Opinion Forum

South Park and J.C.

May 16th, 2010

South Park the cartoon series has become a national treasure of sorts. Like The Simpsons and King Of The Hill series, South Park mimics and pokes fun at everyday life in America. I watch all three shows whenever possible. To me, they are strictly humor derived from the black mood that has enveloped our country during the last quarter century. All three are good relief valves for the otherwise high-anxiety environment that we live in.

South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone recently created a national and international incident when they wrote a segment that depicted a cartoon figure of Mohammed, the prophet of Islam. Some rumors link this almost-episode to the attempted Times Square bombing. Having suffered the consequences of their Islam efforts, the two writers have turned to Christianity as their focal point of cartoon humor. Still in the early stages, the new character is called J.C. Just how he will become part of the South Park group is unclear.

Will J.C. be accepted as a cartoon character in a nation that is presently attempting to drive Christianity from its conscience wherever possible? Coincidence is a great thing sometimes. As South Park prepares to meet J.C., Nancy Pelosi and John Kerry are urging pastors to preach to their congregations espousing the Democrats liberal immigration stance. So maybe if J.C. makes it to South Park he can move on down to Arizona and straighten those folks out.

The risk of depicting Jesus Christ as a cartoon character may well lead to Him becoming a household word, so to speak. Will the presence of the cartoon character encourage curiosity in a segment of our population that has been schooled to believe that God is dead and Christians practice a form of witchcraft?

The mention of God, Jesus, or Christians is likely to get any writing attempt thrown in the trash. In this case I feel the irony of the South Park Mohammed fiasco, Times Square bomber, and the Nancy Pelosi altar call are just to obvious to ignore. Lessons to be learned ? Absolutely! The first lesson is don’t mess with Islam unless you want to die. Contrary to what some believe, it’s okay to poke a little fun at J.C. now and then without threat of imminent revenge. It’s true that J.C. is very easy-going, but as will be brought out during his South Park gig, his daddy ain’t nobody to mess around with.

Articles written by Larry Ennis
Tags: Christianity, Islam, Jesus Christ, Mohammed, religion, South Park
Categories: Arts, Life, News | Comments (4) | Home

4 Responses to “South Park and J.C.”

d | May 17th, 2010 at 9:05 am

I’m Christian,and I am not mad,or even remotely bothered,if you don’t like it,don’t watch. I don’t like South Park,because it is so nastyand crude,without any suggestive humor,but real out in the open nastyand crude,Ijust don’t watch it.. The Simpsons can be watched by kids and adults,kids never getting the subtle nasty,I like the Simpsons. I like King of the Hill,but can’t watch with kids,either,but not so painfully crude.
The Muslims need to lighten up and grow a sense of humor,I think God,everybody’s,has one,just look at the human body,and other works of nature.The stick bug,who eats the head off it’s mate while mating. The fact that wolves and geese are monogamous,but we can’t seem to master that. The duck billed plytapus. A very good sence of humor indeed. Pay attention,Islam,join our century and lighten up,everything is fair game, to be made fun of now. Your God knows you love him, and those who offend him, will suffer in the afterlife,if your beliefs are real.

Brian Bagent | May 17th, 2010 at 5:30 pm

This wouldn’t be the first time Parker and Stone have lampooned Christianity or Jesus, Moses, or God (or at least our concepts about them). I imagine it won’t be the last.

But, they lampoon everything under the sun – mostly they target lefty PCisms, but they’ve taken shots at conservatism as well (one episode was an ugly parody of Glenn Beck’s show). But they are all funny.

What follows is a list (incomplete) of things they’ve blasted: removal of Christian references (including Santa Claus) from the “winter holidays,” Barbara Streisand, alien abductees, Lord of the Rings, gays, homophobes, pedophiles, bikers, legalization of marijuana, attempts at taxing (criminalizing) fatty foods and cigarettes, Sally Struthers, Ethiopians, Osama bin Laden, George Bush, Barack Obama, crass consumerism, Luddites, Jennifer Lopez, Scientology, Mormons, Roger Ebert, sexual harassment, tree huggers, phonics, Jews, Mel Gibson, illegal immigration, Whale Wars, Lord of the Flies, hate crimes, airlines, sex education…

The show has been on air since 1998, and Parker and Stone keep coming up with fresh ideas that are funny. They aren’t going anywhere.

larry | May 18th, 2010 at 11:11 am

My thoughts on the use of the J.C. character are that Christianity has nothing to lose but may actually benefit from same.
We shall see!

d | May 18th, 2010 at 3:16 pm

If you haven’t heard of him,you may check him out?Plus,it proves that Christians have a sense of humor and can make fun of themselves and allow others to, in good humor.