Digital Journal Presents: 10 Rebels With a Cause — Creators of South Park

TREY PARKER & MATT STONE / CREATORS OF SOUTH PARK / AGES: 36 & 34

Digital Journal — They produced an animated Mohammad five years before the Danish “intoonfada.” They blasted Scientology with as much subtlety as a Florida hurricane. They portrayed a little boy jerking off a dog. When South Park airs, you never know what will spew forth from the twisted minds of creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone.

And that’s half the fun, isn’t it? Today’s prime-time cartoons can be so lame (we’re talking to you, Matt Groening) that a refreshing breath of foul air like South Park stirs more than controversy. It stirs the idea that cartoons can be platforms of social commentary like any Bill Maher comedy special.

Check out Digital Journal‘s Other Rebels: Dave Chappelle Pamela Anderson Lewis Lapham Anderson Cooper Stephen Colbert Ora Ito Anna Netrebko Johnny Depp Howard Stern Top 10 Overhyped Celebs

This isn’t just a show about eight-year-old Colorado kids discovering the adult world (“I want to be a lesbian!” Cartman once cluelessly declared). It exposes the hypocrisies of life in the U.S., attacking both left- and right-wing zealots — one episode poked fun at Rob Reiner, anti-smoking laws, hippies and tobacco lobbyists. South Park‘s credo: Make fun of everyone because everyone deserves it.

Celebrating their tenth anniversary on air and still pulling in 2.6 million viewers per show, Parker and Stone show no sign of slowing down their satirical vitriol. The first episode of the new season ripped Scientology a new one, revolving around a brainwashing cult that ultimately killed Chef (voiced by Isaac Hayes, a founding South Park actor who quit because of the show’s relentless religious attacks). Parker and Stone couldn’t care less if one of their main characters suddenly vamoosed (remember the real death of Kenny?). These rabble-rousers need actors who will stick around, no matter who’s offended — makes sense, then, that most of the characters are voiced by Parker and Stone.

Also makes sense that Sean Penn wished the two cartoonists “a sincere fuck you” after the actor saw his puppet portrayal in the film Team America: World Police, created by Stone and Parker. This deadly duo can piss off the steeliest of celebs, because they know each headline about their racy work means another few thousand viewers tuning in to see what everyone’s talking about.
PARK CENTRAL

• At the 72nd Academy Awards, Trey Parker wore a low-cut green dress popularized by Jennifer Lopez
  
• After Tom Cruise apparently convinced Comedy Central not to air a South Park rerun dissing Scientology, thousands of South Park fans boycotted Cruise’s Mission: Impossible III
  
• The book Blame Canada!: South Park and Contemporary Culture by Toni Johnson-Woods dissects how the show responds to controversies and celeb scandals

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This article is part of Digital Journal’s national magazine edition. Pick up your copy of Digital Journal in bookstores across Canada and the United States! Or subscribe to Digital Journal now, and receive 8 issues for $29.95 GST ($48.95 USD)!