Recently I read 2 different posts from Screen Junkies: 'South Park' Messed With the Wrong Muslims and Ginger Kid Responds to 'South Park'. The titles of the posts can speak for themselves about the main topic of the posts. Yes, it is none other than South Park. Oops, they did it again. For those who are not familiar with South Park, it is actually an animated sitcom dedicated for adult audiences. Perhaps, we can say that its genre is pretty much like The Simpsons; the kind of animation you prefer to keep away from little children. It is (in)famous for its adult, satire comedy. Most of its episodes are to make fun of something, but honestly, a comedy gets through the day by simply making fun of anything. We know how this work, don't we? It's all fun and game until somebody gets hut, or in this case, offended.
This time, South Park offended the Muslims with its 200th episode depicting the Prophet Muhammed in a bear suit. The reason behind the choosing of a bear suit is not clear, but apparently it is considered offending by the Muslims around the world. A death threat is even thrown at the creators Trey parker and Matt Stone. On another occasion, one of South Park's episodes has also offended Ginger boys. Ginger boy is a term used to refer to a person with physical description such as red hair, freckes, and pale skin. These are not the only people who get offended by South Park as a lot of similar cases have happened to South Park before. Just by looking at South Park's genre will surely bring us to a clear conclusion that more similar cases will happen in the future. It is a comedy to make a statement, to say the words which we are too hypocrite to say, and most of all, it is a comedy; comedy is supposed to be entertaining, well at least when you are not at the receiving end of it.
The thing about South Park is that it plays itself very closely to the edge of ethical norms. Comedy must be free to make its point. People who can laugh at themselves out loud are said to have grown to be very open and mature. However, not everybody is open and mature. We can not just label and standardize all the people in the world. Some of them will get offended and some won't. Some will say that other comedy show can succeed without the neccesity of offending others and that might be true. But if that is the case, then that comedy is definitely not South Park.
This time, South Park offended the Muslims with its 200th episode depicting the Prophet Muhammed in a bear suit. The reason behind the choosing of a bear suit is not clear, but apparently it is considered offending by the Muslims around the world. A death threat is even thrown at the creators Trey parker and Matt Stone. On another occasion, one of South Park's episodes has also offended Ginger boys. Ginger boy is a term used to refer to a person with physical description such as red hair, freckes, and pale skin. These are not the only people who get offended by South Park as a lot of similar cases have happened to South Park before. Just by looking at South Park's genre will surely bring us to a clear conclusion that more similar cases will happen in the future. It is a comedy to make a statement, to say the words which we are too hypocrite to say, and most of all, it is a comedy; comedy is supposed to be entertaining, well at least when you are not at the receiving end of it.
The thing about South Park is that it plays itself very closely to the edge of ethical norms. Comedy must be free to make its point. People who can laugh at themselves out loud are said to have grown to be very open and mature. However, not everybody is open and mature. We can not just label and standardize all the people in the world. Some of them will get offended and some won't. Some will say that other comedy show can succeed without the neccesity of offending others and that might be true. But if that is the case, then that comedy is definitely not South Park.
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