#'watching south park is fun' fact checkers are looking into this

[buttfrovski]

watching south park is fun till u watch that one disgusting episode that you'll remember the rest of ur life and visibly wince everytime you remember it

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Michael in the Mainstream - South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut

Ah, good old South Park, the most famous creation of Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and one of the great candidates for “show that maybe has gone on too long but sometimes it’s still great so I tolerate it.” South Park has a long, checkered history, filled with genuinely great humor and insightful political commentary as well as obnoxious centrism and really unfunny jokes. To this day it’s a very polarizing show, with people having strong opinions on it from every direction. But I think there’s one thing we can all agree on:

The movie was really freaking cool.

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut is a movie where, from the title alone, you know what you’re getting into – a raunchy trip down to South Park (for those who don’t get it, think about what else might be big, long, and uncut). But surprisingly it ends up being more deep than all that, though yes, there is still a lot more raunchiness than most other animated films of the time. But if it were just raunchy humor it would probably end up deflating and not be well-remembered or well-liked even today – as much as I personally find movies like Sausage Party entertaining, they’re more novelties than anything and I kind of doubt they’ll be looked back on fondly nearly two decades down the line. What did this film do different?

I think one thing that helps the film is it’s odd style. You see, this movie is a musical. A beautiful, foul-mouthed Disney Renaissance parody musical. And I’m going to be honest here, just about every song in this is amazing. You’ve got the Oscar-nominated smash “Blame Canada,” you’ve got the seedy little villain song “I Can Change,” you have the beautiful “Up There” which will make you feel sorry for Satan, and you have Terrence and Phillip’s song in which they accuse each other of fornicating with their uncles, wuth a title a bit too spicy for Michael in the Mainstream. Oh, and this movie also has the definitive version of “Kyle’s Mom’s a Bitch.” I honestly feel like there’s not a single weak song on the soundtrack, and most of them are pretty hilarious. I’d say the songs are good enough not to lose to Phil Collins at the Oscars, but also not good enough to justify a petty episode-length tirade about Phil Collins.

The general themes of this movie are good as well. The main plot is that the kids sneak into a Terrence and Phillip movie which is R-rated and filled with profanity, they mimic what they see in the film, and so then they go and try and ban the movie and, well, blame Canada, to the point where Kyle’s mom starts a war with Canada via her protesting. The parodying of the strictness of censorship, the hypocrisy of regulations, and of course the blatant hypocrisy on how graphic violence is okay for general audiences but naughty words are not is still relevant even today in a climate where some people think that movies like Joker are too “dangerous” and “controversial” and might incite copycats. You have to understand, it is the responsibility of the viewer to ethically consume the art, and it is the responsibility of parents or guardians to moderate what sort of content their children are consuming, and that if your kids are sneaking into R-rated movies, cussing up a storm, or lighting their farts on fire, the blame isn’t something that can just be put on the media they consume, because there are obviously other factors that lead to this. This movie’s argument was given around the same time as the whole “violence in video games” debate was gathering speed, and it’s kind of sad that these conversations still need to be had today. Still, I think this has aged better than most of their other messages, and the fact it’s still relevant only helps strengthen their message and make up for some of the more obviously dated jokes, like the references to Windows ‘98 or Jar-Jar Binks.

I think the best part of this movie, though, is Satan and his relationship with Saddam Hussein. I think it was a very interesting choice to reimagine Satan, a traditionally evil figure, as a sad, lonely homosexual man in a toxic relationship who merely wishes to find the freedom, happiness, and true companionship he believes he truly deserves. In fact, while Satan is ostensibly supposed to be the vicious conqueror of Earth after all the seals are broken, he expresses distate in the idea, and it is Saddam, his toxic lover, who pushes him. I honestly love Satan’s character arc in this film, where he discovers his self-worth and gains the confidence to rid himself of Saddam, stop being a doormat, and stand up for himself. Honestly, he really fits the sort of character arc Disney princesses of the time went through, a comparison I’m sure he’d be satisfied with. I also like how this is the rare piece of media that shows a toxic non-heterosexual relationship and plays it relatively seriously, something that I don’t think I really saw again until Steven Universe. Like, there are definitely jokes centered around their relationship, but it’s the comically evil Saddam who’s the butt of the jokes and Satan is always portrayed in a very sympathetic light, and it’s not really portrayed as “Haha, they’re gay!” but more as “Haha, Saddam Hussein has a dildo!”

Of course, there are bits of this movie I don’t necessarily like. The awkward love triangle with Stan and Wendy is largely unnecessary, and the whole “find the clitoris” joke has such a weird, out-there payoff that I can’t really get behind it. I also hate how some characters get horribly underused. I understand this is before characters like Randy or Butters really rose up to major character status, but the fact that Chef and Mr. Garrison barely get anything to do in the movie is a bit egregious. Like sure, they have roles, they have lines, but I feel like for the big movie event they should have given some of the major faces of the series a bit more to do.

Still, these are minor complaints. This is one of the best animated films ever made, with a resonant message, catchy songs, and mostly good humor, as well as an oddly compelling gay romance subplot involving the Prince of Darkness and a Middle Eastern dictator. It’s the sort of crass, in-your-face brilliantly offensive fun that South Park is at its best, and while it does get preachy, it never feels needlessly so like some of the later episodes. If you’re a fan of the show, you’ve either seen this already or should watch it right now, and if you want to get into the show, this honestly isn’t a bad jumping in point. If you just want good raunchy adult animation in cinematic form, this is also right up your alley.

Frankly, I’m just amazed at how well most of this film has aged, considering how poorly South Park episodes that cover topical subjects tend to fare even a few months after they air. I wouldn’t go as far as to say the movie is a timeless classic, but it’s definitely a classic in most regards. It’s funny, it’s smart, it’s immature, it’s offensive, it’s even a little emotional, and really it’s everything good about South Park condensed into one movie, with very little of the bad. Mr. Hanky and Towelie aren’t in this, after all.