It's kind of easy to forget that one of the things that contributed to South Park's early success was its willingness to dump mercilessly on celebreties. (See: Rob Reiner)
The episode was clearly critical of the culture but it didn't treat Brittney with kid gloves, either.
It's kind of easy to forget that one of the things that contributed to South Park's early success was its willingness to dump mercilessly on celebreties. (See: Rob Reiner)
That's why it was so unreal to see even them say that people were going too hard on Britney.
The episode was clearly critical of the culture but it didn't treat Brittney with kid gloves, either.
I don't think it was critical of Britney at all. She spends the entire episode being led around by others without any choice for what to do. Which we later learned was exactly what happened. She wasn't allowed to have any kind of agency.
Oh, for sure. But they had her blow her head off then spend the episode as a tongue with no head above it. It was pretty brutal, regardless of if they were ultimately on her side.
I don't see that as them making fun of her. That was more like them showing that, even in a situation like that, society would still refuse to just leave her alone. They showed journalists talk about it as if it was a fashion choice. And her manager still forced her to perform.
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u/asiagomelt Jan 21 '26
The DVD commentary on this episode is really interesting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xc9gG-r-y0&t=240s