What do TV shows like Beavis and Butthead and Southpark have in common with the philosophies of Socrates, the science of Galileo and the works of William Shakespeare?
On the surface one might think the answer is nothing. Southpark for example just seems at first glance like a huge collection of dick and fart jokes all strung together each episode around some ridiculous theme. And while that is one part of the show, there is so much more to it.
A typical episode usually tackles one or more things going on in the real world that just are not right. It is done as a form of satire and usually is skewed to a pretty far extreme to show one person or side's point of view. It is intentionally irreverent and over the top and generally the kids and their swearing or violent outbursts serve to somewhat divert attention away from and cushion the blow to the people being "made fun" of. Southpark is filled with pop culture references and lots of wordplay.
But really, it does serve as political commentary about the state of the modern world. One can actually see the ties with current events and sometimes when we see things through some other person's eyes we can see solutions to things that we would never see on our own. The general feeling I get when I am finished watching an episode is wow we really are being kinda stupid about this or that thing. There has to be a better way of handling it. I am not a fan of the show by the way.
And then there's Beavis and Butthead. This is one of my guilty pleasures. It's really not much of a show. The original episodes were probably about five to ten minutes long total as it would start out at some point in the average day of these two young teens and then after a couple minutes would cut to a recent popular video on MTV. When the video was over it would pick back up at the next scene in their day. This would go back and forth until the episode was over. There would be two episodes per half hour. While the videos would play Beavis and Butthead would MST3000 it and often their commentary was simply hilarious.
Now out of the two, Beavis and Butthead is a far less cerebral show and the characters themselves are practically retarded, constantly injuring themselves doing the stupidest things imaginable. It also had a string of pop culture references too, but much less than Southpark. And yet this show is also a great placeholder for the way our country is today. I have sat with many different people watching the antics of Beavis and Butthead and thought, I really do know people this stupid or I really do know people that say and do many of the very same things these two lost teens do.
While I don't think either of these shows have a Romeo and Juliet. And I don't think their philosophy is going to change the world. Nor will they be bringing us any scientific breakthroughs anytime soon. Many of the works of Galileo and Socrates and a lot of the subject matter of Shakespeare was not widely accepted when introduced to the world.
These recent shows did some of the same things that these other great men did. They challenged what was considered popular and made people think. Some people just got angry. Others wanted to fight. Some had open minds and were able to see and accept opinions that were different than their own.
Whether for better or worse they have had an impact on the lives of people and have to some degree changed the world.
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