South Park Actually Captures What Kids Are Like Better Than You Might Think
The profanity and vulgarness of "South Park" may be old hat in this day and age, but when it initially came out in the 1990s, it was pretty shocking. A lot of people didn't know what to do with a show about a bunch of third graders who get abducted by aliens and call each other every bad word in the book. But according to "South Park" co-creator Matt Stone, they were just being faithful to how little kids truly are.
In 1997, Stone did an interview that was later republished by Paul Semel, in which the kids being kids was brought up. Children being worried about aliens one second only to laugh at a fart joke the next second seemed completely in line with what real kids would do. Stone agreed with this assessment, saying, "That's kind of where, with the language, people are like, 'That's little kids cursing!' But it's like, 'Well, guess what? Little kids talk like that.'"
Real kids may not have to deal with Tom Cruise trying to get into their closets, but they'll certainly swear at every opportunity once they learn a new word.
Trey Parker and Matt Stone had to get more creative because there were certain words they couldn't use
It's pretty natural for little kids to use dirty words they don't fully know the meaning of, and it sounds like that's what Matt Stone wanted to capture with the boys in "South Park." From the very beginning, they've cussed each other out because that's authentic. Stone went on to say, "If you happen to walk in on a bunch of little third graders, they're cussing their brains out. They love it. That's the only words they use. But they use them in a way that's kind of wrong, 'cause they don't really understand the words." Stone even mentions how his little cousin has the dirtiest mouth of anyone he knows.
But in those early episodes, they had to work around not being able to say certain words. These days, "South Park" can get away with dropping F-bombs and the like. In fact, when they could finally say "s***" on air, thanks to an episode of "Chicago Hope," it opened the doors to plenty of other taboo words. But before that time, they had to get creative. Stone later stated, "It just gets old. It hasn't even been a challenge; it's just made us more creative, because we actually have to think of real jokes."
"South Park" has changed a great deal over the years, but the central boys have always remained precocious and foul-mouthed.