Child Abduction Is Not Funny

Last updated

"Child Abduction Is Not Funny"
South Park episode
Episode no.Season 6
Episode 11
Directed by Trey Parker
Written byTrey Parker
Production code611
Original air dateJuly 24, 2002 (2002-07-24)
Episode chronology
← Previous
"Bebe's Boobs Destroy Society"		Next →
"A Ladder to Heaven"
South Park season 6
List of episodes

"Child Abduction Is Not Funny" is the 90th episode of the Comedy Central series South Park . It originally aired on July 24, 2002. This episode mocks kidnapping, moral panics, and the Mongol conquest of China. The episode was also the last to feature Tweek as the "fourth friend" alongside Stan, Kyle and Cartman.

Contents

In the episode, the parents of South Park hire the owner and operator of the local City Wok, Mr. Tuong Lu Kim, to build a Great Wall around the city to protect their children from kidnappers. Just as Mr. Tuong Lu Kim almost finishes the wall, Mongolians arrive to try to break through. When a study reveals that nine out of ten abduction cases are committed by the mother or the father, the parents send their kids out on their own, so they won't have a fear of being kidnapped by their parents.

In the summer of 2013, fans voted "Child Abduction Is Not Funny" as the best episode of Season 6. [1]

Plot

With the media full of school shootings, terrorist threats, and child abductions, the parents of South Park grow excessively concerned about the safety of their children. Tweek is scared the most by the media reports, and his parents serve only to exacerbate his fears by turning their house into a virtual prison and playing cruel intellectual games with him designed by intention to increase his safety. As a result, Tweek loses his ability to empathize with others – even refusing to assist a crippled person, whose powerchair ran out of battery power, and is now stuck on some train tracks, resulting in him getting killed by an oncoming train. After a real child abductor (pretending to be the "Ghost of Human Kindness") fails to kidnap Tweek, the parents of South Park are put on high alert.

Taking advantage of expensive technology, the City commissions the owner of City Wok, Mr. Lu Kim to build a huge wall around the city, similar to the Great Wall of China. Media reports continue to file in — it first convinces them they should not leave their children alone for a moment, prompting the parents to go with them anywhere they go. A later report convinces them they cannot even trust their own neighbors and family friends, forcing the parents to sever ties with each other. The kids, annoyed and embarrassed by their parents' actions, initially blame Tweek for their parents' paranoia, but soon decide that they'd have inevitably resorted to something this stupid eventually.

Despite trying to avoid being a stereotype and having no experience in construction, Mr. Kim reluctantly agrees to build the wall. He builds a very impressive one single-handedly. After he is finished, a band of Mongols appear out of nowhere and attack the wall because: "Every time us Chinese put up a wall stupid Mongorianzh have to come and knock it down," as he puts it, in a reference to Chinese history. Although he tries desperately to rout the enemy by himself, he proves to be no match for the Mongols' increasingly clever tactics, which include redirecting a heat-seeking missile with a flaming baseball and making use of a Trojan Horse filled with sweet and sour pork. Enraged, Kim vows vengeance for the rest of his life.

Meanwhile, back within the town, a news report states that the parents are most likely to abduct their own children. Blindly believing what they have been told, they send their children from the city in a tearful ceremony in order to avoid putting their children in danger of being kidnapped by their own parents. As they leave, the children wonder about how stupid their parents are sometimes.

Within the week, the children join forces with the Mongols, having apparently learned their language, and expressing anger at their parents' irresponsible and irrational behavior, even though the Mongolians weren't here in South Park to abduct all the children of South Park, they just wanted to have them to become part of their group to break down the city wall. The Mongols then move on the wall again, where Mr. Kim is dressed for battle. He then does his "war dance", but while he is doing this, the children wheel a large cart laden with explosives in behind him and blow up the wall. The parents arrive to investigate the explosion, and are reunited with their kids. They realize that they overreacted to the news stories, and that to cut themselves off from the rest of the world with the wall denies new possibilities. Mayor McDaniels orders Mr. Lu Kim to "tear down this wall," angering him once more since building the wall was a waste of time. Despite the reunion, the parents believe their children have forgotten them in the short space of four days and use simple English to convince them to return home (with Stan muttering to Kyle, "Jesus Christ, dude, they've done some stupid crap before, but Jesus Christ.").

Production

According to the DVD commentary, the episode was done right after the creators saw the Elizabeth Smart abduction in Utah on the news. Parker and Stone came up with the line "Goddamn Mongorianzh, no more breaking down my shitty warr!" while on the Great Wall of China in the 1990s. [2]

Cultural references

When Mr. Kim gets ready to shoot the heat seeking missile, he introduces it to the Mongolians, saying "Say herro to my rittre friend." This is a reference to the movie Scarface . Mayor McDaniels' line "Mr. Lu Kim, tear down this wall!" is a reference to Ronald Reagan's 1987 speech challenging Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall. When the child abductor dressed as the Ghost of Human Kindness is caught by the police, he says "and I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for you meddling policemen" a reference to Scooby-Doo, in which when the episode's antagonist (who would disguise themselves as a monster) was unmasked, would use the phrase but with "meddling kids" instead of "meddling policemen".

Home media

"Child Abduction Is Not Funny", along with the sixteen other episodes from South Park's sixth season, were released on a three-disc DVD set in the United States on October 11, 2005. The sets included brief audio commentaries by Parker and Stone for each episode. IGN gave the season a rating of 9/10. [3]

Related Research Articles

"Gnomes" is the seventeenth and penultimate episode of the second season of the American animated television series South Park. The 30th episode of the series overall, it originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on December 16, 1998. The episode was written by series co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, along with Pam Brady, and directed by Parker. This episode marks the first appearance of Tweek Tweak and his parents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chinpokomon</span> 11th episode of the 3rd season of South Park

"Chinpokomon" is the eleventh-aired and the tenth-produced episode of the third season of the American animated television series South Park. It originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on November 3, 1999, making it the 42nd episode of the series. During this episode, the kids become fascinated with the latest fad: a fictional Japanese anime series called Chinpokomon and its related products, such as video games and collectible toys. It is a parody of the popular Pokémon media franchise. "Chinpokomon" was written by South Park co-creator Trey Parker, who also co-directed the episode together with animation director Eric Stough. The episode was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2000.

"Wing" is the third episode in the ninth season of the American animated television series South Park. It was written by series co-creator Trey Parker and first aired on Comedy Central in the United States on March 23, 2005. The episode was the 128th overall and was named after New Zealand singer Wing, who stars in the episode in an eponymous part loosely based on herself. The message of the episode equates talent agents to Chinese slave traders.

<i>Lady Vengeance</i> 2005 South Korean film directed by Park Chan-wook

Lady Vengeance is a 2005 South Korean neo-noir psychological thriller film directed by Park Chan-wook. The film is the third and final installment in Park's Vengeance Trilogy, following Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002) and Oldboy (2003). It stars Lee Young-ae as Lee Geum-ja, a woman released from prison after serving the sentence for a murder she did not commit. The film tells her story of revenge against the real murderer.

"The Death Camp of Tolerance" is the fourteenth episode of the sixth season of the American animated television series South Park, and the 93rd overall episode of the series. It originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on November 20, 2002.

"Free Hat" is the ninth episode of the sixth season of the American animated television series South Park. The 88th overall episode of the series, it first aired on Comedy Central in the United States on July 10, 2002. The episode was written by series co-creator Trey Parker, and was originally rated TV-MA in the United States; it was re-rated TV-14 in 2020.

"Professor Chaos" is the sixth episode of the sixth season of the Comedy Central series South Park and the 85th episode of the series overall. It originally aired on April 10, 2002. In the episode, the boys hold a contest to try to find a replacement for Butters, who becomes a supervillain after being fired from the group as the replacement Kenny. The episode also parodies The Bachelor and the 2000 film X-Men.

"Red Hot Catholic Love" is the 87th episode of the Comedy Central series South Park. It originally aired on July 3, 2002. It was selected No. 2 on the "10 South Parks that Changed the World" list, and was also part of "South Park's Dirty Dozen". In the episode, Father Maxi travels to the Vatican to confront the growing problem of Catholic priests molesting children. Meanwhile, Cartman discovers that it is possible to defecate from the mouth.

"Tweek vs. Craig" is the fifth episode of the third season of the American animated television series South Park, and the 36th episode of the series overall. It originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on June 23, 1999. In the episode Stan, Kyle and Cartman pit Tweek and Craig against each other. Meanwhile, the boys' wood shop teacher, Mr. Adler, struggles to cope with the loss of his wife, who died in a plane crash.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo</span> 9th episode of the 1st season of South Park

"Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" is the ninth episode of the first season of the American animated television series South Park. It originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on December 17, 1997. The episode follows Kyle as he feels excluded from the town's Christmas celebrations due to being Jewish, finding solace in Mr. Hankey, a sentient piece of feces. Mr. Hankey does not come alive in the presence of other characters, who consequently think that Kyle is delusional. Meanwhile, the townspeople remove all religious aspects of Christmas to remain politically correct and inoffensive.

"Jared Has Aides" is the first episode of the sixth season of the adult American animated television series South Park, and the 80th episode of the series overall. It first aired on Comedy Central in the United States on March 6, 2002. In the episode, weight loss advocate and Subway spokesman Jared Fogle incurs the wrath of South Park after he announces that he lost weight because he has aides. This leads Cartman, Kyle and Stan to try to use Butters as their own advocate for City Wok. The episode also parodies the film Philadelphia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Craig Tucker</span> Fictional character from the TV series South Park

Craig Tucker is a fictional character in the adult animated television series South Park. He is voiced by series co-creator Matt Stone. One of the main characters' fourth-grade classmates, he debuted in the season one episode "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" with the rest of the third-grade class. His speaking debut was in "Rainforest Shmainforest". A pragmatist, Craig commonly strays from the plans of the main characters in favor of more practical, realistic approaches and solutions to main issue.

"The Ungroundable" is the 14th and final episode of the 12th season of the American animated series South Park, and the 181st episode of the series overall. It originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on November 19, 2008. This is the last episode of South Park to be broadcast in 480i standard definition. The episode was rated TV-MA L in the United States. The episode spoofs vampire films including the Twilight craze and The Lost Boys, where Butters believes that he sees vampires in the school.

"Royal Pudding" is the third episode of the fifteenth season of the American animated television series South Park and 212th episode of the series overall. "Royal Pudding" premiered in the United States on Comedy Central on May 11, 2011. In the episode, which parodies the 2011 wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, the Prince of Canada's bride is abducted at the altar, leading Ike Broflovski to answer the call to rescue her. "Royal Pudding" was written and directed by series co-creator Trey Parker and was rated TV-MA L in the United States. The episode aired twelve days after the wedding.

"City Sushi" is the sixth episode of the fifteenth season of the American animated sitcom South Park and the 215th episode of the series overall. It premiered on Comedy Central in the United States on June 1, 2011. In the episode, Butters is misdiagnosed with multiple personality disorder. Meanwhile, Tuong Lu Kim takes on South Park's new Japanese resident, who has put a sushi restaurant right next to his City Wok.

"The Poor Kid" is the fifteenth season finale of the American animated television series South Park, and the 223rd episode of the series overall. It first aired on Comedy Central in the United States on November 16, 2011. In the episode, Kenny McCormick and his siblings are sent to a foster home after police discover a meth lab in their house. As a result, Eric Cartman is left with feelings of loss, since he no longer has someone to ridicule for their poverty.

"The City Part of Town" is the third episode of the nineteenth season and the 260th overall episode of the animated television series South Park, written and directed by series co-creator Trey Parker. The episode premiered on Comedy Central on September 30, 2015. The episode primarily tackles gentrification and continues the season-long parody of political correctness.

During the summer of 2002 there were a number of high-profile child abductions in the United States. Despite the statistical decrease of non-custodial child abductions since 1999, extensive media coverage of selected cases created a nationwide sense of panic. The focus on child abductions led governmental entities to take action. Many states instituted Amber alerts systems and a national Amber alert was included as part of a package of federal legislation known as the PROTECT Act of 2003.

References

  1. ↑ Season 6 [ dead link ]Summer of South Park
  2. ↑ Parker, Trey (November 2005). South Park: The Complete Sixth Season: "Free Hat" (DVD – audio commentary). Paramount Home Entertainment.
  3. ↑ Schorn, Peter (February 26, 2009). "South Park: The Complete Sixth Season DVD Review". IGN. Retrieved January 25, 2017.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.