Sucked In

Spoiler warning for "Good Times With Weapons" . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I must admit this episode snuck one by me. Butters is so pathetically sympathetic that it was impossible to watch some of these scenes and not feel uncomfortable. At first I thought it was just another episode to humiliate Butters. But they were going out of their way to do nasty things this time. On several occassions I muttered to myself that Matt and Trey had gone too far this time. I actually cringed. Injured Butters crying is just so sad.

And yet, that was the whole point. We're supposed to feel uncomfortable by what happens to Butters. Extremely uncomfortable. Maybe even outrage. He takes a ninja star to the eye, then is covered in dog hair, and then peed on and crapped on by several dogs. All so the boys can keep their ill-gotten weapons.

But the kicker brought it full circle. The townspeople were more upset about something stupid like the naked Cartman. The point being that after what happened to Butters, Cartman naked isn't really a shock.

Obviously a response to the Janet Jackson Superbowl stunt.

In terms of social commentary, this one ranks up there with the movie. I applaud you, Matt and Trey.

In article , [email] (Vader47000) wrote:

Well, yeah. They kinda drove that home. And oh GOD do they have a point.

[email] (Vader47000) wrote in message news:...

It was sad, it was, though I was laughing loudly in a very uncomfortable "I am so going to Hell" sort of way. I really couldn't believe that I was seeing Butters impaled through the eye on a Ninja star.

I didn't see that one coming at all. I was busy laughing at Cartman trying to sneak across that stage, and when Matt & Trey drove the point home, I could only gasp. What a great episode!

==\dub/==

On 19 Mar 2004 10:15:31 GMT, [email] (Vader47000) wrote:

I agree... I was totally into the whole episode and then Kenny (!) sinks a Chinese star into Butters' eye. My mouth was agape for a good five minutes following that scene... partially from surprise, partially from shock, and partially from sympathy.

Guess Professor Chaos needs to get some high-density contact lenses, huh?

I agree. And I don't even like Japanimation usually... but Matt and Trey's portrayal was engrossing. Definitely a top ten episode.

----- "There'll be someone else sitting here for Comedy Central. And that person... or woman... will have to face the fact that this is the network built on... South Park." - Craig Kilborn, The Daily Show

On 19 Mar 2004 10:15:31 GMT, [email] (Vader47000) wrote:

The whole Butters thing didn't work for me. Too barbaric and not funny. What makes this episode different than any other Butters episode? In this one, there's no pretense of naivety. He's seriously injured, plain and simple, and there's no humor in him being dumped on.

At least when he was in the bomb shelter, he was well fed. If Cartman put him in the bomb shelter without food, would that have been funnier somehow? Not to me. It's being naive, not being mortally injured that makes the Butters character work.

What would have made this week's unpalatable part of the story better? If Butters always appeared in his Anime alter ego. Or if Butters wasn't crying the whole time.

Steve Silberberg wrote:

I have to admit that the Chinese star wound was hard to take. The pain came off as too vivid. But I kept in mind that the purpose of Butters is to be a loser. The reason he was put on this Earth was so that crappy things happen to him. He's the wuss who gets dressed like a dog and gets crapped on. He's always having this bad luck.

Besides, he was in his Professor Chaos mode when he got hurt. So he got hurt while trying to commit evil. :-)

And it's only a cartoon. Nobody really got stabbed in the eye. :-)

- Juan F. Lara http://bellsouthpwp.net/l/a/lara6281/intro.html

Stan: NO! NOT HAM, YOU FAT FUCK!! Cartman: Ah, fuck you.

<<The whole Butters thing didn't work for me. Too barbaric and not funny. What makes this episode different than any other Butters episode? In this one, there's no pretense of naivety. He's seriously injured, plain and simple, and there's no humor in him being dumped on.

At least when he was in the bomb shelter, he was well fed. If Cartman put him in the bomb shelter without food, would that have been funnier somehow? Not to me. It's being naive, not being mortally injured that makes the Butters character work.

What would have made this week's unpalatable part of the story better? If Butters always appeared in his Anime alter ego. Or if Butters wasn't crying the whole time. >>

That was kind of the whole point. The Butters stuff was NOT funny. It was sad. It was supposed to be TOO barbaric and over the top. The whole idea is to make us as an audience outraged over what happened to Butters so they can hammer home the point that such violence is worse than a little skin, satirizing the whole national craze over the Super Bowl halftime show.

In article , Inkan wrote:

So you're saying that he's the WebTV to Kenny's AOL? In relation to the net heirarchies, that is?