South Park: Pop Culture and Stereotypes

By Jesse McManus

          

  Popular culture as described by our text is, “a new name for low culture, referring to those cultural products that most people share and know about, including television, music, videos, and popular magazines” (Martin & Nakayama, 2013, P. 361).  This simply means that pop culture is the product of popular cultural trends and ideas, including stereotypes.  In our text the authors make an important statement, “our knowledge about other places, even places we have been, is largely influenced by popular culture” (Martin & Nakayama, 2013, P. 373).  This idea leads to another theme that has been observed which is that, “stereotypes are connected to social values and social judgments about other groups of people” (Martin & Nakayama, 2013, P. 373).  There are many themes that can be found in popular culture, and more specifically in our television programs. 

            South Park is a television program on the Comedy Central network that turns relative, and current events into a series of comedy shows featuring elementary school students in Colorado.  This show, although comedic in nature, frequently hits on controversial topics such as the Trayvon Martin shooting, and other topics spanning from pop culture to politics to religion and just about anything under the Sun.   There are three themes (not exclusive) relating to popular culture that can be observed while watching this show. 

First, minority cultural groups do not appear on this show for the most part, except to display stereotypes held against them.  In the show, there is an African-American student at South Park Elementary named Token, as in “the Token black kid,” who typically does not display any of the stereotypes conceived about African-Americans but instead is constantly the victim of stereotyping.  In an episode titled “World War Zimmerman” (2013), another student named Cartman portrays that all African-Americans would be in outrage over the decision of the Trayvon Martin case and as a spoof of the movie “World War Z,” would be the reason for the end of times.  This example shows an assumption that all cultural groups share the same ideas and is a huge factor in pop culture.

Secondly, another theme that was observed was the idea that different cultural groups are represented differently in the same contexts.  Again, in the episode “World War Zimmerman” (2013), the creators portray Zimmerman as a hero for killing Trayvon Martin and even involve government officials trying to recruit him for another similar job, which is obviously a stretch of the imagination.  However, when Zimmerman shoots Cartman (a white child) by mistake, he is swiftly executed.  This is a satirical exhibition of stereotypes effecting the perception of certain events, based on the cultural group involved.  Although the show aims to make comedy of this situation, it really shows the exaggerated but assumed perception of this crime, which is that if Trayvon Martin was white; the case would not have ended the same. 

Finally, a theme that I observed was that “having some information and positive expectations may lead to more in-depth conversations and positive outcomes than having no information” (Martin & Nakayama, 2013, P. 376).  This point is hit in an episode titled “Ginger Cow” (2013), where Christians, Muslims, and Jews all come together because of a “prophecy” that had been fulfilled.  Interestingly enough, the prophecy was that “a fat child with a small ***** would decorate a cow” (Parker, 2013), with red paint and hair.  This prophecy comes true, however, because of miscommunication the three religious groups once again are at odds.  When this prophecy was true, and each group had positive expectations (due to the prophecy guiding them), it lead to cooperation and peace. 

In conclusion, due to the show being controversial in nature, these stereotypical messages in pop culture may be resisted.  According to our text, “Avoiding certain forms of popular culture is one kind of resistance, but resistance can occur in a variety of ways” (Martin & Nakayama, 2013, P. 366).  One way that this form of pop culture would be resisted is to not watch it.  As this show is highly controversial and it’s main topics of discussion are very current events, some might choose not to watch it.  Another way in which this show could be resisted is by potentially moving to take it off the air or even protest it.  In our text the author says, “because some of these stereotypes are negative, they have negative consequences for members of that social group” (Martin & Nakayama, 2013, P. 368).  Although this show is so controversial and stereotypical, it would appear it has been accepted as comedy, and not to be taken seriously, as it has been on the air for 13 seasons.  That being said, some outrage has been shown to episodes that may be “distasteful” such as the Trayvon Martin Case, or Michael Jackson’s death. 

References:

Martin, J.N., & Nakayama, T.K. (2013). Intercultural Communication in Contexts (6th ed.) New York, NY: McGraw Hill.

Stone, M., Parker, T. (2013). Ginger Cow. Stone, M., Parker, T., South Park. New York City, NY: South Park Studios.

Stone, M., Parker, T. (2013). World War Zimmerman. Stone, M., Parker, T., South Park. New York City, NY: South Park Studios.