American Civics Synopsis Pauline BONNAUDET Guest Student Aalborg University – Fall 2009
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Table of Contents Project form.......................................................................................................................................... 1 Table of Contents..................................................................................................................................2 Introduction:......................................................................................................................................... 3 Statement of Problem:.......................................................................................................................... 4 Methodology:....................................................................................................................................... 4 Presentation of Empiric Material:........................................................................................................ 5 Theory:................................................................................................................................................. 6 Analysis:............................................................................................................................................... 7 Conclusion:...........................................................................................................................................8 Bibliography:........................................................................................................................................ 9
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Introduction: American television produces a lot of different television shows each year, and the broadcasts are submitted to audiences and press critics. Among those shows, some are cartoons, created for an adult public, as The Simpsons, Family Guy or South Park, which is the one I will focus on in this Synopsis. South Park is an American television show broadcasted on Comedy Central, a cable channel that belong to the media group Viacom, and created by Matt Stone and Trey Parker, who studied cinema. The program started in 1997 and is still broadcast, as the thirteenth season just finished (www.southparkstudios.dk 1). South Park presents the adventures of four eight-year old children in a small town named South Park. Each of them represent one specific social class of the United States and they always have incredible experiences which are never related to each other (for example, Kenny, one of the boys, dies in every episode and always comes back in the following one). Even if the show presents young boys and if the drawing is voluntarily childish, the language and the content are obviously aimed to adults, more specifically young males around 25 years, (www.nytimes.com). The humor is obscene as are the dialogues, the characters often talk about sex or polemic topics, such as homosexuality or handicap, in terms that are not politically correct (In the 4th episode of first season, one boy's new dog appears to be gay which is depicted as an illness by the teacher). Moreover, the situations depicted often involve religious or political groups, celebrities or society phenomenons that the scenarists criticize or laugh at (during the first season, the show represented Jesus, Satan (episode 10), Bill Clinton (episode 13), Barbra Streisand (episode 12), and the traditions of Christmas (episode 9)). As a cable channel, Comedy Central is only available for people paying for it, which means that the audience is not as large as network channel's audiences, but also that the Federal Communications Commission cannot regulate the content of the programs, as they do for network channels (www.fcc.gov), otherwise such an obscenity could never be broadcasted on television. South Park's audiences are good for a cable television program (http://money.cnn.com), as shows its longevity. But a lot of different people or groups criticize it as they do not appreciate that the show makes fun of everything. Some episodes have even been censored by Comedy Central (http://abcnews.go.com). As a response, Matt Stone and Trey Parker created a website where all the episodes are available for free and uncensored, and which has received a large amount of visitors since its opening (www.boinboing.net).
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Statement of Problem: What in American Culture makes South Park so successful and so criticized at the same time?
Methodology: In this synopsis, I will try to find the reasons in American culture that could explain the paradox of my Statement of Problem. I will try to figure out why some people can feel humiliated by a simple cartoon show, and why others can like it, and still watch it for thirteen years. For this synopsis, I will not talk about the press criticism on South Park. Most of the newspapers that wrote something about this show mostly criticized the vulgarity and the bad quality of the drawings and the animation, but this is not what I want to develop here. This synopsis will contain the presentation of empiric material with parts of American culture, interesting for the statement of problem, will be depicted. Then, presentation of theory, written in bullet points, will introduce the theory I will use in the analysis. The theory is Hofstede’s Cultural theory, which is useful for my problem because it explains why do people act and think according to their culture. After this, I will present the analysis, written in bullet points. My conclusion will sum up what I found in the analysis and try to give an answer to the initial question.
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Presentation of Empiric Material: South Park's audiences are around 3 million viewers for each episode, since the fifth season, and it represent the best audiences of the channel Comedy Central. Moreover, the most the episodes are controversial, the most they are watched, and they are often well positioned when viewers vote for their favorite episode (www.southparkstudios.dk 2). On the other side, some Christian fundamentalist groups protest against the show, for the use of Jesus Christ (http://capalert.com/), Muslim did the same with the appearance of the prophet Mahomet. Scientology was also criticized many times, mostly in Trapped in the closet, which caused the departure of Isaac Hayes, scientologist and voice of “Chief” since 1997 (www.sfgate.com). The Parents Television Council, a “non-partisan organization advocating responsible entertainment” (www.parentstv.org), conservative-oriented, also complained a lot about the show, accused to be obscene, immature, and to laugh at a lot of different topics such as AIDS or Handicap or racism, and declared “dangerous for democracy” (www.reason.com). I think that, in the United States, Democracy is a very important concept. It includes the principle of governance of the people by the people and for the people, but also what I think is the most important, written in the first Amendment of the Bill of Rights: “Congress shall make no law […] abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press [...]”. This amendment expresses the attachment of American people to the freedom of thinking what they want and expressing their beliefs. Because of this belief, people are ready to hear opinions that diverge from their own, and they can even fight for the right of people to express them, as do the American Civil Liberties Union which protects Free Speech (www.aclu.org). At the same time, Americans are very attached to some parts of their culture or history. For example, the flag of the United States of America is a really important symbol and American children salute it every day at school. Some funding myths, or important figures of history are also really appreciated and important for the American culture. Thanksgiving, the War of Independence, Martin Luther King are examples of “mythical” figures that most people respect and love (Pauwels, 2001: pp. 28-37).
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Theory: •
To develop his theory, Hofstede studied the employees of one company, IBM, in different countries. According to their answers, he classified each country according to five different criteria: Power distance, Uncertainty avoidance, Masculine or Feminine dimension, Individualism or Collectivism, and Short or Long-term Orientation. (Hofstede, 1991: pp2933).
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The two that are interesting here are Orientation, which defines the importance of the past and the future in one culture, and the Uncertainty Avoidance, which describes a culture's need for structure and procedure (ibid.)
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American culture is defined by a Long-Term Orientation, which means that history and traditions are really important (www.geert-hofstede.com).
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American culture is also defined by a low degree of Uncertainty Avoidance which means it is a flexible culture. According to Hofstede's theory, it also means that people are free to believe and to express their opinions freely (ibid.)
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Analysis: •
Hofstede's theory describes people in the United States as being attached to their traditions. American culture give importance to religions, important historical facts (such as the arrival of the first pilgrims or the declaration of Independence) and people (such as George Washington, or Martin Luther King).
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South Park makes fun of all these traditions, so it is understandable that people criticize the show.
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This feeling is increased for Christian fundamentalists, because they feel offended by the bad depictions of Jesus, and for Parents Associations which consider that the show is not suitable for children.
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However, Hofstede's theory also explains that freedom of thinking is very important for American people. The right of expression is more present in American culture than in most other countries.
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According to this principle, people should let everybody, including the creators of South Park, saying what they want, through the medium they want.
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These two aspects of culture in the United States can create a dilemma for people : should they criticize the show or let it express what it wants?
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It depends on what aspect of the culture is more predominant for each person : people more attached to traditions will criticize and try to make the show stop, people more attached to the right of free speech will not care about it.
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Finally, if people watch it or not, it is only a matter of personal taste. But most just watch it because they think it is fun.
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Conclusion: As a conclusion, I would say that American culture is a rich mix of popular culture and traditions. These traditions are important and people are very attached to them. Some are more than others, such as Christian fundamentalists, or Parents Associations, and they tend to criticize everything that do not respect their beliefs, as South Park, other shows, speeches, and so on. Other people think that free speech is a more important aspect of their culture than traditions. Among these people, and between these two extremities, some watch South Park, and like it, but it is only a matter of personal taste, even if they do not fully agree with what is said in every episode. In my opinion, it demonstrates that American culture is, as the country and people are, very different and full of contradictions.
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Bibliography: Books: •
Hofstede, Geert (1991). Cultures and Organisations, Software of the mind, Intercultural Cooperation and its Importance for Survival (French Edition : Les Editions d'Organisation)
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Pauwels, Marie-Christine (2001). Civilisation Américaine (4th edition : Hachette, Les Fondamentaux).
Articles (from Web) : •
http://www.nytimes.com/1997/11/10/business/media-broadcasting-comedy-central-makesmost-irreverent-profitable-new-cartoon.html?sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2
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http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006/10/30/8391792/index.htm
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http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/Entertainment/Story?id=2479197&page=1
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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi? file=/news/archive/2006/03/13/entertainment/e133318S62.DTL
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http://reason.com/archives/2000/05/01/goin-down-to-south-park
Websites: •
http://www.southparkstudios.dk/
1: http://www.southparkstudios.dk/guide/episode/101/ 2: http://www.southparkstudios.dk/fans/forum/viewforum.php?f=24 •
http://www.fcc.gov/aboutus.html
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http://www.boingboing.net/2008/10/08/bb-exclusive-sneak-p.html
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http://capalert.com/capreports/southpark.htm
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http://www.geert-hofstede.com/hofstede_united_states.shtml
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