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South Park characters get HIV/AIDS




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When ads for this past Wednesday’s season premiere of Comedy Central’s hit animated series South Park hinted that foulmouthed 8-year-old star Eric Cartman would be diagnosed with a life-threatening illness, few fans were surprised when it turned out to be HIV. After all, show creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker haven’t exactly shied away from AIDS-related punch lines over the Emmy-winning show’s 11-year run. A March 2002 episode, in fact, declared that it was finally OK to laugh at the disease. However, Wednesday’s episode, “Tonsil Trouble,” examined AIDS in a slightly more serious light…without skimping on the toilet humor.
http://www.poz.com/articles/south_park_aids_401_14248.s...
JesseSanchez

16 responses // South Park characters get HIV/AIDS

  • http://www.southparkzone.com/episodes/1201/Tonsil-Troub...
    Wanna watch it? Here ya go.
    abbym0308
  • You smell XD
    StupidMF
  • It begs the question is it ok to laugh at HIV? Once upon a time I thought so in a mindless juvenile period during which it was simply a cheap joke. Now I have some friends living with HIV and it's no longer so funny.

    The only reason I might be in a situation whereby a bit of humour related to HIV raises a smile nowadays is when its a genuine bit of gallows humour. Whereby people candidly remark about the subject as a way of dealing with it - as us humans do. There is that part of the musical rent when someone describes themselves as having an 'azt break' when they take their combination therapy - it makes me laugh but its very dark.

    I dont have a problem when people use humour to deal with difficult subjects. I do it myself. We joke about death, war, terrorism, largely because we understand the magnitude of these things and its what people do to explore these subjects.

    But simply making juvenile jokes with no thought is what I have a problem with.

    Should South Park make HIV part of the show - probably yes. But theyre going to have to really work hard not to make it some cheap school boy attempt.
    graemesmith
  • i laugh in the face of death hahahaha!!!
    Thargor19
  • I'm a huge South Park fan. Even though this episode is way below the average, once again Stone and Parker have made their point in an intelligent way. They laugh at AIDS -- actually they laugh at everything -- but they also offer an interesting and original insight on the issue.
    saverio
  • i think South Park did a great job to bring awareness to the issue.
    Cancer is the new "in" things. I find thousands if not millions of Cancer websites, awareness icons, and bumper stickers, but never do I see an HIV/AIDS one.
    Look at some cars in the USA - they have a Pink Ribbon on their plate... Well that's the Susan G. Breast Cancer Foundation.
    What about AIDS? Is it not worthy enough to make a plate for it?
    There are hundreds and hundreds of people out there having unprotected sex because they think it can't happen to them!
    People judge on race, genger, sexual orientation, economic standing, lifestyle, careers, and other stupid stereotypical categories - but the truth is HIV can be you or anyone.
    By South Park doing it to Cartman it shows that you can't judge - it happens.
    YOU WON'T DIE FROM IT - IT'S TREATABLE - BUT IT'S A LIFE-LONG HEALTH ISSUE.
    I give them 110% for effort and for putting their 2 cents in the world pandemic of HIV/AIDS.
    JesseSanchez
  • All you need is $180,000. That one short scene with the SUV limo and the impoverished said it all. I could understand if "Magic" Johnson wanted to sue "South Park", though.
    huntre
  • Decent enough episode.

    I think that laughing is a good way to handle things. It all depends on the way the joke is made, and what it's saying, though. AIDS and rape jokes were very funny on the internet circa 2001, but very few of them were funny. This wasn't so much down to the subject as much as it was the content of the joke.

    Anything can be funny if handled correctly.
    AceHardchester
  • Jesse,

    It may be that there are thousands of cancer sites and there is tons of attention paid to it simply because it's not an "it"...there are dozens of different types of cancer. Every different kind of cancer has its websites, ribbons, etc. Cancer is far, FAR more prevalent than HIV or AIDS. And anyone can get it at any time without doing anything to contract it other than having a physical body.

    As for visibility...what do you think the red ribbons are for? There was even a Seinfeld episode making fun of the very high visibility of the red ribbon and everyone's insistence on wearing it.
    hollyg
  • Hollyg,

    I don't mean to take awareness from cancer and all the types of cancer, but leading a healthy lifestyle, eating correctly, and working out is not something you can do to stop or "PREVENT" HIV/AIDS.
    I think awareness is key! People who have it don't even know they do and pass it on.

    Cancer is something you can't pass on over physical body contact - and HIV/AIDS you can - and as humans we love sex. So it's important to understand the risks of not using a rubber and the HIV saga.

    I just think it's funny how we have so many PINK ribbons on everything from the things we eat to the tag on the back of a car yet we don't see the red ones as much.

    if you have time read this:
    http://blogs.poz.com/regan/archives/2007/10/national_ai...
    It's a great insight on the ribbon concept. Its the words of the Editor-in-Chief of Poz Mag
    JesseSanchez
  • I did like that joke that Cartman kept using, "I'm not only sure, I'm HIV Positive" to highlight the concerns and the plight of people no longer considering AIDS as high profile as they used to. But I did think they didn't take infecting someone else on purpose seriously enough, since Cartman didn't seem to suffer the consequences enough from maliciously spreading it.
    Argon18
  • There are not many cases where the person is reprimanded for infecting others. In many cases the person doesn't even know they are HIV+.
    Here at home we had one case of a guy going around and sleeping with a bunch of girls. He was a club promoter and used that to his advantage.

    You can read all about it on: http://news.monstersandcritics.com/usa/news/article_136...
    JesseSanchez
  • first off, im fuckin sick of seeing yellow ribbons. secondly, south park is NEVER for or against a subject, they exercise true biased outlooks while maintaining the sense of what the writers feel. and akin to them i too laugh at horribly occurring human themes. call me an asshole, i can't stand negative thinking about such things as diseases rape murder and the likes, even if i was faced with such possibilities. gotta take the power away from such emotional things by injecting them with a healthy dose of cynical sarcasm.
    Thargor19
  • It seemed to be a socail commentary about people thinking you can just throw money at a disease and think it will be magicaly cured. That being said I still wish more money went to AIDS research. It's still quite possible that the point was exactly that, either way I got a snicker or two. I didn't think it was overly offensive but that likely wouldn't be the case if I actualy had AIDS.
    ocanada
  • dude took his blood and dropped into homeboys mouth in his sleep.....THAT WAS TOO FUNNY!!

    i dont care, that was funny...i laughed my ass off!! it was jacked, but funny!
    okinawanmajik
  • hilarious!
    BradlyShaw

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