South Park

South Park

Episode 8: Damien

Episode 9: Starvin' Marvin

By: Carlos Uribe

South Park is a cartoon that follows the adventures of four children. It has aired since 1997 on Comedy Central.

Spoilers Ahoy!

The episode “Damien” is sure to be one that upset a lot of religious people. It's an episode that seems to be poking fun at Christianity and the entire idea of the antichrist. It portrays a Jesus who has to fight the Devil in a boxing competition and has the Devil completely being more muscular. The series largely hints that the devil is much stronger than the son of God and that he could have easily won the final fight between good and evil. The only reason that Jesus seems to win is because the Devil throws the fight. He's the only one to bet on Jesus and he manages to get wealthy by losing. It's a trick that the Devil would pull but it has the series suggesting that the Devil is actually stronger than Jesus and that the only reason he loses is because he's tricky. It is an episode that probably had a lot of controversy for that reason. It is true that the episode does poke fun at the battle of good and evil, but it also makes fun of Christians who abandon their faith too easily. The townsfolk easily turned away from Jesus and bet against him, even as times got hard. The episode is in a way defending Jesus by admonishing those who frankly are too quick to abandon God because of tough times. It's not a perfect episode as it seems to be for Jesus and against him at the same time.

This episode isn't just making fun of the antichrist but also of the environment that he's around. There's also a whole plot about whole the South Park children bully Damien. They justify their cruelty because they think that Damien is weird. It isn't until Damien picks on Pip that they seem to accept him. This is a comment on just how mean children can be with each other. The episode also features Cartman's birthday party, which is very extravagant and fun. Cartman tries to control the birthday presents but when Stan gets him a game, he throws a tantrum and shuts down the party. Cartman is a very spoiled child and this episode is just another one that shows the value of being able to say “no” to your own child. This is an episode that managed to make fun of and defend religion at the same time while presenting the cruelty of children and exploiting Cartman's spoiled nature for laughs. It's an episode that did offend me a little bit, but it's also an episode that I was able to enjoy. This means that “Damien” is sort of a mixed bag for me. On one hand, it's not an episode I would recommend. On the other hand, it did make me laugh a lot.

It is probably a good thing that the next episode I'' review doesn't leave such contradicting feelings in me. “Starvin' Marvin” is an episode that is pretty funny and once again has Cartman's spoiled nature be important to the episode. When our main characters are watching Terrence and Phillip, one of those depressing starving children commercials come up. The characters are shown to be indifferent until they are promised a sports watch. They instantly decide to adopt a child and get a watch. They get an African child instead of the watch in a huge switch-a-roo. The starving African child, named Marvin, gets to see American extravagance and even seems to be taken into American society before his eventual return to Africa. He does take a whole bunch of genetically engineered turkeys to feed his family. He also ensures that Cartman gains an understanding of poverty after sending him to Ethopia to experience starving first-hand.

It's an episode that largely mocks our consumer nation while people are starving in Africa. The problem with this episode is that it felt like it was too busy. It felt the need to send Cartman to Africa, only to discover a fat Sally Struthers is hoarding food from the Africans. This entire sequence was funny and necessary to make it's point-but the problem was what was happening back at home. There was also a whole sub-plot about Thanksgiving and genetically engineered turkeys. While this sub-plot would eventually provide a happy conclusion to the episode, it felt like it was distracting from the main plot. It simply didn't add much to the episode and it really wasn't that funny. This episode had a strong main plot but the sub-plot dragged it down.