Drawn to Television_ Prime Time Animatio M. Keith Booker

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nent in numerous episodes, though her most important appearance in the
show is in the notorious two-part sequence “Cartman’s Mom Is a Dirty
Slut” (February 25, 1998) and “Cartman’s Mom Is Still a Dirty Slut” (April 22,
1998). These episodes address the fact that Cartman’s father is nowhere
to be seen, initially suggesting that even Liane has no idea who Cartman’s
father actually is. In the first of these episodes, Cartman (surrounded by
a culture that glorifies the importance of fathers) begins to show signs
of serious psychological damage due to his lack of a father. He asks his
mother about his father, whom she claims is a Native American man, Chief
Running Water, whom she met at a “drunken barn dance” years earlier.
Unfortunately, she herself was so drunk at the dance that she remembers
very little about the encounter. Cartman goes to the reservation to seek out
his putative father, who assures him that his mom is a slut, but that he,
Running Water, did not have sex with her at the party, though a young Chef,
just arrived in town, did.
Cartman then tries to turn African American to get in touch with his
newly discovered roots, until Chef also assures him that he is not his father.
Eventually, it turns out that Liane had sex with virtually every young man at
the dance, including most of the men who now feature as characters in the
show (even Mr. Garrison and possibly even Jesus), as well as the entire 1989
Denver Broncos football team. Dr. Mephesto runs a DNA test to determine
You Can’t Do That on Television: The Animated Satire of South Park
135
the identity of Cartman’s father and is about to announce the results when
the episode comes to a sudden halt, while a voiceover announcer assures
viewers that the identity of Cartman’s father will be identified in the next
episode of South Park in only four weeks time.
This parody of the season-ending cliffhanger then got an additional
twist when the next episode aired five weeks later—on April 1. As an April
Fool’s Day joke, which was not appreciated by viewers, many of whom
were enraged at the prank, this episode did not identify Cartman’s father
at all, but was instead devoted entirely to a special episode of The Terrance
and Phillip Show (entitled “Terrance and Phillip in Not Without My Anus”),
featuring a pair of flatulent Canadian comedians much admired by Stan,
Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny. The angry viewer response to this episode
caused Comedy Central to move up the scheduled date for the showing of
the actual follow-up episode, which finally solved the mystery of Cartman’s
paternity—though still in a way that was largely a joke on the viewers who
were so anxious for this information. With all of the candidates lined up in
a single room, Dr. Mephesto prepares to makes his long-awaited announce-
ment, but is then shot down by a mysterious assailant. Chef and the boys
manage to drive Mephesto to the hospital on treacherous mountain roads
in a heavy snowstorm. As Mephesto lies in a coma, various subplots unfold,
including Liane Cartman’s efforts to sleep with enough politicians (up to
and including President Bill Clinton) to get the abortion laws changed to
allow her to have her son Eric aborted, even though he is already eight
years old. She succeeds in getting Clinton’s support, only to learn that she
had misinterpreted the word abortion: She actually wanted to have the boy
adopted—so that he could have a father at last. In the end, however, she
decides to keep Eric with her. Finally, Mephesto recovers, only to announce
that Liane is Eric’s father: She is a hermaphrodite who impregnated another
woman at the barn dance. Unfortunately, this now leaves open the question
of the identity of Cartman’s mother, but by this time the boy gives up in
frustration and decides to leave this question unanswered.
In addition to the various residents of South Park, numerous celebrities
also pass through the town from time to time, usually becoming the targets
of outrageous satire, typically aimed at what Parker and Stone obviously
see as the pretentiousness and self-importance of such figures. Liberal
show-business personalities are often skewered for their political activism,
as when Rob Reiner’s antismoking activism comes under fire in “Butt Out”
(December 3, 2003). Other celebrities, however, get skewered on general
principles, perhaps more as a comment on the American cult of celeb-
rity than on the celebrities themselves. Thus, Barbra Streisand, another
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Drawn to Television
noted liberal celebrity, is transformed into a giant, Godzilla-like monster
in “Mecha-Streisand” (February 18, 1998), though this development would
appear to be more a comment on Streisand’s own sense of herself as a huge
star than on her liberalism. Meanwhile, Robert Redford and his Sundance
Film Festival are lampooned in “Chef’s Salty Chocolate Balls” (August 19,
1998), in which the festival is moved to South Park, nearly leading to the
destruction of the town. This episode comments specifically on the com-
mercialization of the Sundance Festival, but also skewers independent films
in general, characterized here, years before Brokeback Mountain, as being
mostly about “gay cowboys eating pudding.” The comic highlight of the
episode, however, is Chef’s endeavor that gives the episode its title: Trying
to cash in on the festival, he invents a new confection, then hawks it by
singing a song that invites customers to suck on his salty chocolate balls. All
ends well, though, as Mr. Hankey, who nearly dies from festival-related pol-
lution in the town’s sewers, but is invigorated by sucking on one of Chef’s [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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