Masarykova univerzita Filozofická fakulta

Katedra anglistiky a amerikanistiky

Bakalářská diplomová práce

i 2018 Marek Šichtař i Masaryk University Faculty of Arts

Department of English and American Studies

English Language and Literature

Marek Sichtar

Politically (In)correct Racial Stereotypes in South Park Bachelors Diploma Thesis

Supervisor: Jeffrey A. Vanderziel, B.A. 2018 / declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography.

Author's signature I would like to thank my supervisor Jeffery A. Vanderziel, B.A. for his continuous support, useful comments and encouragement through the whole writing process. TABLE OF CONTENT

CHAPTER 1: The Introduction - 1 -

CHAPTER 2: The Two Pillars of South Park - 4 -

Satire -4-

Parody -6-

CHAPTER 3: Walking on Eggshells - 9 -

CHAPTER 4: From Papercut to an Emmy - 14 -

CHAPTER 5: Race Vs. Political Correctness - 22 -

The African-American Stereotypes in South Park - 23 -

The Hispanic Stereotypes in South Park - 33 -

CHAPTER 6: The Conclusion - 41 -

Works Cited - 43 -

Episodes Referenced - 49 -

Summary -51-

Resume - 52 - 1. INTRODUCTION

Curse words, controversy and inappropriate humor — those are topics undoubtedly connected with television show South Park. However, those are just the tip of the iceberg — underneath the swearing and obscenity there lies a whole new world to explore, full of hidden messages for those who are willing to look for them. As it happens, creators Matt

Stone and Trey Parker have made racial stereotypes and stereotypical behavior a very common utterance in the show, barely balancing on the edge of what might be called appropriate comedy. And so, what is the purpose of stereotypes in an animated comedy show like South Park? What is it that makes those stereotypes work? And what do the authors of the show want to point out with their anti-politically correct humor? Those are the questions which the following pages will answer, with the focus on the two arguably most reappearing minority race groups in South Park — African-Americans and Hispanics — as well as on the stereotypes associated with them.

From 1997 to today, there have been 21 seasons of South Park and majority of them contains improper and (to some extent) even offensive stereotypical behavior, much of which is often being misinterpreted, and so I have chosen this topic to point out and clarify their intended purpose. Rather than to criticize the stereotypes of South Park and discuss their negative effects, I will focus on their positive and constructive aspects as intended by the authors, which is to point out issues with political correctness, which the creators achieve by making their characters as anti-PC as possible. Of course, South Park uses racial stereotypes to make fun of wide range of subjects, so it would be bold to say that they serve only as a criticism of political correctness and nothing else, but the disagreement with some of its principles is arguably the most reoccurring.

The creators of South Park at the time of this thesis writing have produced 287 episodes, two major videogames (South Park: The Stick of Truth and South Park: Fractured but

- 1 - Whole) and one feature movie {South Park — Bigger, Longer <& Uncut), but unfortunately it is not within the limits of this thesis to go over every single occurrence of racial stereotype from all of those sources. Therefore, its focus will be on the two racial groups which are arguably the most commonly portrayed minorities on the show — Hispanics and African-

Americans. This thesis will cover six episodes (three for each racial group), analyze the authors' intended point of criticism and provide a couple of personal observations.

South Park's unique humor plays an important role in the message (and in the criticism) it spreads, and it is therefore necessary to elaborate on the two foundation stones it is built upon — satire and parody. The authors of the show use these instruments of comedy to create their characters and storylines, and so the second chapter of this thesis

(divided into two subchapters) will focus on the groundwork of South Park's humor and will provide a brief history of origin for both satire and parody, followed by their respective definitions to avoid any possible discrepancies.

The third chapter is solely dedicated to political correctness. From university campuses straight on the television screens, political correctness is a vital part of South Park and similarly to satire and parody, origins of the term will be covered and its clear definition will be given. Even though the second and the third chapters are heavily theoretical, these descriptions complete a comprehensive body of ground terms, making it easier to follow what is being argued.

As South Park has been on the air for over 20 years, and even though the formula of the show is more or less the same as it was during its beginnings, it is crucial to properly introduce the show. That is what the fourth chapter is here for — to present South Park as a show, make it clear how the series started and cover several significant moments in the show's long history. It will also focus on the two most important people behind the South

Park's creation - Matt Stone and Trey Parker.

-2- The fifth chapter contains the actual analysis of the six selected episodes in connection to the racial stereotypes and to the criticism of political correctness. Divided into two subchapters, it will firstly focus on the African-American stereotypes, which will be analyzed in episodes number 77 "Here Comes the Neighborhood", number 154 "With

Apologies to Jesse Jackson" and 117 "The Jeffersons". The episodes featuring Hispanic stereotypes are the number 218 "The Last of the Meheecans", 138 "Free Willzyx" and 118

"Goobacks". The show (as mentioned above) has been here for many years, and even though it is not in the capacity of this thesis to analyze or mention every single reference regarding race, ethnicity or stereotype, it uses more than enough points from the episode pool to make sure that the argument of this work is clear and valid. Also, as some of the show's episodes are directly dedicated to the argument of this thesis, they are looked into more thoroughly, or at least mentioned more often than the others.

I have seen all episodes more times than I can count, but it will be fascinating to approach the show from a scholarly perspective. And even though at first it may seem like

South Park is an ordinary, foul-mouthed television comedy show full of toilet humor and inappropriate jokes, after some time its qualities certainly flush to the surface.

-3- 2. THE TWO PILLARS OF SOUTH PARK

THE HISTORIES AND DEFINITIONS OF SATIRE AND PARODY

South Park's distinctive humor is a vast subject. This chapter will focus on arguably the two most significant devices that the creators use to produce their offensive and sometimes inappropriate comedy — satire and parody. They are not only key elements in what makes the show entertaining, but they also are one of the main reasons why the South

Park's Wikipedia page solely devoted to the show's controversies is getting longer and longer.

Because parody and satire are so intertwined in South Park and the boundary between them is rather obscure (Thorogood 216), both of those instruments of comedy will have their brief histories and definitions covered within the two following subchapters rather than in two separate sections. The first subchapter is dedicated to satire, the second one will cover parody and since there is neither a unified definition for satire nor parody, the subchapters will provide numerous definitions together with a few personal observations.

Satire

Satire is an old and powerful instrument of comedy which has been here for many years, and it is the Egyptians and the Ancient Greeks who are being credited for its creation. According to Ancient History Encyclopedia, as the first work of literary satire is considered "The Instruction of Dua-Khety", known also as "The Satire of Trades"

(currently located in the British Museum), which was written sometime during the second millennium BC and only few fragments of papyrus survived (Mark par. 2,8). Lichtheim describes "The Satire of Trades" as a "text [which] achieves its satirical effects by exaggerating the true hardships of the professions described and by suppressing all their

-4- positive and rewarding aspects" (Lichtheim 184). In Ancient Greece Aristophanes had been considered the first major satirist, but it was Horace whose satire "of hinting rather than attacking directly" (Griffin 8) is considered more subtle and elegant.

Since then, satire was scarce circa up to the Elizabethan era which gave the world satirist like Barkley and Langland (Griffin 10) and then came and went in waves, reoccurring alongside big historic events like revolutions or wars. It has served as an instrument of not only criticism of sovereigns and public officials, but also as an entertaining way to engage masses into discussion about contemporary issues. Satire carries with itself the potential to ridicule, and satirist Charles Churchill described how powerful it can be in his poem The Ghost

. . . tremble, and turn pale, When SATIRE wields her mighty Flail

SATIRE, still mindful of her aim, Shall bring the Cowards back to Shame. (Churchill pg. 98 9-10, 13-14, emphasis in original)

For example, as Ernest Henderson mentions several times throughout his book, satire played a significant role during such an important historic event as the French Revolution

(see an illustration no. 87 on pg. 189 in "Symbol and Satire in the French Revolution").

From satirical articles in newspapers, through George Orwell's Animal Farm or Jonathan

Swift's A Modest Proposal to Late Night Show with hosts David Letterman or Stephen

Colbert, satire represents a unique combination of entertainment and criticism. And nowadays there is even more to choose from — it is on the television screens, it is on the internet, it is in the media — and satire has become more available than ever before.

Miriam-Webster online dictionary describes satire as "a literary work holding up human vices and follies to ridicule or scorn". This definition is good enough to understand

-5- the basic principle of satire, but for the purpose of this thesis it is not entirely accurate as it focuses only on "literary work[s]". Satire can be found in mass media, on the internet and in this case in television series, and so instead I will use Dustin H. Griffin's definition of satire which in my opinion better captures its essence:

A work of satire is designed to attack vice or folly. To this end it uses wit or

ridicule. ... it seeks to persuade an audience that something or someone is

reprehensible or ridiculous; ... it engages in exaggeration and some sort of fiction.

But satire does not forsake the "real world" entirely."

(Griffin 1)

As much accurate as Griffin's description is, satire strictly following this definition would be dry and potentially not particularly appealing. I would argue that Hodgart's addition to

Griffin, saying that "There must be other sources of pleasure in the satire, as for example patterns of sound and meaning" (Hodgart 1), completes it and accurately formulates South

Park's satire.

Parody

Parody in South Park is an omnipresent companion to satire, and unfortunately it is rather difficult to provide a satisfactory definition and/or its accurate history description.

Therefore, to sum up the history of parody as accurately as possible, this subchapter often cites the work "Parody" by Simon Dentith as his book covers the most important moments in the earliest development of parody.

The oldest source of parody (which we know of) comes from Aristoteles and his work "Poetics", where for the first time the word paródia appears (Dentith, 10). The term is described as a "narrative poem, of moderate length, in the metre and vocabulary of epic poems, but treating a light, satirical, or mock-heroic subject" and the only example of

-6- parodia still in existence can be found in the Homer's poem Batrachomyomachia (10). Overall, the very beginnings of parody can be traced to Ancient Greece, to works of Aristophanes,

Plato and Socrates (45-47), but as parodia is not quite the same as parody, it will not be discussed any further.

Many centuries later, the most famous works of the Ancient Greece often became the victims of parody. One such example can be found in the work "A True Story", written by Lucian of Samosata sometime during the second century AD (49). Even though it is occasionally considered a first science-fiction work as well, Bryan Reardon on the other hand argues that "It is not really science fiction, although it has sometimes been called that; there is no "science" in it. Above all, it is a parody of literary "liars" like Homer and

Herodotus." (Reardon 619). Since then, parody can be seen in the paintings and literary works, often accompanied by elements of satire. In the last century parody became especially popular (arguably because it was brought on the television screens) and Charlie

Chaplin (The Great Dictator, 1940) and the Monty Python's sketches brought tears of laughter to millions.

When it comes to the definition of parody, I would use the definition given by the

Cambridge Dictionary as it arguably offers the most well-rounded available description:

"writing, music, art, speech, etc. that intentionally copies the style of someone famous or copies a particular situation, making the features or qualities of the original more noticeable in a way that is humorous".

As much as parody is in many ways similar to satire and as much as they "blur together" (Thorogood 216) in South Park, it is necessary to see the difference between the two terms. Dorothy Wang offers such distinction, and even though her work is looking into contemporary Asian-American poetry, she provides a satisfactory contribution:

". . . parody, unlike forms of satire or burlesque which do not make their target a significant

-7- part of themselves, is ambivalently dependent upon the object of its criticism for its own reception . . ." (Wang 210). Satire and parody often appear side by side on the show, and together they complement an entertaining duo which is crucial in South Park's distinctive humor.

-8- 3. WALKING ON EGGSHELLS

POLITICAL CORRECTNESS AND ITS EXTRAVAGANCES

The term political correctness is something which public officials, celebrities and even ordinary people should keep in mind in order to not cause a public outrage. Also referred to as "political correctitude" or simply "PC", its designations are somewhat misleading as the terms are not necessarily connected with politics. Political correctness in its purest form is built on respect and equality among people regardless of their ancestry, skin color or religious beliefs. However, there are also many instances when political correctitude has been taken too far and because a couple of people got offended, many things have had to change.

Firstly, a brief history of the term (as well as the movement) will be presented, followed by a clear and contemporary definition of political correctness. As there is no unified definition among scholars, I have put together a clear definition for it to cover the wide range of subjects it is concerned about while simultaneously capturing its essence.

And lastly, there are two examples on which the extremes of political correctness will be illustrated on. Since political correctness covers a wide range of fields, issues with political correctness will be pointed out for the purpose of clarity on disputes regarding both racism and gender-neutrality.

This term or a movement is rather a contemporary matter and according to

Geoffrey Hughes, the first mentions of political correctness come from the 1930's when the term occurred in the Communist terminology, "as a policy concept denoting the orthodox party line of Chinese Communism as enunciated by Mao Tse-Tung" (Hughes chpt. 2). According to the Washington Post, the term also appeared in the 1934 The New York

Times article (Gibson). However, the political correctness as a movement emerged during the 1980's on the American college campuses (Hughes chpt. 1). There are not many

-9- records which mention the beginnings of the movement, but Stuart Hall outlines one of the possibilities:

According to one version, political correctness actually began as an in-joke on the

left: radical students on American campuses acting out an ironic replay of the Bad

Old Days BS (Before the Sixties) when every revolutionary groupuscule had a party

line about everything."

(Hall 164)

Suggesting that political correctness started as some sort of a joke is interesting, but when compared to how exaggerated and overused it is nowadays, it certainly bears a sense of irony. However, those students "unknowingly" created a prejudice and stereotype free language and behavior, treating people with respect. But as political correctness evolved, it spread to many other fields:

. . . [Political correctness] is a complex, discontinuous, and protean phenomenon

which has changed radically, even over the past two decades. During just that time

it has ramified from its initial concerns with education and the curriculum into

numerous agendas, reforms, and issues concerning race, culture, gender, disability,

the environment, and animal rights.

(Hughes chpt. 1)

Nowadays political correctness is spread through many fields, but in this quote, Hughes does not mention everything which the movement is interested in. Political correctitude, as much as it moderates language and behavior in general (and apart from the evident zero- tolerance for racism and sexism), also preaches opposition against smoking or wearing fur

(for a complete overview, see Geoffrey Hughes' chart in chpt. 1).

- 10- When it comes to the definition, I would like to mention a description of political correctness from the beginnings of the movement, which is a good starting point to show what it stood for in the 1980's:

Linguistically it started as a basically idealistic, decent-minded, but slightly

Puritanical intervention to sanitize the language by suppressing some of its uglier

prejudicial features, thereby undoing some past injustices or "leveling the playing

fields" with the hope of improving social relations.

(Hughes, chapter 1)

Although Hughes' definition covers the core of political correctness, it is now outdated but the Cambridge Dictionary provides a better, more contemporary explanation of what political correctness stands for. It mentions that "Someone who is politically correct believes that language and actions that could be offensive to others, especially those relating to sex and race, should be avoided" and that "A politically correct word or expression is used instead of another one to avoid being offensive". These two descriptions not only provide a well-rounded explanation, but also capture the principles of tolerance and respect of political correctness.

However, before this chapter goes any further I would like to address the extremes of political correctness and how this thesis approaches them. It is very difficult to say where the line is, what is appropriate and what might be considered an extreme. The border between what is apposite and what is not is heavily dependent on individual preferences and opinions. On the other hand, I would argue that following incidents are a great example and they both illustrate how it looks like when political correctness has gone too far.

In the first example, I would like to point out how a politically correct extreme can shape even arguably one of the most conservative institutions — the American army. The

- 11 - term which in 2016 was being heatedly discussed wasj/eoman (Schmidt), who is "a petty officer in the US navy performing clerical duties on board ship" {Oxford Dictionary), and an alternative, gender-neutral substitution had to be looked for. If women had been discriminated against and had not been allowed to apply for this position, then it would have been right for them to be offended. However, this whole affair emerged only because of the title of the position. This example illustrates the reach of political correctness and how it affects customs within society. I would argue that there are many words and traditions which may offend an individual, but if we were to change those, another group of people would potentially be offended by this change.

Another example comes from Seattle from 2011 and this time the issue was the traditional Easter Egg hunt. According to the article in Daily Mail, the school renamed

"Easter Eggs" to "Spring Spheres". Obviously terrified that students and their families who do not practice Christianity might be offended by the Easter Egg hunt and eager to be politically correct, the school preemptively renamed the tradition. This whole problem came into being simply because of a name of a tradition and based on the article, I would argue that there were many people who were offended by the change, similarly to the previous example.

Since the 1980's, political correctness has become part of everyday lives for many people, whether they want it to or not. British novelist and poet Doris Lessing in 2004 summarized the issue in an interview in this manner:

The most powerful mental tyranny in what we call the free world is Political

Correctness, which is both immediately evident, and to be seen everywhere, and as

invisible as a kind of poison gas, for its influences are often far from the source,

manifesting as a general intolerance.

(quoted in Hughes chpt. 2)

- 12- Her words are a testament to what has in some instances political correctitude become.

Granted, it is not acceptable to see a Hispanic and immediately think of them as an illegal immigrant as well as it is wrong to see all African Americans as criminals, but it is also important to find the middle ground and not take things into extreme as illustrated in the examples. After all, political correctness is about respect - about respect to everyone and everything, including traditions and habits.

- 13 - 4. FROM PAPERCUT TO AN EMMY

AN INTRODUCTION TO SOUTH PARK

South Park has been here for more than twenty years, and despite its age it still manages to shock and entertain its devoted viewers. Its birth dates to the early 1990's when two young adults decided to create a show about four boys from a small mountain town in

Colorado who take care of their problems in their own peculiar way, with swear words and black humor always at hand. However, Eric Cartman, Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflowski and

Kenny McCormick do not only offend and insult, they are an instrument throughout which the creators disseminate a message. The beginnings of South Park were complicated but because of a curious combination of talent and coincidence, we have a show which is not like many others.

This chapter will cover the process of how the four boys and the town of South

Park came to life on the screens of television. It will mention how the creators of the show

Trey Parker and Matt Stone got together and the effect of their studies and personal lives on the characters of South Park. It will also break down the unique humor of the cartoon world of South Park and lastly it will focus on the shows achievements and other projects which relate to it. This part of the thesis is very theoretical and often mentions work Taking

South Park Seriously by an American film and literary scholar Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock

(especially its introductory chapters as they offer a clear summary of the show's history).

The story of South Park begun during the 1980's on the University of Colorado with a student of music Trey Parker and a math student Matt Stone. Their paths intersected for the first time in a film class and they shared this "magical" moment in an interview on the

Late Show with David Letterman:

- 14- Parker. We had to make 60mm 5-minute film, so they [the teachers] said: "Partner

up!". And we quickly realized that everyone else in the class kind of wanted

to make like a black and white sexual exploration pieces (...), so we were

like "Wanna do some fart jokes?"

Stone: Across the room, it was love at first sight.

(Matt Stone and Trey Parker on David Letterman)

The film course not only allowed them to deepen their interest in animation, but also proved to be a good practice ground for their upcoming projects. Not to get ahead of ourselves though, the duo's very first short film was Giant Beaver of Southem Sri Lanka from

1989, and according to Weinstock, the movie "featured a little girl dressed as a beaver ravaging a town" (Weinstock 7). Even though the sketch showed that Stone and Parker both have a talent for animation and movie making, it took many years of hard work before they have proven to have a real potential.

Today, Trey Parker is considered (as Marin calls him) "the genius of the pair"

(emphasis in original) and it is him who is credited for the majority of South Park's screenplays, rather than Matt Stone who is responsible for the business side of production

(although they take more or less an equal share of voicing their characters). The situation was similar back in 1993 when Parker won a silver medal in the Student Academy Awards in the category of Animation and managed to raise 125,000 dollars for his upcoming movie

Cannibal: The Musical, which came out in 1996 (Marin). The film retells the story of Alfred

Packer, who was part of an ill-fated voyage heading to a mine, but his hunger for gold was soon substituted with an appetite for human flesh. Stone assisted Parker with the screenplay, but similarly to South Park his responsibility was the finance management.

Stone successfully finished his studies (unlike Parker, who "cut too many classes to get his degree (Marin)) and they both moved to Los Angeles, where they tried to prove that

- 15 - they have what it takes to make animated films. They got into contact with FOX Network executive Brian Graden who was very much impressed by Cannibal: The Musicaland tasked them to create a short Christmas themed film. Inspired by a short animation movie Parker and Stone made on the University of Colorado (Weinstock 7), the first episode of The Spirit of Christmas was created. This four-minute-long sketch simply called Jesus vs. Frosty, in which a snowman comes to life and goes on a violent killing spree, was an important milestone for South Park because for the first time the four young boys from the show were put on the screen. This happened many years before the first episode of South Park was even thought of, and even though the boys' names were a bit different as well as their personalities, essentially this became the foundation stone for the upcoming episodes of

South Park.

Trey Parker and Matt Stone had laid out many potential projects, but Graden was not able to push any of them through other board members of the FOX Network.

However, he recognized Stone and Parker's talent and asked them to create another

Christmas sketch. The second episode of The Spirit of Christmas called Jesus vs. Santa attracted much bigger attention than the first one and already looked very similarly to the very first episode South Park. In the movie, "Jesus and Santa Claus duke it out over who has the bigger claim on the holiday while the kids cheer them on" (Weinstock 7). Since Graden thought that the movie was extremely funny, he re-distributed it among his friends

(majority of them were not even part of the moviemaking business) and the film became an

"underground bootleg obsession" (Marin). The movie got even to the hands of George

Clooney, who ordered many copies of it and also helped Parker and Stone to achieve their goal of making it in Hollywood. They received numerous offers, but they decided to sign up with Comedy Central TV network, because it was where they had the most freedom with their content.

- 16- The first official episode of South Park called "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe" aired on Comedy Central on August 13, 1997. Its plot revolves around how aliens abduct Eric in the middle of the night and about kidnapping of Kyle's younger brother Ike. This episode is rather special, because even though in terms of content it is very much what South Park is about — dark humor and satire, the process of making it had been different from the other upcoming episodes. Later on, the creators will be using computer animation, but because of a small starting budget, Parker and Stone could not simply afford to do their first episode on computers and so they used over 5 000 construction-paper cutouts (Weinstock

7)-

South Park was a small revolution on the television screens, and because it was something new and exciting it immediately found its audience, which also helped establishing Comedy Central on the market. And even though the show received a TV-MA rating (mature audience only), in terms of marketing strategy the network deliberately did not hide the offensive potential of South Park, but rather promoted it. The commercial opportunities attracted multitude of high-profile companies from different fields of business and since the network was selling the advertisement times within South Park for around ten times more than during any other of its programs, it was great business. Doug

Herzog, the head of Viacom's Music and Entertainment Group (which includes Comedy

Central) had gone even further and said that "'South Park' is the foundation on which

Comedy Central is built" (Itzkoff). Only four months after the show's premiere, its ninth episode named "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" attracted 5.4 million viewers, which was at the time record for Comedy Central (Weinstock, 8). And even though the idea of a character Mr. Hankey, the talking Christmas Poo, may seem a bit odd, he is far off from the strangest characters South Park can offer.

When creating the characters for South Park, Stone and Parker rely on their personal experience and take an inspiration from actual people. The creators did not put themselves

- 17 - in the show as such, but "Parker generally identifies with Stan, and Stone generally identifies with Kyle" (Weinstock 8). From their time on the university, the show features character Chef, who works (as the name suggest) in a cafeteria but is also loosely based on the University of Colorado cook in Sewall Dining Hall. Mr. Garrison is inspired by Parker's

British literature teacher and Stan's girlfriend Wendy Testaburger is based on his ex-fiancee.

Many episodes also feature celebrities and public officials, but since South Park is a satiric show, their appearance and behavior are rarely done in a way which would please them.

With those characters Stone and Parker populate a simply-animated, cartoony world where anything is possible. The show works as a giant funnel, in which affairs of the

U.S. (or even the whole world) are poured in and the small mountain town of South Park becomes the battlefield (often quite literally). The unsophisticated animation works in favor here, because "its harried, weekly production process grants it access to issues largely unavailable to its generic brethren" (Sienkiewicz, Marx 10). South Park is therefore able to react on current events and quickly offers its unique and entertaining contribution towards the issue at hand.

Since the argument of this thesis is connected with racial stereotypes and political correctness, I should also explain how the show uses them in its humor. When it comes to politically correct comedy, according to the statement by Trey Parker, the creators make their own way:

"When we started out, we didn't know anything about political correctness. We

were just two guys from Colorado, and it was because we didn't know any better

that we did the kind of humor we did. We like being rebellious, and we like flying in

the face of what people think we should say."

(Thompson Introduction)

- 18 - In the essay Satire and Geopolitics: Vulgarity, Ambiguity and the Body Grotesque in South Park by

Joe Thorogood, Stone and Parker also label themselves as "Equal Opportunity Offenders"

(Thorogood 216), and since South Park continuously makes fun of African-American and

Hispanic cultures (among many others), their description is on point. Granted, South Park's humor might seem offensive or primitive for all its fart jokes and stereotypes, but after a closer look it is actually more complicated and potentially has a lot more to offer, as

Weinstock argues: "Its [South Park's] humor is not easily summarized in terms of its ideological agenda, and it is this very resistance to summary that makes South Park so open-ended, so polysemic, and therefore so productive as a vehicle for popular resistance."

(Weinstock 23).

South Park does not carefully dip its toes in the pools of racial stereotype jokes and satiric comedy, it does a cannonball. Its humor does not rely on throwing in an occasional hint of an offensive material, the characters insult directly, often and out loud, like for an example in episode 103 "Red Man's Greed" when the boys try to enter a casino run by

Native Americans:

Native American Usher, (to the crowd) Please try your luck at one of our many games!

Eric. Alright, let's go!

Native American Usher. I am afraid minors cannot go on to the casino floor.

Eric. I'm not a minor, dumbass, you see a shovel in my hand?

(Red Man's Greed, ep. number 103)

South Park's follows the rule of either everything can be joked about or nothing can, and, as shown in the example above, political correctness does not get in the way. As Weinstock says, the show "gives the viewer license to trespass on taboo ground and laugh at its parodies of ethnic and social minorities" (Weinstock 13), and South Park purposefully crosses the line of what is appropriate to shock and to make its point.

- 19- South Park is not just a television series though, Stone and Parker also spread their message through videogames and (so far) one feature film. It is not within the limits of this thesis to analyze them in connection to my thesis statement, but they still deserve at least an honorable mention because they are very similar to the television show in terms of their humor and content. After a few videogames from early 2000s in which were not particularly successful came in 2014 a computer game called South Park: Stick of Truth and in

2017 South Park: Fractured but Whole, both receiving above average scores. The creators also introduced their first South Park themed movie to the big screen entitled South Park - Bigger

Longer & Uncut in 1999, after establishing the television series on the market. Its plot revolves around a potential war among the U.S., Canada and Satan himself, who is in alliance with Saddam Hussein. It was not only an important milestone for South Park as a show, but from a business side point of view it was a remarkable success. The movie's production cost was 21 million dollars, but it made over 83 million dollars in box office.

And possibly because the film stuck to the satiric humor and plots full of unexpected twists, the critics received it very positively.

South Park - Bigger Longer <& Uncut was nominated for many awards, and among many other the movie won an MTVMovie Award'in the category of Best Musical Sequence for a song sung by characters Terrance and Phillip. However, South Park as a show has also won its fair share of awards. Among many nominations to the prestigious Emmy Awards, it actually won five of them (all in the category of Outstanding Animated Program), in 2006 it also won the Peabody Award and in 2013 the show was introduced to the Hall of Fame

Television Programs.

At the time of this thesis writing, South Park creators have produced 21 seasons with more than 280 episodes in total. The show thrives on satire as well as parody and since its episodes revolve around contemporary events, it offers a fresh look on the issues troubling the society. It is not easy to provide a complete summary of its twenty years of

-20- production within the couple of pages, and if you are not sure whether you should give

South Park a try — either because of its offensiveness or complexity — think of it just as ' opportunity to ridicule and let off steam against the piety of current political correctness

(Sienkiewicz, Marx 7). And if a pinch of critical thinking is applied, the show poses no danger.

-21 - 5. RACE VS. POLITICAL CORRECTNESS

RACIAL STEREOTYPES AND POLITICAL CORRECTNESS IN SOUTH PARK

South Park is not an ordinary animated television series, but rather a satirical show full of racial stereotypes. As much as they might seem offensive, the purpose of these prejudices is to criticize whole other issues that are the extremes of political correctness.

The creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker use exaggerated behavior and inappropriate language (or in general the most anti-PC approach for their storylines and characters available) to illustrate a potential threat of political correctness to society's habits and conventions.

Before the analysis however, I would like to answer a question which may arise - with these many stereotypes, are Stone and Parker racists? Are not they just two xenophobic men spreading their hateful message? I would argue that they are not, because if they had been, probably all minority racial groups would have been depicted as stereotypes. In South Park however, there are quite a few minority citizens who are portrayed just like any other people — they have jobs, families and normal lives. I argue that

Parker and Stone just use racial prejudices and stereotypes to make their comedy be heard, as well as the message of criticizing several flaws of political correctitude.

In this chapter, six episodes will be covered, all of which provide more than enough material for the analysis. In all of them an emphasis will be put on the two most reoccurring racial groups in South Park — African Americans or Hispanics respectively

(three episodes for each group). More specifically, African-American stereotypes will be analyzed in episodes number 77 "Here Comes the Neighborhood", number 154 "With

Apologies to Jesse Jackson" and 117 "The Jeffersons". For the purpose of analysis of

Hispanic stereotypes, episodes number 218 "The Last of the Meheecans", number 138

"Free Willzyx" and 118 "Goobacks" will be studied. A brief summary of each episode will

-22- be presented, followed by an analysis of several scenes portraying racial stereotypes along with a few points on how the creators use those prejudices to criticize political correctness.

Lastly, for a more thorough summary of the episodes, South Parks Wikipedia page offers a detailed recapitulation, or better still, all episodes can be watched on the official South Park website.

The African-American Stereotype in South Park

There are many stereotypes about African-Americans in South Park, most of which serve to some extent as a criticism of political correctness. However, the show does not depict African-Americans according to the Sambo, Pickaninny or Golliwog stereotypical descriptions from the 19th and 20th centuries, but rather focuses on a more contemporary parody. For example, many South Park residents believe in a prejudice portraying all

African-Americans as criminals (especially the wealthy and successful ones), which is arguably by far the most reoccurring stereotype in the show.

This stereotype is frequently mentioned in South Park's episode number 77 "Here

Comes the Neighborhood", which will be analyzed first. It aired on Comedy Central on

November 28th, 2001 and in this episode Parker and Stone criticize the omnipresent unity and acceptance of political correctness, its hypocrisy and overall insincerity. Alongside making fun of political correctness in general, it serves as an illustration of how money, success and jealousy are bigger than political correctitude.

The plot of this episode unravels when an African-American fourth grader Token

Williams (or Token Black, as his name has changed throughout the show) is being ridiculed for having rich parents, wearing expensive clothes and living in the biggest house in South

Park. He therefore decides to make new friends and wants to attract more "rich folk" into town by putting up an advertisement in a magazine. And soon enough, more wealthy black

-23 - people (like for an example actor Will Smith, rapper Snoop Dogg, TV show host Oprah

Winfrey and many other affluent African-Americans from Hollywood) buy vacation homes in the town. Token befriends their kids and is happy for some time, but the local white population "does not take kindly to rich folk" and wants to separate the poor people of

South Park from the rich newcomers, in some ways similarly to the separation of the black population during 1950's in the United States. Being banned from certain establishments and having a priority first class seats in the front of buses, the new rich African-American population organizes a Million Millionaire March to put a stop to the isolation. The mayor forbids any segregation based on race, but unfortunately the "poor people" have a different plan. They are fed up with successful African-Americans and their money and scare them from the town in ghost costumes (which are very similar to Ku Klux Klan robes) and (as according to South Park - African-Americans are naturally terrified of ghosts) they leave immediately. Token gets back together with his old friends and everything is back to normal.

In this episode, Matt Stone and Trey Parker portray every single African-American celebrity newcomer as a rich elite of society with spoilt children. This fact does not go well with the "poor people" of South Park and because of a combination of jealousy and racism, a civil war is brewing in the town. Confrontation because of races or money is not very politically correct whatsoever, but instead of calming the situation down, Stone and

Parker dig ever deeper and fumble the war. The politically correct behavior here would be to accept everyone as their equals and not have money or skin color get in the way of cohabitation, but Stone and Parker decide to show how it really is and recreate an environment similar to the racial segregation during the 1950's. Inspiring themselves by a period of American history known for being very anti-PC, within a single episode they replicate tension between the two races, point out the importance of possessions and remind the viewer of times when the Ku Klux Klan was in its prime.

-24- To criticize the hypocrisy and insecurity of political correctness, Stone and Parker use both satire and parody as usual, but in this episode the show parodies several historic events which played important roles in lives of many African-Americans. For example, Mr.

Garrison and his white, poor friends want to get rid of basketball legend Kobe Bryant, and so they light up what is in their words "a giant lower-case t, as in time to leave". The lower• case t on its own resembles a cross but setting it on fire suddenly gives it a whole new meaning, connected with the Ku Klux Klan and their infamous cross burning. The KKK movement is known for their extremist views on white supremacy, but to fully understand the meaning of a burning cross I would quote Thomas Dixon Jr. and his novel The

Clansman, which provided an ideology for Klan's rebirth in the beginning of the 20th century:

In olden times when the Chieftain of our people summoned the clan on an errand

of life and death, the Fiery Cross, extinguished in sacrificial blood, was sent by swift

courier from village to village. This call was never made in vain, nor will it be to•

night, in the new world. Here, on this spot made holy ground by the blood of those

we hold dearer than life, I raise the ancient symbol of an unconquered race of men-

(Dixon 326)

The burning cross is like a slap to the face of political correctness because it goes exactly in the opposite way of what it stands for — harmony and tolerance. However, if by some chance the viewer misses the parody of "lower case /' and the Ku Klux Klan reference,

Parker and Stone have another ace up their sleeve which they present at the end of the episode. When the poor white people want to scare off the rich African-Americans, they are wearing "ghost costumes" which with their pointed hats and characteristic shape are suspiciously similar to the robes which the Ku Klux Klan uses.

-25 - Another historic event which the episodes parodies are the separation of colored citizens in restaurants and public transportation during the first half of the twentieth century and also the African American protest in front of the White House in Washington

D.C. called Million Man March (in the show titled Million Millionaire March)) from 1995.

Parker and Stone once again use satire and parody in connection with exaggeration to make fun of these events, which show inequality between the white population of U.S. and the colored people. This attitude towards equality among races and ethnicities is not only making it even harder for the two alienated sides to lay down their arms, but also goes in the opposite direction of politically correct behavior.

There is also a beautiful scene on the very end of this episode, which nicely illustrates the insecurity of the South Park white poor population — it is a conversation among the poor white men over what to do with the houses of rich African Americans who by this time already left, scared of ghosts:

Mr. Gatiison: And now we can sell all their homes, and become... millionaires!

Men: What?!

Jimbo: But then you had us do all that for nothin'. Don't you see: If you get rich

selling these homes, then there will still be rich people in South Park.

Randy: Yeah. You'd become what you hate.

Mr. Garrison: Well yeah, but at least I got rid of all those damn ni- [episode ends]

(Here Comes the Neighborhood, ep. number 77)

This passage beautifully demonstrates Stone and Parker's thoughts on unity and equality which the political correctness preaches. On one hand, in this scene Mr. Garrison almost utters the very offensive N-word, which is another testament to the disregard of the creators towards political correctness, and on the other it also captures the greed within people. I would argue that for some, race may (or it might not) be an issue, but money and

-26- success are always going to divide society. As writer Jennie Yabroff mentions in her article in The New York Times magazine: "As people with various-sized bank accounts brush up against each other, there is ample cause for social awkwardness, which can strain relationships, sometimes to a breaking point." (Yabroff). And a movement barely 40 years old does not surmount basic human feeling which have been here since the dawn of men.

Throughout the "Here Goes the Neighborhood" episode the N-word is not uttered once, and even though technically in the end it is not said either, it is obvious what Stone and Parker wanted to say. In the episode number 154 "With Apologies to Jesse Jackson", which aired on March 7, 2007 the creators are on the other hand very liberal with the usage of this racial slur. The release of this episode coincides timewise with an incident featuring the host of The Wheel of Fortune Pat Sajak, who shortly before the episode was released had uttered the racial slur "nigger" during hosting his show on the national television. This fumbled a heated discussion about this racial slur and it is probably where the creators of

South Park inspired themselves when creating this episode. In this one, Stone and Parker agree with the basic principles of political correctness — at least to some extent, but simultaneously criticize its exaggeration and excessive application.

The plot of this episode begins with a parody of this incident on The Wheel of Fortune show where Stan's father Randy is competing. When the host asks Randy a question

"People who annoy you" and expects him to fill just one letter to complete the answer

"naggers", Randy instead replies with "niggers" Uttering such offensive word not only means that he does not win the prize, but also that his son Stan is being humiliated by his friends in the school the next day. Stan wants to apologize to his African-American classmate Token Williams for his father's words, saying that his "father is not a racist, he is just stupid" and that there is no reason for conflict between them, but Token (seeing that

Stan missed the point) disagrees. Meanwhile, Randy wants to make amends for his mistake and publicly apologizes to Jesse Jackson, the "emperor of black people" by kissing his

-27 - buttocks. His "bootlicking" turns out to be not so effective, and so instead he attends

African-American comedy shows, raps, but none of these clears him of being referred to as

"the nigger guy". The episode then becomes a parody of life in the nineteenth century,

Randy is being hunted by angry hillbillies flying the flag of Confederacy and is saved by actor and comedian Michael Richards, prosecutor from O.J. Simpson case Mark Fuhrman and by Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak, all of whom had said the N-word publicly. They all are fed up by constantly being referred to as "the nigger guys" and decide to convince the

U.S. Congress to ban the term "nigger guy". The Congress surprisingly complies, and the term is banned from use. Stan approaches Token and says that he will never be able to understand what it feels like to be called by the N-word and the two again become friends.

The episode also features a subplot in which Eric makes fun of little person Dr. David

Nelson and in the end of the episode they fight each other.

By any means, in this episode Parker and Stone do not approve of the racial slur

"nigger". When Randy utters the insult, he immediately gets to see what it feels like to be oppressed by society. When he walks down the street, people go "Look, there goes the nigger guy", and even though he tries to make amends for his mistake by kissing the buttock of the "emperor of black people" Jesse Jackson, it is not enough. This is a fair punishment for Randy as he gets to see what it feels like to be labeled with a name reminding one of his past, which they cannot do anything about. As can be seen for example in Mark Twain's novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, African-American slaves were regularly referred to as "niggers" but using racial slurs to remind black people today about a period of history when they were considered property is not appropriate even by the standards of Stone and Parker. And as a result, when Randy is being chased by angry hillbillies flying the flag of Confederacy he gets to witness firsthand what the life of

African-American (slave or not) was like for the majority of 19th century. At least to this

-28 - extent, the creators agree with the principles of tolerance and decency of political correctness.

However, the creators also criticize occasions when political correctness is taken too far. As much as he is sorry for his mistake and trying to persuade people that he is not really a racist, people still label Randy as "the nigger guy". In order to show their disgust with Randy's choice of words and to display their racial tolerance, the other citizens of

South Park label him with a name reminding him of his past, which in this way is similar to the N-word and its contemporary usage. Being constantly reminded of his past mistake, he is doing his best to make amends but nothing he does is enough for society to look at him as a man who made a mistake rather than a racist. Ironically, several other well-known figures who uttered the N-word in the past make an appearance on the show, save Randy from angry hillbillies and in the rather satirical ending they pass a bill in the Congress which prohibits people from using the term "nigger guy". With this whole episode Parker and

Stone criticize people so obsessed with being politically correct when it comes to racial stereotypes that they forget that labeling white majority with silly names is just as bad as doing the same to minorities.

This episode is rather similar (when it comes to the exaggeration of political correctness) to episode number 55 titled "Chef Goes Nanners", in which there is a conflict about whether the flag of South Park should be changed or not. In "Chef Goes Nanners", the flag has five people on it, one black man is being hanged while the other four white people are standing around. When asked if the flag should be changed or not, many children say that they do not see anything wrong with it, which offends especially one of the few reoccurring African-American characters in the show — Chef. In the end of the episode however, the children explain that they only see five people, one of which is being hanged and not a conflict of races. This obsession with being politically correct therefore

-29- points out that the people who want the flag to be politically correct are actually more racist than the those who had seen nothing wrong with it.

But to wrap up "With Apologies to Jesse Jackson" - this episode is extremely politically incorrect, especially the subplot with Eric Cartman and the little person Dr.

David Nelson. Whenever Eric sees Mr. Nelson, he immediately bursts into laughter over his size, voice and makes fun of everything he says. Nelson tries to calm the situation down and educate Eric, but his efforts are futile and as the episode goes on, he loses his temper and the two end up having a street fight. South Park uses satirical escalation and exaggeration to laugh at political correctness, similarly to a parody of life before

Emancipation Proclamation, only the prosecuted people are not African-Americans, but

Randy.

The last similarly politically incorrect episode I would like to mention in connection to African-American stereotypes and to the criticism of political correctness in South Park is the episode number 117 "The Jeffersons", which aired on April 21st, 2004. Its plot revolves around Michal Jackson (even though his real name is never really mentioned), who arrives to the town and within couple of hours becomes a victim of racially motivated manhunt.

Stone and Parker stick to their humor and therefore Michal Jackson's behavior is heavily satirized and exaggerated, while the same can be said about his appearance, seriously altered by plastic surgeries. The creators of course do not forget to make fun of political correctness as well, and as a result this episode is a flood of jokes and stereotypes targeted against its philosophy.

This episode begins by Michal Jackson's arrival to South Park with his son Blanket.

He introduces himself as Michael Jefferson and invites the local children to his house to play with his many toys. The kids are astonished by the slot machines and videogames Mr.

Jefferson has and later when they come home, they mention to their parents how

-30- "awesome" he is at home, and they invite Mr. Jefferson over for a dinner. Meanwhile, the police department finds out that a wealthy African-American has moved to South Park and because they naturally believe that every wealthy black man belongs behind the bars, they immediately proceed to frame him by placing incriminating evidence and drugs in his house. However, when Mr. Jefferson is coming home, they can see that he is actually not black (because Michael Jackson had a skin "whitening" procedure) and they immediately abort the arrest. While the police department is figuring out why is Mr. Jefferson white while his file says he is an African-American, the boys are trying to take away Mr.

Jefferson's son Blanket because they fear for his personal safety. They switch him for

Kenny, and even though the rescue operation is more or less successful, Kenny is killed in the process. Police finally realize why Mr. Jefferson's skin is not black and they again want to arrest him. Kyle confronts Mr. Jefferson about his childish behavior and his irresponsibility as a father figure, he admits that he is not a good father and says that he wants to change. He promises to give away all his money as well as he will take better care of his son and police abandon their intention to arrest him.

Stone and Parker did not want to incorporate any Michal Jackson jokes in their episode because they deem them "obvious and basic", but because of a tight schedule they decided to do so (South Park, The Jeffersons Creator Commentary), and on top of it added many thought-provoking scenes to undermine extreme ideas of political correctness.

Several comments and certain actions the characters make in this episode deepen the gap between African-American ethnicity and the white population by supporting the stereotypes about black people and criminality. Even though the parody of Michael

Jackson seems to be the main focus of Parker and Stone, there is a secondary plot in this episode revolving around framing rich African-Americans for crimes they did not commit.

Many cases which were consider racially motivated are hinted in the episode (for example

-31 - the O. J. Simpson murder trial or the Kobe Bryant rape accusation), and the police obsession with race and wealth is omnipresent.

The creators create an environment full of stereotypes about African-Americans and criminality, and portray the South Park law enforcement as a racist institution which is trying to put every single rich successful African-American newcomer to South Park behind bars. Jeffrey Alan Weinstock has summed up the behavior of the lead detective

Harrison Yates nicely in his Taking South Park Seriously:

"The combination of wealth, blackness, and presumable talent is too much for the

lower-middle-class Hicks. ... In the eyes of the stereotypically racist police, an

individual's blackness is the sole evidence needed not to consider him

[Jefferson/Jackson] the suspect of a crime, but make him its patsy."

(Weinstock 139)

An example of how police are dealing with African-Americans in South Park can be seen in a scene in which Mr. Jefferson promises to take better care about his son Blanket and gets rid of all his money, the aforementioned detective Harrison Yates says to him: "If you are gonna give away all your money, then, I guess we can drop all those charges. No point in putting another poor black man in jail". Racial stereotypes are one of the main issues which political correctness is fighting against, therefore Stone and Parker decided to dedicate several scenes from this episode to do the exact opposite and the result is that racial equality or presumption of innocence are not terms which mean a great deal to the South

Park law enforcement. This episode has several levels, it serves a wonderful satirized parody of Michael Jackson and simultaneously makes fun of inequality and jealousy.

-32- The Hispanic Stereotype in South Park

Hispanics are the second largest race group in the USA (after the white population), and there are many episodes of South Park which feature stereotypes connected with them.

These prejudices are often being built on the alleged Hispanic's laziness (159 "D-Yikes!"), their culture (58 "Probably") or their habits (101 "Fat Butt and Pancake Head) and are depicted in South Park's typical way of satiric parody.

Many of those are depicted in the episode number 218 "The Last of the

Meheecans", which aired on October 12, 2011. In this episode Parker and Stone make fun of immigration, Mexican nationalism and Hispanic culture in general and they also make sure that Mexican immigrants (both legal and illegal) are immediately seen as a cheap labor, and almost as second-class citizens, working for the well-being of the white population.

Political correctness preaches equality, but this episode does everything within its power to do the very opposite and portrays Mexican people basically as slaves serving for the comfort of white people.

The episode begins by the children playing "Texans vs Mexicans", where half of them are dressed as Mexican immigrants and they are trying to get over the border on

Cartman's garden while the other half is trying to prevent them from it. However, during the game, one of the boys' friend named Butters gets lost searching for the "border" and wanders off. After some time, the other boys realize that he is gone but before they get a chance to look for him he is taken by a family who wants to take care of him. The family

(thinking that he is an immigrant) immediately expect him to help around the house. After some time, they part ways and Butters ends up in a Mexican fast food establishment, in where he unintentionally convinces many Mexican immigrants to return to Mexico. The reverse migration idea gets about and not before long, many immigrants migrate illegally over the actual border to Mexico. They take Butters with them and in Mexico he is treated

-33- as a savior and a leader. However, Butters gets homesick and wants to go home, which means only one thing — crossing the border once again. America meanwhile suffers from not having people working for minimal wages, so the guards at the border welcome him, but Eric Cartman has different plans and wants to prevent Butters from setting foot on the

American soil by any means necessary. Butters tricks him however and manages to get over the fence, unharmed.

The fact that the episode is not going to be any different from the show's typical politically incorrect style is hinted right at the beginning when the boys play "Texans vs

Mexicans". When the first boy manages to get over the border, Cartman starts yelling at his teammates "Well you all need to stay focused, Goddamnit! If you let yourselves get distracted for even one minute, we're gonna be overrun with these jobless, no good-!".

Stone and Parker right at the beginning of the episode portray a Mexican immigrant as someone who is hopelessly lazy and somewhat under the trueborn Americans. This is a very direct criticism, the creators are redistributing society on better and lesser people, which is going against the principles of political correctness. Another example of this behavior can be find in a quote by a local newscaster, informing people about the reversed immigration: "You've heard of Mexican salsa, but Mexican pride?". Similarly to the previous quote, it points out that Mexico has not much to be proud on.

What makes this episode particularly offensive however, is how the "Mexican immigrant" Butters is treated. Stone and Parker promote the stereotype of Hispanics being seen as a cheap labor, because from the first point Butters is found by the family, he is immediately "employed" as a janitor. When the family brings him to their home, first thing they do is that they "teach him" the English words for "window" and detergent "Windex", hand him a cloth and make him to wash the windows. Soon after, he is given a big present, and so Butter is all excited, wraps it open only to see that he was given a leaf blower. He is immediately instructed to go out to the garden and try it out while the family is sipping

-34- drinks and relaxing. If South Park had been a politically correct show, the creators would have made the family to treat him with decency and respect, but as the show is as far away from politically correct content as it can be, they instead make Butters do chores around the house, making him basically the family's slave. I would argue that Stone and Parker want to criticize the principle of equality of political correctness because they believe that immigrants do not usually have equal education to the Americans. It may therefore seem that the Hispanic immigrants are slaves or a cheap work for hire, but in the end the work they do is only within the boundaries of their education.

Hispanics in general do not have particularly positive depiction in South Park, but in the episode number 138 "Free Willzyx", they really are portrayed as stereotypically as possible. The episode aired on November 30, 2005 and — as the name of the episode suggest — it is a sort of a parody of the "Free Willy" movie. Even though the Hispanic stereotypes reign supreme, they appear mainly in the second half of the episode, and yet that is more than enough time for Stone and Parker to make their point. This time they make sure that the Mexican people are illustrated as lazy, sort of simple people not particularly interested in anything productive.

It all begins in the Sea Park in Denver where Kyle finds out that he can hear a whale named Jambu speak and it tells him that he has been kidnapped, its actual name is

Willzyx and that its true home is on the Moon. The whale does not really talk, it is just a joke, the voice is coming from the show announcer. However, the boys do not realize this, decide to take action and during the night they steal the whale from the Sea Park and plan on getting it to the Moon. The next morning the investigators come, but by this time the boys are already calling the world's leaders to see if they can use their space program to get

Willzyx to space. Russia, Japan and couple other states name their prices in millions of dollars, however the government of Mexico allows they boys to take the whale to the space for two hundred dollars. The boys load the whale on a truck and head for the Mexican

-35- border, while being chased by law enforcement. With help of unaware animal rights group, they get the whale across to Mexico and to the space shuttle. Everything goes according to the plan, the rocket leaves just in time before the investigators show up and the whale is successfully delivered to the Moon.

Since several countries and their leaders appear in this episode, Parker and Stone have plenty of room for racial stereotypes. For example, the Japanese government denies the boys' request to fly the whale into space, but its members offer to eat the whale instead

(this is a stereotypical portrayal of the Japanese and a very offensive one). Also, after the appeal is denied and one of the boys is calling the others that they had not been successful, they said that the Japanese "told us to go fruck ourserves". Similar stereotypes regarding language imperfections were also mentioned in the episode number 90 "Child Abduction is not Funny", in which a Chinese restaurant owner Tuong Lu Kim is being enquired to build a wall around South Park to protect the local children from child abductors. When asked to build the wall because it is "in his blood", he responds in a strong Chinese accent: "I'm not stereotype, okay?! Just because I'm Chinese doesn't mean I go around building wall! I'm just a normal person like all o'you! I eat ahrice and drive ahreally slow, just like the rest o'you! I'm not stereotype!". Similarly to "Free Willzyx", the respect for other cultures which political correctness preaches has been seriously violated in both of those episodes as they point out the stereotypes which the Japanese (or the Asian race in general) have been struggling to get rid of.

But back to the Hispanic depiction in "Free Willzyx". What is so politically incorrect with this episode is the way Stone and Parker portrayed the Mexican workers and citizens. As shown in the example below, they are depicted as sleepy, uninterested and sort of simple people who are sitting on plastic pieces of furniture:

-36- Stan: Does the Mexican space programs have rockets that can go to the moon?

Man: Follow, si, show yo. The roque lunar?

Stan: This rocket will fly to the moon?

Man: Si, fly.

Stan: To the moon?

Man: Si.

(Free Willzyx, ep. number 138)

This heavily stereotyped behavior and the way the Mexican space program workers are depicted suggests that Stone and Parker this time it is political correctness as a whole which the duo criticizes. They could have just portrayed the local Mexican workers as normal people, but this being South Park they instead opted for a stereotypical depiction of

Mexican citizens. With element of satiric exaggeration, they butt heads with political correctness and balance on the edge of what is appropriate and what is way beyond the line.

Lastly, I would like to comment on an episode once again very closely connected to immigration, but this one is a bit different - episode number 118 "Goobacks" which aired on April 28th, 2004. It does not feature any Hispanic people per se, and yet as the episode starts developing its storyline it becomes obvious that it does in fact point out problems concerning immigration and the U.S. job market. This time using parody and satire with elements of science-fiction, Stone and Parker create an environment for a battle between

American citizens and the time immigrants. This episode does not only feature satirical comments on the issue of immigration but is also a parody of both liberal and conservative attitudes towards migration in general.

-37- The episode begins when a time portal opens up in Colorado and a man from the future appears. Scientists and people alike are excited and they try to get to know what happens to future in America, but the man tells them that he came to look for work in the present time. Meanwhile, the boys are making money by shoveling snow off from a driveway and earn a decent amount of money for it. When they find out that a man from the future appeared, they go home and are very excited. However, soon after the first man appears, couple of other people come through the portal and not long after that people start losing their jobs to the "Goobacks" (so called because of the goo they have on themselves when they go through the portal), the boys lose their shoveling business because they cannot compete with the pay the time travelers are willing to work for. Local working men decide that enough is enough and to stop the time travelers from coming they want to make future not happen by turning into homosexuals, thus stopping children from being born and destroying the future in the process. They go to the "Little Future"

(place where the time travelers live) and organize a giant homosexual protest orgy.

However, Stan has a better idea and instead of destroying the future, he wants to improve it so that people do not have to come here and can stay in there. This partially works, the time travelers start disappearing, but Stan suddenly proclaims this attitude "gay" and the men get back to the "men pile" and continue with the protest orgy.

This episode criticizes many things, but no one can deny that it is daring. The immigration issues are not only connected with conflict over the job market, but it is also a conflict of races and ethnicities. And this is how the show portrays the people from the future, or as they call them — the Goobacks:

It appears that in the future, Americans have evolved into a hairless uniform mix of

all races. They are all one color, which is a yellowy light-brownish whitish color. Uh,

it seems race is no longer an issue in the future, because all ethnicities have mixed

into one. Perhaps most interesting is how this has affected their language. The

-38- people in the future speak a complete mix of English, Chinese, Turkish and, indeed,

all world languages.

(Goobacks, ep. number 118)

The race is not a problem in the future because races merge into one, but in the present day it is still an issue. Stone and Parker for example named the time travelers "Goobacks", which I would argue is a direct reference to the term "Wetback" — a very offensive slur mostly used as "an insulting and contemptuous term for a Mexican who enters the U.S. illegally". Stone and Parker's choice of words is not only extremely politically incorrect, but that is nothing new from them.

The feud in this episode however is not only over the issue of immigration itself, but also about a parody of the attitudes towards it and its possible solutions. The show produces both conservative and liberal approach and divides society into two groups: The liberal side says that "Trying to stop immigration is intolerant and ignorant. Those immigrants have a right to pursue happiness" (which follows the political correctitude), and of course there is also a flow which would prefer to take a step into a different direction and take things into their own hands:

Chet (reading a letter): "Dear intolerant rednecks, we sympathize with you all losing

your jobs. However, we feel your solution of shooting everyone

who crosses the time border is inhumane."

A man: What? That's ridiculous!

A man: They can't do that!

A man: That was a good idea!

(Goobacks, ep. number 118)

-39- Suggesting to shoot people on sight just because they dared to cross the border is a very extreme solution, but it is a testament of how Stone and Parker want to fight against political correctness. Their determination to get rid of its extremes through racial stereotypes is a testament to how far are they willing to go to draw attention to this issue.

-40- 6. THE CONCLUSION

With these pages I hope to have proven that South Park is not just a vulgar, simply animated television show with no constructive material of any kind and that its true potential lies hidden underneath its sometimes-inappropriate comedy, waiting to be discovered by an observant eye. In relation to the argument of this thesis, many different sources have been thoroughly researched and the ideas and viewpoints of their authors have been applied on six episodes of South Park. Several scenes from these episodes have been chosen because of the material they provide for the analysis of African-American and

Hispanic stereotypes. On the portrayal of the two minority groups have been pointed out many aspects of political correctness which the authors of the show Matt Stone and Trey

Parker retentively criticize.

With an extensive use of parody and satire, it may seem like the creators make the characters and the storylines of South Park as stereotypical as possible for no good reason, but their portrayal of Hispanics and African-Americans serves — most of the time — as an instrument of critique. The object of their criticism is the "minefield" of political correctness, in which public officials, celebrities and even ordinary people must step lightly and carefully to not offend any particular group of people as one wrong move can result in an explosion of public outrage. Those racial stereotypes (purposefully depicted to irritate basic principles of political correctitude) generally object against the extremes of political correctness, its excessive application and gender-neutral language.

As much as Stone and Parker hate these aspects of political correctness, they do not disapprove with all of its teachings. This can be seen in the example episode with the "N- word", and even though Stan's father Randy used the racial slur "nigger", he is punished and has to publicly apologize. On the other hand, ever since the episode number 258

"Stunning and Brave" (which aired three years ago) Parker and Stone have issued a direct

-41 - warning about what political correctness may become one day. In this episode, a character named PC Principalis introduced, his determination to bring politically correct behavior to

South Park's Elementary school is unmatched and he is not afraid to resort to violence to achieve his goal. Getting offended (and in PC Principal's case violent as well) by even a small misstep from politically correct behavior may seem funny, but his actions and behavior serve as a warning directly from Stone and Parker to point out how exaggerated and unwelcome political correctness may become one day. Having designed the character in this way, the creators want to ensure that their message is heard, and even though (or because) it is covered in a shock-factor of satirical parody, the show still finds its dedicated viewers.

South Park as a show is an ongoing research material with bottomless potential, but unfortunately there is only so much this thesis can cover. Topics for a follow-up examination might include religion (of which the creators make fun almost as much as of racial stereotypes), an analysis on how the show parodies contemporary events, or on the controversy in general (which many of episodes certainly caused) and on how it resonates through American society.

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-48 - EPISODES REFERENCED

"Cartman Gets an Anal Probe". Season 1, episode 1. Originally aired on Aug 13 1997.

Written by Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Directed by Trey Parker.

"Chef Goes Nanners". Season 4, episode 7. Originally aired on Jul 9 2000. Written by Trey

Parker. Directed by Trey Parker and Eric Stough.

"Child Abduction is not Funny". Season Season 6, episode 11. Originally aired on Jul 24

2002. Written by Trey Parker. Directed by Trey Parker.

"Free Willzyx". Season 9, episode 13. Originally aired on Nov 30 2005. Written by Trey

Parker. Directed by Trey Parker.

"Goobacks". Season 8, episode 7. Originally aired on Apr 28 2004. Written by Trey Parker.

Directed by Trey Parker.

"Here Comes the Neighborhood". Season 5, episode 12. Originally aired on Nov 28 2001.

Written by Trey Parker. Directed by Eric Stough.

"Red Man's Greed". Season 7, episode 7. Originally aired on 30 Apr 2003. Written by Trey

Parker. Directed by Trey Parker.

"Stunning and Brave". Season 19, episode 1. Originally Aired on Sep 16 2015. Written by

Trey Parker. Directed by Trey Parker.

-49 - "The Jeffersons". Season 8, episode 6. Originally aired on Apr 21 2004. Written by Trey

Parker. Directed by Trey Parker.

"The Last of the Meheecans". Season 15, episode 9. Originally aired on Oct 12 2011.

Written by Trey Parker. Directed by Trey Parker.

"With Apologies to Jessie Jackson". Season 11, episode 1. Originally aired on Mar 7 2007.

Written by Trey Parker. Directed by Trey Parker.

-50- SUMMARY

This thesis is an analysis of the two most reoccurring minority groups in television show South Park (African-Americans and Hispanics), with focus on what aspects of political correctness the creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker criticize with those prejudices.

The work provides theoretical background to political correctness, as well as to satire and parody which are the creator's most used instruments in their critique, and a brief history and clear definition are provided for all three terms. A chapter devoted to the development of South Park, which foregoes the analysis itself, rounds up the complete theoretical information necessary for understanding of what is being argued in the thesis.

-51 - RESUMÉ

Cílem této práce je analýza dvou nejčastěji vyobrazovaných etnických skupin v televizním seriálu Městečko South Park, kterými jsou Afro-Američané a Hispánci, se zaměřením na aspekty politické korektnosti, které tvůrci pořadu Matt Stone a Trey Parker těmito stereotypy kritizují. V práci jsou obsaženy teoretické základy k politické korektnosti, stejně tak jako k satiře a parodii, které jsou nej používanějšími instrumenty autorů v jejich kritice. V kapitolách dedikovaných těmto termínům je také krátce nastíněna jejich historie a je zde uvedena i jednoznačná definice pro všechny tři pojmy. Kapitola předcházející samotné analýze je věnována počátkům tohoto televizního seriálu a kompletuje tak potřebné teoretické základy k jasnému pochopení argumentů v této práci.

-52-