When it comes to parodying films, television, music, novels, video games, and cultural icons, South Park is pretty much the best in the game. Sure, other animated shows for adults are good at it, but South Park goes the extra mile. This is because they're more concerned about how their parodies work within the stories of each episode versus just going for the easy joke. Therefore, South Park's satirical analysis on all of our favorite forms of entertainment often has a stronger thematic purpose than anything their competitors do as well as make profound statements. But even within the show, some of their parodies are stronger than others. Sometimes, their parodies are so fantastic that they're almost as good as the real thing. This article delves into 10 of the absolute best ones. Without further ado, here are 10 Incredible South Park Parodies Almost Better Than The Real Thing.
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The Lord Of The Rings
Although The Lord of the Rings movies and novels remain utter masterpieces, South Park's own parody of it remains classic. The Season 6 episode starts off with the boys attempting to return The Fellowship of the Ring to the video store. However, after a mix-up with a more mature video, the quest becomes something else entirely. Among the show's highlights are a group of "losers" playing Harry Potter, older boys reminiscent of Black Riders and Orcs, and Butters turning into Gollum/Smeagol after having seen the other videotape. In short, this episode is one of the funniest and loving parodies of a truly great series.
The Music Of Lorde
Lorde couldn't have enjoyed the endless parodying that South Park did of her and her catalog of music. The creators of South Park portrayed her music as the repetition of her name over-and-over again to an instrumental beat. Not to mention, they also revealed that the singer is actually the 45-year-old geologist, Randy Marsh, in a bad wig and unflattering dress.
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Arguably, Lorde is still more talented than she's made out to be on the show. After all, Randy definitely doesn't have the real-life singer's vocal power. However, he certainly has made it hard to listen to Lorde without singing, "I am Lorde. Lordey-Lorde-Lorde."
Multi-Player Online Games
South Park took down every single multi-player online game in Season 10's "Make Love, Not Warcraft". In the episode, the boys become enthralled with an online game that keeps their attention 24/7. This causes them to become the stereotype of every gamer out there and the result isn't flattering. But the show also spends time mocking World of Warcraft itself when a high-level player starts picking them off one by one. This causes the boys to band together in order to stop him. The show includes a number of impressive graphics that almost looks as good as what's found in the most modern version of the game.
Black Hawk Down
After finding out that he needs to perform a good deed to be off of Santa's bad list, Cartman decided to head to the North Pole and convince Santa to give presents to kids in an impoverished country in the Middle East. Santa agrees but his sleigh ends up being taken down by assailants while flying over the desert.
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This emboldens Cartman to team up with the boys, Mr. Hanky and Jesus to rescue Santa in a wonderful Black Hawk Down parody that's almost as good at the movie. Of course, the episode ends with the boys turning Bagdad into a Christmas-themed wonderland, but how else did you expect this story to conclude?
Jersey Shore
The creators of South Park sure had their fun poking fun at the famous reality show, Jersey Shore. The episode consists of endless jokes at the reality shows expense when a bunch of people from New Jersey move to the small Colorado town. In fact, the entire country starts to experience the aggressive and uncouth stereotypes associated with people from The Shore. Of course, this parody ties into Sheila's storyline as it's revealed that she too is from New Jersey and has done everything to suppress her heritage. The episode also features one of the most unflattering depictions of Snooki ever. The Season 9 parody may be different than the original but it's certainly funnier.
World War Z
Although South Park's parody of World War Z may not be as good as the book, it's certainly better than the movie. In this episode, Cartman falls asleep in class and dreams up a zombie outbreak-like scenario linked to the saddening real-life Trayvon Martin trial. The episode pokes fun at some of the distracting and silly light-hearted moments in the movie as well as delves into some important statements about race relations and self-defense laws. In short, it says a lot more than the movie ever could have. Of course, the show can't help but absolutely take down the movie, especially while portraying every character with Cartman's voice.
The Mighty Ducks
There are a ton of sports parodies in South Park, but since this site is mostly centered around movies and television we had to include a sports movie on this list instead. And one of the best sports movies that's parodied on South Park has got to be The Mighty Ducks. The movie was spoofed in a Season 10 episode called "Stanley's Cup" where Stan coaches a pee-wee hockey team ahead of a game against the actual Detroit Red Wings. At every turn, the episode finds something about the movie make fun of, including it's cast. But ultimately the ending of the show is far more entertaining than the movie as the pee-wee hockey team gets mercilessly beaten by the professional NHL players.
High School Musical
South Park's version of High School Musical, "Elementary School Musical" is better than the famous T.V. movie in every way. First of all, it doesn't take itself nearly as seriously as the original. And although South Park's songs aren't as catchy or memorable, they are notably funnier and cruder.
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Even the characters' movements mimic the original film. One of the best aspects of this episode is that High School Musical itself is worked into the story and is actually the catalyst for what happens in the episode. Unfortunately, for the creators of the Disney movie, it doesn't always get put in the most flattering of light.
Most Fantasy And Science Fiction Movies And Shows
In the Imagination Land Trilogy, South Park manages to parody practically every major fantasy and sci-fi movie and T.V. show ever made. Although this ambitious episode doesn't focus on one, it does make some pretty interesting statements about the importance of creativity while satirizing Hollywood. While doing this, the writers manage to tell a compelling "Hero's Journey" story that is just as engaging as some of the most notable tellings it pokes fun of, namely The Matrix, Transformers, Stargate, The Chronicles of Narnia, and Star Wars. In many ways, this may be one of the best and most expansive parodies in television history.
Every Superhero Film
How could we finish this list without mentioning The Coon? All of the episodes featuring Cartman as The Coon don't just parody one superhero, but instead, they go after the entire genre which the creators of South Park believe has taken over our culture. Every episode that features The Coon, especially the storylines with Mysterion, dissect each of the tropes we've come to know in every Marvel and DC movie. From there, South Park turns these tropes on their heads, allowing us to understand how silly some of these films are while simultaneously giving us more appreciation for them. In short, this is one particularly smart way of parodying something we all care about.