The Shock-Power Arts

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that, while "South Park" and Marilyn Manson are enjoyed by a largely overlapping population, these satirists use completely different methods: Manson works primarily in music and lyrics; "South Park" is based on animation and dialogue. The author points out that Marilyn Manson and "South Park" use their true artistry intelligence to communicate their social commentary following in the footsteps of past rebel-artists, such as Mozart, Nietzsche, and Orwell's "1984", all of whom were considered shocking in their day. The paper states that absurdity and profanity are literary techniques, which are used by the most educated of satirists; children in school read books, such as Toni Morrison's "Song of Solomon!" with its necrophiliac incest and urine fetishes and Homer's "Odysseus" with its mass murder, which are no less sources of immoral values than "South Park" is.

From the Paper:

"Another media feeding-frenzy surrounds the ever-controversial cartoon "South Park". The same critiques that are applied to daytime talk show garbage is applied to this satirical comedy: "The very same stereotypes that have plagued both women and men for centuries are in full force...The profanity was so bad that many of the words had to be deleted." Yet the ever-complaining "family" organizations that knock "South Park" down to the level of Jerry Springer sewage programming have missed the point, and therefore validated it. "South Park" is satire, and largely misunderstood, just like Marilyn Manson. When the foul-mouthed cartoon children of South Park fling doo-doo, take drugs, kick the baby, or kill their best friend Kenny, it's not being serious."

More papers on The Shock-Power Arts:

• Essay # 39981 : "The Shock of the War"
• Book Review # 109494 : "The Shock Doctrine"
• Analytical Essay # 132813 : "The Censorship of "The Higher Power of Lucky"

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