*Author’s Note: While this article is about an animated TV show, South Park has been a powerhouse in the realm of social commentary for the past few years in particular, so I feel like an exception can be made while talking about it here. Also, South Park did have a theatrical movie come out back in 1999, so I say it counts; plus, it’s my site, so moving on*
South Park of recent years has become some of the best social commentary masked in the form of adult animation to ever hit television. The main reason for that is the time table co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone use to make each episode: the episode for a given week is often not finished until a few hours before it’s scheduled to air. This may be stressful for the team behind the show, but it allows them to draw from the most current events on people’s minds, from the wildly popular to the wildly controversial.
One thing that I was wondering as I prepare for next week’s episode is this: how far should South Park go when the show draws from the collective consciousness of the week? Should they touch on a very sensitive topic such as Kim Kardashian West being robbed in Paris this Sunday?
South Park has been no stranger to controversy: over the course of 20 seasons, Parker and Stone have poked fun at everything from Tom Cruise’s sexuality to Scientology to depicting the Muslim prophet Muhammed. In recent seasons, as the show has adopted a faster pace for production, topics like the Washington Redskins, Political Correctness, and even the presidential debates are able to be reflective of the times. And South Park has never shied away from making caricatures and parodies of various celebrities, from Paris Hilton and Tom Cruise to the Kardashians themselves.
But a lot of subjects that the show covers, even if they are about specific events, cover more overarching topics about contemporary society. So, could they handle Kim Kardashian West being robbed in a way that could shed light on an important topic regarding the world we live in?
While it might be a bit tricky, they could pull it off, especially this season. So far, much of this season revolves around people’s presence on social media, and when trolling forces several people in the town of South Park off of Twitter, the reaction from the townspeople is akin to that person committing suicide. If they can make that analogy using social media, then the co-creators of South Park might be able to talk about the robbery in Paris, since Paris authorities are suggesting that social media may have made it easier for the robbers to get to Kardashian West.
But the question isn’t “could they cover this;” the question is “should they cover this?” And, as coldhearted as this might sound, I say if they are going back and forth on whether or not they should, they should. South Park is social commentary and reacts to the times. The Kardashians are often in the spotlight, and have made themselves a part of the national culture of the United States and the world. In order to keep with the social-media-heavy story arc that the show is creating, Trey Parker and Matt Stone should make use of every current event that they can, as horrible and tragic as the Kim Kardashian robbery is.