Adding insult to injury, the episode itself was genuinely just bad. First miss of the season and damn, what a big yikes of an episode.
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South Park mocks trans athlete with a transphobic episode
- Thread starter metalslimer
- Start date
So, in context...
It's mentioned that there are other trans athletes that Strong Woman knows, but they are mentioned once and never shown.
The "moral" of the episode is that it's ok to call out extreme cases like with the roid rage guy.
So, there's your context. As you can see, it doesnt really improve anything.
Last night's episode should have just been about the board girls (subplot where the school girls try to join the tabletop gaming club and the boys get mad because the girls keep beating them), that was good.
It's mentioned that there are other trans athletes that Strong Woman knows, but they are mentioned once and never shown.
The "moral" of the episode is that it's ok to call out extreme cases like with the roid rage guy.
So, there's your context. As you can see, it doesnt really improve anything.
Last night's episode should have just been about the board girls (subplot where the school girls try to join the tabletop gaming club and the boys get mad because the girls keep beating them), that was good.
I haven't watched this one yet but that Halloween episode was horrible to me. That was the biggest miss of the season so far in my opinion, but honestly besides the China episode I haven't really been feeling South Park lately in general.
Maybe their goal was to make a shitty episode so fans would beg for tegridy farms to come back. (I haven't seen the episode yet so maybe tegridy was still a focal point in last nights episode)
Words mean things.
They're libertarians. Not "liberal centrist". But hey, you go ahead and try to score those cheap points.
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Also their facebook page updated their profile picture with this because they are so proud of it
They also mocked Caitlin Jenner (although maybe it was mostly about her running someone over, I forget). Is this your first time noticing South Park's transphobic elements??
Yeah I've not really been enjoying this season at all tbh. I've felt they were dropping in quality pretty massively for the past few years but have always watched. But this season has been really dull, with the Halloween episode being so crap I haven't actually watched it since and I'm not really feel any desire to.
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Oh no they've put out some racist homophobic and transphobic bullshit for decades but supposedly they were supposed to be changing and improving on their views
I mean "centrist" isn't a terrible label for what "we insult everyone equally" amounts to as manifested politics.
People still defend this garbage show every time it comes up and say "it's different now, they wouldn't make that kind of episode again"
Except that was never what South Park did, it always punched down more than up.
Tbh they have been doing better, and they were always pretty socially liberal to begin with.
(episode on gay acceptance in 1997 that literally no other show at the time would do)
That said they fuck up way too much for me to defend them beyond that, and I chalk it up to them not being aware or educated enough when they absolutely should be. Too often they're more interested in making fun of stuff that they find personally amusing than really attempting to clarify any substantive moral point they are trying to make. I haven't seen the new episode yet but I'll absolutely check it out soon to understand if there's any nuance or context to be had beyond what this thread is reporting.
I thought it actually made fun of the 'slipery slop' argument against trans in sport, ultimately ending in that asshole still loosing to girls even thought his belief was that he could win against any woman at everything. Mostly felt like a missed opportunity to also use actual transgender representation during the episode either during the sport event or the resolution/ending.
That is definitely what they were trying to convey, but it just missed the mark.
For the record: I'm not defending them but the overall point of the episode was definitely meant to be that.
I must have missed the tide finally turning on this miserable show. I felt like I was the only person who was repulsed as Trey and Matt used edgy comedy to spread their shitty libertarian views.
This thread is making me weirdly emotional. This is exactly why I appreciate Era.
FWIW, I loved the older episodes that were more about the characters, but quickly became irritated when the show switched gears to focus on social commentary around season 8. Then, as an adult, I realised all the anti-Semitic jokes in those early episodes taught kids my age to mock Jewish kids, where previously we didn't other them at all; and had no other media encouraging us to do so until Family Guy, which came much later, and which was almost certainly influenced by South Park.
This thread is making me weirdly emotional. This is exactly why I appreciate Era.
FWIW, I loved the older episodes that were more about the characters, but quickly became irritated when the show switched gears to focus on social commentary around season 8. Then, as an adult, I realised all the anti-Semitic jokes in those early episodes taught kids my age to mock Jewish kids, where previously we didn't other them at all; and had no other media encouraging us to do so until Family Guy, which came much later, and which was almost certainly influenced by South Park.
Oh my,
I just thought it was an okay episode, (and looking at the SP thread, I wasn't alone in this) and felt like they addressed the point they were trying to make pretty well.
They used an over the top ridiculous example with the athlete to show that sometimes there might be topics we should be able to discuss without it immediately making someone transphobic. And by the end when they said that the PC babies are growing up, it was a commentary on how people are starting to open up to that.
That's all. I don't think there was that much more to the episode. I guess I could see how the imagery they used might have been offensive to some. But I don't think the point they were trying to make was. Even if you think it was poorly done. And I'm not Trey or Matt. So I could be wrong.
But that's why I wondered if anyone had seen the episode. The outrage just surprised me.
I'm all for trans rights by the way. Don't worry. But I don't think jokes like these have to always be avoided. Even if they do mess it up.
Nah.
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Its poorly done and still transphobic so what does any of the context add? And looking at the comments for the episode it is nothing but people making fun of trans athletes so yes fuck this show its contributing to the suffering of some out most vulnerable people.
"Looks like you didn't watch the show they were making a nuanced episode about how people throw around the term transphobic too much!"
After 23 seasons and 303 aired episodes, I continue to not be a viewer of this show. I feel deprived not a bit.
They were but then dropped the ball with PC Principal and not having an actual transwoman involved with the story. "Heather" wasn't really trans, just a petty, misogynistic asshole everyone was afraid to call out.
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User Banned (1 Month): Excusing transphobia and inflammatory community generalizations. Prior offense relating to bigotry.
The whole point of the episode is that this wasn't a transphobic episode but people would call them transphobic and bigots anyway. And here we are. There is definitely nuance and details to the story that make it very inoffensive but when you ignore all that and take it all at surface level, you are what they were ultimately making fun of. Not a single bit of this episode felt like it was poking fun at transgender people, instead it felt like it was making fun of the people on this board who love to join in outrage without even knowing what they are mad at; as shown by the numerous people in here claiming they don't even watch the show.
Haven't watched it properly in many a year, but there are a fair few genuinely great episodes out there.
Well, thing is, this is the problem, that it's trying to excuse expression of casual transphobia by playing up stereotypes
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Yep here we go. We are going to use transphobic language and imagery and that's the point because people will call us transphobic but dont you see that means we arent transphobic the real transphobe was you!
By making fun of a trans person? And continuing to draw negative attention to trans athletes who already have it very difficult in the media?
Sure sounds like it's transphobic.
Ah, more cissplaining to trans folx about how we're wrong. How wonderful to keep seeing here.
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Why do people continue to come in these topics about trans people and make drive by posts about how the transphobic thing is great with 0 other thoughts
Maybe it missed the mark with the certain audience, because it is popular and well-reviewed as of now. Perhaps the audience is transphobic, so... maybe they nailed the episode for the average viewer?
I liked the part where girls had painted figure toys and Cartman had a plain plastic one. In fact, the entire board club line was excellent.
I don't understand why were making fun on LGTB+ People in 2019. Like.... Really? It's not original. It's not brave.
It's not like theres a shortage of things to satirize. Why trans people? So lame.
It's not like theres a shortage of things to satirize. Why trans people? So lame.
User banned (permanent): transphobic trolling over a series of posts
Because I am dying of laughter within.
It's not transphobic they just used transphobic tropes so when they got called transphobic they could say see everyone is so quick to claim transphobia. #OutrageCultureAmIRite
Eh, not going to go with that blanket statement.
I'm a fan of South Park, I have been for many years. I'm comfortable calling them out when they miss the mark. They sometimes do, and they sometimes walk it back and apologize (in a way that only South Park could).
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