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Rating: I am reviewing another episode (or rather, two) of the famous South Park. The reason for the return of Cartman & Company lies in the exceptional quality of these two episodes (Cartoon Wars, Part I and II) which, under the mastery of Parker & Stone, incorporate and concentrate two other famous and controversial cartoons: Family Guy and The Simpsons.
Three animated series, similar in graphics (Family Guy and The Simpsons) and in the implementation of political incorrectness, yet heterogeneous in their irreverent and demystifying techniques. If the Simpsons in their episodes intend to build intricate plots that, from a single event, lead to completely reversed situations - often delving into the psychoanalytic introspection of the characters - the Family Guy adds their flagship, that is, the irrational flashbacks (humor defined in South Park as "random joke cutaways"), in which the family patriarch Peter comes into contact with the most diverse symbols (and stereotypes) of modernity, as well as being inserted into the most ridicule-worthy historical and political events (Peter Griffin: "Like that time when I..."). All this is directly proportional to the level of stupidity and ignorance expressed by the pervasive social void in America.
The two episodes, remarkable from an ethical, moral, political and social perspective, dystopically parody themes such as freedom of speech, tolerance, and secular right to expression, compared to Islamic fundamentalism, often censorious. In the first part, South Park is terribly frightened by the imminent release of a Family Guy episode featuring the prophet Muhammad. Referring to the (real) Danish cartoon scandal of Mohammed (Islam forbids the depiction of the Prophet), extremists threaten urgent measures if he is visibly represented. However, Fox censors the image, and the situation calms down until a second episode of the same cartoon is announced with Muhammad's figure, this time not concealed; thus, the fundamentalists return with a new video message threatening "mass reprisals." While the residents of South Park decide, following a professor's advice, to bury their heads underground to neither see nor hear the provocative episode and thus satisfy Muslim threats, Cartman and Kyle set out for Los Angeles to stop the episode. Kyle, however, is uncertain: devoted to science and universal freedom of expression, he is convinced to take action only after a terrible nightmare. However, he soon discovers Cartman's real intentions: he is not interested in defending Islamic religious ethics; he wants to eliminate Family Guy's entire programming merely because he is against the show, once again displaying his innate selfishness and egocentrism. Kyle tries to stop his friend-enemy but is run off the road by Eric, who continues his pursuit of Los Angeles on a bicycle.
The second part sees Cartman reaching the Studios and meeting Bart Simpson, who is also anti-Family Guy (an obvious reference to the real Simpsons - Family Guy clash). Pretending to be the infirm son of a Danish screenwriter, a victim of an Islamic kamikaze attack, Eric manages to touch the heart of the network President, who authorizes him to talk with the cartoon's writers (holders of a power even greater than Bush): they turn out to be manatees immersed in a large aquarium in which there are many "idea balls," each carrying a name. By combining them together through a strange mechanism, the mammals (immune to terrorist threats) "write" the future plot of Family Guy; if they are deprived of even one ball, they immediately stop "working." Kyle also arrives in Los Angeles but is captured and imprisoned by Bart, Cartman's ally. Cartman secretly removes a ball from the manatee's tank, which immediately halts their work. Enraged, the Fox president decides to cancel the well-known episode altogether. Meanwhile, Kyle frees himself and, after a fight with Cartman (who is temporarily knocked out by Bart Simpson, convinced by the Jewish boy to change sides), confronts the President: facing two children with different ideas, he is uncertain whether to confirm the episode's cancellation; nonetheless, he is persuaded by the wise Kyle to air it. Mohammed appears (Comedy Central, via an on-screen statement, blocks the image) and Islam's revenge arrives punctually: a video where American people (Bush, Tom Cruise) and Jesus Christ defecate on the star-spangled banner.
Strongly patriotic - like other post-9/11 South Park episodes -, Cartoon Wars (Part I and II) fully expresses the Western/liberal conception of the right to expression: everyone is free to display their culture, and this great ethical foundation must never be abandoned. If Kyle embodies the Western liberal-democratic (at least in appearance), Cartman is the neo-Hitler, authoritarian, censorious, and a mortal threat to the freedoms advocated by the First Amendment (ignored, however, in the cartoon by journalists questioning Bush about his impotence in front of Family Guy's writers). There is a strong critique of censorship and paralyzing fundamentalism: the current example of Islam shows the negative ambitions due to the suffocation of conscience and intellect, to be developed and extolled in any circumstance.
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