Political Message in South Park's Episode Splatty Tomato

South Park is most effective at expressing its message of being equally satirical to all situations and by doing so creating a situation where no one can be offended since everyone is offended. South Park’s humor has continued to grow darker and more relevant to what happens on social media, whether it be events or drama. South Park is now a show where any adult can watch and most likely recognize an event or person being made fun of that he saw on the news last week. A modern example of South Park’s ability to express opinion can be seen in the recent episode, “Splatty Tomato.”

This episode follows the children of South Park as they try to track down their president, Mr. Garrison, who has been harassing children while living in the woods. The president, Mr. Garrison is depicted as being obsessed with his approval ratings and carrying red “Make America Great Again” balloons. This scene is a combination of the horror movie “It”, popular mystery TV show “Stranger Things”, and US President Trumps slogan as well as his goals involving national and presidential statistics. The combination of characteristics from “It” and “Stranger Things” helps provide a comparison to the opinions that most Americans have formed regarding Trump; confusion, fear, and anger.

All but one family in South Park aimed to help capture Mr. Garrison alongside the children and that one family in town who remained loyal supporters of Mr. Garrison were “the Whites.” The White’s stay dedicated to playing the victim while being unwilling to acknowledge the situation that Mr. Garrison has become crazy. This family is a comparison to President Trump’s dedicated following who are known to not listen to reason or even consider the possibly that their opinions may be wrong. While the rest of the South Park townspeople searched for President Garrison, the Whites decide to obsess over Hillary Clinton involvement with the “war on Christmas”. This hints again that the Whites, or President Trump’s following would rather argue with the opposing side about how a holiday is celebrated rather than real issues like what the president is doing for the country and how he is doing it. When president Garrison is captured, the Whites try to retake Mr. Garrison and during this confrontation, President Garrison escapes into the woods to do whatever he pleases once again.

This is a comparison to how president Trump does not get punished for his decisions. The final scene of this episode ends with a statement, “only the Whites can stop him now”. This statement infers that as of now, only President Trump’s following can make a difference and their decision has the potential to change America.

The final episode of the 21st season, “Splatty Tomato” reflects on how America, or South Park in a literally case, has changed because of the recent presidency change.