April 2, 2005

Did "South Park" mock the Schiavo case?

The other day, I recommended the new episode of "South Park" ("Best Friends Forever"), which deals with the Schiavo case. I was surprised, reading the paper Times on Saturday morning, to see a teaser at the bottom of page A15 that read: "'South Park' Mocks Schiavo Case." I got ready to write a blog post about how the NYT misinterpreted the ideas expressed in that episode. But the actual piece, in the "Arts, Briefly" section, is headed "'South Park' Echoes Schiavo Case" and it doesn't disparage the show. It mostly admires it for covering the issue so expeditiously:
According to Matt Stone, who created the series with Trey Parker, "South Park" was able to parody the politics of the Terri Schiavo legal battle so quickly because they began the episode from scratch the Thursday before it was telecast. "There's kind of nothing funny about the Terri Schiavo thing," Mr. Stone said on the telephone from Los Angeles, "so that's why we did it." He added: "We, like everyone else, found that whole thing fascinating. That show, and humor in general, is how we work it out."

The Times does have a quote that might offend people who don't get the show -- "Kenny is the same he ever was ... It's just that now he's more like a tomato" -- but the piece is quite positive about the show.

By the way, though I don't want a living will, I certainly agree with the wish expressed by Kenny in his living will:
"If I should ever be in a vegetative state and kept alive on life support, please, for the love of God, don't ever show me in that condition on national television."

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