Subject Area

Communication Arts/Rhetoric

Description

South Park is one of the cornerstones of American television. It also is a show that doesn’t shy away from controversy or social commentary. In its runtime it has taken aim at celebrities, world leaders, movements, and entire groups of people. The latest of its targets is President Donald Trump, who has been one of the central subjects of the shows two 2025 seasons. To examine how these episodes manage to critique trump so thoroughly without alienating his supporters, I ask the following research question: How does South Park use parody to make critiques about Donald Trump’s ego?  I answer this through an application of multimodal critical discourse analysis and thematic analysis to find how South Park manages to be such an inclusive show with normally exclusive messaging.

Download

Share

COinS
 

Making Fun of the Leader of the Free World: South Park and its Critique of Donald Trump

South Park is one of the cornerstones of American television. It also is a show that doesn’t shy away from controversy or social commentary. In its runtime it has taken aim at celebrities, world leaders, movements, and entire groups of people. The latest of its targets is President Donald Trump, who has been one of the central subjects of the shows two 2025 seasons. To examine how these episodes manage to critique trump so thoroughly without alienating his supporters, I ask the following research question: How does South Park use parody to make critiques about Donald Trump’s ego?  I answer this through an application of multimodal critical discourse analysis and thematic analysis to find how South Park manages to be such an inclusive show with normally exclusive messaging.