Apr
South Park: Canada On Strike!
Posted Apr 2nd 2008 11:35PM
by Brad Trechak
(S12E04) The South Park guys are going after the Writer’s Guild of America, and it’s about time.
Trey Parker and Matt Stone are not members of any of the unions, and they negotiated Internet profit-sharing before it became an issue for the WGA. They have also remained consistent with their dislike of the Hollywood creative elite (including actors and writers, although they are both) and their willingness to take a different viewpoint than the popular media.
And what a jab they took at the writers! They basically said that anybody can do what they do and the striking writers were acting in an ignorant and unrealistic manner. They went further to say that they are being replaced by sources such as YouTube (or rather, YouToob) videos and that their strike victory was only a token one. I wonder, after this episode, if the WGA board found itself in the same restaurant as Matt and Trey at the same time, would they get up and leave in protest?
Was the Canadian strike leader “Steve Abootman” a parody of anybody in particular or was he a general pastiche of the WGA leadership? He sounded a little like Cartman. No surprise there since Trey Parker does most of the ancillary voices himself.
This was really a musical episode! Two songs within a 22 minute show. We had “Canada On Strike” and “What What In The Butt”, the latter of which seemed a mild satire on the Matt Damon/Ben Affleck videos from Jimmy Kimmel Live! Between the music and setting up Canada as the enemy, it was a lite version of South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut.
How awesome was the battle royal scene with all the YouTube people? I’m surprised they missed “LonelyGirl15″, but maybe that was because that particular sensation was staged. I didn’t even recognize all of them, but I certainly remembered the Star Wars Kid and Chris “Leave Britney Alone” Crocker. I knew the fight would lead to fatalities as it always does on this show. It would be hilarious if that clip made it to YouTube (and it probably will). Who were you rooting for in the YouTube battle royal?
The Canadians themselves had some scintillating conversation. “I’m not your guy, friend.” “I’m not your friend, buddy.” “I’m not your buddy, guy.”
For the record, I don’t agree with their opinion of the WGA Strike. I do think writers are important to the creative process and don’t feel the strike was in vain (although the writers did make compromises to end the strike, but who doesn’t make compromises for work nowadays?).
The creators of South Park tend to borrow camera shots from famous movies or other shows. I recall them using a scene with Jimmy carrying a prostitute that was taken from An Officer and a Gentlemen. With that in mind, can anybody tell me if the crowd pan from near the end of the episode was taken from some other movie or television scene?
Matt and Trey seemed particularly scathing and pretentious in their beliefs in this episode, but it was a damn funny episode. In that regard, I am torn with regards to my feelings toward this one. I am, however, happy to see South Park get back on track to the focus and humor from the previous seasons.
Source : www.tvsquad.com
Tags: canada on strike south park, south park canada on strike, watch canada on strike
