FT TOP 100 FILMS
19: SOUTH PARK: BIGGER, LONGER AND UNCUT
Anthony Easton says:
Everyone liked this, they liked the crudity and mistook it for sharpness; they liked the absurdity and mistook it for political acumen, they liked the casual inclusion of real life characters. And they liked the music. The music was good–clever, easy to hum, workable pastiches of common pop forms. The politics were a little more suspect. Calling your enemy a fag is pretty playground, and thats what they do with Sadaam, nothing more sophisticated then saying something like “your mother sucks cocks in hell”.
As for the aggression without much warrant, the sadism and the connection of patriotism, we are seeing that in spades, it might be prescient if it wasn’t for the history of America. Even the idea of Canada as a socially progressive antidote to the sabre rattling of Old Glory has been known and done to death, but nothing is new, and having things done again isn’t always a bad thing. The problem with noticing it is that it has the subtlety of a meat cleaver on a side of beef. Maybe thats the only way that we learn these days.
Pete Baran says
I liked this, I liked the crudity which masked the sharpness; I liked the absurdity which complimented the political acumen, I liked the casual inclusion of real life characters. And I liked the music. The music was good, clever, one of the best pop musical scores of recent years. The politics were even more interesting. Calling your enemy a fag is pretty playground, which is pretty much what Bush’s war on Iraq has been. Remember this film predates Gulf War II by three years. Bush’s war has certainly not been any more sophisticated then saying something like “your mother sucks cocks in hell”.