Essay: 'South Park' has always delighted in poking the bear, whether it's President Trump or Paramount

You are surely acquainted with the communicative of the “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” successful which a vain ruler, who has been spending the state’s wealth connected fancy duds, is convinced by a mates of con men that the nonexistent suit they merchantability him is fantastically beautiful, but invisible to dopes and fools; not wanting to beryllium thought a dope oregon a fool, helium claims to spot it, and each his sycophantic ministers unreal to spot it. And erstwhile the king goes retired connected parade, each the radical support their mouths unopen — though helium is evidently bare — until a tiny boy, unimpressed by royalty and intelligibly nary fool, calls out, “The emperor has nary clothes.”

We are conscionable done the 27th play of “South Park,” with Season 28 opening with the occurrence airing contiguous (Comedy Central confirmed quality of the seasonal part Wednesday). But Season 27 was newsworthy adjacent earlier its premiere: Creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, who delight successful busting bare emperors, had signed a five-year, $1.5-billion declaration with Paramount for planetary streaming rights and 50 caller episodes. It came conscionable arsenic Paramount, which had an $8.4-billion merger with Skydance nether FCC review, settled a $16-million nuisance suit from President Trump implicit a “60 Minutes” conception and, coincidentally oregon not, canceled Stephen Colbert’s “Late Night.”

For immoderate consumers of topical popular culture, the question of what Parker and Stone would oregon would not bash was apical of caput successful this infinitesimal of “anticipatory obedience,” firm kowtowing and home militarization, with a president whose mentation of Teddy Roosevelt’s “bully pulpit” is “be a bully.” It was answered instantly by the season’s opening episode, “Sermon connected the Mount,” successful which Jesus has go the guidance counsellor astatine South Park Elementary, unwillingly.

PC Principal and Jesus successful “South Park’s” Season 27 premiere, “Sermon connected the Mount.”

(Comedy Central)

“I didn’t privation to travel backmost and beryllium successful the school,” helium says done clenched teeth to the townspeople, who are being sued by Trump, for $5 million. “But I had to due to the fact that it was portion of a suit and the statement with Paramount. You guys saw what happened to CBS? Well, conjecture who owns CBS? Paramount. You truly privation to extremity up similar Colbert? You guys got to halt being stupid. Just unopen up oregon we’re going to get canceled, you idiots … The feline tin bash immoderate helium wants present that idiosyncratic backed down. If idiosyncratic has the powerfulness of the presidency and besides the powerfulness to writer and instrumentality bribes past helium tin bash thing to anyone.”

There volition beryllium nary shutting up, of course, oregon backing down.

“Satire,” said George S. Kaufman, “is what closes connected Saturday night” — meaning the nighttime aft a play opened. But sometimes it runs decades, earning hundreds of millions of dollars a year. As a comic device, a philosophical maneuver and a societal weapon, it has been astir for a agelong time, going backmost astatine slightest backmost to Aristophanes’ “Lysistrata” and including the 1729 “A Modest Proposal,” successful which Jonathan Swift suggests that the Irish mediocre mightiness amended their fiscal concern by selling their children to the affluent for food. There’s besides Voltaire’s “Candide”; Charlie Chaplin’s capitalist critique, “Monsieur Verdoux”; Walt Kelly’s comic strip, “Pogo,” with its animalizations of Joseph McCarthy and Spiro Agnew; humorists Stan Freberg, Tom Lehrer and Beyond the Fringe; Mad magazine, the Onion, and connected and on.

Satire takes a stance — an elevated, informed, clear-eyed position. (If it’s immoderate good.) Random insults and childish sarcasm don’t qualify. “South Park” is not immune from childishness, to enactment it mildly, and determination is an constituent of “worst thought, champion thought” successful its humor; Parker and Stone are each successful connected scatology and dumb puns. Yet the amusement is not casual to disregard — adjacent erstwhile you mightiness beryllium astatine likelihood with their constituent of view, the amusement truthful intelligibly engages the existent world, you mightiness good see it. That determination person been longer breaks than primitively scheduled betwixt immoderate episodes, which are made arsenic adjacent to existent clip arsenic possible, mightiness beryllium due to the fact that determination are excessively galore existent events; the gait is exhausting, the caput boggles. But it besides suggests they’re taking attraction to measurement close — not successful bid to debar occupation due to the fact that self-censorship is not a curse that seems to person ever afflicted them — but to fine-tune their case. Or possibly they’re conscionable taking longer lunches.

The amusement is vulgar, profane, provocative, taunting, convulsive and extreme, portion astatine the aforesaid clip being an exquisitely timed drama with thing similar heart, a sentimentalism that isn’t wholly ironic. (Eric Cartman, the series’ perennially angry, 10-year-old dependable of bigotry, misogyny and anti-woke sentiments, is besides a bittersweet small lad successful dinosaur pajamas.) Heartlessness tin lone beryllium mocked from a presumption of compassion. Parker and Stone delight successful poking bears and pushing buttons — the nakedness of their gleeful effrontery is benignant of breathtaking — but 1 senses that their topical provocations are much than specified opportunism, that they person a compact with themselves, and their audience, to archer the information — their information anyhow — with nary interest for the blowback. Even among their fans, they connection thing not for everybody.

Eric Cartman, the dependable of bigotry and misogyny connected “South Park,” is besides a bittersweet small boy.

(Comedy Central)

Because the creators expected Trump to driblet retired of the 2016 election, they substituted him for Mr. Garrison, a South Park Elementary teacher, and erstwhile Trump won, they conscionable enactment Garrison successful a wig and made him the president. (If you don’t cognize this history, you’ll beryllium confused erstwhile the townspeople caput to Garrison’s location to protestation Trump’s policies.) This season, there’s nary confusion, with the president’s ain photo-animated caput — they get a batch of comic look retired of it — connected the benignant of boxy bodies they usage to represent Canadians. It’s not coincidentally modeled connected their earlier depiction of Saddam Hussein, down to the dependable and the “Relax, guy!” catchphrase — and who, similar Trump this season, was besides shown successful furniture with Satan. (“You punctual maine much and much of this different feline I utilized to date,” says the Prince of Darkness. “Like, a lot. Like, you guys are precisely alike.”) The vice president is styled arsenic Tattoo, from “Fantasy Island.”

The question of whether Trump is “f— Satan,” successful which the f-word tin beryllium work arsenic either a verb oregon an adjective, is simply a gag and a crippled point. (The amusement runs with the verb; Satan is pregnant.) Typically, the gag is repeated frequently, arsenic is the substance of Trump’s penis, which is pictured, virtually and often, arsenic tiny, and Cartman’s statement of himself arsenic a “masterdebating” “masterdebator.” (It works remarkably well.)

Not everything is astir the president. There are episodes astir Labubu dolls and prediction markets. Guidance counsellor Mr. Mackey is fired and ends up joining ICE (styled “the I-C-E”), wherever helium comes look to melting look with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. (“Only detain the brownish ones — remember, if it’s brownish it goes down.”) Stan’s father, Randy Marsh, whose marijuana workplace is successful occupation aft his Mexican workers are carted off, has what amounts to an affectional matter with ChatGPT successful Episode 3. He devises a program to crook his concern into a tech company, which means microdosing ketamine — macrodosing, alternatively — and successful bid to get Trump to reclassify marijuana, sends Towelie, the sentient towel, to Washington to get successful enactment with the kowtowers and bootlickers. (Tech CEOs Tim Cook and Mark Zuckerberg are pictured.) Kyle’s mom, Sheila, who is Jewish, goes to Israel to springiness Netanyahu a portion of her mind. FCC Chairman Brendan Carr is the slapstick serial unfortunate of Trump’s plots to marque Satan miscarry.

It isn’t precisely nuanced governmental analysis, but goodness knows, these are not precisely nuanced times.

Does satire alteration anything? Sway minds? There’s nary denotation successful the Hans Christian Andersen communicative that the bare emperor’s vulnerability made him a amended idiosyncratic oregon ruler. Disney’s World War II Donald Duck cartoon “Der Fuehrer’s Face” isn’t what stopped Hitler — it was bullets and bombs and bodies — but successful immoderate tiny mode it whitethorn person helped the location beforehand past him. You can’t shame the shameless, oregon awaken the conscience of a narcissist, but the thought that specified japes mightiness marque the target’s tummy wounded oregon his humor boil, whitethorn supply immoderate tiny satisfaction. “South Park” won’t alteration the world, sadly, but it mightiness reassure a spectator that helium isn’t unsocial successful his thoughts, that helium isn’t the brainsick one.