South Park: Censored

Last night I returned home, eagerly anticipating the episode "201," a conclusion to last week's 200th episode special. I missed the original airing and caught the re-air that occurs ever Wednesday two hours after the initial one. I was slightly surprised it was a recent episode, "The Tale of Scrotie McBoogerBalls" and thought maybe this was a joke: after all, I had thought South Park might not air the episode like they did 12 years ago to pull an April Fool's Prank.

Now I see that that is not the case. Comedy Central pulled the re-airing and as far as I've heard have pulled all scheduled re-airings for the next week. Why, you may ask?

It all has to do with the Prophet Mohammed. Remember back in 2006, when a Danish cartoonist depicted the Prophet and incited the unholy wrath of a bunch of pissed-off extremists? Well, South Park aired a two-part episode called "Cartoon Wars" in which the show Family Guy is coming under fire for trying to air the image. The episodes raised great questions on the limits on what is and what isn't ok to show on TV, and how you set that precedent. The episode ends with Family Guy depicting the image, though ironically Comedy Central wouldn't allow the image to be shown.

Why is it ironic? Back in 2001, South Park aired an episode titled "Super Best Friends" in which Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, Lao Tsu, Sea Man, Joseph Smith, and yes, Mohammed, all teamed up to fight an evil David Blaine. Back then, no one cared. True, it was two months before 9/11, but Comedy Central set precedent that Mohammed was ok to show. And even after the "Cartoon Wars" episodes, "Super Best Friends" was re-aired on syndicated television (I know because I saw the episode on CW channel).

So that brings us to now. Last week, to commemorate their 200th episode, South Park went back and rehashed a lot of old jokes, one of them being the Mohammed controversy. The episode ended with Mohammed dressed in a bear suit, as the townspeople debate what to do with him. During the week in between episodes, a radical website called Revolution Muslim posted a note saying that Matt and Trey better watch out or they'll end up like Theo van Gogh. Van Gogh was a documentary filmmaker who made a film about Islamic abuse of women, and was killed by extremists in Amsterdam in 2004.

Though I wasn't able to watch the episode live, I did find it online and watched it there. I was surprised that the word Mohammed altogether had been bleeped completely. I assumed it was a joke and Matt and Trey's part, as did most of the Internet community. Additionally, the character Kyle gives a speech on what was learned, yet that was bleeped out completely. That, again, I assumed to be a joke.

Today, it was revealed that Comedy Central added the bleeps over Mohammed's name to protect Matt and Trey, and Matt and Trey later released a statement saying Comedy Central bleeped out the end speech as well. The episode isn't available uncensored, as all episodes are, for the show's website: instead, there is a note saying that Comedy Central won't allow them to put it up.

Now, I understand why Comedy Central wouldn't let the image of the Holy Prophet be broadcast: they were trying to protect the staff of South Park, who would all be in as much danger as Matt or Trey if these threats were somehow became real. But I think it is the start of a terrible chain reaction that they bleeped Mohammed's name from even being uttered. Muslims have no problem with his name! They say it all the time! And Mohammed spent the whole episode behind a black censored bar (which I firmly believe Matt and Trey put in there) and didn't say anything this week! Why bleep his name? And why bleep the end speech, in which Mohammed apparently wasn't mentioned but about intimidation and fear.

Even the episode "Super Best Friends" isn't on the South Park website anymore. It's gone. Kapoot. Luckily I own season 5 on DVD, and there are dozen other places you can find the episode. But still, it is a terrible move on CC's part. Last time Mohammed wasn't shown, Matt and Trey showed Jesus and George Bush shitting on each other, poop-a-flyin'. This week, Buddha snorts coke and Jesus is accused of watching Internet Porn. Comedy Central has now set the standard South Park warned against four years ago: if you give in to threats, then soon more people will threaten you. It will start a landslide until, boom, you can't do anything taboo anymore.

Ultimately, I'm not calling for the episode to air with Mohammed uncensored. I don't think that will ever happen. But the episode should become available without Mohammed's name or the end speech censored. It's just ridiculous and doesn't make sense. The name isn't the thing forbidden, it's the image. I'm quite interested to see what South Park does next week for it's mid-season finale.

In the Loop (2009)

There is something inanely refreshing about a political satire that lets no one be the hero, instead letting every character serve as one way or another a villain. This is true of In the Loop, be it the witless Simon Foster (Tom Hollander), the aides Judy (Gine McKee) and Toby (Chris Addison), the press agent Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi), the secretive Linton Barwick (David Rasche), the nosy Karen Clarke (Mimi Kennedy) or the soft Lt. Gen. Miller (James Gadolfini).

The movie opens with Simon Foster, the minister of something or other, making a gaffe on BBC radio, stating that war “is unforeseeable”. This starts a tumult, and Simon makes things worse by saying, later, the sometimes you must “Climb the Mountain of Conflict.” If anything, this movie is a prime example of why one small slip can ruin an entire political career.

The movie never states it, but one assumes that it is taking place in the days leading up the Iraq War, or war with another unnamed country in the Middle East. Director and co-writer Armando Ianucci cleverly never reveals the identity of the President, Vice President, or Prime Minister, and the exact crisis in the Middle East is left unexplained.

The movie is fast, using the documentary style now associated with The Office, and slings jokes at the audience quicker then machine gun fire. The plot is thick, sometimes hard to conceive, but the movie’s trick is it is never boring. Some compare it Dr. Strangelove (1964), and I think that is a fair comparison. Strangelove was a model for the paranoia of the Cold War, and brilliantly pitted the Americans and the Russians opposite each other. Here, it is the British and Americans arguing about going to war.

Maybe the movies greatest strength, and weakness, is that there is no one character you can really root for. Gadolfini’s Gen. Miller is definitely a soft type: he looks friendly, and calmly and cheerfully insults anyone who irks him. Capaldi’s Malcolm is a horse of a different color, blurting obscenities of high caliber imagination, and furiously berating everyone in his path. In one great scene, he goes to the White House to be briefed on a war committee, only to find that the person who is briefing him is a 23-year-old. His reaction and subsequent action is priceless.

There is also the part of the dueling assistants, Liza Weld (Anna Chlumsky) and Michael Rodgers (James Smith), and the scheming, loathsome Toby. Everyone is a backstabber, and I have to say if anyone in power is as clumsy or inept as the characters in this movie (as I do suspect a lot of our elected officials are), then it would explain some of the more outrageous things that have come to pass.

In the Loop also has the distinct honor of being one of the first satires of the Iraq War, and thankfully lands it right. Mishandled, it could have offended, but this way it is hilarious, insightful, and just makes you damn mad at the way things are handled in the corridors of power.

Not Rated, but contains many colorful swears