Comments on: Generation South Park 3: Cartman Gives Wendy The Glenn Beck Treatment

By: Generation South Park, Part 4: The Rise of Stealth Conservatism | NewsReal Blog

Sat, 05 Jun 2010 17:48:26 +0000

[...] Click here for the previous discussion of this episode of South Park and click here for the index to the “Generation South Park” series. [...]

By: Generation South Park, Generation Y Conservatism | NewsReal Blog

Generation South Park, Generation Y Conservatism | NewsReal Blog — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 16:12:51 +0000

[...] Part 3: Cartman Gives Wendy the Glenn Beck Treatment [...]

By: Buckleyfan

Buckleyfan — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 02:05:09 +0000

Late to the party… remember ‘Cartoon Wars?’ On the surface it was just a brutal thrashing of “Family Guy,” but the real target of the episode was the Western world’s (particularly Comedy Central’s) cowardice in the face of radical Islam. Fox censoring Family Guy was an allegory for Comedy Central refusing to allow Parker and Stone to animate Mohammad. The point is hammered home in the episode’s finale where they go out of their way to mock Jesus to show that the network had no problems with an unflattering portrayal of any other religious figure.

fozzy hit the nail on the head up there; this episode is more about Palin.

By: In the Know

In the Know — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:16:38 +0000

That was my point. It is apolitical. Please brush up on your reading comprehension. You clearly did not understand the term “exploit” and its usage.

By: mikidiki

mikidiki — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 12:56:57 +0000

If your reference to Jesus is prayerful, fair enough. Otherwise please stick to non-offensive intros like “My, My!” as in ‘My, my …it’s a cartoon’. Thank you.

By: Bubba4

Bubba4 — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:37:18 +0000

christ…it’s a cartoon that was originally made with stop motion construction paper…

South Park isn’t engineered to take advantage of people and exploit something…it’s a tv show for entertainment. You either watch it and enjoy it or you don’t.

Politics is only one dimension of life…

By: Bubba4

Bubba4 — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 22:33:48 +0000

huh? It’s making fun of his ridiculous, conspiracy theory insanity and the intellectually dishonest arguments.

Is calling a crazy person crazy a way to legitimize them?

By: Generation South Park, Part 4: The Rise of Stealth Conservatism « NewsReal Blog

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:02:02 +0000

[...] Click here for the previous discussion of this episode of South Park and click here for the index to the “Generation South Park” series. [...]

By: In the Know

In the Know — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:19:33 +0000

I think you are missing the point of South Park. Mr. Parker and Mr. Stone are equal opportunity offenders. They will take current events and ridicule them through parody. They are comedic opportunists who profit from the complacency of American youth. We have a destructive generation that has an entitlement mentality. They are aggressively self-centered and are only motivated to act on something when they stand to gain individually. They would be more accurately classified as capitalist/anarchists with little or no moral compass. They lack compassion and empathy, very similar to a sociopath. Why else would social networking sites be so popular. It’s all about them, the individual, being able to display themselves. Let’s face it, they have been taught that they are all superstars in school. Have you been to a public school lately? South Park takes advantage of that mentality. It doesn’t matter to our youth who gets targeted, as long as it’s not them. Popular comedy ridicules people presently. No one asks “How would you feel if they said that about you?”. South Park exploits that missing boundry.

By: RyanB

RyanB — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:49:19 +0000

I think you missed a few points in your analysis, Chris.

Instead of directly assailing Glenn Beck’s politics, they instead use metaphor. The metaphor is that Cartman(Beck) constructs an alternate reality in which Wendy (Obama) is killing Smurfs for her own greed. Cartmen(Beck) then uses false claims, fear, and misinformation to get guillible Butters and auxiliary characters (Tea Party Movement) to protest at Wendy’s house and, more importantly, buy his merchandise. This is parodying Beck’s own constructed false reality in which he creates and spreads on TV, radio, and books.

It should be noted that many of the more straight, logical characters (Stan and Kyle) think that Cartman is being manipulative and moronic.

Wendy then capitalizes on the false reality created by Cartmen (which she can then sell to the people who already believe it) by producing her own book and putting Cartman in charge. This is to parody Sarah Palin (obviously).

Cartman has not yet left the Beck construct, but the writers put Cartman(Beck) in the position of real power. This takes jabs at 2 kinds of people; 1) ones who believe that the president can do anything at anytime and don’t understand separation of powers (Huffington Post), 2) Blowhard commentators of all colors who would flounder in any real position of power.

I do think you are right that South Park’s politics tend to be libertarian, however the strongest theme in the show is anti-ideological, especially of those who take it to the extreme, whether it be to the left (dirty hippies, environmentalists) or the right (Glenn Beck).

By: peachey

peachey — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:06:46 +0000

You know that you have hit the big time or a giant nerve when you become the target.Glenn’s audience will continue to grow. I have neighbor’s that were Democrats, now tuning into Beck because they feel a kinship and having a growing agreement with his analysis of the dangers in this country. Also, union’s here in California are having a real problem convincing their membership of the direction that the union is moving toward. There is a significant and growing dissent among the membership, apparently due to them watching Glenn Beck. You can see that a Harvard education is not needed for impact and change.

By: James

James — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:05:44 +0000

Glenn should be very happy they made an episode exclusively for him. It legitimizes the man, points out his astronomical popularity, and may very well even increase it…