South Park
Stereotypes are commonplace in every society. Often times these stereotypes are hateful and made to degrade another race, creed, or any other group of people. These statements are very general and include the entire group without exemption to the individuals in that group. Racism in film is not a new theme. It has been a theme for many films that have been released over the last century. From John Ford's Stagecoach (1939), to movies today like American History X (1999), and South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut (1999), racism seems to be drawing audiences to the movie theatre. These movies push the limit as far as they can be pushed. Racism is a part of everyone's lives, whether anyone will admit or not, that is still the question. We learn in high school about our country's problems with slavery, and how the African-Americans overcome and are treated equal under the United States Constitution. We learn the hardships of the Jewish religion through Adolf Hitler and the holocaust in Germany during World War II. We are taught about Martin Luther King and his speech during the Civil Rights Movement. We lived through the brutal killing of Matthew Shephard who was beaten to death because he was gay.
Since debuting on Comedy Central in 1997, "South Park" has continually pushed the envelope of good taste and challenged the conventional idea of what is and is not appropriate for television. The battle has not been an easy one: since the very first episode was aired, the network has been besieged by letters from angry parents, religious organizations, and nearly every political group in the country, all demanding the immediate cancellation of the series. Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the show's creators, have demonstrated that profanity can not only entertain the masses, they can also mean big merchandising dollars. Now they're gambling that they can take the premise (and its profits) to the next level. Perhaps film as something to do with the dampened racism in America today. Films can exemplify truth and understanding towards certain groups. Some films poke fun at racism and try to make it seem asinine. Films also have underlying themes in order to get a point across. Both films that I will be reviewing have these themes. Although the racist tendencies are evident, there is a moral to the story if you will. The irony is that once you get past the language, The community is outraged that four pure, innocent children have been corrupted by the film, and soon the president declares all-out war on Canada, the bastion of evil responsible for the offending movie. Terrence and Philip are sentenced to die, and the boys hatch a plan to save their idols. Even more is at stake, however:
Some common words found in the essay are:
Bigger Uncut, Matthew Shephard, South Park, Kenny McCormick, America Films, , African American, Black Panthers, Terrence Phillip, Matt Stone, south park, bigger uncut, park bigger, south park bigger, park bigger uncut, live racism, war canada, terrence phillip, eric cartman,
Approximate Word count = 1012
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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