South Park: An Old Wound Revisited

I like South Park. Well, sometimes. Sort of. It has been capable of making good jokes here and there. I won't deny that it has its moments where it can shine. I have various qualms with the show, but my concern on this blog is primarily with storytelling, and South Park, whatever it's faults may be, usually has a pretty solid storytelling style. So my only real complaint is a very old one, but one that I'd say probably still effects the show to some degree. That's right. Cartmen's dad.

I know. I know. This is old. It's been done to death. But in the end, the issue was never really resolved. One of Cartman's parents is still, to this day, unknown. And that's fine, or would be fine. If such as big deal had never been made.

For those who don't remember, or weren't there, the first season of South Park ended with Cartman trying to figure out who his father was. We didn't learn, and the episode ended on a cliffhanger promising to answer the question next time. As an April Fool's joke, the returning episode began as it should, and then was "interrupted" by a special presentation of Terrance and Philip, and the rest of the show was theirs. People's reactions were pretty overblown, and Comedy Central was flooded with angry e-mails and even, apparently, phone messages. It's pretty ridiculous that people would get this angry over a cartoon. Similarly, people have praised Matt Parker and Trey Stone for being willing to do their own thing rather then simply bowing to audience demand. And while taking a stance regardless of what your audience might think can be commendable, it isn't always a good thing. And in the end, you have to respect your audience, because if you don't, you are a douchebag.

Let me repeat that. If you don't respect your audience, you. Are. A douche. Bag.

No matter how cool, indy, or anything else along those lines you think you might be for disrespecting your audience, in reality you are nothing but a douchebag. And the reason is not because going out on a limb shows some sort of daring-do, some sort of willingness to go places that might not be comfortable to some people. The reason you do it is because, when you raise these sorts of questions and then leave them unanswered, your audience loses the ability to care when other questions are raised. If your audience feels that can't trust you, then they will fail to have their interest perked when other major events occur. What if the Simpsons had never resolved who shot Mr. Burns? Even long-time fans would be annoyed and have trouble coming back to the show after that. It's nice that they wanted to have a little fun and mess with peoples head, but the novelty of the joke is completely lost in reruns and on DVD collections because people who weren't there at the time won't even understand the point. And the fact that they simply dodge around the point rather then ever resolving the issue just makes it all that much more annoying.

I feel silly beating this dead horse. South Park has managed to do things right enough times to warrant a degree of forgiveness, and bringing up this old issue by now is unnecessary. But the point goes for more than just this one show. You can't disrespect your audience.