*Contains spoilers* I must confess that, as a foreigner, I was not aware of the Trayvon Martin ruling and the "stand your ground" laws. This classic episode of South Park brought me right up to speed on those controversial issues, swiftly and roughly. (I'm against the ruling and the law, BTW). This was a great opportinuty for Cartman to wreak havoc on the world, again :-). And the end scene just blew me away. Keep m coming, Trey and Matt! You're making a difference in the world. I'm required to write a few more lines by IMDb. Let's do a poem: The time has come, the walrus said, to talk of many things. Of shoes and ships an sealing wax. Of cabbages and kings.
3 Reviews
My Attempt at Unpacking the Social Commentary in World War Zimmerman
katyakjharvey29 November 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Watching "World War Zimmerman" a decade after its release brought a fresh perspective, especially considering the heightened discussions about George Floyd and police reform in 2020. I watched this episode in the dorm lounge of my very liberal university - it made the experience incredibly awkward especially because we caught some strays and people were watching with no context. Watching it in a fairly public place reminded me how closely people need to pay attention to shows like this, because everyone not actively watching will take it for face value.
The episode's amalgamation of World War Z and the social issues at hand was kind of odd. Maybe it's just because I lack context - I never watched World War Z and I'm also not a regular South Park viewer - but it seemed out of place.
Cartman's poem cleverly exposed the tendency of some individuals to play the victim when discussing societal issues. Cartman crafted the poem out of fear that Tolkien was blaming him for the outcome in the Trayvon Martin case. Cartman's understanding of Tolkien's stance on the case or if the case even had Tolkien's attention was completely crafted by himself. Unprompted, man just reads his poem about his feelings about being part of the problem to a random black guy. Took me out. When people talk about "the issue," whatever it may be, random ass people like to play the victim. Basically, every time something like this goes down, some idiot gets on twitter with the "I don't see color" argument and claims to be not a part of the problem. The issue with that? People focus too much on defending themselves rather than being proactive about a given situation.
Tolkien's defense against Cartman's provocations, both in the assembly and in Mackey's office, shed light on the misinterpretations of defensive positions as aggression. Cartman's reactions to Tolkien's very valid anger took me out. Bro just tries to defend himself and rightfully so, but his reaction is constantly taken as aggression, which is something that happens with the black community often. Their very regular and normal actions are taken in a different light because of preexisting beliefs about them as a people.
Cartman's convincing of the entire world that the zombie thing was happening could be touching on mob mentality and how many people are very uninformed about issues but still react in extreme ways.
Zimmerman shooting Cartman while he was in blackface and facing extreme consequences for it because Cartman is a white kid was really funny, especially because Cartman did in fact have ill intent. Just highlights the irregularities in the justice system.
Cartman shooting Tolkien and then Tolkien getting a talking to AGAIN killed me. Tolkien speaks up for himself and chaos ensues. It's all very sad, somehow the innocent black kid is still getting a talking to about a situation where he very clearly is the victim.
Not gonna lie, I think this episode was sloppily put together, but I liked it all the same.
The episode's amalgamation of World War Z and the social issues at hand was kind of odd. Maybe it's just because I lack context - I never watched World War Z and I'm also not a regular South Park viewer - but it seemed out of place.
Cartman's poem cleverly exposed the tendency of some individuals to play the victim when discussing societal issues. Cartman crafted the poem out of fear that Tolkien was blaming him for the outcome in the Trayvon Martin case. Cartman's understanding of Tolkien's stance on the case or if the case even had Tolkien's attention was completely crafted by himself. Unprompted, man just reads his poem about his feelings about being part of the problem to a random black guy. Took me out. When people talk about "the issue," whatever it may be, random ass people like to play the victim. Basically, every time something like this goes down, some idiot gets on twitter with the "I don't see color" argument and claims to be not a part of the problem. The issue with that? People focus too much on defending themselves rather than being proactive about a given situation.
Tolkien's defense against Cartman's provocations, both in the assembly and in Mackey's office, shed light on the misinterpretations of defensive positions as aggression. Cartman's reactions to Tolkien's very valid anger took me out. Bro just tries to defend himself and rightfully so, but his reaction is constantly taken as aggression, which is something that happens with the black community often. Their very regular and normal actions are taken in a different light because of preexisting beliefs about them as a people.
Cartman's convincing of the entire world that the zombie thing was happening could be touching on mob mentality and how many people are very uninformed about issues but still react in extreme ways.
Zimmerman shooting Cartman while he was in blackface and facing extreme consequences for it because Cartman is a white kid was really funny, especially because Cartman did in fact have ill intent. Just highlights the irregularities in the justice system.
Cartman shooting Tolkien and then Tolkien getting a talking to AGAIN killed me. Tolkien speaks up for himself and chaos ensues. It's all very sad, somehow the innocent black kid is still getting a talking to about a situation where he very clearly is the victim.
Not gonna lie, I think this episode was sloppily put together, but I liked it all the same.
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