South Park

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South Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for Comedy Central. It is aimed at an adult audience and is characterized by satirizing American society, current events and culture with black humor through the stories and surreal situations that happen to its protagonists, four boys (Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny) residing in a fictional town in Colorado called South Park.

The series premiered on August 13, 1997 in the United States. Since then, 25 seasons have been broadcast and it has been marketed internationally, including the Spanish and Latin American markets. In addition, a feature film entitled South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut(1999). Over time, he has won five Primetime Emmy Awards and a Peabody Award among other awards.

In 2015, the series renewed for new chapters with Comedy Central until season 23.a, 2019. After this season, (which premiered on September 25, 2019), the On September 12, 2019, the series was renewed again until season 26, in 2022.

The use of foul language and violence by South Park, its style of irreverent humor and the treatment of different episodes of world news (such as satirizing the episode of the Muhammad cartoons or the ridicule towards the Church of Scientology) has cost him numerous controversies throughout his broadcast.

History

Trey Parker and Matt Stone, creators of the series South Park.

The creators of South Park, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, met while at the University of Colorado in 1992. That year they created an animated short film titled The Spirit of Christmas ("The Spirit of Christmas"), in which an evil snowman wreaks havoc in a town called South Park. The characters were made of paper and animated with stop motion techniques. In said short, prototypes of the protagonists of the current series were already reflected. The greatest curiosity resides in the death of Cartman, who in that short received the name of Kenny, and a character similar to the original Kenny.

Encouraged by Brian Garden, a FOX executive and friend of the two creators, Parker and Stone decided to remake The Spirit of Christmas in 1995 as a Christmas greeting. That work, also titled like the original, already had a style more similar to that of the series, and in it Jesus Christ fought against Santa Claus after arguing about the true meaning of Christmas. Garden made copies for his friends and soon after the work was leaked on the Internet, where it received good reviews. For this reason it is considered one of the first viral videos in the history of the network.

Because of its success, Parker and Stone negotiated the possibility of making a television series. The first network that was offered the project was FOX, but they turned it down. After this, he was introduced to channels belonging to Viacom (now Paramount). After Trey Parker refused to offer it to MTV, they decided to bet on Comedy Central and after receiving the approval of its executive producer, Doug Herzog, a pilot episode was requested. Although "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe» did not like it in the tests with the public, the humor chain decided to contract a minimum of six episodes. South Park was released to the public on August 13, 1997 and was a success in terms of audience.

Characters

The protagonists are four boys: Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman and Kenny McCormick. Throughout the series, their adventures are followed in South Park, a small and fictional mountain town in Park County, Colorado, where the rest of the characters live: students, families, school staff, and other residents. In the first three seasons they attend third grade, and from the fourth season they go up to fourth grade.

Stan Marsh is usually the leader of the group and is portrayed as a normal, mature character. Kyle Broflovski is his best friend, is Jewish, and is the most witty of the four characters. The creators stated that they designed Stan with Trey Parker in mind, while Kyle was made in the likeness of Matt Stone. Eric Cartman is introduced as the main antagonist of the series; a fat, selfish, spoiled, racist, anti-Semitic and xenophobic boy who also rivals Kyle. Although when he proposes he manages to outwit them by demonstrating his great ability to get away with it, he is usually caught as he loses control of his projects. The fourth boy, Kenny McCormick, comes from a very poor family and because his anorak gives him covers his mouth, the viewer does not understand what he says. During the first five seasons Kenny died in almost every episode, only to return in the next without a logical explanation. At the end of the fifth season the character died "definitely" and did not appear until the end of the sixth season. Since then, the technique of killing Kenny has declined. The boys use vulgar language, as the creators wanted to show how boys really talk when they are alone.

According to its development, secondary characters have appeared whose prominence has increased to the point of being considered part of the main cast. Butters Stotch, modeled after co-producer Eric Stough, rose to prominence as Kenny's replacement in season six and presents an innocent and kind personality, which is why he is often the butt of cruel jokes. When Kenny returns, Butters is removed from the group.

The scripts reflect stories and events -often supernatural and extraordinary- that break the monotony of the town. The boys are usually the voice of reason, while the rest of the characters (and especially the adults) act irrationally. In fact, Stan and Kyle tend to think more logically than adults in most episodes. Their role often tries to criticize the contradictory and hypocritical behavior of much of American society.

Genre and theme

South Park works like an animated sitcom, centered on the stories that happen to the inhabitants of the village of South Park and especially the leading foursome. The jokes in the series are irreverent and satirical. To do this, they use parodies, references to popular culture, black humor, scatology, violence, and surreal situations, among other techniques. The first episodes showed shock humor that attacked traditional values of American society and, maintaining those characteristics, current affairs began to be satirized in subsequent seasons. On many occasions, rude or offensive language is used.

Over the years, the plots involving the supporting characters began to develop further. In addition, there was a greater presence of religious and political themes to be able to parody the most polarized and extreme positions of society in certain situations. In this sense, the creators stated that they had no particular ideology to parody or offend, since that his intention is to "amuse".

Scenario

The town where the protagonists reside is South Park, located in the state of Colorado. Although it is a fictional town, Parker and Stone were based on a real town in the same state, called Fairplay. Its location is also real, since if it existed it would be located in the South Park watershed, at an altitude of 3,000 meters and close to the Rocky Mountains.

The main settings include the bus stop, the houses of the protagonists, the pond, the South Park Elementary School, the city hall and some of the venues on the main street. South Park is usually the main place where all the stories take place.

Production

Trey Parker has led most episodes of South Park.

Script

The series has always been executive produced by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, alongside Anne Garefino. Parker is usually the director of most episodes, although on occasions Stone or Eric Stough, animation director, have also collaborated in the direction. Although the first episodes tended to criticize aspects of American society, with the passing of the seasons and The improvement in production has parodied current news from the rest of the world.

The scripts are signed by the creators of the series, although they have a team made up of several people. Because the production of an episode of South Park is shorter than those of other animated series, they are not written until the season begins, so it is easier for them to be tied to themes of The process sometimes takes as little as a week. In the twentieth season, they were forced to rewrite an episode title and ending ("Oh Jeez") in a single day because they had not expected Donald Trump to win the 2016 US presidential election.

Throughout its seasons, it has addressed situations that have occurred even shortly after the episode's production wrapped. For example, in «Quintuplets 2000», which parodies the diplomatic conflict by Elián González, «Best Friends Forever», which reflects the case of Terri Schiavo and which was broadcast only 12 hours after his death, or "About Last Night..." about Barack Obama's presidential elections one day after winning the 2008 elections.

Animation

Symbols of the main characters.

Production is located at South Park Studios in Culver City, California. Except for the pilot, which used cutout animation, all South Park episodes are rendered using computer animation. which mimics the model of short films. In the early seasons the process was understaffed and each episode took three weeks to complete. Currently, with more than 70 people working, they are finished in less than a week.

Parker and Stone were inspired by the animations made by Terry Gilliam in Monty Python's Flying Circus, of which they are declared followers. The characters and objects are made up of simple geometric figures and primary colors; all of them show a simplified composition and in some cases, such as that of the children, the same pattern is used. more minimalist, while some celebrities keep their real face in photography, as is the case of Saddam Hussein. In these cases, the animators scan the character's face, although the body is caricatured like the rest of the designs.

When they started using computers to animate, the cutouts were scanned and redrawed with CorelDRAW. They were then imported into PowerAnimator, which used SGI workstations for animations. Starting with the fifth season, Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator began to be used for designs, and Maya for animation. Quality has improved over the course of of the seasons, although the designers try to always keep the same style of handcrafted animation. Since the thirteenth season all shows are recorded in high definition.

There are cases where it breaks with the traditional style of animation in the series. The episode "Make Love, Not Warcraft" is made partially of machinima footage from World of Warcraft, in collaboration with Blizzard, and in "Major Boobage" the rotoscope was used.

Music

Music plays an important role in South Park. There are musical episodes, such as the Christmas specials or the movie, where the songs –usually parodies or adaptations of the originals– have a greater role. The first composer for the series was Adam Berry, who used synthesizers to simulate a small orchestra, along with other instruments such as acoustic guitar. Starting in 2001, Jamie Dunlap and Scott Nickoley replaced him in that role. Isaac Hayes composed several songs with a direct or indirect sexual theme, which have been used especially during the first seasons and which he himself interpreted in his role as Chef. The musical group DVDA, made up of Parker and Stone, has participated also in the musicalization of some episodes.

The main song is performed by the group Primus. The lyrics are interpreted by the vocalist of the formation, Les Claypool, and the four main characters. The original composition that appeared in the pilot episode was slower and its instrumental version is the one used for the opening credits. The theme has been remixed each time the series title was modified.

South Park has had the participation of numerous groups and artists. The episode that featured the most collaborations was Chef Aid, where Elton John, Ozzy Osbourne, Rick James, Primus, Ween, Meat Loaf and Wyclef Jean, among others, were present. As a result of that episode, an album was released, Chef Aid: The South Park Album, with songs from the series and others from the episode performed by the guests. Other notable collaborations were those of the Korn groups («Korn's Groovy Pirate Ghost Mystery»), Paul Stanley («Make Love, Not Warcraft») Radiohead («Scott Tenorman must die») and Disturbed (" Feat Sorry at Jesse Jackson").

It is common to also see parodies of the music in some episodes. For example, "Christian Rock Hard" lampooned the record market, piracy, and Christian music. In "Fat butt and pancake head", the hand of Cartman (who calls herself "Jenifer Jópez" in the Spanish version) is a parody of the real Jennifer Lopez, from whom she steals her music career and her boyfriend at the time, Ben Affleck.

Voice Actors

Isaac Hayes participated from the first to the ninth season.

In the original version, Trey Parker and Matt Stone perform most of the male voices. Mary Kay Bergman was cast in the female cast for the first three seasons. When Bergman died, she was replaced by Mona Marshall and Eliza Schneider, in turn replaced by April Stewart in 2004. Because Bergman was a well-known voice actress in children's series and Disney films, she decided to appear in the credits under the pseudonym Shannen Cassidy. writers and producers have also lent their voices to supporting characters. The preschoolers are played by the children of the production team. To achieve a greater difference between voices and to make the child characters sound more real, the voice cuts are edited with Pro Tools.

For years, the show's most recognized voice actor was the performer Isaac Hayes. He played the role of Chef, a black cook and soul singer who was obsessed with women and the only adult the boys trusted. Hayes recorded the vocals separately from a radio studio in New York and sent them to the central studio located in California. When the singer left the series due to religious convictions at the end of the ninth season, his character was killed off in the episode " The Return of Chef ", which opened the tenth.

Although imitations are made for the voices of celebrities, on occasions some celebrities have agreed to appear in the series, as was the case with Robert Smith, Natasha Henstridge or Jennifer Aniston. In some cases, they are simple cameos: actor George Clooney, one of the first people to see the Parker and Stone shorts and who also contributed a self-parody to the film, did the barking of Stan's dog in "Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride." ", while Jay Leno played Cartman's cat in "Cartman's Mom Is a Dirty Slut".

Spanish dubbing

The dubbing of the series in Spanish has two versions: one focused on the public in Spain and another for Latin America. There are no variations in the name of the characters, although differences can be seen in specific situations. There are also differences in the texts. The animation is not altered and what is written in English appears in that language in the Spanish versions, but while in the Latin American dubbing the text is read to translate it, in the Spanish version it is not.

The dubbing carried out in Spain is carried out by the Soundub (Abaira) studio in Madrid. The first dubbing director was Carlos Revilla, who also played secondary characters, and the cast includes voices like Chelo Vivares (Stan), Margarita Ponce (Cartman) or Sara Vivas (Kyle). The works were not resumed until Cuatro bought the broadcasting rights, maintaining the same distribution. The series in this version interrupted its dubbing in the twelfth season, resuming it at the end of 2013 from the sixteenth, broadcasting exclusively on Comedy Central (Spain). The same channel announced in 2014 the premiere of the eighteenth season weekly in the original version with subtitles on September 25 and in a dubbed version the following week with the participation of six of the main Spanish youtubers of the moment, in addition to recovering and premiering in Spain seasons 13, 14 and 15, dubbed for the first time, between the months of November and January.

In Latin America, the first two seasons featured simultaneous dubbing: one made in Miami, Florida by BVI Communications Inc. and Globecast Hero Productions studios, and another made in Mexico by Audiomaster 3000 under the direction of Jorge Roig. The Mexican was for open television and did not use foul language, something that Miami did maintain. Locomotion, the channel that would commission and supervise the dubbing of the series until the seventh season, broadcast the series with the dubbing made in the United States. Since then there have been studio changes: Globecast Hero Productions from the third to fifth seasons, The Kitchen Inc. from the sixth, BVI Communication Inc. from the tenth and Civisa Media from the fifteenth. Civisa's vocals are recorded from a studio in Miami Lakes, called Studio Center. The Kitchen studio regained recording rights beginning with the sixteenth series. Due to all these alterations, the cast of actors has also undergone important variations.

Broadcast and distribution

In the United States, South Park is broadcast on Comedy Central, a private cable television channel, in prime time and with a TV-MA rating for those over 18 years of age. It is also broadcast in syndication, with a TV-14 rating for people over 14 years of age and some limitations; for example, beeps to silence profanity. Complete seasons are available on DVD and since 2008 all episodes have been available on the South Park Studios website for free, uncensored in vulgar language, in English and with certain limitations depending on the country of access.

In addition, the series has been sold to more than 33 countries. As it is broadcast on a Paramount group channel, South Park is included in the offer of the international versions of MTV, Paramount Comedy and Comedy Central, subsidiary companies. It has also been broadcast on free-to-air television elsewhere. In Spain it premiered on Antena 3 in the year 2000, and that channel broadcast the first six seasons in the early morning hours due to the language used. Years later, Cuatro bought the rights and programmed it at a time similar to that of its rival until the fifth episode of the twelfth season, sharing the broadcast with Paramount Comedy. In 2010, the Viacom channel (currently Paramount Networks EMEAA) MTV Spain it went on to reissue the first seasons openly on DTT. It is currently offered exclusively on the Comedy Central satellite channel.

For Latin America, the first seven seasons were premiered exclusively by Locomotion, and since 2004 it also began to form part of the MTV Latin America programming. With the closure of the Locomotion channel in 2005, MTV kept the exclusivity of the series and has since offered it in its entirety. As of 2012, Comedy Central Latin America kept the rights for the entire continent together with MTV. Some countries have also broadcast South Park free to air: Chile (La Red), Venezuela (RCTV), Peru (Panamericana Televisión), Puerto Rico (Univisión and NBC Universo), Costa Rica (Repretel), Argentina (Azul Televisión), Paraguay (El 13) and Uruguay (Monte Carlo TV).

As of July 2021, South Park is available in Latin America on the streaming television platform Pluto TV.

Impact and influence

Awards and recognitions

The creators of South Park received the Peabody Award in 2006.

Time magazine included South Park in its list of "The 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time", stating that the series was the best TV show ever. satire of the 2000s. In 2007, Rolling Stone named it the funniest show on television since its debut to date. In 2013, TV Guide magazine ranked it tenth in its ranking of "The 60 Best Animation Series",. That same publication also included Eric Cartman in tenth position of the "Top 50 Best Animation Characters".

In 2006 South Park won a Peabody Award for its social criticism and its value in lampooning hypocrisy in American society. The series has been nominated for sixteen Emmy Awards, of which it has received five: four at the category of "Best Animation Program" less than an hour, for "Best Friends Forever" (2005), "Make Love, Not Warcraft" (2006), "Margaritaville" (2009) and "Raising the Bar" (2012), plus an Emmy in the category of "Best Animated Program Over One Hour", for his trilogy "Imaginationland", broadcast in 2008. In 1997 it won the award for best animated series at the CableACE Awards, the last year they were awarded, and in 2000 they were nominated for an Academy Award for the song Blame Canada, present in the film of the series.

Language

Many characters in South Park have their own catchphrase. The best known is "Oh my God, they killed Kenny!... You bastards!" ("Oh my God, they killed Kenny... sons of bitches!"), which Stan and Kyle said each time Kenny died or was killed. Over time, its use declined. Other characters have also coined their own catchphrases, such as Eric Cartman's "Respect my authority" ("Respect my authority!") and "Fuck me, I'm leaving." (“Screw you guys!, I'm going home”) or Mr. Mackey and his “mmkay”. Cartman's term "Hey!" and his manner of mentioning it were included in the Oxford Dictionary of Catchphrases in 2002.

The use of obscene language has also been an issue. Various colleges in the United States have studied this aspect of the program, and Brooklyn College of the City University of New York even offered a course called "South Park and Political Correctness" 34;.

Criticism and controversy

Given its provocative nature and style of humor, the series has been in the eye of the hurricane on several occasions. Among the main criticisms against the series are its approach to various taboo subjects or its satirical treatment of issues such as religion, sexuality, racism or current affairs itself. Parker and Stone have expressed that its humor is intended to offend everyone equally, without distinction or political positioning. It has also been criticized that its appearance as an animated series could influence children, to which the creators have responded that South Park is clearly intended for an adult audience. Criticism has also occurred abroad, such as Russia or New Zealand.

Some of those negative opinions, which consider South Park offensive, come from conservative groups such as the Parents Television Council, which have frequently criticized its offensive language and its treatment. On most occasions, the series itself has taken criticism as a joke, proof of this being the episode "It Hits the Fan" in which the word "shit" is said 162 times, with a counter that it advanced whenever said expression was mentioned. It has also been criticized by its fans on certain occasions, such as when Comedy Central aired at the start of the second season, and as an April Fools day joke, " Terrance and Phillip in Not Without My Anus", instead of the long-awaited second part of "Cartman's Mom Is a Dirty Slut" that was announced.

In 2009, the tenth episode of the twelfth season, "Pandemic", was controversial in Peru over the issue that Peruvian flute bands (sikus) were arrested for the protection of the United States, and some of them were even killed. In the second part "Pandemic 2: The Startling " the reason is explained.

In Mexico, MTV decided not to broadcast in February 2010 the sixth episode of the thirteenth season "Pinewood Derby", which featured Mexican President Felipe Calderón. The channel alleged that they did not have the authorization of the country's Secretary of the Interior to display the Mexican flag, for which reason it supposedly violated the Law on the Shield, the Flag and the National Anthem. This fact outraged Mexican fans, who considered it an act of censorship. Finally, it was broadcast on April 5 of that same year.

Another of the most controversial cases was that of censorship in China, because the episode addressed some prohibited topics in the country, related to the Dalai Lama, Winnie-the-Pooh and organ transplants. in the season 23 episode "Band in China". Due to criticism of the Chinese government, the episode was censored and the production had to apologize. However, it could be seen in the rest of the world.

Controversies by religion

South Park Studios apologizes for not being able to offer the episode on the Internet «201» after the controversy of Mohammed.

In December 2005, the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights in the United States criticized the final episode of the ninth season, "Bloody Mary", for depicting a statue of the Virgin Mary. menstruating. Comedy Central aired it on its scheduled opening day (December 7, one day before the Feast of the Immaculate Conception), but then decided not to rerun it until June 2006. "Bloody Mary" it was included on the DVDs.

The series also maintained a strong controversy with the Church of Scientology, reflected in several episodes. "Trapped in the Closet" was one of the most controversial: actor Tom Cruise even threatened to breach his obligations to Paramount during the promotion of Mission Impossible 3 if Comedy Central reissued it. On the other hand, the various parodies against the sect caused Isaac Hayes, a renowned Scientologist, to leave the dubbing cast at the end of the ninth season.

South Park has also harshly criticized media censorship over the Muhammad cartoons. In the sequel “Cartoon Wars Part I” and “Cartoon Wars Part II” he parodied the controversy in an apparent satire of the series Family Guy. At the end of the first, a text was shown announcing the broadcast of the second only if Comedy Central accepted, since an image of the prophet would appear. They decided to broadcast it but censoring Muhammad, who was not even shown on the DVDs. Instead, the following text appeared:

Comedy Central has refused to issue an image of Mohammed.

This was the first time Comedy Central censored or banned South Park content; while the network claimed to have made "the right decision", Parker and Stone rejected it. Other scenes present, such as a parody of Al Qaeda video showing Jesus Christ and George W. Bush defecating on the American flag, were not reported. withdrawn and received severe criticism from the Catholic League and the Parents Television Council. to the controversy, a caricature of Muhammad does appear and they have not been subsequently censored.

In the episode "200" a similar situation occurred, when in a parody of all religions an alleged representation of Muhammad disguised as a bear appeared. Within days, the Islamic extremist organization Revolution Muslim threatened to kill Trey Parker and Matt Stone, so Comedy Central removed any reference to the prophet in the second part, "201".

Other targets for South Park have been Judaism and Mormonism, although no association attached to those religions has officially criticized the series.

Products

Given the popularity achieved, official licensed products of all kinds began to be marketed. The best sellers are the dolls, stuffed animals, action figures and the like related to the characters, including secondary ones (such as a Toallín towel). These are sold through the store >online from Comedy Central and in various stores around the world. During the first season, the benefits from the sale of jerseys from the series reached 30 million dollars.

In addition, South Park has music records on the market. The 1998 album Chef Aid: The South Park Album, which included songs featuring guest artists from the episode Chef Aid, also featured original Chef/Isaac Hayes songs. the complete soundtrack of South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, and in 1999 Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics, with Christmas themes from Señor Mojón and others performed in the episode of the same name.

Video Games

South Park has several video games. The first of these, South Park, was released by Acclaim in 1998 and was a first-person shooter for PC, Nintendo 64 and PlayStation. A year later, a multiplayer game known as Chef's Luv Shack was released, which featured various episode-related minigames. In 2000 the company released a third racing game, South Park Rally. All these titles were not well received by specialized critics, and Matt Stone himself publicly criticized Acclaim for the final result. At E3 2009, Microsoft revealed the development and future release of a video game for Xbox Live Arcade. In 1999 Sega Pinball designed a pinball themed on the series.

In March 2014 South Park: The Stick of Truth was released for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. The development is by Obsidian Entertainment, the distribution is by Ubisoft and South Park Studios was in charge of the script, supervision and dubbing. Although originally planned in 2011, its release had to be delayed due to the bankruptcy of the previous distributor, THQ. In the European market, some minigames related to abortion and anal penetration were censored for the console versions, while the computer version remained unchanged. On October 17, 2017, its sequel, South Park: The Fractured But Whole was released for Xbox One., PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and PC. In November 2017, it was accompanied by the mobile video game South Park: Phone Destroyer, available on iOS and Android platforms, and distributed by Ubisoft.

Movies

The first South Park film, titled South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut, was released on July 30, 1999 in theaters in the United States and had worldwide distribution. The story tells how the town is shocked by the success among children of Terrance and Phillip's film, full of language and coarse jokes, to the point of causing a diplomatic conflict between the United States and Canada. Unlike the episodes of the series, Parker and Stone wrote a musical film that in turn parodied other animated titles of the same genre. Bigger Longer & Uncut garnered good reviews and was a box office success, grossing $83 million for a budget of $21 million. It even earned a nomination at the 72nd Academy Awards for "Best original song” by Blame Canada, which was performed at the gala by Robin Williams.

In 2021, Parker and Stone reached an agreement with MTV Entertainment Studios to develop 14 exclusive mid-length films on Paramount+, Paramount's streaming platform, that would form part of the series' seasons. The first film, South Park: Post Covid, was released on November 25, 2021 and was a 60-minute special episode parodying the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. A month later, on December 16, 2021, the sequel South Park: Post Covid: The Return of Covid arrived. The next films released on the platform were South Park: The Streaming Wars and The Streaming Wars Part 2, both released in summer 2022.

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