South Park and S***

I was intrigued to watch the first episode of South Park's fifth season by this video discussing language and censorship in the TV show.


I don't usually watch South Park, but I've seen a few episodes and I think it's an alright show. I was interested in some of the points made in the above video regarding the evolution of content on the show. The video highlights the show's progression to more and more vulgar content over time, as social taboos lessened over time. The trend of greater social acceptance of vulgarity has over time been pushed along by shows like South Park, which stretch boundaries and cross the occasional line.

One important note which can be taken from the video by consumers is that the FCC cannot regulate subscription based content. Content is instead regulated by the networks airing shows themselves in order to be more appealing to advertisers, because traditionally, advertisers favor family-friendly content.

Season five, episode one, "It Hits the Fan," surrounds the controversy over the word "shit" being used for the first time in a television show (within the South Park Universe). A ticker appears at the first utterance of the word and the episode concludes having tallied a total number of 162 uncensored usages of the word or a variation of it. The conclusion at which the characters arrive is that the word loses its taboo nature when it is used excessively.

The application is obvious, many of us have been desensitized to some curse words, so perhaps to some, censorship has positive benefits. In the end, however, it isn't objectively bad to curse, even though it may be taboo to curse in excess. Censorship, as stated in the video, can't protect us from curse words, only sensitize or desensitize us.