Nearly 8 months to the day, I began to follow through on a promise to a medical student and her husband to give South Park a chance. My friend Keith had tried to get me to watch the show, mentioning his love of the character Butters, and a guy in Japanese linguistics my senior year had me watch Satan's Sweet 16 birthday bash. There was even the time that Aaron and I accidentally tuned in to what was possibly the greatest story of all in Season 10, Go God Go, the two-part story where Eric Cartman's quest for a Nintendo Wii brings him to the atheist future.
I will make my case for South Park simple, and I will expound on the brief points listed below in the first reply to this thread. I will also list my favorite episodes amongst the many I have watched since I began.
- I dislike graphic violence.
- I dislike graphic disgusting imagery.
- But I love good satire and social commentary.
Ryan's Platinum List - His Top 5 Golds* (see Reply #2 before clicking links!)
Marjorine, The Return of the Fellowship of the Lord of the Rings, Butt Out, All About The Mormons?, Raisins
Ryan's Gold List - nearly the same quality as above, just Rank #6 onward
Free Willzyx, Go God Go, Go God Go XII, Make Love, Not Warcraft
Ryan's Silver List - good, but not quite as good as the Gold
Kenny Dies, Cartmanland, A Ladder To Heaven, Christian Rock Hard, Ginger Kids
Ryan's Seen List
Much longer than all of this (probably around 30 or so episodes by now @_@), mostly from Season 1 (~4), Season 5 (3-4), Season 7 (4+), Season 9 (4+), and Season 10 (4+).
4 comments:
"I dislike graphic violence."
For example, I do not find it funny when a cartoon character's head is ripped off. I do not find it funny when he is disemboweled. I do not find it funny when a metal pipe pierces his skull while he is innocently riding a roller coaster. I am not a Tom & Jerry, Itchy & Scratchy kind of guy. Thus, for me, Seasons 1-3 are the worst of the lot partly for this reason: they are the most similar to pure Itchy & Scratchy out of all of the other seasons.
"I dislike graphic disgusting imagery."
For example, I hated Ren & Stimpy as a child because of the artist's obsession with boogers, blood-shot eyes, diseased teeth, and body hair. So when it comes to South Park, I did not like it when Obese Cartman shat into a basin that his mother held out for him in the Season 10 episode Make Love, Not Warcraft. That was, in fact, the only part of the episode I had seen before a few days ago -- and it turned out to be the only part of the episode I disliked! (Because it was the only part of the episode that was graphically disgusting!) Nor did I like it when the citizens of South Park began to poop out of their mouths in the episode Red Hot Catholic Love or whatever it's called.
"I love good satire and social commentary."
This could take me all night to explain and is best explained on an episode-by-episode basis for my top 5 episodes. If one of those top 5 interests you, ask me to explain why I like it so much and feel it's actually good social commentary.
* I do not recommend watching the episodes in the order I have listed them if you have never seen South Park before. If you want to attempt to replicate my experience, here is a list of the first 10 or so episodes in the order I saw them. Italics means it's not recommended b/c I thought it was dumb:
Saw in 2006:
Go God Go, Go God Go XII
Saw in 2007:
Hell on Earth 2006
Saw in 2008:
Christian Rock Hard, All About the Mormons, Cartman Gets an Anal Probe, The Return of the Fellowship of the Lord of the Rings, Free Willzyx, Butt Out, Raisins
You and I couldn't be more different. I love good satire and social commentary, but I also love graphic violence and disgusting imagery. There's nothing like loading up a game of Grand Theft Auto, Doom, or Postal 2 and just going at it. With a certain amount of glee, I might add.
I really loved Ren and Stimpy, as well. I'll never forgot laughing my ass off when I watched the Firedogs episode. Hah!
South Park is funny when I've had a few, but not otherwise.
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