South Park is Not only Stupid Humor
Today during AIS, we continued our discussion on the topic of race. Jackie brought up one of her favorite TV shows, and how the concept of race was presented in the show. This got me thinking about some of the TV shows that I watch. Although all of the shows that I watch touch on the topic of race, two particular shows stand out in my mind. These shows are Weeds, on Showtime, and South Park on Comedy Central. Weeds has some great examples, but since Henry also wants to blog on Weeds, I decided that this week’s blog would be about a certain South Park episode that stands out in my mind.
Let me start by explaining the basic plot of this episode. One of the main characters’ (a fourth grade boy named Stan) dad (Randy) is on the show Wheel of Fortune. The category is “people who annoy you”. After guessing all but one of the letters correct, Randy is left with the following: N _ G G E R S. Unfortunately, Randy says Niggers, when the correct answer was naggers. As one might guess, this sets up the whole episode to be one big racial mess. There is only one black person in Stan’s grade at the school he goes to. This young boy’s name is Token, which is very ironic. The rest of the episode is about Stan trying to apologize to Token for how ignorant his dad was. Token is angered by what Randy said, but not as much as he is with Stan for the way Stan goes about trying to apologize to Token. Stan always says things like “Look, I’m sorry. I get it, it must really hurt you to have things like that said”. Token is mad at Stan for saying that “he gets it”. Token, who is very intelligent and insightful, replies “Look, Stan, I know that you are feeling guilty, but you will never get it. You will never know what it is like to be part of a minority that was treated so brutally in the past, and is still treated with disrespect.” The show finally ends with Stan and Token becoming friends again, when Stan says “You’re right, I am sorry, and will never understand how much something like that might hurt.”
I agree with Token. Never will any whites know how pained and isolated some African Americans still feel today. And it seems like just when things between African Americans and whites are starting to get friendly, something happens that separates the two groups again. Things were looking good when Obama was elected president, but then they became strained when people would always bring up the color of his skin. This is like the Wheel of Fortune incident in South Park. Are whites and blacks in America bound to never accept each other fully, or will we someday, no matter how far in the future, patch the rough spots in our history and unite as one?
I also recall this episode of South Park, and I really like the title of your post, that South Park is not solely stupid humor. I have been a long time fan of South Park and I have always appreciated the writer's ability to work in really clever humor and almost eerily intelligible points of view. Many of their best episodes involve a satire of a current social issue, followed by the presentation of a very reasonable resolution to or opinion on the issue. In the episode you bring up, they point out the pointlessness of whites trying to comprehend the impact of slavery and Jim Crow on blacks. An example of this was the professor in Mr. Bolos' powerpoint that concluded that not only had he discovered exactly how blacks felt while enslaved, but that the feelings were of happiness and appreciation.
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