The other projects that the duo have taken on, such as Team America (2004), tend to reveal an inversion to the traditional approach to animation. While traditional studios use animation to make something fantastical, the directors of South Park strive for satire through abstraction. Without empathetic human faces, characters can do anything, and the more deviant the more humorous.
The trashy nature of South Park fits it nicely in the postmodern part of our canon, as a comment on the twentieth century and our relationship with the media.
On the one hand you could see the film as dated and not edgy enough. On the other hand what the film stood for in its time is significant, as is the insight that what we consider offensive is always changing and often constructed (last offence in vogue was the caricature Mohammed).
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Article comments
1 - Sterfish
Excellent, spot on review of that movie.