Reasons South Park Is More Relevant Than The Simpsons
- 1124 VOTES
South Park Is, By Design, More Adept At Responding To The Speed Of Information
Photo: Comedy CentralHere's the deal: it takes months to produce episodes of The Simpsons, which are created on a traditional TV schedule - the writer's room meets to break story, episodes are drafted, re-written, then submitted for table reads. Actors record their dialogue, the dialogue is matched to a storyboard created in LA, then everything is shipped to South Korea, where an animation studio called Akom, based in Seoul, draws the episode. The animation comes back to LA for editing. Multiple episodes are in production simultaneously at any given point during this process.
South Park is a far less traditional show, for several reasons, and its atypical production schedule allows its creators to keep pace with the news cycle. Parker and Stone can pump out an episode in six days, in part because they write as they go, rather than writing every episode at once. And, because the animation is much cruder than that of The Simpsons, and easy to do very quickly on computers, episodes can be churned out quickly.
Take, for example, when Barack Obama was elected in 2008. South Park used pieces of his victory speech in an episode aired just 24 hours later.
- 2112 VOTES
It's Still The Matt And Trey Show
Photo: Universal PicturesTrey Parker and Matt Stone still write, produce, direct, and voice every episode of South Park. The Simpsons has had more than 100 different writers, several producers, and a team of voice actors throughout the years (although it maintains a creative brain trust headed by James L Brooks and Matt Groening, who have been with the show since its inception). One of the reasons why South Park has been so consistently relevant and entertaining is the quality of writing.
Parker and Stone know their characters in and out, and understand the tone of the show (since, duh, they created it). They also understand what makes the show so successful. Their hands on involvement in every single episodes helps maintain a consistency unlike that of any comedy other than Always Sunny.
- 392 VOTES
The Creators Keep South Park Fresh
Photo: Comedy CentralOne of the knocks on The Simpsons, especially in the 2010s, is that the show has become stale. That's probably to be expected on a program in its fourth decade on the air. Parker and Stone have done a nice job with keeping South Park fresh, despite the show being only eight years younger than The Simpsons.
In part, Parker and Stone have kept South Park fresh by being unexpected. After years of the show existing outside all bounds of temporal law, an entire season was created in continuity, as one giant story. That season, 18, opened a new avenue of narrative options for show. For example, Randy Marsh being Lorde became a plot point that ran through several episodes. Radicalizing your show's narrative framework 18 seasons in is a bold move, and it worked in spades.
Matt Stone talked about wanting to break away from the traditional sitcom format and make the show more serialized:
"One thing we talked about a lot with this episode was that South Park basically is a movie structure in some ways, but it's very sitcom in other ways where we don't serialize things. It's just the end of this show, then everything goes back to normal; we start next week. And that's the whole thing - this is just the same sh*t over and over ... the form of the show, being one where everything's going to be okay in the end and it's going to reset, it's sort of like an immature view of the world, and I think that's why some of these cool new shows that are serialized, why it's been so popular lately is because it's a really cool form to just say well the world doesn't work that way."
- 4100 VOTES
South Park Is Much More Vicious
Photo: Comedy CentralThe Simpsons certainly has its share of pop cultural and public figure satire, but the humor is typically absurd, bizarre, or gently mocking. South Park, on the other hand, gets downright nasty. If you prefer your humor as bleak, nihilistic, and relentless, and have no time for The Simpsons' flirtations with dadaism and psychedelia, South Park is most definitely the show for you.
The Simpsons often centers its narratives around characters and their relationships to one another. Homer Simpson may be a buffoon, but he is a loving father and husband, who would do anything for his family. You won't find any such tenderness or sweetness on South Park.
Parker and Stone like to aim for the jugular. No celebrity is safe from South Park satire, even ones that are generally well-liked by the public, such as Katie Couric. In South Park measurements, two and half pounds of human feces is one Couric, making it the official unit of measurement for poop on the show.
- 579 VOTES
South Park Isn't Beholden To Appealing To A Wide Range Of Potential Viewers
Photo: Comedy CentralThe Simpsons is a very broad show that appeals to everyone from young children to their grandparents. It traffics in a number of layers and types of humor and, through the characters, offers storylines to play across generations. Some episodes of the show are so dense with layers of humor you have to watch them more than once to pick up on everything, and may of the crudest jokes are buried in layers of puns or complex visual language.
South Park, on the other hand, is beholden to no one. The show can be as brutal and relentless in its satire as it desires, with no worry of appealing to old people or offending children. In fact, South Park was specifically designed to spit in the mouth of what you might call "good taste." Because of this, South Park can address social, cultural, and political issues in direct, aggressive, offensive ways that allows it to stay more tightly tied to the daily news cycle than The Simpsons.
- 6100 VOTES
South Park Mocks The Believer Not The Belief
Photo: Comedy CentralThe Simpsons gears itself towards the leftist crowd; it is a show created by intellectual liberals, and while it has an undercurrent of nihilism that nicely undermines what might otherwise being the rank mediocrity of neoliberalism, it most certainly comes from a distinct political position.
The creators of South Park have made a point of avoiding political labels; they hate everyone equally. Trey Parker explained, "We find just as many things to rip on the left as we do on the right. People on the far-left and the far-right are the same exact person to us."
South Park's goal is not to mock beliefs but the believers, people who think their way is the only way to see the world. The show remains relevant because it doesn't adhere to a political agenda. For example, Barbra Streisand was ridiculed during an episode of South Park in which the kids have to confront the singer's ego before she turns into a monster and tries to conquer the world.
Parker and Stone went after Streisand because she said in the press that she would stop using her vacation home in Colorado if the state passed anti-gay legislation. The creators wanted to assert their belief that no one really cares what Streisand thinks, and the people of Colorado do not care if she visits their state or not.
Stone and Parker are advocates for gay rights. Though typically mum on their political beliefs, Stone told the Guardian:
“We’re from Colorado, and look at the way Colorado’s gone politically in the last few elections, it’s now gay-friendly, weed-friendly, gun-friendly. There’s an element of Colorado that I think is in us.”
Even though they agree with Streisand on this particular political issue, Stone and Parker choose to mock celebrities who think their beliefs are more important than anyone else, or that their declarations carrying any meaning the political process.
- 773 VOTES
South Park Gets Away With A Lot More, Thanks To Its Home On Cable
Photo: Comedy CentralThe Simpsons has a nice home at a major network, Fox. South Park is on a cable channel, Comedy Central. Because of this, South Park maintains its outsider status, away from the status quo, where writers don't have to cater to network guidelines and rules.
South Park can be dirty, crude, and disgusting, and get away with it all. The only people the show has to answer to are the bosses at Comedy Central, and so long as the ratings and positive reviews keep coming in, that relationship is solid. The Christian right, for instance, was pretty upset when a South Park episode featured a Virgin Mary statue that could fart blood on people. But there's nothing anyone can do it about it, other than write an angry letter to Comedy Central. Chances are The Simpsons never would've gotten such a gag on the air.
- 884 VOTES
South Park Aims To Offend Everyone And Everything
Photo: Comedy CentralPart of South Park 's charm is Parker and Stone's gleeful willingness to offend everyone. In 2011, Jesse Curtis Morton, who adopted the name Younus Adbullah Mohammad, was charged with making threats against the show's creators. That same year, Zachery Adam Chesser was sentenced to 25 years in prison for his online comments following a South Park episode that featured Muhammad in a bear suit. Morton is the founder of Revolution Muslim, a radical website; Chesser helped him run it.
Morton and Chesser targeted the show for blaspheming against Islam by depicting the Prophet in human form. They probably shouldn't have taken the insult so personally. South Park makes fun of everyone and everything.
Here's a very shortlist of South Park targets, as compiled by Entertainment Weekly: Muslim extremists, Catholics, Evangelical Christians, Scientology, rednecks, the elderly, Goths, Gingers, homosexuals, the impoverished, the police, Canada, Mel Gibson, Democrats, Republicans, President Obama, President Bush, Osama bin Laden, the Pope, Asians, Paris Hilton, Barbra Streisand, High School Musical, Santa Claus, Apple, and, Family Guy.
The Simpsons doesn't pack the same culturally relevant punch as South Park because a lot of its satire is allegorical or abstract.
- 962 VOTES
South Park Uses The Medium Of TV To Expand Upon The Show's Satirical Premise
Photo: Comedy CentralIf a show is going to mock everything and everyone, it should troll its own fans. Parker and Stone pulled a legendary April Fool's prank on their fans during Season 2's premiere episode, "Terrance and Phillip in Not Without My Anus Not Without My Anus." The previous season ended with a "Who Shot J.R.?"-sized cliff hanger that left everyone wondering who Eric Cartman's father was.
Instead of opening up Season 2 with the answer to the cliff hanger, Parker and Stone took the opportunity to prank their following by airing a Terrance & Phillip cartoon. Much to the creator's surprise, fans were upset.
"[W]e thought no one was going to care who this little cartoon character’s dad is…we thought people would think it was so funny which was our final realization that…we’re wrong about what people like and what people don’t.”
The Simpsons by and large does not use the medium and format of television to expand upon its message, sticking instead to tried and tested tools of narrative, character, and the medium of animation.
- 1052 VOTES
Parker And Stone Are One Step Away From An Egot
Photo: Eugene O’Neill TheaterAchieving EGOT status means winning an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony. South Park masterminds Trey Parker and Matt Stone are only one major award away from an EGOT, a feat achieved by only 18 people (of which only 12 won in competitive categories, with no honorary awards). The dynamic duo has won four Emmys, a Grammy for Best Musical Show Album for Book of Mormon, and a Tony for Book of Mormon. All they need is an Oscar.
To be fair, James L. Brooks, who was instrumental in the development of The Simpsons, has POE stats - Peaboy, Oscar, Emmy. Conan O'Brien was a writer and producer for the show from 1991 to 1993, and Brad Bird, director of The Incredibles, The Iron Giant, and Ratatouille, was a director and producer on the show, and helped develop it. But all those people have moved on to other things, while Parker and Stone have stayed put on South Park.
- 1182 VOTES
South Park Has Classic Episodes In Every Season; The Simpsons Hasn't Produced A Classic In Years
Photo: Comedy CentralThe Simpsons finished its 28th season in 2017. South Park premiered its 21st season in the same year. Both are obviously incredible accomplishments, especially considering all of the viewing options available with the advent of streaming. If there was a debate regarding which animated program was originally better, The Simpsons may win, depending on one's preference.
But when was the last time The Simpsons put out a classic episode? South Park, on the other hand, seems to have classic episodes ine very single season.
