Wednesday, April 9, 2008

"The White Method: Cheating"

So I don't know how many of you like the show South Park, but it is one of my favorite shows of all time. Tonight (Wed 4/8) was a new episode of its 12th season and it couldn't be more relevant for our class. The episode has 2 stories going on at once but the one I'm talking about is a complete parody of the movie "Stand and Deliver." Eric Cartman (the fat one) takes the role of Mr. Escalante and goes to teach in a inner-city school in Denver. He dresses like him and pulls a fake Latino accent and teaches them the meaning of being white, to cheat. I urge you to go on http://www.southparkstudios.com/ and search the South Park episodes (its Season 12 named "Eek a Penis!" the title is from the other story, as you probably could guess) to be able to fully understand what I'm talking about. (You may have to wait a day for the video to be on the internet, you could also search YouTube.com)

The short version is Cartman does well taking over his class mates and lets the students find Mr. Garrison's (the teacher) answers to the test. The principal is impressed by the class's scores on the test (that they cheated on) and asks Cartman to go to Denver to teach and "reach these kids" as best as he can. So he goes to Denver and teaches in your stereotypical urban school classroom. And he teaches them how he taught his classmates, to cheat. They make fun of him reaching to the one boy that resists the teacher in the movie and persuading the one girl to keep up with her education (or cheating) like the movie. The students end up cheating on their Standardized and Advanced Placement test for college. They monitor them to make sure they don't cheat, but Cartman has taught them so well that they are able to cheat on the big test and succeed. (All 24 scored 100% on the test) And they praise Cartman by teaching them the White Method: which was to cheat.

Overall, the episode is VERY controversial. If you want to watch I urge you to watch with an open mind.

Disclaimer:
This episode not only has coarse language and controversial views but the 2nd story that is happening within the episode is about a trans-gender teacher and his/her search to become a man again. (Hence the name of the episode)

No comments: