Censorship is a topic I love talking about because there’s just much to tackle. Is it good, bad, silencing free speech, or protecting the vulnerable? But I honestly never expected one of the greatest analyses of the problems surrounding film censorship coming from an animated musical about a group of children stopping Saddam Hussein from ruling the world, a series of events they set in motion by sneaking into an R-rated movie and learning some swear words. Only in South Park am I right?
One quiet morning in South Park friends Kyle (Matt Stone), Kenny (Matt Stone), Stan (Trey Parker), and Eric (Trey Parker) sneak into their local cinema to watch Asses of Fire, the new hit by Canadian comedians Terrence and Phillip (Stone & Parker). Leaving the theatre with a much broader vocabulary than they had when they went in, the boys begin spreading their newfound linguistic abilities to the other kids in the town. Before long every child is swearing like a sailor, and the parents are furious.
When Kenny attempts to replicate a stunt seen in the film and dies as a result, in response Kyle's mother Sheila (Mary Kay Bergman) creates the Mothers Against Canada which swiftly infiltrates the White House and has Terence and Phillip arrested for poisoning the youth of America. Canada responds appropriately by bombing the homes of Hollywood celebrities and America declares war on Canada.
Meanwhile in Hell, Satan (Trey Parker) and Saddam Hussein (Matt Stone) become aware of the impending execution of Terrence and Phillip and plot to use their sacrifice as a way to return to Earth and enslave humanity.
One quiet morning in South Park friends Kyle (Matt Stone), Kenny (Matt Stone), Stan (Trey Parker), and Eric (Trey Parker) sneak into their local cinema to watch Asses of Fire, the new hit by Canadian comedians Terrence and Phillip (Stone & Parker). Leaving the theatre with a much broader vocabulary than they had when they went in, the boys begin spreading their newfound linguistic abilities to the other kids in the town. Before long every child is swearing like a sailor, and the parents are furious.
When Kenny attempts to replicate a stunt seen in the film and dies as a result, in response Kyle's mother Sheila (Mary Kay Bergman) creates the Mothers Against Canada which swiftly infiltrates the White House and has Terence and Phillip arrested for poisoning the youth of America. Canada responds appropriately by bombing the homes of Hollywood celebrities and America declares war on Canada.
Meanwhile in Hell, Satan (Trey Parker) and Saddam Hussein (Matt Stone) become aware of the impending execution of Terrence and Phillip and plot to use their sacrifice as a way to return to Earth and enslave humanity.
Much like the TV series, South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut works better the less you think about it. The plot moves at a mile a minute, characters make rash and peculiar choices at every turn, and the sheer level of nonsense you’ll be bombarded with can be testing. But underneath it all is a particularly clever assessment of the MPAA and the United States’ attitude towards bad language and sexual content in comparison to excessive violence.
South Park had always toed the censorship line with its excessively taboo subject matters on TV, but just to make a point Parker and Stone went for the world record for the amount of swear words in a single film and made it as ridiculously violent as they could possibly make a cartoon of South Park’s aesthetic…and surprise surprise it was the swearing that people took issue with.
Where Bigger, Longer, and Uncut could have come undone is just being a one trick pony. Whilst hearing all of the creative uses of various swear words is entertaining at first, it can wear thin pretty quick. Thankfully making the film a musical, with some pretty great songs at that, allows the formula to be enjoyable for almost the entire runtime. The last third of the film falls kind of short on musical numbers and as a result the final act is kind of weak in comparison to the extremely strong opening act.
Also, as crude as the South Park animation looks, there’s something endearing about it. It’s so simple yet so effective and every frame is packed with detail.
There’s no denying that South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut is crude and vulgar much like the TV series. But there’s also a lot of credit due in the interesting commentary the film has on the very censorship it is battling against and includes some truly fantastic musical numbers. Whilst it’s usually one of the least effective ways of seeing actual change get made, sometimes there’s just something so cathartic in sticking your middle finger up to the man and telling them to, and I quote, “fuck your uncle, uncle fucker”.
South Park had always toed the censorship line with its excessively taboo subject matters on TV, but just to make a point Parker and Stone went for the world record for the amount of swear words in a single film and made it as ridiculously violent as they could possibly make a cartoon of South Park’s aesthetic…and surprise surprise it was the swearing that people took issue with.
Where Bigger, Longer, and Uncut could have come undone is just being a one trick pony. Whilst hearing all of the creative uses of various swear words is entertaining at first, it can wear thin pretty quick. Thankfully making the film a musical, with some pretty great songs at that, allows the formula to be enjoyable for almost the entire runtime. The last third of the film falls kind of short on musical numbers and as a result the final act is kind of weak in comparison to the extremely strong opening act.
Also, as crude as the South Park animation looks, there’s something endearing about it. It’s so simple yet so effective and every frame is packed with detail.
There’s no denying that South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut is crude and vulgar much like the TV series. But there’s also a lot of credit due in the interesting commentary the film has on the very censorship it is battling against and includes some truly fantastic musical numbers. Whilst it’s usually one of the least effective ways of seeing actual change get made, sometimes there’s just something so cathartic in sticking your middle finger up to the man and telling them to, and I quote, “fuck your uncle, uncle fucker”.