| "It Hits the Fan" | ||||
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| South Park episode | ||||
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| Episode no. | Season 5 Episode 2 |
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| Written by | Trey Parker | |||
| Directed by | Trey Parker | |||
| Production no. | 502 | |||
| Original airdate | June 20, 2001 | |||
| Season 5 episodes | ||||
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| ← Season 4 | Season 6 → | |||
| List of South Park episodes | ||||
"It Hits the Fan" is the 66th episode of the animated series South Park, and the first-broadcast episode of the fifth season (second in sequence, with "Scott Tenorman Must Die" being the first episode in sequence, which was delayed for several weeks.) It was originally broadcast on June 20, 2001. It is best known for its uncensored use of the word "shit" 162 separate times—a counter in the corner of the screen counts the number of times the word has been uttered. "Shit" is uttered roughly once every 8 seconds, if one includes the show's theme song in calculations.[1] The show holds a TV-MA-L rating.
Contents |
Plot
Kyle has tickets to go to The Lion King on Ice, but Cartman tells him that the HBC (a cross between HBO and NBC) crime show "Cop Drama" is going to use the word "shit." This broadcast leads to widespread acceptance of the word, even in schools, causing people to use it constantly, in casual and often out of context during conversations. Furthermore, Ms. Choksondik is forced to clarify the acceptable context of the word — as a noun or adjective meaning bad, or as an exclamation of disappointment, the word is acceptable, but as a noun or adjective referring to feces, it is apparently unacceptable—thoroughly confusing the children (this is a reference to the real-life FCC standards of indecency). Mr Garrison sings "shitty, shitty, fag, fag" to the tune of "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" after he realizes that not only is he allowed to say "shit" as it is now commonly accepted, but he is also now allowed to say "fag", as he is a homosexual (however, several heterosexual characters have said the word "fag" without being bleeped before or since this episode).
People start spewing up their intestines, so action is taken. The boys ask Chef to take them into the HBC Head Office to sort it out. Research proves that the word is actually a literal "curse(d) word," and its constant utterance has caused a resurgence of the bubonic plague. A special live event, "Must Shit TV," also called "The Night of a Million Shits," in which episodes of existing shows are taped live with almost every word of dialogue replaced with the word "shit," goes ahead anyway until the boys come back and tell everyone that curse words are actually cursed. However, by this point the word has been said enough times to awaken a demonic dragon called Geldon. Kyle destroys the dragon with an ancient magical rune stone belonging to a knight in the mystical Order of Standards & Practices. The moral of the story is not that saying "shit" is wrong, per se, but saying it in excess leads to boredom with the word. And at that point, Cartman tells everyone to watch their language, which Kyle and Stan agree on. The episode ends with Kenny spewing out his intestines.
Production
The episode questions whether there is an empty significance to taboo words and ridicules the relationship between television networks that use shock and the viewers that are predictably captivated. ABC's NYPD Blue, a show known for controversial network television firsts, is specifically parodied[citation needed] within the episode when a show named Cop Drama on "HBC" first introduces uncensored "shit." The creators of South Park related that they were angry because "if a drama or a serious show breaks the boundaries, it's 'bold' and 'artistic,' but if a comedy show like theirs tries it, it's just 'stupid, or shitty, or bullshit.'"[citation needed]
Executives at Comedy Central felt the profanity was justified by context and decided to allow the uncensored episode to be broadcast, which surprised even the show's developers.[citation needed] Despite broadcasting a record setting amount of profanity, little controversy was stirred by the transmission. Co-creator Matt Stone explained the passive reception by citing changing cultural standards, "No one cares anymore... The standards are almost gone. No one gives a shit or a bullshit." According to DVD commentary, they were only going to say it a few times, which Comedy Central would not allow. However, when Trey Parker and Stone came up with the idea that they would "say it like 200 times, they [the network] [were] fine with it."
This episode was selected as #8 on Comedy Central's 2006 marathon of "10 South Parks That Changed the World."
Parents TV study
Also, the Parents Television Council featured this episode in a study on violence, sexual content, and profanity on cable television in November 2004. [2]
External links
References
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: It Hits the Fan |
| Preceded by “Scott Tenorman Must Die” |
South Park episodes | Followed by “Cripple Fight” |
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