Thursday, March 13, 2008

Money Cures AIDS

South Park is one of those crude programs that leave you in cringing in guilty laughter. Last night's season premiere met expectations, leaning right over the line when Cartman's tonsilectomy left him with AIDS. By the end of the episode a cure was discovered. One merely needs to liquify and inject $180,000 cash to repel the virus once and for all!
For all its crass humor, the episode took some worthy stabs at complacency - no one showed up for the fundraiser, including Elton John, charity was available only when Cartman claimed to have cancer (AIDS is so "retro") - and the money metaphor drove home the high cost of AIDS, particularly when the boys dropped by poverty-striken Africa to share the good news cure recipe.
I wasn't thrilled by how casually others tried to assure Cartman that having HIV wasn't such a bad thing anymore though Cartman certainly never bought it. My biggest cringe, of course, was Cartman purposely exposing Kyle to his infected blood. But then, that's South Park.

Read what POZ magazine had to say about the episode.

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