Thursday, March 15, 2012

Reverse Cowgirl

The 224th episode of South Park aired last night, kicking off its 16th season. I still maintain that it is the best social commentary on television. Or maybe in entertainment today, I would say that is plausible. They're ability to truly break an idea down into simple parts, and reconstruct it in a manner that forces us to question things that we've accepted blindly, as truth within our lives, is unquestionably remarkable. To do that in 22 minutes is astounding. Creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone are the quintessential team. They've been working as a unit for over 20 years (since the short The Spirit of Christmas), and that in itself is a massive feat. Collaboration in artistic endeavors is difficult to maintain. Styles change, tastes change, people change. Look how difficult it is for bands to remain in tact. Do they argue? Sure. Fight? absolutely. But they remain together, and nothing comes in-between them. 

There was a great special on Comedy Central last year called "6 Days to Air: The Making of South Park." It showed the insane creative process these guys go through to crank out an episode only a week before its air date. They want to stay as fresh as possible. Theirs nobody out there doing anything like that on this scale. The special revolves around the "Human Cent-Ipad," creating a mockery of a film my company released and worked on called, "The Human Centipede II." If you haven't heard of it, you're lucky. Nonetheless, the special really conveys how everyone on the South Park production is a professional. They work long, hard, hours. And when they need to, quickly and efficiently. They love the guys they work for it seemed, and that makes all the difference at the end of the day. It certainly does for me.

(SPOILER ALERT)  Last night's season premiere is a perfect example of you're run-of-the mill type episode. When there's not something immediately at the forefront of the news on any given week, they'll pickup on something seemingly common, and dissect it in the funniest, but most honest way possible. This episode concerned the idea of women having the issue of potentially falling into the toilet, when the toilet seat is left up. Clyde's mother dies in a rather awkward but hilarious way because her son does not take her words about putting the toilet seat down to heart. As she falls in she accidentally flushes at the same time, creating a pressure vacuum which will ultimately suck her insides out and kill her. Ridiculous? Obviously. Hilarious? Depends on your sense of humor. But all this leads to a serious debate that engulfs the town. The men take the position that it is very easy for women to check and see that the seat is down, before they go plopping their asses in an open hole, and the women argue that it takes no time at all for men to simply put the seat down when finished. A classic and timeless debate! Well the story goes on from there, and in 22 minutes they somehow involve the TSA (who comes in and regulates all toilet bowl usage), toilet seat-belts, suing spirits (namely Sir John Harrington, inventor of the modern toilet), and it all gets resolved with the "Reverse Cowgirl." What's that? Oh, it's simply the fact that all these years, we've been using the toilet backwards! You're supposed to sit on it facing forwards, so the flusher is conveniently placed in front of your left arm, and thus you have a tray to lay your magazines and incidentals on while you relieve yourself. Plus, you can never fall in that way, or not notice that the toilet seat is up!

Yes, it's silly. And yes, it can be very crude. But it can also be thought provoking, and pretty freakin' witty. In one episode they managed to point out the ridiculous nature of the TSA and what it has be come, and take a dig at the toilet bowl, forcing us to see it from a different, well...position? 

I stand by South Park no matter what anyone says, and I think their creators are brilliant. If you haven't given the show a chance, then you're potentially missing one of the best and smartest shows out there (I'd recommend watching the "Imaginationland Trilogy" to start with, and then possibly moving on to "The Death of Camp Tolerance" off the top of my head). It's nothing like it was when it began, and truly was a kids show with toilet humor and shitty animation. And I even liked it back then! It's developed into a whole different kind of beat these days, with drastic improvements on all fronts. Here's to another 16 seasons guys.

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