T&P - people or a cartoon?

In article , [email] (Jeff Bishop) wrote:

I'm gonna have to go with that last one. It's a cartoon, I think M&T don't really delve too deep into the reality of it, because sometimes its just more fun that way. :)

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Yes, I think one of South Park's primary goals is to break all known conventions, including continuity and the laws of nature. Canon integrity demands that you keep all previously introduced concepts constant- like, for example, the established fact that T&P are a cartoon- but in a show where one character dies and comes back to life practically every week, the "rules" don't really matter. Even the animation emphasizes the unimportance of the "rules," with characters and objects moving in a jumpy, primitive, decidedly unconventional manner. And this is part of what makes it funny (at least for me)- we've grown so accustomed to the smooth movement and continuity of regular entertainment that a show like SP strikes us as technically strange and unreal.

As for the movie, I think what's important about T&P is not their specific nature, but what they represent. I've always understood them to be an explicit self-referential tool, a means for M&T to ridicule those who have brought them under fire over the years for the profanity of their own creation.

Regards, YoungTOSFan

I don't know if this is way too deep...but I've always thought South Park was hilarious because it's basically neo-dadaist animation, created specifically to mock accepted artistic and moral standards with the idea that everything is an absurd joke, and nothing is sacred because nothing is sacred by defenition.

Yep, that's about right.

--- Willie Westwood

Hmm..Terrence and Phillip...I almost thought you menat Timon and Pumbaa (THEMSELVES QUITE flatuent...only less imaginitive about ti.)

Of coruse the REAL fartmeisters were Ren and StimpY!

How about the cast of <i>Blazing Saddles</i>?

--- Willie Westwood

I'd say the boys are aware that they, too, are cartoon characters. That's one reason they don't worry too much over Kenny dying; they know he'll be back. And I suppose cartoon characters see other cartoon characters as "real." So, the boys see Terrance and Phillip as real, which should be the case, since in "Not Without My Anus," Terrance and Phillip saw the boys on American TV. And it makes sense that the boys should try to save Terrance and Phillip, as cartoon characters stick together in the end, IMHO.

--- Willie Westwood

The story I heard is that they were a reaction to one critic's assessment of SP as "nothing but horrible animation and fart jokes". Now *here's* your crappy animation and fart jokes!

In article , [email] (SaraJ) writes:

As if there's much difference, heh heh.