Instinct Trumps Imagination: How "South Park" and "King of the Hill" Are Taking on American Fascism

I was asked this week for a piece examining how King of the Hill, a beloved animated series that just returned after a 16-year hiatus, and South Park, one that appeared a few months after King of he Hill’s debut in 1997 and has never gone away, are confronting the sociopolitical milieu of the Trump era. I didn’t have a lot of time, and I hadn’t watched or thought about South Park in more than 20 years. I’d never been a habitual King of the Hill viewer, though I enjoyed it whenever I happened to see it.

I’m pleased enough with how the piece turned out, though I lament my observation that South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone scoring their highest ratings in 25 years with their Trump-trolling episodes parallels Charlie Chaplin’s career-rejuvenating success with The Great Dictator in 1940 had to go. Chaplin’s relevance had been in decline since sound came to the movies. But when he became one of the few artists brave enough to mock the Axis Powers in a time of fascist aggression, his audience rewarded his courage. There’s a lot more to this — the CBS 60 minutes settlement and the Paramount-Skydance merger of it all. I did what I could in the time and space I had. Here’s the piece.