Firstly, I think the discussion of whether "rape is funny" is somewhat irrelevant. I won't try to argue that it is or isn't, I'm addressing the misguided perception that Parker and Stone were "making fun of both sides," although you would think the brutality of three rape scenes would make it clear where the writers stood. Incidentally, I didn't think the episode was even that funny, but I'll get into that briefly below.
WeAreGoingToDie said:
Anyway, Indy related things: I believe South Park attempted to play both sides and failed to do so. The message I saw them trying to convey was that too many moviegoers these days overreact to even the smallest things. Butters was being the voice of reason in that he simply liked the movie and didn't let to negatives impede on his day to day life.
Yeah, uh, but I think you forget who Butters is. He's the naive, gullible kid who optimistically likes everything, such as "Hello Kitty Island Adventure" in the WoW episode. Butters was meant to accentuate the dislike of Indy 4 by the South Park writers, by exhibiting the only person who liked the movie as the naive "loser" of the show.
I mean, these guys didn't even devote the full episode to Indy 4. Half of it was about Cartman and Butters doing Chinese accents because of the Olympics. It had nothing to do with the Indy 4 plot. You would think that if the writers had anything to say about the fanboyism tearing through cinema today, they would have, in order to make their opinion clear. Instead, they devoted pretty much all of the Indy 4 time to either rape scenes or mourning the rape scenes, and 50% of the entire episode making tired Chinese stereotypes. The "I learned something today" ending dealt with Cartman and Chinese, and didn't succinctly explain the writers' comprehensive, detailed opinion regarding Indy 4. That's because the writers' premise, "Indy 4 raped our childhood," didn't require summing up.
StoneTriple said:
You know, every time someone tries to explain that South Park was commenting only on the flaws of the movie, I feel like calling bull****. The only people who I have ever heard saying that are, unsurprisingly, Lucas bashers.
The "hidden message" of the episode has never been "found" by anyone I know, fan of the movie or not. I have never seen it proposed anywhere except in this forum. Thus my conclusion. If you don't find rape funny, or think South Park is washed up anyway and not worthy of even bothering, I can respect your opinion and even agree with you on some points. But I urge you not to delude yourself into thinking the writers were subtly mocking "both sides" when there is so little evidence for it.