South Park Vs. Family Guy
Essay Preview: South Park Vs. Family Guy
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Cartoon Wars
South Park is an American animated television comedy series about four third grade schoolboys who live in the small, backward mountain town of South Park. The series was created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and has been aired by Comedy Central since 1997. The show is well known for its pop-culture parody, outrageous humor, and sardonic handling of current events. Family Guy is an American animated television series about a family in the fictional town of Quahog, Rhode Island. The show focuses on the fictional Griffin family and its ungainly character Peter Griffin. Seth MacFarlane created the show for the FOX channel. Family Guy was cancelled once in 2000 and again in 2002, but strong DVD sales and the substantial viewership of reruns on Adult Swim convinced FOX to continue the show in 2005. Together these two animated series are dominating the comedy sitcom race. The question of which show has better comedy is on the minds of many torn viewers.
Family Guy and South Park are two of the most watched and loved animated shows on television today. These shows are both extremely controversial in the situations portrayed on the television screen. Both shows use the monotonous aspects of small-town life as perfect settings for bizarre happenings. South Park is a collection of rednecks and yuppies, sociopaths and stereotypes. However, it is the group of children that carry the show through its humorous and sarcastic humor. Family Guy similarly live in the small town of Quahog, Rhode Island with a group of unusual people with eccentric cameo appearances. Both South Park and Family Guy focus their plots mainly on a central character. In South Park, it is the maniac Eric Cartman, and in Family Guy it is the loutish Rhode Island father Peter Griffin. Cartmans humor comes from his ridiculous schemes, his undeniable evil, his dismissal of reasonable courses of action, and his unforgettable voice. Peter Griffin humor comes from his clumsy ways, his poorly thought out jokes, and his parody of the average Joe.
South Park in the beginning was criticized as being little more than stupid toilet humor, a show that would poison the minds of young people with its careless attacks on Jews, the disabled, and religion. However, South Park soon proved itself to be much more than an immature show. It has since thought to be one of the wittiest social commentaries on television. The humor is a mix of obvious sarcasm and a play on the ridiculousness of current events, such as 9/11 conspiracy theories. As delivered by a gang of nine-year-old kids, the jokes seem even more ironic and comical. South Park continues to push the limits of what is acceptable for television viewing. Continually pushing boundaries, South Park has been more successful then anyone could have ever dreamed.
Family Guy is a show whose humor is more of reminiscing. Family Guy often relies on jokes that have absolutely no effect on the plot. They usually are brought up when a character says, “Remember when” or “thats like the time I” Irrelevant jokes can obstruct plotlines in other shows;