Andy Kindler rips into South Park
Over at aspecialthing.com, TSOYA pal Andy Kindler ripped into Trey Parker & Matt Stone...
And try this one on for size, responding in part to this interview in GQ:
Andy Kindler on The Sound of Young America
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And try this one on for size, responding in part to this interview in GQ:
But sometimes things reach a critical mass, and the more you learn about people, the less you can like them. I just reread that interview and got more annoyed. Calling Paris Hilton an ugly stupid whore? They are really edgy. Who are they going to go after next? Michael Jackson? And he just realized that Paris Hilton was a model? And he's concerned about the kids all of a sudden? And then they put down Rob Reiner for taxing cigarettes by saying hey dude, let people have cigarettes. Rob Reiner taxing cigarettes is exactly the opposite of not letting people have cigarettes. He's not saying you can't smoke. He's just saying tax it more. Agree or don't agree, but at least be coherent enough to understand the point you're making. I think all drugs should be legal, and they should also be taxed. See how easy that was? If he's so concerned about people having enough money to buy cigarettes, he should start his own cigarette smoking charity fund for poor smokers. But that would be too "liberal" for him. They claim to be against Reiner because he's a rich guy from Malibu. Where do they live? The Pacific Palisades? And they think they're libertarian because they're cool with "gays." I'm sure the "gays" are thrilled. Holy Moly. I'm sorry, but these guys are just plain ignorant.Is Andy right, or is he just hating on their game? Your thoughts?
Andy Kindler on The Sound of Young America
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posted by Jesse Thorn at Wednesday, March 15, 2006
9 Comments:
South Park is rarely funny. After Simpsons, Homestar Runner, Space Ghost, South Park is a little quaint. Unimiaginative and obvious.
To paraphrase a line from an episode of South Park "There are two kinds of kids on this earth; the kind who like Animaniacs, and the kind that don't. Which one are you?"
Obviously Andy falls into the latter category, and falls pretty flat in his attempt at expressing himself too. He is obviously working so hard at disliking them that he's reading his own meaning into the things they're saying in the interview, completely missing the point most of the time.
I don't think Matt and Trey are the most brilliant people on the planet, but the work they put out is consistent in its quality, and they do a damn good job at what they set out to do, which is not to be offensive, rather to point out the stupid shit that everyone does. They do this regardless of political or social ideals, and often create shows that present an idea they don't even believe in. How punk rock is that?
At the very least, the "controversial" shows they create open up a dialog which gets people talking. Once people can get to the point where they can laugh at themselves, change for the better is a lot easier to accomplish. I'm not saying they're changing the world, but I personally know people who've changed the way they think about things based on the way an idea was presented on South Park. Heck, I've sure learned to think about things more objectively since I fell in love with it. I can't claim it is responsible for that objectivity, but I'm sure it has played a part.
As for the political leanings that Andy has ascribed them, he is clearly still reading what he wants to read into it. Matt didn't say he thinks he's a libertarian because he's cool with gays. He said he IS a libertarian, and is cool with gays. The two aren't really related. Also, I don't think you have to be a Bush supporter to not think he's done that much damage -- anyone who has seen more than the 45 seconds of the show that Andy admits to watching knows they are no "right-wing ideologues" or cretins. They are equal opportunity maker-funners, who don't let political ideologies get in the way of pointing something out.
Thus far they have managed to avoid the hypocrisy they so often point out among the Hollywood elite, and I'm anxious to see how they handle tonight's Letterman appearance. I really hope I'm not disappointed, because if things go like I fear they might, Andy may just get back some ground.
Did you catch Letterman last night? I won't be able to watch it 'til probably tomorrow, and am dying to know if they gave into the hypocrisy or not...
My ass is in bed asleep when Letterman's on... I'm a working man.
Yeh, me too. From time to time you give off "letterman-esque" vibes (such as adding "the" to any network name, etc) so I figured I'd give it a shot.
Oh... don't get me wrong, Letterman is my hero.
I just go to bed early.
YAWN.
Kindler's comedy critic routine is lame as hell.
Hey genius, their Paris Hilton episode about her becoming a role model was timely back when it aired. They were just answering a question about it.
Do you think his criticism is really that they're not timely enough?
I have little objection to South Park, personally, but I think that's a mischaracterization of Andy's argument.
I don't think timelyness was a part of Andy's argument either, but really, that's like the only thing that wasn't part of it. Upon thinking about it, I've realized that my big complaint about Andy's little tirade was that he didn't really have any kind of focus. He made a couple really valid points, but then completely pissed them away by attacking every aspect of Matt and Trey's character regardless of whether it applied to his argument.
Andy: Some of the finer arguments you left out are:
1) Trey has crooked teeth.
2) Matt sometimes has really puffy hair.
3) Trey is going bald.
4) Matt is a Jew.
I finally caught Letterman, and have two comments about it. First off, Matt and Trey handled the Isaac thing with plenty of class. They said they were afraid he'd quit over it, and that ultimately he did. That's it. They were there to pimp their shit, and that's what they did.
Secondly, Dave knew absolutely nothing about southpark. I was actually kind of embarrassed for both dave and the boys at how crappy the interview was.
What a waste of time.
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