Spring Break
South Park meets 'The China Problem'
John Holmes
Issue date: 10/15/08 Section: Entertainment
10/15/08 - "South Park," the irreverent Comedy Central staple starring four foul-mouthed boys in a Colorado mountain town premiered its first episode since April last Wednesday.
The episode, "The China Probrem" is the eighth episode of the show's 12th season.
I've followed South Park ever since I was old enough to have a TV in my bedroom where my parents couldn't see what I was watching, and I can honestly say that the show rarely, if ever, produces bad episodes.
"The China Probrem," unfortunately, was one of those few-and-far-between disappointing episodes.
That's not to say the half-hour was devoid of laughs. The plotline surrounding Cartman's hysterical fears of the Chinese after watching the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Olympics was often hilarious, especially when he and Butters, attempting to discover what the secret Chinese plan for taking over the United States is, don paddy hats and fake buck teeth and greet the diners at P.F. Chang's with "Herro, prease, can you terr me what the secret pran is to take over America?"
The other main plot of the episode was far below par for this show, however.
Stan, Kyle, Kenny, and many of the other boys are tormented over witnessing the rape of their beloved Indiana Jones by George Lucas and Steven Spielburg, a not-so-veiled denouncement Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, released to DVD the same week that this episode aired.
This is not the first time that Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of South Park, have attacked the pair of directors; the season six episode "Free Hat" questioned the value of politically correct special editions of movies such as Indiana Jones, E.T., and Star Wars.
However, that episode was hilarious, and this one is just somewhat disturbing. This is because in order to hammer home their disgust with the new Indiana Jones flick, the shows creators chose to show the literal (and graphic!) rape of Indy by the two directors not once, not twice, but three times.
As the boys and law enforcement officials are haunted by nightmares and flashbacks of what they had witnessed, the rape is presented as reminiscent of rape scenes in the films The Accused and Deliverance. The rape scenes are more disturbing than funny, and go on for minutes at a time, making it seem as though they were made to fill up time in an otherwise shallow plot.
The rape scenes are slightly less disturbing than the new Indy movie, but still possibly too disturbing for human eyes. I know that if my parents knew I had been watching this episode, they'd have taken that TV right out of my room- even today.
I'm certainly still tuning in this week though. Even with a clunker like this episode, "South Park" still has the best track record in all of television.
The episode, "The China Probrem" is the eighth episode of the show's 12th season.
I've followed South Park ever since I was old enough to have a TV in my bedroom where my parents couldn't see what I was watching, and I can honestly say that the show rarely, if ever, produces bad episodes.
"The China Probrem," unfortunately, was one of those few-and-far-between disappointing episodes.
That's not to say the half-hour was devoid of laughs. The plotline surrounding Cartman's hysterical fears of the Chinese after watching the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Olympics was often hilarious, especially when he and Butters, attempting to discover what the secret Chinese plan for taking over the United States is, don paddy hats and fake buck teeth and greet the diners at P.F. Chang's with "Herro, prease, can you terr me what the secret pran is to take over America?"
The other main plot of the episode was far below par for this show, however.
Stan, Kyle, Kenny, and many of the other boys are tormented over witnessing the rape of their beloved Indiana Jones by George Lucas and Steven Spielburg, a not-so-veiled denouncement Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, released to DVD the same week that this episode aired.
This is not the first time that Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of South Park, have attacked the pair of directors; the season six episode "Free Hat" questioned the value of politically correct special editions of movies such as Indiana Jones, E.T., and Star Wars.
However, that episode was hilarious, and this one is just somewhat disturbing. This is because in order to hammer home their disgust with the new Indiana Jones flick, the shows creators chose to show the literal (and graphic!) rape of Indy by the two directors not once, not twice, but three times.
As the boys and law enforcement officials are haunted by nightmares and flashbacks of what they had witnessed, the rape is presented as reminiscent of rape scenes in the films The Accused and Deliverance. The rape scenes are more disturbing than funny, and go on for minutes at a time, making it seem as though they were made to fill up time in an otherwise shallow plot.
The rape scenes are slightly less disturbing than the new Indy movie, but still possibly too disturbing for human eyes. I know that if my parents knew I had been watching this episode, they'd have taken that TV right out of my room- even today.
I'm certainly still tuning in this week though. Even with a clunker like this episode, "South Park" still has the best track record in all of television.
