South Park

South Park

Episode 12: Mecha-Streisand

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!

Since the next episode is the season finale, I will be reviewing “Mecha-Streisand” all by itself.

This episode isn't a fan-favorite. This is because the tone of the episode is a mean one. The show has attacked celebrities before, but this is the first time where the attack actually felt personal. The writers might have gone a bit too far as it was certainly a harsh episode and it had diminishing returns with it's jokes about the celebrity. What celebrity is “Mecha-Streisand” making fun of? Babra Streisand. The writers didn't chose her out of a hat but purposefully picked on her. Why? She attacked Colorado after they passed a law that she disagreed with. It should be noted that Trey Parker and Matt Stone didn't have a problem with her having a political opinion. She got on their radar because Streisand had criticized the entire population of Colorado and had declared her intention to never visit the state. It's because she criticized the general population for their vote and lumped those who opposed the proposal together with the supporters. She had attacked their home state. It might have come as a surprise when South Park lashed out at her, especially because the series doesn't present it's writers problems with her and because the writers supported her stance on the political opinion. South Park presents an episode that attacks the career and character of Babra Streisand and while many dislike it for this reason, it's an episode that I really enjoy.

There's primarily one reason for this: all of the attacks are really an extension of the main plot. It's not like the series just pokes fun at her and does nothing else. It paints her as the villain of a terrible Japanese monster movie. In his review for the AV Club, Phil Dyess-Nugent states that the bigger fan you are of the sub-genre, then the more you'll like this episode. He ties the episode's enjoyability with how much you like those monster movies. I disagree with him. I've only seen some of the Godzilla movies and I'm not the biggest fans of cheesy monster movies. This didn't stop me from enjoying the parody. If anything, it actually managed to work in the satire's favor. It's partly because the parody of the sub-genre worked so well that this episode is a good one for me. Seeing a lot of celebrities come to the town because the boys have covered a magical triangle helped to not only establish the threat but to also increase the plot's ridiculousness. The set-up to the plot works like a charm: the boys are on a school trip to a Indian excavation siteand are made to dig for some Indian arrowheads. The set-up is hilarious and helps to set the mood for the next episode. Cartman quickly becomes the show's biggest strength in this episode and helps to establish a nice recurring running gag for the episode: the game of roshambo. The magical triangle is found and this attracts the attention of movie critic Leonard Martin and Babra Streisand.

Leonard Martin quickly enlists the help of Chef. I believe this might be the first episode that Chef has been in where he doesn't sing a song about making sweet love to a baby. This helps to make the character more tolerable for me. His songs have largely been a miss for me and they never really add much to an episode. As Chef is dragged along to look for Babra Streissand, the episode features something that is largely unique to this episode. There's some scenes that feature Chef driving a car. In the background is some actual live-action video from Colorado. The reason the video is in the background is because Trey Parker and Matt Stone hadn't figured out how to create that animation effect yet. This live-action video manages to blend well with the cardboard animation of South Park and it helps to give the episode a visual flair.

Leonard Martin arrives too late as Streisand is able to get the triangle from Cartman. She transforms into a huge giant monster and starts to destroy the town of South Park. The funniest moments of the episode come from this scene. There's the news reporter, who lists all the calamities which have hit South Park over the previous season. His claim that the town of South Park has managed to survive and peacefully rebuild itself is rebuffed when Streisand starts to physically destroy the buildings behind him. There's also another great gag which has the mayor watching the destruction of her city and getting interrupted by an aide. The aide wishes to tell her about the Streisand problem. The mayor's response that she has noted is a great punchline. Possibly the best moment of the episode came when Kyle's mom, who has been established to be just the worst in previous episodes, asked Barabra Streisand for an autograph. This is significant because Kyle's mom is the only fan in South Park and the reputation that the series has been giving her. It's the most subtle attack that the show has on Streisand: her fans are the worst. It also helps to reinforce Kyle's mom standing with the show's universe. The only person who is able to defeat Streisand is the lead singer of the Cure. He's the only celebrity who provides his own voice to the episode.

South Park presents an episode that many don't necessarily like because of it's rough exterior. Once you look past the episode's harshness, you'll find a brilliant satire of Japenese horror monsters. It's far from the best episode of the first season, but it is one that has a unique visual while at the same time fitting in some great character jokes. While Babra Streisand might have been in the crosshairs of the South Park writers, the jokes did manage to work to help develop the episode's plot. In essence, this is an episode that manages to work for me.