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South Park season's final two episodes ...

R

raildogg

Lifer
Not sure how many of you have seen them but I just wanted to make a few observations if you don't mind. Right from the start, I should point out I am not into the social media fad at all and don't care for it.

It seemed like the in the first episode, the creators were truly concerned about the phony, completely self-absorbed, superficial and distracted world that we're all living in. I liked the part where Ike's friends were hanging out with him yet each one was hooked to their particular screen - just surfing the web together, LOL. So true. This is how we humans are or will be. It seemed like the message was that all this social media obsession that is supposed to bring us together is actually making us more alone.

The second part of this two part episode is something totally surprising. I won't go into the details but they actually brought this pewdiepie guy into the episode and made him a part of it. And the ending message was that we have to accept this new social culture - looking up to Youtube celebrities, for instance. Totally destroyed their message from episode one.

I understand that we live in the internet and technology age and we have to adapt to certain things. But what I don't get is why is everything getting worse and more phony? Everything I hear from the TV, radio, websites, etc. is nothing but bait to create more ad revenue, more attention, more "buzz," and especially more distraction.

Stand in line somewhere and look around - everyone's head is buried in the phone. It's like we cannot stand still. We need distractions. We constantly need to keep us away from our own selves and our own thoughts.

Just wanted to post about the season finale. South Park is one of the few shows I like. Usually their messages are about the utter stupidity of mankind. I wonder if that will continue.
 
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I think you misinterpreted the message. I'm pretty sure it was supposed to be something like "I used to be with it, but then they changed what *it* was. Now what I'm with isn't *it*, and what's *it* seems weird and scary to me. It'll happen to you..."
 
Since you think social media is a fad, do you also think the internet is a fad as well? We communicate differently now. I'm sure all those hardcore letter writers said the same things about phones.
 
It was weird that they kept referencing previous episodes and made a whole storyline like that. They don't usually do that.

DAMN THAT PREMIUM GAMING!

Also, LOL at the "social media fad". Something that's been popular for more than 10 years isn't a fad. Ugly Christmas sweaters is a fad, planking was a fad, Twitter is an accepted form of communication.
 
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We are wired to crave new information and experiences.
It's why babies get tired of their toys quickly, but love a new paper bag.

Same with adults.
We have a constant stream of new information (pictures, articles, status updates, etc.).
Talking to a person face to face takes more effort and results in less consumption of new data.

The internet is a never ending feeding trough for our minds.
 
Fritzo said:
It was weird that they kept referencing previous episodes and made a whole storyline like that. They don't usually do that.

DAMN THAT PREMIUM GAMING!

Also, LOL at the "social media fad". Something that's been popular for more than 10 years isn't a fad. Ugly Christmas sweaters is a fad, planking was a fad, Twitter is an accepted form of communication.
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yeah i was thinking about how they had running stories the whole season as well. i still don't get the whole lorde thing either. as in, why they kept that going so long and what they were really making fun of with her being kyle's dad.
 
I don't think them getting the one real guy is them advocating that we have to "look up to these Youtube celebrities", it's more the guy or them probably contacted the other and the guy was cool with them having fun at his expense and they realized he's not a total d-bag despite his persona so they offered to have him do a bit for the show.

I actually think the whole time they were highlighting both the silliness of the Youtube/Twitch people as well as the people that constantly complain about all of that stuff. Throughout history every new tech has been decried as making us less human and being the harbinger of the downfall of man and all sorts of other hyperbole.

I won't say too much about the Twitch/Youtube people as that's been beat to death and really is a different topic altogether. I'll sum it up though, Twitch/Let's Play people just seem to be trying to see who can be the most obnoxious asshole and 99% of them are completely uninteresting. There's plenty of ones that do other stuff (music, movie stuff, other game stuff) that is actually interesting and worth supporting, but their Twitch stuff is just not good and yet that seems to be one of their biggest sources of income so it's becoming more and more of a focus by them.

One thing I loved about this season is they basically turned into a coherent thing by connecting the episodes together (stuff like Randy as Lorde). I think that works really well as they sometimes do some amazing bits but they get left in a single episode. This way they can use the good stuff to bolster some of the weaker stuff, but they also did a good job of not just making it be them regurgitating the same exact bit over and over.
 
Fritzo said:
Also, LOL at the "social media fad". Something that's been popular for more than 10 years isn't a fad. Ugly Christmas sweaters is a fad, planking was a fad, Twitter is an accepted form of communication.
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It's ironic when people on here complain about social media, since forums and bulletin board are social media. In fact, they were among the first social media channels. It's been a huge part of the internet since the beginning.

Social media today works because it exploit's our primal desire for constant novelty. That's how folks get addicted to it. It's not really sinister, well except maybe Facebook, but that's why it's so popular.

As for the South Park episode, it's more a statement on how things change and what's new scares the older crowd. Wasn't my favourite from this season. Some good moments but fell flat in others. You can tell PewDiePie was sick when he was doing his lines. Pretty cool though to see them giving a nod to internet celebrities. YouTube has really democratized television production to the point where anybody with a good idea can be famous.
 
It struck a chord with me because of all the streaming talk lately and how I just don't get it. I'm a grandpa I guess 😛 lol.

While it's all satire, they actually hit a few good points. Every generation looks to the newer gen and is like WTF is wrong with you.
 
purbeast0 said:
yeah i was thinking about how they had running stories the whole season as well. i still don't get the whole lorde thing either. as in, why they kept that going so long and what they were really making fun of with her being kyle's dad.
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I think just the absurdity of it. In some ways I think it is a slight towards Lorde (basically saying her music really isn't anything special and could be made by even a 40+ year old middle aged man) but they also highlight that it doesn't matter and that she's a positive role model. Plus she's not insufferable like Taylor Swift.

I don't know if they'd originally planned to keep the bits running the season or not or what. This would definitely make for an interesting season for a behind the scenes thing (which they did for one or two other seasons).

Perhaps this is what they were wanting to go for back when they had those one episodes where they point out how they just keep doing the same thing over and over (was a few seasons back, the Assburger's ones) and wanted a change?

I hope they keep it up (if they keep doing the show, or even as a way to wrap up the show to end on a high note) as I think that's something a lot of shows, but especially animated ones, fall prey to, the longer they're on the less they become about the characters/storylines from the show and the more they just become individual episodes of running commentary using the characters of the show. South Park had gotten that way, but they did a better job than most of making it interesting.
 
Since this is a tech forum the views will generally tilt towards the new trends of the day.

The point is that young people are so wired into the whole technology craze that it is a very important part of their lives - even more important than actual people around them. A lot of people nowadays would rather listen to some random guy on Youtube or on some website than somebody close to them. As being on the internet legitimizes someone or some thing.

Yes, I used the word fad because a lot of these type of things are spread like wildfire and eventually settle down or are replaced by something newer and shinier. The internet is not a fad because we have totally incorporated it into everything we do.

Do we want to incorporate Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, etc. so much into our lives? I guess a lot of people do. I hope the internet is certainly more than socializing and getting entertainment. But the more I see things, the more I realize that human beings crave entertainments and distractions above most other things. Look on Youtube - videos that have any sort of substance are far outviewed by what a internet celebrity does in his/her day. I'm not different since I tend to watch the superficial videos more than ones with actual content.
 
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ImpulsE69 said:
It struck a chord with me because of all the streaming talk lately and how I just don't get it. I'm a grandpa I guess 😛 lol.

While it's all satire, they actually hit a few good points. Every generation looks to the newer gen and is like WTF is wrong with you.
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Maybe we humans are getting worse all the while thinking we're advancing. In terms of things on the surface, like material things, we might be advancing. In everything else, I highly doubt it.
 
purbeast0 said:
yeah i was thinking about how they had running stories the whole season as well. i still don't get the whole lorde thing either. as in, why they kept that going so long and what they were really making fun of with her being kyle's dad.
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Stan's dad...Randy.

And I think they were more so making fun of the overuse and over reliance on auto tune than of Lorde specifically.
 
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