South Park season 26
April 30, 2023
With the release of season 26 in March of 2023, “South Park” fans rush to watch each episode as they come out. The stories of the episodes contain similarities to old episodes but a noticeable animation difference between the current season and past seasons arises. The new seasons cover topics that affect today’s youth such as TikTok and defining one’s self-identity.
The season opens with an episode about Kyle played by Matt Stone and Tolkien played by Adrien Beard, becoming famous throughout the school for their TikTok videos. Cartman, played by Trey Parker, becomes jealous of his new friend. “Cupid Ye,” permitting Cartman to rant about anti-semitism, referring to Kanye West‘s remarks on the Alex Jones podcast.
Episode two discusses the English Prince Harry, and his wife Meghan Markle regarding their struggle to find privacy. They move to the small mountain town of South Park, across the street from Kyle, and they begin harassing Kyle and the town to receive privacy.
“I love seeing all the memes and jokes on my TikTok feed, and it introduced me to the show as well. I started watching from the beginning and I can’t wait to get to the newest season, because of all the clips I’ve seen on TikTok,” sophomore Josiah Woodall said.
With a new episode premiering every week, South Park fans everywhere tune in to see the boys— Kyle, Stan, Cartman and Kenny— in a new struggle and adventure. Season 26 continues to receive recognition on all social media platforms exceeding the previous seasons. For example, South Park’s TikTok account posts videos from the character’s perspective of them doing popular TikTok dances.
“I hadn’t watched South Park before until I saw clips of it on my TikTok feed. I started watching it and now I’m addicted. I love the show and all the jokes, and I like the jokes that other shows would be too scared to make because of them being considered offensive,” freshman Jaxseon Martin said.
South Park serves an important role in the adult animation business, alongside shows such as “Family Guy”, “Rick and Morty”, “American Dad” and The Simpsons, even containing direct references to said series. Similar to other adult animation shows, South Park features several celebrities and bands within their episode, such as the band Van Halen, in their episode “Ginger Cow”.
The new season gained popularity all over several social media such as TikTok, Instagram and Twitter. Memes and other trends on social media resulted from the show and its new season.