MovieChat Forums > South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999) Discussion > An unexpected and extremely powerful dra...

An unexpected and extremely powerful dramatic twist. SPOILERS!

posted 16 years ago by Opethanddonniedarko
12 replies | jump to latest

I love this film, it's one of the most inspired and hilarious comedies of recent years, a brilliant satire on nearly everything it touches, and unique in its style of over-the-top obscenity and the speed at which everything unfolds, while setting a milestone in musical comedy that has yet to be surpassed.

Most people would say I've covered what makes this film so great, let alone so popular, but there's one thing (which took me three views to notice) that really nags at me and makes me think, even more so than the often-terrifying satirical elements.

I'm talking about the scene at the end where Kenny wishes for everything to go back to normal, for the sake of everyone, but which involves him returning to Hell. I'm not sure if the dramatic effect of this scene was meant to be as powerful as I found it to be, but there's certainly something deep going on, regardless of whether Trey and Matt were aware of it.

For me it generates a strong emotional reaction. It's a young boy, knowingly condemning himself to Hell, to reverse the effects of a devastating war started by the very same people he ends up saving. There's a lot of things to think about. That a young child can be so selfless, whether he's aware of the effect that he's having, the reactions of his friends and acquaintances, the reveal of his true appearance and voice, the fact that he was unappreciated before ("I hate you, Kenny."), and a lot of other things can occur to viewers, or not, or maybe only some.

Since I don't believe such a powerful emotional reaction was intended by the writers, there's no indication of how it's supposed to make us feel. This means that whatever it makes you feel is very honest as it is unhindered by any writers' intentions. For me it's sadness and happiness meshed together. The world is saved, but at the expense of a little boy's afterlife, but he wanted it that way, but his friends are going to miss him, but he gets killed in every episode anyway, but he's never needed to answer to Satan before, but he ends up going to heaven anyway, etc. etc. It's very complex.

Has anyone else taken away anything similar from this scene or from the film, and has it affected you on a deep level in this way?

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] Opethanddonniedarko 16 years ago

I fully agree, but I think my emotional reaction to the scene has deeper roots.

Another scene that really gets to me is when we see Kenny floating in space, on his way to Heaven, and then he is denied access and he falls into Hell. I think it's actually quite scary and saddening. He's a little boy who had died before his time, and he is floating up towards heaven. He is no doubt full of hope and happiness, then suddenly he is denied access, and all those good feelings are cruelly snatched away from him. He lands in Hell, and the music has changed from "little boy at peace" sung softly to "this ain't Disneyland, it's Hell!" sung brutally. It's enough that he's to be condemned to Hell, but to lead him to believe he was on his way to Heaven, only to be proven wrong at the very last moment, is the epitome of sadism.

This ties in with my lifelong belief that deception is the one of the most malicious acts of them all, short of rape and murder. It's like someone who presides at a fork in a road, directing people in the direction they want to go, but intentionally leading them down the wrong path. Walking along the wrong path, they don't know they've been tricked, but once they arrive at the end place, they realise that they're in the wrong place, and that they've been tricked.

They gave their trust to a person who claimed to want to help them, placing a small part of their life at his mercy, and that person took advantage of their humanity for his purely evil ends. Kenny trusted that the reason his soul was being floated up towards the entrance to Heaven was because he was destined to spend his afterlife in there. When it turned out that that wasn't the case, Kenny felt betrayed and angry, and I felt angry at the huge deception the recently-killed 8-year-old child had just suffered.

[–] sofox 16 years ago

And yet he still gave his afterlife up to undo the damage of war.

Says something...

[–] Phanatic77 15 years ago

Kenny made the sacrifice with his wish... meaning that he would go back to hell if earth would be saved...

However don't forget that at the end he isn't condemned... watch the end sequence again, Kenny is clearly shown to have received his wings and access to heaven gates by conducting this selfless act.

However Kenny has always been this way. He is and always was a white-trash dirty little boy with a golden heart. In one of the episodes, either Season 1, 2, or 3, he sacrifices his life to save his fellow friends.

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] 15 years ago

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[–] Neil_Of_Cardiff 15 years ago

Are you lot high ? lol.. This is a fricking comedy for christ sake, not a film that is meant to be taken seriously and dissected for some deep emotional message haha. Kenny always dies in the show, and dies in the movie, so what ? Cannot belive that you lot are actually taking this thread seriously lol.

[–] Mhjm6 15 years ago

Taking it seriously or not, those points stated make so much sense.

[–] cyber___ 14 years ago

Are you lot high ? lol.. This is a fricking comedy for christ sake, not a film that is meant to be taken seriously and dissected for some deep emotional message haha. Kenny always dies in the show, and dies in the movie, so what ? Cannot belive that you lot are actually taking this thread seriously lol.

People can find deep emotional messages in basicly everything, and of course comedies can be deep. Also, Stone & Parker are terrific writers. Just look at the TV show. Imo, it's one of the most clever TV shows I've ever seen, seriously.

There is no good or evil, only different opinions

[–] bfk_94 14 years ago

Yes I agree, I've always looked up to Kenny for doing that...but after seeing the new episodes where we learn he actually is immortal, it sort of takes away from the whole "self sacrifice" thing. Cuss he's obviously going to come back in the next episode.

[–] voyagerandsouthpark 10 years ago

i thought of that, so what if he goes to hell or heaven, he's just going to wake up in his bed again, cause his super power is he can't stay dead, its just a minor inconvenience

"sir, sir, i gotta check and see if you've soiled yourself, I'll get to you in a moment, sir!"

[–] beetleborgs69 10 years ago

I agree with you on both accounts, that the film is an emotionally powerful film experience, and that it isn't exactly intentional. I first saw this film when I was ten years old, and, honestly, I had seen the recent episodes of the show (it was up to about Season 7), so nothing in the film shocked me like it was supposed to upon initial release, and I didn't find it particularly funny. However, I thought it was incredible. I thought it was beautiful. I thought it was a beautiful musical, wonderfully staged, hit every thematic note it was supposed to and carried quite the calculated punch as a theatrical feature. The film is a satire and a parody, it envelopes genre conventions, it has studied tropes and film structure and the intention of the film, while not to be emotionally satisfying in an exactly conventional way, WAS to be a perfectly structured and executed movie musical, which denotes all the emotional highs and lows. It's one of the most unique things about the film for me, and one of the reasons I love it so much, it's an anarchistic "perfect film", that debauches every film that came before it, while at the same time serving as a sort of ultimate example of everything it destroys. A paradox of a film, as all the great films are, it certainly IS emotionally effectual just by that calculation and reckless abandon of pure parody.

I feel pretty much every moment of this film affects me in a classical way, not so much emotionally, but just as a very well-executed pressure point in the film's structure, the opening "Mountain Town", Kenny going to hell, "What Would Brian Boitano Do?", "La Resistance Medley", the action climax parodying "Dragonball Z", "Mountain Town Reprise". In the language of film conventions, this film is just packed full of perfect moments, and because those perfect moments are derived from the calculations of film as an emotional medium, they really do have a sway and a punch. That is the genius of Trey Parker. While I do believe he might not be all there as a person, can't create original art in the way the greatest artists do, he is something else. He is a valuable asset, a studious person and a very hard worker, and when he applies himself, as he did extraordinarily in this, his major feature film, what would be his magnum opus, just in the fact that he puts so much care and attention into attacking and subverting film convention literally, he has made what I believe is one of the most perfect films I have ever seen. At once an attack on formulaic assembly, and a perfect, ultimate representation of everything it tried to cater to the common man. Certainly a wonderful film in regard, almost important.

It's one of the few films where I will pop the DVD in, skip to certain parts, particularly the ending "Mountain Town Reprise", and just marvel at the thoughtful workmanship. All the more poignant because the production values are intentionally poor, and it's all riding purely on the structure. It's a great film, and it transcends conventional comedy in an accidental, alchemical way. One of the great, chance-given masterpieces of modern cinema, in my opinion, and a complete antidote to everything that's wrong (and unintentionally right) about commercial film.