The Presentation of Socio-Political Ideologies in South Park: Critical Stylistic Analysis

Abstract

The discourse of animated sitcoms is full of socio-political ideologies that reflect shared thoughts and attitudes of Americans. Most of critical stylistic studies focus on analyzing literary works (e.g. novels) and political speeches. This study aims to identify the textual-conceptual functions used in the discourse of animated sitcoms to show the stylistic and ideological implications. The data under the focus is limited to American animation "South Park", which is written by Trey Parker. Scene 2 and 3 are taken from the episode 8 of season 8, entitled "Douche and Turd", to represent the data. The study has arrived at several conclusions, the most important of which are: Naming & Describing and Implying & Assuming scores the higher frequencies than the other functions, indicating that sitcoms rely on culture specific references and events. Satire is much more direct and explicit. Specific references are made to the two political parties (i.e. The Republican and Democratic parties), and the theme is satirical, confronting the political authority.