The Propaganda Behind South Park

"Join Stan, Kenny, Kyle and Cartman as these four animated types take on the supernatural, the extraordinary and the insane. For them it is all part of growing up in South Park".

It all started in 1995, when filmmakers Trey Parker and Matt Stone were hired by a Fox executive who paid them $2,000 to make a video for him to send it as a Christmas card. The video was called "The spirit of Christmas" and showed an imaginary fight between Santa Claus and Jesus Christ. The video circulated around and soon the cable channel Comedy Central offered them a weekly series. It took fewer than six episodes to emerge as Comedy Central's biggest hit. South Park is the story of four third-grade boys, Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny, growing up in the small mountain town of South Park, Colorado. The show is a loose interpretation of the term "cartoon", which appears to be made with construction paper cut-outs (although it is actually done with computers now). One has to see it to believe it….and once he does, he will either be hooked or want it banned.

South Park contains adult language, animated violence, and very suggestive material (episode titles such as "Merry Christmas, Charlie Manson", "Not without My Anus" or "Cartman's Mom is Still a Dirty Slut" are just the tip of the iceberg). Every race, religion or culture is made fun of or stereotyped. One viewing, and the watcher will either love it or want it taken off the air. Many viewers think that these rude boys are worth their time.

South Park's setting and characters are simple. In particular, each child has its own character which portrays propagandistic elements in various ways. Stanley Marsh, widely known as Stan, is a "normal" average American messed up kid. He has an aging grandfather, who continuously pressures Stan into killing him, and owns a gay dog named Sparky (played by George Clooney). In every episode Stan announces Kenny's death by saying "Oh my God, they killed Kenny". On the other hand, Kenny (whose full name is Kenny McCormick) is the unlucky one. He is poor and lives in a run-down shack with his violent and drunken family. He muffles when he speaks, and we are left only to guess at what he has said. Eric Theodore Cartman always gets bullied by his classmates because of his weight. He weighs about ninety pounds but denies his being fat by saying that he is only "big boned".