casually being tossed around (curse words like fuck are ok, slurs are not.)I don’t like all the fat jokes thrown at Cartman. I don’t like a majority of the political opinions. I don’t like how offensive/cruel it can be sometimes. I consider myself a very progressive person who is trying hard to make the world a better place and to care about others. So I feel bad that I still like a lot of this show. It has characters that are a lot of fun to play around with in fanfics and stuff, a lot of it is written well, I love wacky cartoon shenanigans, and yes, it makes me laugh. Basically I really only like the episodes (and video games since SOT and FBW fall into this too.) where the kids are acting like kids (Free Wilzyx, Casa Bonita, Return of the Fellowship of the Ring to the Two Towers, etc.) and not any of the political satire. (Though that can work as long as it’s focused on the kids. Like Best Friends Forever or Cupid Ye. You don’t need to know what exactly the episode is satirizing in order for it to make sense on it’s own.) I skip a lot of the episodes that I know will just piss me off, But is it still bad for me to watch the show at all if I don’t agree with a lot of its morals/messaging? Am I a hypocrite? Am I a bad person?

[quietmtntown]

remember the transphobic ep m/t did : Board girls? I member wasn't a fan.. jus contributed to more harmful stereotyping and we can't even excuse it as saying its an old ep when it came out like what 5 years ago..

[blinkthinks]

Someone please help pull me out of my group chat with my relatives where they're making fun of BoJack Horseman when one of them's a South Park fan and the other's a Hazbin Hotel fan

[patchw0rk-quilt]

i remember when i was on discord a couple days ago and i was upset because my parents were watching a transphobic part of south park so i told the server in hopes that they’d be like “oh man that sucks i’m sorry :(“ but INSTEAD one of them is all like “Oh So I gUeSs I cAnT tAlK aBoUt MY INTEREST hErE?!!!??!” and then another idiot starts talking to them about sp and they’re like “yeah i liek south park because it makes fun of both sides!!!” as if that’s not a fucking shitass centrist viewpoint and is also fucking shitty (if you make fun of “both sides” you’re also making fun of the side that’s actively being oppressed) and then they start fucking SENDING SOUTH PARK KENNY GIFS LIKE WOW THANKS GUYS I FEEL SO COMFORTED RIGHT NOW THANK YOU FOR DERAILING THE WHOLE CONVERSATION IN FAVOR OF YOUR PIECE OF SHIT CENTRIST TRANSPHOBIC “SHOW”. I HOPE YOU BOTH GET HIT BY A BUS

[y-allium]

Ive somehow gotten into southpark??? So have a doodle dump

Can you tell whos my favorite lol

[suppressiveperson]

shake ur booty while the band complains

[capricorn-season]

[theonlymadmanonmars]

Oh this is going to piss some People off.

[hyperray]

It's very ironic Viv uses South Park as inspiration for writing in so many curse words, considering they made an episode about why that's a bad thing.

So we remember that Twitter post Viv made to snap back at the criticism of her making her characters say a ton of swear words, that it's being reduced to "Haha they say fuck a lot" and she tries to tell what she does is normal because she's also been inspired by Seth Rogen's and South Park's style of humor, with the difference between how she uses swearing and how South Park does it is because SP puts them in the context that what is happening is ridiculous and that the few swearing makes it fit, while Viv uses them as if they were words used casually in normal conversations. You know, it's REEAAALLY funny she takes South Park as inspiration, because they made an episode explaining why the overusage of swear words is a bad thing. In Season 5 Episode 1 "It Hits the Fan" is about the network allowing people to use the word "Shit" uncensored, with this new thing everyone get's hooked to see where it goes, and a lot of people then use it excessively to the point they can't stop saying it and a lot of people throw out their guts because of it but that part is kinda unrelated. The the network uses it a ton more to get more people hooked into watching their shows, and when the show get's interruped by the "Knights of Standarts and Practises", the head of the network throws a tantrum in defiance, saying he is the head an can say it as much as he wants, which he does, and then it summons a giant purple dragon from Hell but it's defeated and unrelated unless I'm overseeing another metaphor here. The episode ends with the message that it's fun to use swear words a few times, but using them too often takes away the meaning and fun out of them, that they'd just become bring words and that like with the show SP using them only at the right times will amplify the humor, using them too much just makes people desensitized. What do you think? Honestly I can see the South Park creators watching Hazbin and Helluva, being aware of Viv being inspired by them, and basically do a sequel to S5E1 where they make fun of Vivziepop for how she generally acts around criticism, her writing, and usage of swearing, while also having the opportunity to explain their original message better.

[gokupowers]

Bay area stuck (Asian HCs)

[medusasea]

On Karen's Pajamas

I couldn't help but notice how they changed Karen's pajamas from this

to this

and I really do not think it was necessary, since South Park characters rarely change clothes.

I understand changing her hairstyle, since she looked too much like Heidi, but her pajamas were different from other ones we've seen and we don't often see the characters in pajamas anyway.

While changing pajamas is a nitpick, I couldn't help but notice how now she wears a onesie, something that usually babies wear, while she is 6. There's nothing wrong with wearing onesies when you are older, but in Karen's case I find it rather suspicious that they were willing to change her pajamas to something usually worn by much younger children, yet they never had her relevant unless someone else, usually Kenny, was taking care of her. Even in The Fractured But Whole, where she got more character development and she was even used for jokes, she was still constantly taken care of by Kenny.

It feels like rather than trying to get audience sympathy by developing her as a character, more specifically by showing other sides of her that aren't vulnerable, like skills, helping other characters out, socializing on an equal level with other characters, stand up for herself or even using her for jokes, they would much rather just make her look even more childish and vulnerable than she is, or at least than she should be at her age. Sure, she might be a minor character, but she was a major character in two episodes and she is one of the main characters' sister, in a show where recurring characters often get the spotlight, especially the family members of the main 4, except for Kevin and to a large extend Karen.

Or maybe they simply gave her new pajamas without trying to set any message, but considering they rarely did this for any other character and how underused and underdeveloped she is, they really shouldn't have bothered with her pajamas. Her old pajamas looked better anyway.

[viktoriaashleyyx]

Okay fine ACOTAR can be animated but it has to be animated by the guy that does South Park.

[marshbarks]

i think its weird how artists and especially youtubers will 'redesign' characters from media they deem problematic as though slapping a new coat of paint on the character erases all the issues they were rooted in to begin with. or as though redesigning the character makes them Better than the original creator, because now its THEIRS

[mizuribbons]

maretu songs be like

*sample from a matpat video*

*lyrics about the most unspeakable, tragic things that can ever happen to a person*

*more uses of the matpat sample*

*more tragic lyrics*

[buttfrovski]

can NOT stop thinking about this fucking picture