TV Show Posters

Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny on South Park Posters

Since its premiere in 1997, South Park has cracked up audiences everywhere. The show follows the adventures of four grade school boys (Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Kenny) who live in the small town of South Park, Colorado. Controversial subjects continue to shock those not used to the show. As the show’s popularity continues to grow, famous lines

like Cartman’s “Respect my authority” and “Drugs are bad…mmm kay?” by Mr. Mackey have been featured on all kinds of merchandise. For example, South Park posters depict catchphrases and characters recognizable to any fan of animation.

The creators
The Emmy winning, animated television series was created and written by Matt Stone and Trey Parker, originally students from California. Comedy Central saw the potential of the animations and signed with them to create the show in 1997. For the pilot episode, the creators used construction paper cut-outs to animate their characters. Every episode has since been produced by computer animation. Parker and Stone write, direct, and edit every episode of the show as well as be the voices for most of the series' male characters.

The boys
The main characters of the show are four elementary school students. Stan is generally good natured, clear-thinking, and sometimes over-sensitive. He is best friends with Kyle, an easy-going, intelligent and short-tempered boy who hates when Cartman ridicules his faith and insults his mother. Cartman plays a pivotal role in the show (the equivalent of Homer’s role in The Simpsons [link to poster page]) as an abusive, violent, greedy, sexist, and racist kid who regularly mocks his friends. Finally, Kenny is the poor kid from school whose family is the poorest in the town. Although we rarely understand what he is saying because his hood is on so tight, Kenny is the wisest of the four boys who always understand what he is saying. When sensitive issues arise or crises occur, the adults of South Park are usually the ones who over react while the children remain calm and usually play a crucial role in saving the day.

Continued controversy
South Park ridicules many aspects of American culture and current events. It challenges religious, scientific, and political convictions and taboos, usually by employing parody. Its use of vulgarity and its parody of many subjects have made it incredibly popular. Because people keep talking about it, whether to praise the hilarious comedy or criticize its controversial subject matter, the show continuously gets publicity. South Park features topics like religion, global warming, gay rights, child abuse, racism, sexism and countless others. Because it is an animated show airing on the Comedy Network, South Park can expose the controversial subjects that non-animated shows cannot. The show’s content is intended for a mature audience and must be edited when it airs on local channels.

In 2005, Comedy Central struck a deal with Parker and Stone to create three more seasons of the show. With its continued success, South Park has created memorabilia that symbolizes pure comedy. Its goal is to expose subjects in a funny way to make people talk about them. South Park posters and other memorabilia like it are intended to make us laugh and keep us grounded…mmm kay?

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