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'We good now China?' South Park creators issue mock apology

theguardian.com

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Re: 'We good now China?' South Park creators issue mock apology

#21

Post by avcdsuia »

siruncledrew wrote: post #2

What’s kinda funny is how made fun of China was in past South Park episodes[0] and China didn’t care at all about the show, but last week’s episode was the one that set them off. [0] “The China Probrem”: https://images.app.goo.gl/mDqxY6pSuNHtA66M8

> how made fun of China was in past South Park episodes

Well, stereotypes of Chinese aren't eloquent enough to piss off the CCP. As a mainlander, Band in China is a spot-on satire about China under Xi's ruling (apart from the background music), and every threat to the legitimacy of the authority would be quenched while making fun of Chinese ppl is by no means harmful.

Re: 'We good now China?' South Park creators issue mock apology

#22

Post by [deleted] »

chrisweekly wrote: post #15
waterhouse wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Going off the Wikipedia plot summary of the episode, it looks like it makes fun of (a) Chinese-American people (not the Chinese government); and (b) paranoid fantasies of Westerners about China invading the U.S.; and ultimately "Cartman decides he'd rather be Chinese than "a nation of unethical dick shooters"". My model of the Chinese government at the moment is that they primarily care about opposition/disrespect/cr…

Without touching on the ethical / moral aspect of stereotyping or disrespecting large groups of people, I'm curious if "racist" is the right adjective here, vs some other term that relates more to nationality vs biological ethnicity?

[deleted]

Re: 'We good now China?' South Park creators issue mock apology

#23

Post by ghostcluster »

diveanon wrote: post #9
peteretep wrote: post #7

There was a time when the fact that they’re Americans would definitely protect their right to do stuff like this, but these days I’d worry that China will invalidate some Ivanka trademarks, and the creators will find themselves under very heavy pressure from above.

I truly doubt they would cave to any pressure at all. Those two thrive on this kind of controversy, I can basically picture them sitting back and rubbing their nipples while watching this unfold. We need more people like Trey Parker and Matt Stone who aren't afraid of starting some controversy to get a conversation started. They choose to do it through cartoons and satire, but I honestly believe they understand our s…

You have to give some credit to Viacom, the media company, for allowing the show to air. Viacom owns Comedy Central, MTV, Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks, and CBS among other media properties. They certainly have business interests in China.

Re: 'We good now China?' South Park creators issue mock apology

#24

Post by drawkbox »

siruncledrew wrote: post #2

What’s kinda funny is how made fun of China was in past South Park episodes[0] and China didn’t care at all about the show, but last week’s episode was the one that set them off. [0] “The China Probrem”: https://images.app.goo.gl/mDqxY6pSuNHtA66M8

Comedy is not dead. Comedy can change minds. Comedy is powerful and attacks the self-important and authoritarianism. Comedy can take on serious challenges in the best way.

> John Cleese in On Creativity said: "the self-important always know with some level of their consciousness that their egotism is going to be punctured by humor -- that's why they see it as a threat. And so {they} dishonestly pretend that their deficiency makes their views more substantial, when it only makes them feel bigger. {John blows "raspberries" with his tongue.} No, humor is an essential part of spontaneity, an essential part of playfulness, an essential part of the creativity that we need to solve problems, no matter how 'serious' they may be. " [1]

Not everyone is appeasing authoritarians, definitely not South Park.

China is Cartman right now "RESPECT MY AUTHORITAH!!"

[1] https://youtu.be/Pb5oIIPO62g?t=1544

Re: 'We good now China?' South Park creators issue mock apology

#25

Post by waterhouse »

chrisweekly wrote: post #15
waterhouse wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Going off the Wikipedia plot summary of the episode, it looks like it makes fun of (a) Chinese-American people (not the Chinese government); and (b) paranoid fantasies of Westerners about China invading the U.S.; and ultimately "Cartman decides he'd rather be Chinese than "a nation of unethical dick shooters"". My model of the Chinese government at the moment is that they primarily care about opposition/disrespect/cr…

Without touching on the ethical / moral aspect of stereotyping or disrespecting large groups of people, I'm curious if "racist" is the right adjective here, vs some other term that relates more to nationality vs biological ethnicity?

I think it is the right adjective for what I have in mind. Scenarios I was looking to compare include "Celebrity uses race-based insults (e.g. slurs, references to stereotypical physical attributes) against a Chinese-American, or a group of them", vs "Celebrity uses race-based insults against a Chinese person living in China, or a group of them", vs "Celebrity condemns X action by the Chinese government". Ideally, one could find incidents of each type with similarly high-profile celebrities at similarly high-profile events, and then compare the responses.

Re: 'We good now China?' South Park creators issue mock apology

#26

Post by whereistimbo »

rm_-rf_slash wrote: post #19
peteretep wrote: post #7

There was a time when the fact that they’re Americans would definitely protect their right to do stuff like this, but these days I’d worry that China will invalidate some Ivanka trademarks, and the creators will find themselves under very heavy pressure from above.

They own South Park outright because when it first aired people thought it would flop so they got 100% of the rights to the show. Hell they even had the episode where they said “shit” uncensored and kept a counter for every time they said it. If there’s any show that really can do whatever it wants, it’s South Park.

Not really, according to official south park website southpark.cc.com:

SOUTH PARK ©2019 COMEDY PARTNERS.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. COMEDY CENTRAL.

SOUTH PARK AND ALL RELATED TITLES, LOGOS AND CHARACTERS ARE TRADEMARKS OF COMEDY PARTNERS.

Re: 'We good now China?' South Park creators issue mock apology

#27

Post by coldtea »

segfaultbuserr wrote: post #6
siruncledrew wrote: post #2

What’s kinda funny is how made fun of China was in past South Park episodes[0] and China didn’t care at all about the show, but last week’s episode was the one that set them off. [0] “The China Probrem”: https://images.app.goo.gl/mDqxY6pSuNHtA66M8

It shows the current political climate is unusual.

Sometimes it just shows that something got viral where others didn't.

You could have 200 things mentioning a country or situation, and only 1 or 2 going viral and getting some kind of major response.

It's not like South Park is the only show making fun of China either -- so of 100s of shows and comedy sketches, etc, it was some part that touched a nerve or accidentally got more popular there...

Re: 'We good now China?' South Park creators issue mock apology

#28

Post by coldtea »

peteretep wrote: post #7

There was a time when the fact that they’re Americans would definitely protect their right to do stuff like this, but these days I’d worry that China will invalidate some Ivanka trademarks, and the creators will find themselves under very heavy pressure from above.

>will invalidate some Ivanka trademarks

As if several trillion business interests in the US making business with China are not enough to put pressure for this, it has to be Ivanka specifically...

(Kind of how proud Presidents in the past had put e.g. Saudi Arabia at their place, and din't "think of all the money", right?)

Re: 'We good now China?' South Park creators issue mock apology

#30

Post by eeZah7Ux »

mwyah wrote: post #16
wjoe wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The USA as the only nation in the world with true free speech protections" Is this accurate? Legally, I understand that free speech is protected in the US constitution. I'm sure it's not the only country in the world with free speech laws, but I don't know how the specifics compare. Culturally, the US seems less tolerant of free speech than plenty of other places in the world. Obviously China is orders of magnitude…

Go to Europe and say the holocaust didn't happen, see what occurs. In fact many countries in Europe have blasphemy laws and they uphold them: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/10/its-not-fr...

Freedom of speech is specifically meant to protect citizens from oppressive governments.

It is not meant to help holocaust deniers create a new oppressive government.

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