Political Correctness in Comedy: An Analysis of Satire in South Park

Žnidarić, Tomislav. (2018). Political Correctness in Comedy: An Analysis of Satire in South Park. Diploma Thesis. Filozofski fakultet u Zagrebu, Department of English Language and Literature. [mentor Stanojević, Mateusz-Milan].

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Abstract

Political correctness is a phenomenon causing numerous debates due to its controversial nature, with some critics calling it an infringement on the freedom of speech and expressions, which is why comedy, which often contains controversial and sometimes even offensive material, is an especially interesting area to study how political correctness operates. The creators of South Park, a satirical adult animated sitcom, known for dealing with a wide range of controversial topics, often use methods that result in a mockery of the subject in question. The objective of this paper is to show that the satire of South Park works on many levels, often combining several literary devices in one utterance or scene, with the aim to ridicule the concept of political correctness. This is done by analysing the 19th season of the show, which primarily deals with the topic of political correctness, and discerning the various satirical literary devices that are employed in the show, together with the concept of frame shifting, or violating expectations in the service of satire. The results are grouped together as codes, which show us the significance of enhancing the comedic effect in order to illustrate the main goal, which is to ridicule authority, in this instance the authority of political correctness, just as numerous works of satire have ridiculed authority over the course of history.

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