South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut

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South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut
Image:South Park movie.jpg
Directed by	Trey Parker
Written by	Trey Parker Matt Stone Pam Brady
Starring	Trey Parker Matt Stone Mary Kay Bergman Isaac Hayes George Clooney Mike Judge
Produced by	Trey Parker Matt Stone
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures Warner Bros.
Release date	June 30, 1999
Runtime	81 min.
Language	English
Budget	$21,000,000
IMDb page

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut is a 1999 motion picture based on the animated series South Park.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Controversy 3 Politics 4 Religion 5 Soundtrack 5.1 Track listing 6 Trivia 7 External links

Plot

The plot deals with the four South Park eight-year-old stars who sneak into a profanity-filled movie entitled Asses of Fire, featuring fictional Canadians Terrance and Phillip. After watching the film, the boys start to swear even more than usual, and the parent-teacher outrage that ensues triggers an international crisis that eventually escalates into a war between the United States and Canada. A sub-plot of the film involves a scheming Saddam Hussein, who tries to take over the world with the assistance of his gay lover, Satan.

A few new minor characters are introduced, including Gregory of Yardale and The Mole. The Mole has been featured a few times in cameo-like appearances on the series, appearing once on a TV talk show during one episode.

The film is a musical, and features twelve songs. The song "Blame Canada" was nominated for an Academy Award, allegedly because it is the least profane of the songs (while it is true that "Up There" actually has no profanity at all, it would probably have created much more controversy religion-wise, given its portrayal of Satan as sympathetic and justifying evil in the lyrics). It was the second song with profanity ever nominated for an Oscar (Little Shop of Horrors' "Mean Green Mother From Outer Space" being the first), causing some concern about its performance in the Oscar ceremony. Nevertheless, Robin Williams performed the song with a full chorus line.

Controversy

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut is allegedly the most profanity-filled movie ever produced. It is difficult to dismiss this claim, considering the film features a song entitled "Uncle Fucka" in the Terrance and Philip movie that uses the word fuck over 30 times. The song title originally used mother rather than uncle, but it was changed to qualify for an R rating (instead of NC-17); also, the authors say uncle sounds funnier than mother.

The movie's excessive use of profanity also gained it a spot in the Guinness Book of Records for "Most Swearing in an Animated Film" (399 profane words, 128 offensive gestures and 221 acts of violence).

The movie angered moral conservatives not only for its heavy use of profanity, but also for its depiction of conservatives starting a war against Canada purely because of Terrance and Phillip's use of profanity. The underlying theme of the message of the film, however, is that it is the responsibility of parents and guardians to protect their children from what they deem inappropriate, and that censorship of anything (particularly in movies and TV) is simply a parental tool for escaping blame. (This is summed up neatly in the line from "Blame Canada" when a group of parents sing: "We must blame them / and cause a fuss / before somebody thinks of blaming us.")

It is often claimed that the movie was originally titled South Park: All Hell Breaks Loose, and that the MPAA forced a change of the title; the creators of the characters, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, counterproposed South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut as a title, which is a double entendre. The story comes directly from Parker and Stone; Richard Taylor, a spokesman for the MPAA, denies that any film was ever submitted with that title and states that the MPAA did not reject the use of the word "hell" in the title. See, for instance, the film adaptation of the books From Hell and Hellboy, or the Hellraiser films.

However, film critics were generally enthusiastic about the film as an intelligent and entertaining satire.

Politics

This film deals with race-relations, war, and most importantly, censorship. The film clearly opposes censorship, as it is ultimately Eric cartman's foul mouth that saves the day. It should come as no surprise that this film so strongly opposes censorship, considering that Trey Parker is a registered Libertarian.

In the film, Kyle's modern-liberal mother starts a campaign to censor a Canadian film called Asses of Fire, which culminates in a war being waged against Canada by the United States, which one could argue shows how quickly nations will jump to war over unimportant issues. The race-relations is exemplified in a sequence in which a group of soldiers designated as Operation Human Shield turns out to be entirely black.

Religion

Religion is also a pivotal issue in this film. One can construe watching this that, within the world of this movie, Christianity is the "correct" religion, as Christianity is the only popular religion which believes in Satan in the manner presented therein. However, the film does not say what form of Christianity is "correct". This is revealed later in the series, when Satan has to go to Heaven and talk to God. It is revealed in that episode that the Mormons are "correct". Everyone else, thus, goes to Hell. (It should be noted that this almost surely does not express the actual beliefs of the film's makers, but is merely parody.)

Soundtrack

Image:South Park.jpg

The movie's soundtrack album was released by Atlantic Records on June 22, 1999. The CD inlay states that only the first twelve tracks actually appear in the film (the remainder, described as being "inspired" by the movie, are mostly other acts performing alternate versions of those twelve songs); however, D.V.D.A.'s "What Would Brian Boitano Do? Pt. II" does feature heavily in the closing credits.

Track listing

1. "Mountain Town"
2. "Uncle Fucka"
3. "It's Easy, M'kay"
4. "Blame Canada"
5. "Kyle's Mom is a Stupid Bitch"
6. "What Would Brian Boitano Do?"
7. "Up There"
8. "La Resistance" (medley)
9. "Eyes Of A Child"
10. "I Can Change"
11. "I'm Super"
12. "Mountain Town" (reprise)
13. "Good Love" - (Isaac Hayes as Chef)
14. "Shut Yo Face (Uncle FUCKA)" - Trick Daddy, Featuring Trina & Tre
15. "Riches To Rags (M'Kay)" - Nappy Roots
16. "Kyle's Mom's A Big Fat Bitch" - (Joe C. featuring Kid Rock)
17. "What Would Brian Boitano Do? Pt. II" - D.V.D.A.
18. "I Swear It (I Can Change)" - Violent Femmes
19. "Super" - (RuPaul)
20. "O Canada" - (Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson of Rush featuring Terrance and Phillip)

Trivia

• In the German version of the film, the scatological pornographic film the boys watch on the computer is changed from German to British.
• In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted South Park the 13th greatest comedy film of all time.

External links

• South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut movie script