Thursday, April 10, 2008

Floppy Dick Jokes


South Park is another one of my favorite TV shows, and it isn't because it's the most consistent thing in the world. The show swings back and forth from barely-watchable to hilarious-and-relevant with little rhyme or reason. In the past two seasons, the misses greatly out number the hits, but when South Park is on its game, it can't be rivaled by anything else.

When South Park is a hit it's usually because it's smarter than anyone would believe a dick-and-fart-joke machine could be. Season 10's Cartoon Wars is one of my favorite episodes of comedic television ever, and will get its own whole post at some in the future.

But last night was the first really funny episode of the twelfth season, featuring a penis-backed-mouse running through the city with a dash of socio-economic commentary. Titled, "Eek, A Penis." Mrs. Garrison decides that being a woman isn't all it's cracked up to be and that the time has come to get her sex-change operation reversed. The only problem is... well, she's out of penis, so to speak. This takes us to the lab where they grow human body parts on mice, where the penis-mouse escapes, and hilarity ensues. As the parallel story line, Cartman takes over as teacher of the class when Mrs. Garrison leaves. He's such a success at teaching kids how to cheat, and, thus, succeed, that he's offered a role as teacher to a group of inner-city kids. Realizing they'll never listen to a white kid from the suburbs, Cartman shaves a bald-patch onto his head, renames himself "Mr. Cartminez" and teaches all the inner-city kids the "white method" of success -- cheating.

While the episode borders on misogyny with it's portrayal of every woman in South Park leaping onto an elevated item and hiking up their skirt and screaming when they spot the "penis," the image of a feminized man running around, literally in pursuit of his manhood is hilarious. Oddly, it makes me think of Fight Club, and that "generation" of wimpy-men, all searching for their masculinity. As a bonus, we get MR. Garrison back.

But also of interest is the Cartman storyline. Playing into the "save-the-struggling-students" genre, Cartman pretends to be Hispanic (or some strange Cartman variant thereof), to make a difference to these kids. What motivates Cartman is never really established, but playing with the conventions of the genre -- where the kids must learn to use their minds to get ahead -- is skewed.

As RoboGirlfriend says all the time, there is still an amazing amount of White-Privilege in our country today, which I think is often overlooked. I mean, it's just the state of things -- people don't comment every day on the sky being blue. But while the episode skewers the genre, it also shows that White Americans essentially have a get-out-of-jail-free card. The answer to bad inner-city schools is not, of course, teaching them how to cheat "white-style," but the episode isn't about the solution. It's about the problem. And the problem is that there's an imbalance in the system. 

I do wish Cartman had not used Bill Belichick as the example of white-cheating. But that's due to my man-crush on Tom Brady and undying love for my home team (even if we shall never talk about the 2008 Super Bowl. Ever.).




There is a topper though. Nothing will beat the homage to An American Tail. It's like this, only instead of two mice singing, it's a mouse... And the penis growing out of its back.

[EDIT: Here's that clip on youtube...]

Wow.

-RoboNixon

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