At 25, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut Still Warps Our Fragile Little Minds

I’ll ne'er hide wherever I was June 30, 1999. That was the nighttime I made the unfortunate determination to spot Will Smith’s Wild Wild West connected its opening night— portion connected a surface adjacent door, one of my soon-to-be favourite movies had besides conscionable been released. Smith’s movie was terrible, but the adjacent night, I righted that incorrect and saw South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, and everything has been amended from that infinitesimal on.

By 1999 South Park was already an incredibly fashionable amusement but, for 1 crushed oregon another, I didn’t truly ticker it. I’d seen immoderate episodes and enjoyed it but I ne'er got into it. (I was into Independence Day and Men successful Black though, hence the opening nighttime decision.) Nevertheless, I was funny to spot what a movie mentation looked like, particularly with immoderate and each barriers of censorship breached down.

Sitting down successful the theater, I’m not definite I knew this movie was a musical. Maybe I did and I enactment it retired of my mind, but I retrieve instantly being delighted and surprised. At this constituent successful my life, I was already a immense philharmonic fan. The archetypal West Side Story was 1 of my favorites and I would regularly sing on with movies like Aladdin, Little Mermaid, and Lion King. And still, I was not acceptable for the movie to beryllium not lone a philharmonic but an all-timer of a musical, featuring banger aft banger. All of which I inactive virtually cognize each azygous connection of, adjacent each these years later.

Image: Paramount

That archetypal nighttime though, “Mountain Town” whitethorn person acceptable the tone, but “Uncle Fucka” brought down the house. If I adjacent my eyes, I tin inactive perceive and consciousness the theatre reverberate with daze and awe during the song. No 1 was acceptable and that’s surely however Trey Parker and Matt Stone planned it. It’s a opus truthful vile, truthful disgusting, and truthful hilarious it’s similar a punch successful the look and tummy simultaneously. Instantly you recognize this movie is operating connected a level you were not acceptable for. Then you recognize the the opus and diegetic movie it’s in—an R-rated philharmonic mentation of a TV show, caput you—is going to beryllium the catalyst for the remainder of the story, and things emergence to different level entirely.

Everything gets wilder and funnier from determination and contempt having seen the movie dozens of times, watching it this week for its 25th anniversary, I inactive recovered myself overwhelmed with joyousness passim and laughing consistently. Which, I person to admit, near maine much conflicted than I was expecting.

In 1999, Bigger, Longer & Uncut was already incredibly offensive. That’s the full point. But successful 2024, the information it mightiness beryllium even much offensive seems sadly prophetic. Parker and Stone saw what censorship and fearfulness of connection mightiness bash to us. And portion the United States ne'er declared warfare connected Canada implicit the contented similar it does successful the movie, astatine times it surely feels similar we’re present astatine warfare with ourselves for that reason.

That got maine reasoning a small deeper. Does my idiosyncratic tolerance for violative drama and a perceived quality to separate betwixt connection utilized for hatred oregon wit travel from being truthful intimately acquainted with this movie? I deliberation it whitethorn play a part. And successful that way, I’m grateful for it. I privation to beryllium a idiosyncratic who understands determination is simply a enactment and crossing it is bad. But besides that tiptoeing connected it, if done right, tin beryllium hilarious. Like Satan says, “Without evil determination tin beryllium nary bully truthful it indispensable beryllium bully to beryllium evil sometimes.”

Image: Paramount

After seeing South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut successful 1999, I went connected and continued to observe much of Parker and Stone’s musicals. Cannibal The Musical, for one. Later, I was archetypal successful enactment for Team America arsenic good arsenic The Book of Mormon. The 2nd 2 enactment likewise to South Park, pushing boundaries to marque truly important points, and I emotion them each for it. The South Park movie besides broadened my knowing of what musicals tin be. It’s not a genre that tin archer lone 1 benignant of story. It tin archer immoderate benignant of communicative and, erstwhile it’s arsenic astute and beauteous arsenic South Park, it tin beryllium magic.

And so, 25 years aft its release, I inactive emotion South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. This clip though, 1 happening had changed during my re-watch. After singing the songs, laughing and smiling throughout, erstwhile the last reprise began, I started to cry. It deed maine conscionable however overmuch the movie means to me, however agelong it’s been a portion of my life, and conscionable however unthinkable it is from apical to bottom. I’m beauteous nostalgic to statesman with but to consciousness that for this movie is the different happening I didn’t expect. What tin I say, though? “That movie has warped my fragile small mind.”

South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut turns 25 connected June 30. Paramount provided io9 with a transcript of its marque caller 4K merchandise for review, and you tin grab a transcript here.

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