After 27 seasons, South Park creator Trey Parker and Matt Stone are calling for change, and in a new interview, the duo claims they’re shifting their focus away from popular targets like Donald Trump.
Change the formula?
Since the 20th season, Garrison’s character has primarily served as a stand-in for Donald Trump — to some, a fitting parody of the former president, especially considering he’s running for president — but the pair have signaled they’re ready to move on from lampooning the Republican candidate.
“We’ve tried to do South Park through four or five presidential elections, and it’s really hard, and it’s mind-boggling,” Stone said in a recent interview. Vanity Fair“Of course it’s important, but it’s taken over everything and we’re not having fun,” Parker added. “I don’t know what else to say about Trump.”
Double standards?
While the Trump/Garrison character has given creators plenty of ammunition, there has been a notable absence: President Biden, although in the past they have made brief mentions of the sitting president in one-off episodes.
Examples of this can be seen in episodes like “Mystery of the Urinal Deuce” in 2006 and “About Last Night” in 2008, both of which criticize candidates and sitting presidents, although current President Biden has been conspicuously absent for the past four years.
The pair say the decision reflects a broader trend in creators’ recent endeavors — one example being the acquisition of Casa Bonita, which has played a role in several episodes over the years — but is that really the case?
Apologies to Al Gore
Some viewers can’t help but notice significant shifts in tone over the years. One clear example is the change in how former Vice President A.I. Gore is treated. In the 2006 episode “ManBearPig,” the show used a character named ManBearPig to mock the former vice president’s climate hysteria.
A few years later, in season 22, the two I’m sorry By playing the former Vice President in “Time to Eat Cereal,” it was revealed that ManBearPig is a real person. NBC and Vox Attacked The episode attracted attention because it apparently altered the story, made ten years prior to its broadcast, to show that ManBearPig actually existed and had brutally defeated Lucifer in a street fight.
Though many didn’t realize it, this may have been the start of a new trend for the two of them.
Will this change last?
As mentioned above, President Joe Biden was conspicuously absent from the show, a stark contrast to the show’s history of mocking sitting presidents since Bill Clinton. X fans and viewers have not missed the memo and are taking notice.
Others on the X thread, such as a user named Cursed World, have pointed out that the pair refrain from mocking leftists, though some might argue otherwise. Disney’s Star Wars Some see them as an easy target for the two of them.
This was also pointed out by another user, MoonMilk64, who in the comments mentioned Trey and Parker’s strategic mockery of who they avoided.
Finally, another user pointed out this change in tone compared to previous seasons of the show, with user Quimn3719331 commenting that the pair wouldn’t touch on obvious targets like President Biden or Vice President Kamala Harris, but also noted that the pair may not have known how to make Garrison a stand-in for Trump again.
Either way, fans seem to be divided on the issue.
It’s not easy to continue for nearly 30 years. The SimpsonsIn 2013, the quality of the programming, or lack thereof, was a major pain point for viewers. Since moving from episodic storytelling to the current long-form format, programming has changed.
Either way, it’s up to Trey and Parker to keep this long-running series on track without losing momentum.
