The Deep End of "South Park"

No American television show of the past decade has been vilified as has "Comedy Central's South Park". This is the show that has featured, in turn, a nine-year-old boy enmeshed in an affair with Ben Affleck, a maniacal Mel Gibson smearing feces everywhere, and the misadventures of Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo, a talking, bouncing, singing piece of poop. While it's not always an exercise in good taste, "South Park" is a socially significant satire that has also devoted entire episodes to interpretations of "Great Expectations", Ken Burns' "Civil War", and "Hamlet". This volume explores the popularity and cultural relevance of "South Park" and its place as an artistically and politically worthy satire. Among the topics explored are the show's parody of the processes of manufacturing political consent; its treatments of Shakespeare's plays; the interrogation of anti-tobacco legislation; and the show's creators' seemingly irreverent and dismissive treatment of environmentalism.

ISBN 0786443073   Pages 208 ISBN13 9780786443079 (What's this?)   Volumes 1 Publisher McFarland & Co Inc   Weight (grammes) 272 Imprint McFarland & Co Inc   Published in Jefferson, NC Format Paperback   Height (mm) 226 Publication date 15 Mar 2009   Width (mm) 150 Library of Congress 2009000141   Spine width (mm) 15 DEWEY 791.4572   Academic level General DEWEY edition DC22

		Introduction: An Unofficial Explanation and Brief History of South Park by Leslie Stratyner and James R. Keller		1
1		Kierkegaard, Contradiction, and South Park: The Jester's View of Religion by Lori Lipoma		15
2		Truthiness and Consequences: Chewbacca and the Defense of Political Perfection by Richard Johnston and David Mcavoy		28
3		"Yon Fart Doth Smell of Elderberries Sweet": South Park and Shakespeare by Anne Gossage		42
4		Bloody Mayhem 7, Life Lessons 0: The Depiction of Youth Sports by Katharine Kittredge		63
5		Miss Information: Consumer Excess, Health Care and Historical Guilt in "Cherokee Hair Tampons" by Jolene Armstrong		78
6		Facts, Fatsos, and Fascism: South Park's Interrogation of Anti-Tobacco Legislation by Brennan M. Thomas		91
7		Bridging the Cultural Divide: Moderation and Tolerance of GLBT Communities by Bradley Evans		98
8		A Carnival in the Rainforest: Familiarizing Environmental Rhetoric by Deidre Pike		124
9		Canada and Saddam in South Park: Aboot Allah by Daniel Keyes		139
10		"Yes I Am, Cartman!": Kyle Broflovski's Cool Judaism by Kenneth R. Morefield		157
11		"Among School Children": Lacan and the South Park Felt Board Lesson Set by James R. Keller		167
		Index		197

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