Tapsearch Com EditorSouth Park back to its old brilliance
March 8th 2007 04:28
I once read that the South Park creators make each episode from scratch the week it's to air, so that would explain why the show has been on-again/off-again in terms of quality over the last few seasons. Tonight's episode, however, was one of the best I've ever seen.
It was about Michael Richards's use of the "N" word, and I think the recent Ann Coulter controversy really makes it pertinent.
It does a superb job of combining over-the-top gags (the intro joke that ignites the controversy is classic South Park racial humor) with a message that isn't preachy. This morning's Express (a DC tabloid run by the Post) called it unremarkable or something to that effect, but I swear they must have watched the wrong show.
Also, the Sarah Silverman program had an interesting take on the word "f----t" (paraphrased): "I don't mean f-g as in homosexual, I mean f-g as in retard." (Yes, I watch too much Comedy Central.)
This makes two points. One, like it or not, many people use anti-gay slurs to denounce just about anything they don't like. Two, for some reason the word "retard," when used derogatorily, doesn't seem to offend people nearly as much as many other words do.
A random aside -- it's always amused and angered me that, in my experience at least, those most offended by the word "retarded" when applied to people who really are mentally retarded, are the same people who use "that's retarded" to mean "that's stupid/ridiculous."
By Robert VerBruggen
It was about Michael Richards's use of the "N" word, and I think the recent Ann Coulter controversy really makes it pertinent.
It does a superb job of combining over-the-top gags (the intro joke that ignites the controversy is classic South Park racial humor) with a message that isn't preachy. This morning's Express (a DC tabloid run by the Post) called it unremarkable or something to that effect, but I swear they must have watched the wrong show.
Also, the Sarah Silverman program had an interesting take on the word "f----t" (paraphrased): "I don't mean f-g as in homosexual, I mean f-g as in retard." (Yes, I watch too much Comedy Central.)
This makes two points. One, like it or not, many people use anti-gay slurs to denounce just about anything they don't like. Two, for some reason the word "retard," when used derogatorily, doesn't seem to offend people nearly as much as many other words do.
A random aside -- it's always amused and angered me that, in my experience at least, those most offended by the word "retarded" when applied to people who really are mentally retarded, are the same people who use "that's retarded" to mean "that's stupid/ridiculous."
By Robert VerBruggen
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