The Politics of South Park: Immigration

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could we get rid of all the Mexicans no mr. garrison we cannot get rid of all the Mexicans rats South Park have had five episodes featuring immigration as a backdrop and several others where they reference the issue discussing it in a variety of different angles such as how immigration impacts American jobs both negatively and positively how immigrant culture can sometimes clash with out of the United States and how American nationalism can sometimes be arrogant in assuming that the native countries that these people are coming from are just shitty places season eights goo box the title being a play on words of the derogatory term wetback deals directly with the issue of how mass immigration kills jobs for American born citizens particularly for the poor and how mass immigration can change the host country's culture the immigrants from this episode hail from the future rather than any actual country the episode begins with a news report of a time portal resembling that at the terminator universe appearing just off an interstate highway from which a man from the future has just passed through the news station incidentally CNN speculates that he has traveled here with a cure for cancer has he come to deliver a cure for cancer however they are soon disappointed to learn that he's in fact here just looking for work as his home is overpopulated and lacking jobs and so he intends to send whatever he earns back to his family by letting it sit in a bank account for a few hundred years here we see stone and Parker poked fun of how advocates of soft immigration policy constantly make the assumption that America is importing doctors and such and even the next Einstein ignoring the obvious fact that most are just menial laborers and then how many migrants don't intend to returning whatever they earn back into the economy rather electing to send the greater portion back to their home country as the episode progresses we see more and more time migrants pass through the portal and begin working in the town of South Park their willingness to work for wages as low as 25 cents an hour causes Cartman Stan Kyle and Kenny to lose their snow shoveling business and impacts the town's working-class population the guys the plight of the jobless poor is ignored by CNN who are more preoccupied with how much they can learn from the time migrants great opportunity to learn even more about American life in the future Chris Hall joins us now Chris yes there are incredible things we're learning about Americans in the future Aaron the town's middle-class like Stan's parents Randy and Sharron marks are too blissfully ignorant of the situation now finding themselves able to afford a housemaid and as their white-collar jobs aren't immediately threatened they dismiss Stan's protest against losing his job claiming that the migrants only do the work that Americans don't want to do they're only taking the small menial jobs that nobody else really wants to do I wanted my job the concerns of the town's working-class are dismissed again in a new segment featuring a debate between the character Darrell introduced us hissed off white trash redneck conservative and another character known aleeah's aging hippie liberal douche who instead of offering solutions to the toplessness among the town's native-born working-class invokes america's history of immigration calls Darla retinic and then blames multinational corporations for his predicament this echoes this same disingenuous argument made by the mainstream media and liberal left for years that those made aa plus by immigration should just accept it because you know you shouldn't be intolerant Darryl in turn has trouble articulating his point beyond exclaiming yeah he is later dismissed again when writing to his local congressman about the problem who responds dear intolerant rednecks we sympathize with you all losing your jobs however we feel your solution of shooting everyone who crosses the time border is inhumane eventually the floodgates open with time I grits now bringing their entire families with them this parallels the phenomenon known as chain migration typical of migrants from poorer countries where the patriarch of a family will travel abroad first to earn the means to bring over his wife and kids this also results in the school having to teach students in both English on the language of the cubic children as the boy through the red ball which in future speak of course is down and the boys soon find themselves increasingly frustrated how the GU box can't seem to understand English even when working at service jobs like places like Burger King where it really should be a requirement yeah I want a double cheeseburger and fries no a double cheeseburger and fries what Main Street South Park soon becomes an unrecognizable ghetto full of tacky street vendors shouting out in a foreign language and gang members cruising around in hover cars now there are so many time I grens thought Randy who as a geologist taught us job to be safe finds himself to replace with a GU bak who is willing to work for less the episode concludes with the tan realizing that despite the GU box coming from a place that is overpopulated and where jobs and resources are scarce letting sympathy get the better of them will only cause South Park to become the same the solution then is to help the migrants at home rather than climbing into a big pile of men and having gay sex with each other this inevitably means making the present a better place as the migrants do come from the future you see the future begins with you and me then once all the goo box repatriate back to their own time Stan then realizes that this is gay this is really gay yeah this is even gayer than all the men getting in a big pound having sex with each other okay sorry my bad everyone back in the pile everyone the theme of immigrations impact on jobs is used again in season 11s d Ike's this time however Mountain Trey take a considerably more positive approach after being given an impossible essay assignment on Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the sea to complete in one weekend karmen suggests that they pay the Mexican immigrants who hang around outside the truck rental Depot to do it for them haha yes we all can work si we need you to work together read the book and write four essays comprende the Mexicans agree and Cartman exclaims but the language barrier caused the Mexicans to write their essays about the book instead of actually writing an essay assignment on the book as in they wrote letters to their friends about it my essay in Denver and my Athey and Lynwood even wrote me back thanks for writing me they say why the hell would we tell you to write your friends wait there it's kind of strange so yeah we can see Mountain trave vent their frustrations over immigrants not doing a good enough job to learn English here it's okay there's people you can hire for this kind of thing later on we see mr. garrison no miss garrison also recruit the Mexicans to infiltrate a group of Iranian businessmen trying to take over the local gay bar then at the end of the episode when garrison calls in sick to school the Mexicans are hired again this time as substitute teachers I mean denominator I think the point mount and Trey are trying to make in this episode is that immigrants can actually be useful to do the jobs that natives don't want to do or sometimes need them to do so the language barrier can be super annoying sometimes now the the whole language barrier thing is something I can personally relate to because I have actually witnessed a similar mistake made by Mexicans before when working one summer in a restaurant in downtown Chicago as a waiter or rather a server as the restaurant called the position all the bussers who happen to be Mexican horse Panic were called server assistants or essays for short and until I explained to him that it was actually an acronym they all thought it was a good-natured joke Koza they were all essays how about that season 15s the last of the Mohicans again features immigration and jobs as a theme but also introduces Eric and nationalism airing in 2011 the same year as the occupying Tea Party movements the episode came at a time where there was a general feeling of America in decline on both sides of the aisle this was a clear inspiration for it lost the Mohicans premise that America got so shitty that all the Mexican immigrants were now trying to illegally cross the border to get back home the opening scene features the boys playing a game called Texas vs Mexicans toy guns and all in which one side holds a fort resembling a border fence and tries to prevent the other from getting in the character butters or Monte Kia as his name translates into Spanish sounds so noble is on the Mexican side he gets separated from the group when trying to break into Texas on his accidentally hit by a car owned by an American couple who take him home to their house as they don't want him to be shipped back home to Mexico like in animals and have him shipped back to Mexico like some animal so here's where the arrogant nationalism starts to creep in I mean America is great but there there are reasons why immigrants might like their homes their own national culture and pride it's something important to them too you heard of Mexican salsa but Mexican pride we shouldn't assume that a lack of patriotism or love of one's country is what drives immigrants to the United States and we should also not assume that America has everything to offer them overwhelmingly they will be regulated as we've already mentioned two menial labor we see this through the wife who condescendingly explains to butters what a bad is as if Mexicans don't have the luxury of beds and then what a window is before explaining the meaning of Windex and paper towels and then getting butters to clean her windows this touches on the theme of the previous episodes of Mexicans doing the job dot nobody else wants to do work just doing it for a very low wage this is the wonderful opportunity in America that awaits young mantequilla voters becomes essentially a live-in slave doing the dishes and they even gift him for his services with a leaf blower butter starts performing all the stereotyped jobs of general Hess work dishwashing and gardening and then when he says that he needs to go home the wife has brought his hears and comes to the realization that he belongs with his own kind before driving him to a stereotype restaurant which bears the same name as Kenny's wrestling character from the episode WTF the kitchen staff aren't fooled bike builders cosplay but they do mistake him as a white American who wants to be Mexican a lot of kids don't like being white these days it inspires them to return home because mutton kheema know they are joined by paramedics and nurses and recurring characters from previous episodes one of the hombres from D Ike and the pregnant teenager from Iike penis stands father Randy is delighted that the Hispanic immigrants are self deporting but but when he steps out of his door and realized that this means his front yard is full of leaves he he lets out a Darth Vader and to counter this reverse immigration crisis the US border patrol begins recruiting in reference to monty python's life of brian butters becomes regarded as a god to the mexican people he inspires a whole nationalist movement with his very own national holiday mexicans are clearly much happier in their own country being proud of where they live might this be a better humanitarian answer than importing them by the millions into the United States when we asked Obama to stop illegal immigrants we didn't mean to make the US so shitty they wouldn't want to come anymore the theme of Eric and nationalism was actually first discussed in season four as quintuplets mm mm mm everything was about you know as soon as the new year started it was like this mm and that mm so we just decided to call every episode whatever was this episode revolves around five orphaned sisters who escaped in the price of soviet-style regime in romania while the sisters are pursued by the Romanian government the town of South Park does their best to protect the girls they received the support of protesters who chant the girls are regarded with the sort of condescending benevolence by the town who referred to Romania as the asshole of the world and an armpit of a country Romania the subplot however features Kenny trying to pursue an operatic singing career and as there is no adequate training available in the United States he is forced to travel to Europe specifically Romania Kenny's journey to Romania for its higher culture and high art is compared against his friends back home who led by Cartman take the quintuplets on a tour of culturally bankrupt America where they have [Music] the authoritarian regime is also compared against certain authoritarian aspects of the United States government with Attorney General Janet Reno notorious for the Waco debacle making an appearance events like Waco where the ATF laid siege to a gun-toting cult for weeks on end using highly militarized techniques eventually resulting in the fiery deaths of dozens demonstrates that America too has a capacity for government's tyranny later in the episode Kenny's father is coerced at gunpoint into producing a video calling for the return of his child from Romania just that the quintuplets father is coerced by the Romanian government to do the same the episode concludes with the sisters losing their patience with all the disrespect shown towards their country and while they choose to remain in the United States Romania still the culture clash team crops up again in season 19's where my country gone except in the place of immigrants from the future South Park now has an immigrant crisis from Canada aired only a couple of months after Donald Trump announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination and eventually president this episode is eerily prophetic the opening scene features the character mr. garrison Jimbo and mr. Adler complaining that political correctness has reached such a point that the immigration problem can't even be talked about before being interrupted by Randy Marsh who corrects them for their problematic language illegal immigrants because the correct term is undocumented immigrants are I brah later in the episode we once again see South Park Elementary how to tailor its teaching curriculum to accommodate immigrant students except this time garrison has had enough losing his temper with a Canadian students after they interrupt his class on how the Roman Empire fell due to barbarian migrations for religious worship go back where you came from this lines them in trouble with PC principal get it and after garrison complains that the new students don't even speak English he is again mandated to teach in two different languages to this end PC principal orders all staff members of South Park Elementary to attend Canadian language classes PC principals responds brilliantly satirizes how the modern left in the United States would rather see the host culture assimilate without of immigrants rather than make any effort to integrate immigrants the logical consequence of this is demonstrated in the following scene where in the school cafeteria the Canadian immigrants aren't integrating choosing to self-segregate and sit amongst themselves though Stan Kyle and the gang could be a little bit more accommodating this prompts the boys to grow distrustful of them Cartman even begins echoing conspiracy theories popular with the alt-right suggesting that the current influx of illegal immigrants is a Jewish conspiracy to bring down the West guys I think this whole thing is a conspiracy America has pretty secure borders for years cow gives a big speech about tolerance and acceptance that goes viral a bunch of Canadians cross the border illegally well it's intriguing because in Genesis 34 the Jews actually did something similar to what Kyle's doing now illegal immigration has been happening forever but it's happening a lot more now because you want to bring down the cultural fabric of America okay here at you Kyle who is Jewish tries to explain it all away with his usual talk of acceptance however he is rebuffed by his friends the instead elect to make butters infiltrate their group by seducing one of the Canadian girls and then later on in the episode mr. garrison like Donald Trump begins capitalizing on anti-immigrant strife gaining the support of the tans working class our good old friends the rednecks yet he however discovers that his counterpart in Canada has already beat him to building a wall in between their two countries where my country gone differs slightly to GU box in focusing on the logical result of tensions caused by mass emigration other than the tensions themselves where GU box discusses economic and culture conflict directly this episode discusses what happens when such issues are ignored natives grow distrustful of immigrants and forced cultural sensitivity classes and language policing only exasperate the problem and probably anticipating immigration as a winning issue as they have been discussing the topic for years South Park is unique in this regard in that they are not detached from the situation on the ground like many American sitcoms it is true that most of America wasn't paying attention as Trump drew massive crowds and grew an enthusiastic base out of the American population that typically did not vote I'm suggesting we round them all up pull down their pants and fuck them and tell their spirits leave their bodies in conclusions a park stake on immigration as we can see from episodes like gu boxin where my country gone is that rampant unchecked immigration deteriorates American culture and threatens the job of native-born citizens unfairly affecting the working class disproportionately and if not addressed properly tensions that arise from clashing cultures or an overly competitive jobs market can lead to something else episodes like D Ike's and last of the meheecans conversely highlight that immigrants are in fact useful for bolstering the labor force where needed demonstrating that Matt Stone and Trey Parker can see that not all immigration is bad and to a point actually good for America both last of the Mohicans and quintuplets discuss how Nash's arrogance can breed contempt among immigrant citizens and that America should always keep in mind that immigrants might have come to the United States to avoid joblessness poverty or to escape an oppressive regime not always necessarily because they hate their home country immigration will also be discussed again in the latest seasons opening episode however the rednecks in this one focus their protests against Amazon's Alexa and Apple Siri civilizing that it is automation that will become the greatest threat to working class jobs in the future not immigration thanks for watching and if you like this video be sure to give it a thumbs up it really helps a lot and if you're new here be sure to subscribe also please consider supporting this channel on patreon this video like practically everything else I upload will probably be demonetized so any small contribution will be greatly appreciated [Music]

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Channel: This Information

Views: 1,860,686

Rating: 4.1629086 out of 5

Keywords: South Park (American sitcom), south park, Eric Cartman (South Park character), Political correctness (Literature Subject), Philosophy (Field Of Study), Television Program (Media Genre), Film (Media Genre), Film Analysis, Cinematography (Field Of Study), Film Studies (Field Of Study), Politics, Immigration, Wisecrack, South Park Game, Fractured But Whole

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Length: 21min 25sec (1285 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 09 2017

Reddit Comments

The reason South Park is great is because they go after everyone. They call everyone on their bullshit and they don't hold back in any way. Whatever the creators think politically doesn't prevent them from exposing people and that is the main reason, no matter how vulgar it is, South Park is one of the greatest shows in television history. I remember somebody asking Will Cain what was better Family Guy or South Park and him, "South Park, are you serious?"

Edit: Liberals and Conservatives and everything in between can enjoy South Park...it's just good shit

👍︎︎ 4 👤︎︎ u/Dude_Who_Cares 📅︎︎ Apr 10 2018 🗫︎ replies