South Park Episode “Taming Strange”

http://southpark.cc.com/full-episodes/s17e05-taming-strange#source=fba639b0-ae4d-49b0-9d5d-addb27823f4b:63a32034-1ea6-492d-b95b-9433e3f62f8d&position=5&sort=!airdate

The primary source I chose was a South Park episode titled, “Taming Strange”. In this episode Kyle’s kindergarten brother, Ike, begins going through puberty. This causes Ike to start acting completely different. He also looks completely different as he now has a weak mustache, he has zits covering his face, and his voice is deep. Ike used to be a fun loving kid, but because he is at such a young age he begins to be extremely confused as to how to act. Ike states, “I don’t know whether to watch some Yo Gabba Gabba or go out and tame some strange”. He acts in the way a stereotypical male would act going through puberty. He begins picking on his older brother and attempts to fight him in order to prove his masculinity. In the end it is determined that Ike was actually taking hormones instead of his constipation pills by accident. He eventually starts to act and look how he did before.

The other part of this episode is the story of Foofa from Yo Gabba Gabba. Ike attempts to “tame her strange” on stage and this completely changes her way of thought. She realizes that she is becoming older and that she doesn’t want to do stuff for kids anymore, after Ike complements Foofa on her looks. She wants to become more edgy and start using sex appeal because if she continues to only perform for kids, she will only be considered a joke for the rest of her career. She then starts smoking pot and partying to let the world know that she has changed and grown up. Her band tries to stop her, but she then goes out on the MTV awards to perform her song, “Pound My Sweet Strange”. This story was parodying Miley Cyrus.

Ike’s story explains, as I stated earlier, the stereotypical struggles of a boy going through puberty. Boy’s go through puberty until they are about twenty-one years old. So the writers of this episode attempted to show the reality of how terrible kids going through puberty truly can be. This is a point were they attempt to be rebellious and act up, like assaulting women and chewing tobacco. They do stuff that make them look like rotten people. What is interesting about this is how this age group is part of South Park’s demographic. Young men are one of South Park’s market and they are essential making fun of them as they watch. I think this is their way of telling kids going through puberty to stop messing up society. They appear to be a bigger problem in it all. This story goes along with our ideas of gender roles. Boys are constantly suppose to be acting like men, trying to have sex with girls, and proving their masculinity to one another.

Foofa’s story is more about the reality of Miley Cyrus. In a sense, it was about how Miley only thought that to be taken seriously like an adult, she had to act more sexual. Mainly because that is not how a little girl acts. She also didn’t want to do stuff for little kids anymore. It was her way of growing up. South Park’s representation of this shows how society pressures people to fit their piece in the puzzle. In order to get out of it you have to do something extreme. For women it is much more difficult as they have to take a more sexual way. This follows the stereotype we have talked about that women have to use sex to their advantage to get something they want. South Park shows the over sexualized Hollywood today.