[....clearing throat....]
Besides the obvious, one of the reasons I think South Park fascinates us so thoroughly is because it's so densely packed with TABOO BREAKERS, like this week's mini-subplot of Stan's grandfather having sex with the old Rumanian woman (and to death, even).
Every few episodes, some person, topic, or sacred cow that most of us probably thought we'd *never* see mentioned on TV is brought into, er, focus, in the way only Matt & Trey can. Even the frequent incorporation of pop-culture references -- to both people and things (Cher, Pokemon, etc.) -- is a form of taboo-breaking, in that we rarely expect *current* topics (celebrities, public figures, fads, etc.) to be mentioned in a TV show in that way.
So I decided to make a list of these things. It became several lists, divided by category. I came up with a total of 52 items and/or people (coincidentally the same number of TV episodes that have aired so far). But there's gotta be more. Please add to these.
(Note: This is not a ruse to provide fuel for the bitching fundies, although I can see why it might be perceived that way.)
TABOOS TOPICS BROACHED (SEXUAL ONLY): Bestiality Circumcision Death during sex Dildos Erectile dysfunction Hermaphroditism Herpes Homosexuality Incest Interspecies mating Masturbation Menstruation Old people having sex Penises and penis length Prostitution
TABOO TOPICS BROACHED (NONSEXUAL BODILY FUNCTIONS): Anuses Diarrhea Farting Peeing in the pool Shit and fecophilia
TABOO TOPICS BROACHED (ALL OTHER) (INCLUDES SACRED COWS TAKEN DOWN A PEG): Anti-Semitism Birth defects Diversity Drugs Environmentalism Euthanasia Food-relief charities Hate crimes Mental retardation Pretentious film festivals Tokenism Vampirism
PEOPLE - DIRECT DEPICTIONS Phil Collins Celine Dion Kathie-Lee Gifford David Hasselhoff Saddam Hussein Jay Leno Charles Manson Sidney Poitier Janet Reno Robert Smith Barbra Streisand Sally Struthers Moses Satan Jesus God
PEOPLE - INDIRECT REFERENCES: David Caruso Cher Courtney Cox Roger Ebert ......There's gotta be a lot more here
"Whenever a taboo is broken, something good happens,
something vitalizing.... Taboos after all are only hangovers,
the product of diseased minds, you might say, of fearsome
people who hadn't the courage to live and who under the guise
of morality and religion have imposed these things upon us."
----Henry Miller