I can't believe that there are still a lot of people who don't know what South Park is . A few days ago I was asked about it and I was like 'How can you not know what South Park is?'. So, I felt that I had to write an article concerning this matter.
South Park is an American animated sitcom ("sitcom" means "situation comedy" and it is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment) created by two guys, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, that I consider geniuses.
South Park got famous for its dark, surreal humor that lampoons a wide range of topics and also for its poor graphics.
Mat and Stone met in college and started the show from a small project involving two short animated films with the title "The Spirit of Christmas" made in 1992 and 1995.
The animation was made by using paper, glue and an old camera and had the debute in a student film screening.
The film "The Spirit of Christmas" is very similar in appearance with the today's four main characters of South Park. The difference was that Cartman was named Kenny and Kenny was unnamed, Kyle didn't wear a hat and all the characters had similar voices.
The film "The Spirit of Christmas" is later referenced in a South Park episode 607 from season six - "Simpsons Already Did It", in which Stan, Kyle and Tweek are building a snowman, and Tweek is reluctant to put the nose on the snowman because he thinks it will come to life and kill him. To which Stan replies, "Dude, when has that ever happened, except for that one time?" a thing that I find kind of cool as not too many people know what it refers to.
Each episode except the very first one, which was produced by cutout animation, is created with software that emulates the cutout technique. Each episode is typically written and produced during the week preceding its broadcast. Parker and Stone continue to perform most of the voice acting, and Parker is the primary writer and director.
So, as we now know the origins of South Park let's find out more about the actual show.
South Park follows the exploits of four boys, Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman and Kenny McCormick, except in season 6 when Kenny was temporarily written off the show and replaced with Butters then Tweek. The boys live in the fictional small town of South Park, located within the real life South Park basin in the Rocky Mountains of central Colorado. The town is also home to an assortment of frequent characters such as students, families, elementary school staff, and other various residents, who tend to regard South Park as a bland and quiet place to live. Prominent settings on the show include the local elementary school, bus stop, various neighborhoods and the surrounding snowy landscape, actual Colorado landmarks, and the shops and businesses along the town's main street, all of which are based on the appearance of similar locations in the town of Fairplay, Colorado.