“South Park” becomes “South America”. Irreverence and vulgarity. Hence the laughter

They have produced 29 seasons and 344 episodes, yet they show no signs of slowing down. They are Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the irrepressible duo behind the series “South Park”. From this season onward, the show has been rechristened “South America” to lampoon Donald Trump’s penchant for bestowing new “American” names on major gulfs, lakes and islands. This is also a dig at the patriotic speed with which Google and Apple fall into line with the president’s wishes. The Comedy Central series is broadcast on Paramount+, and there’s no shortage of jibes aimed at the company, which has merged with Warner Bros and now operates under the collective name of Skydance (though, as in modern marriages, the partners will continue to operate under the names and logos they had before the merger).

That is the backdrop, and it already sounds like a gag. To our delight, Paramount+ continues to stream episodes of “South Park” – or rather, “South America”. Years go by, the four boys—Stan, Kyle, Eric and Kenny—never change, but the targets of their satire are always contemporary to the time of broadcast (among the unwitting guest stars, animated for the occasion, we’ve had Saddam Hussein, Satan, Barbra Streisand, George Clooney and Michael Moore).

In episode 3 of the new season, the Sephora chain of beauty shops and the film “Backrooms” come under fire. The stroke of genius with which Kane Parsons, born in 2005 – “South Park” has been on air since 1997, so by the maths it’s a few years older – raked in 400 million dollars last summer. A remarkable figure, all the more so when we consider that Kane Parsons isn’t particularly familiar with cinema. When he had an idea, he turned it into a meme and then a web series. Genre: ‘creepypasta’, that is, a horror story circulating on the internet.

For the purposes of this analysis, we assume readers are already familiar with the Sephora chain of beauty shops. “You’ll love having it on your face” is the episode’s title, and if you already sense a suggestive double meaning, you’re on the right track. With Stone & Parker, anticipating the worst is rarely a mistake, and viewers also gain insight into teenage rituals, which—due to shifting age boundaries—may even extend to younger children. This includes Kyle’s younger, adopted brother: Ike, who has an egg-shaped face. His surname is Broflovski, and his parents are observant Jews.

It took a while to get to the point, but ‘South Park’ – now ‘South America’ – never misses a chance to reference current affairs, in this case ‘looksmaxxing’ and ‘aura’, which here stands for ‘charisma’. Improving one’s physical appearance, which in the age of the internet and TikTok immediately becomes a challenge (or an obsession, as parents of yesteryear would say). Lured by the magnificent bait of self-improvement – having been challenged by another lad – Kyle ends up in a Sephora shop, amongst the shelves and sales assistants recommending creams and lotions.

A warning from a grandfather waiting outside the shop falls on deaf ears: “I’ve been here for a week; my granddaughter’s still in there.” Moving from shelf to shelf, Kyle and his friends, who are searching for him, arrive at a dingy back room, just like the ones we saw in the film Backrooms. Empty rooms leading onto more empty rooms, with at most a few old pieces of furniture piled up. Until a gigantic, sinister shadow appears. It then materialises into a monstrous creature that repeats, “You’ll love having it on your face.” And it squirts white liquid from a bottle positioned where its penis should be. And so the episode’s title is explained.

Vulgar? ‘South Park’ – now ‘South America’ – has always been that way. Just as, for that matter, everything that really makes you laugh is, at least a little bit. If not, change the channel and watch ‘Tale e quale show’.