South Park, "Stunning and Brave"

In this ongoing cultural meditation about political correctness that's been playing out among comedians, South Park rarely ever comes up (when it was controversial once upon a time, the outrage was more of a moralistic “think of the children” variety than about being un-P.C.). This, I think, is because the show negates the argument that any subject is off limits (at least when it comes to comedy) simply by existing, by being dirty and offensive, but also funny and sharp. I won’t go so far as to say they couldn’t make as effective a statement by addressing the subject directly, but that didn’t quite happen here.

This one sees South Park Elementary get a new principal in the form of a fanatically P.C. college jock. Cartman, of course, is thrown into detention, but so is often-hero Kyle for the crime of not really being enamored with Caitlyn Jenner, and the only person in town who isn’t fearfully gushing about her (for what it’s worth, liberal supporter of LGBT rights though I am, I was completely indifferent to all the Jenner stuff of this past summer). Eventually, the town is overrun by the same P.C. types, whose organization resembles a hard-partying frat.

That last part is one of the show’s classic reversals, imbuing the aggressively overloaded machismo and groupthink of the most stereotypical fraternity lunkheads with the very un-frat-like ideas of political correctness. But besides a funny opening—a self-aware chastising of the very un-P.C. events in some classic episode plots—these characters have nothing to do but act as exaggerated boogeymen. While I see the satirical angle of showing how obnoxious and oblivious “bros” can be, I can imagine every Internet commenter and cultural commentator who thinks “privilege” is a dirty word and rails against political correctness having all their prejudices confirmed, blind to any irony. And then, so many pop culture and news references from this summer are thrown in at the finale, but they serve no point, as if they just included because they felt like they had to have some timely stuff.

And yet, I discerned two valid points from it all. One was that political correctness and the evolution of what’s acceptable is probably inevitable. It doesn’t matter what your opinion is because the culture and conversation is bigger than just what you think. The arrival at the point was one of melancholy and reluctance, but just as different viewers will take the P.C. frat differently than I did, some watching might not think that’s a bad thing. The other point is that, frankly, if we had to be totally politically correct, there would be no Cartman. And what would South Park be without Cartman?

Cultural commentary aside, there have been many funnier episodes, but I laughed at the aforementioned opening sequence and seeing Cartman take a beating. One thing that didn’t make me laugh, though, was Matt Stone and Trey Parker’s obsessive hatred of Tom Brady, which pervaded the episode. Come on, guys! I’m not fan of his either, but the joke is getting kind of old.