{"id":10620,"date":"2012-10-09T08:16:42","date_gmt":"2012-10-09T08:16:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/wordpress72\/?p=22312"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:22:33","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:22:33","slug":"south-park-is-more-accurate-than-cnn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2012\/10\/09\/south-park-is-more-accurate-than-cnn\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cSouth Park is more accurate than CNN\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

With its sixteen seasons and over 250 episodes \u2018South Park\u2019 has some serious cultural impact on American society. \u201cWhile confidence in media channels is lowering, the series is one of our guides. It is not just about the filthy jokes and the farts.\u201d <\/p>\n

Cheering for Obama<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe way Matt Stone and Trey Parker capture the American zeitgeist is very accurate\u201d, says Brian Dunphy during his lecture on \u2018South Park and the American Experience\u2019<\/a> yesterday afternoon. To illustrate the show\u2019s makers\u2019 understanding of American society, Dunphy uses the episode<\/a> that aired one day after the presidential elections of 2008. The entire episode is about Obama\u2019s victory and people cheering on the streets like the way it really happened in November 2008. \u201cThe makers just knew Obama would be elected, there was no plan B episode if McCain had won the presidential elections.\u201d <\/p>\n

At the end of the episode Stan\u2019s father Randy, who was crazy about the victory at first, wakes up without a job, poor and totally disappointed with Obama\u2019s promises of change. That\u2019s exactly what we saw during the president\u2019s term, people getting crazy about the promise of change and hope, but ending up disappointed after a few years. Dunphy: \u201cThe episode predicted that already on the first day after the elections.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cEqual opportunity offenders\u201d<\/p>\n

What about the American Experience? In what way does South Park contribute to American Society? According to Dunphy, the show is part of the Fifth Estate<\/a>. Bloggers, satirists and comedians are taking over the traditional role of the media, while confidence in and reliability of media channels is declining. \u201cSouth Park\u2019s makers are sometimes called \u2018equal opportunity offenders\u2019. They ridicule and offend everyone, from every ideological corner\u201d, says Dunphy. More importantly, the show is all about controversy. It shows us a mirror of society and our daily behavior in society and does that from every point of view. \u201cSouth Park is more accurate than CNN, it is more accurate than any news channel.\u201d <\/p>\n

Did you miss yesterday\u2019s lecture? Here<\/a> you can watch a similar one. TF<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t

\n\t\t
\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t
\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Latest news<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t