South Park Economy 101

I was working late on jCompare a few nights ago and had Comedy Central on in the background. I usually just leave the TV on while I work for the sake of comfort; I guess the sounds of other voices in the background (aside from the ones in my head) make me feel like I’m not alone in the world at 3am when all the Tweets and Facebook Statuses have gone silent. I don’t pay much attention to the sounds, but this particular night the familiar sound of South Park drew my attention. It was an episode titled “Margaritaville”, and it was freakin’ AWESOME. If you haven’t seen it, stop reading this right NOW and go to this link here . Seriously if you don’t I will never talk to you again, your children will resent you and your boss will never stop hating you.

Ok, fine you don’t HAVE to click on the link, I guess I can just walk you through it being that you’re already here, right? Ok get ready…

The episode beings with Randy taking his son Stan to the bank to open up his first savings account in hopes of teaching him about financial responsibility. As soon as Stan opens his account he loses his money. Others follow and also lose their money immediately after visiting the bank. As you can imagine, with no money people can’t spend and soon all of the residents of South Park have lots their jobs.

Randy steps up and blames the hard economic times on frivolous spending on useless material goods (that he himself owns) and that said irresponsibility has “angered the economy”. Randy turns his economic views into what closely resembles a religious movement and demands that everyone stop spending as to not anger the economy.

A parallel story runs throughout the episode as Stan attempts to return a Margarita mixer that his dad (Randy) bought out of carelessness during better economic times. Stan is bounced around from the small business where the mixer was first purchased all the way up to U.S. Treasury progressively being educated on the macro-economic principles that led to the economic distress.

Cartman, as always, maliciously uses the opportunity to blame the hardship on “the jews”. Cartman’s mischievous efforts and Randy’s overzealous fiscal policies are soon undermined by Kyle (the jewish character) as he preaches economic disciplines and doctrines a-la-Jesus. Cartman pulls a Judas and betrays Kyle in exchange for Grand Theft Auto IV: Chinatown Wars. Before much can be done to silence Kyle, he sacrifices his financial future for the sake of the economic well-being of South Park (hint of Jesus?)

Wow, that was long! You know I did that in just one breath? Yeah, seriously, no kidding.

So what makes this episode “freakin’ AWSOME” ? Well pull up a chair, and if you’re already sitting then stand up! Not only was the episode funny, but it also solidified the trend that I’ve been noticing in episodes for a few seasons now – they have a freakin’ point! Trey Parker and Matt Stone have really stepped it up the past few years and have been producing funny programming that also touches on socially relevant topics. Unlike other shows *cough – family guy* , that give you a laugh or two but are completely irrelevant and dated (God I hate those flashbacks),  South Park has managed to stay funny and utilize the punch-lines to drive important social and educational messages home.

Now, if you agree with their views or not is another thing for another blog post, but at the end of the day at least they’re trying to parlay the strength of their viewership to do something positive.

Your move Seth MacFarlane, your move *squints*