Story Lessons from South Park
By Keith Cronin | February 10, 2015 |
my South Park selfie (with spatula)
Wait, what?
Yes, I’m serious. My post today is about the storytelling lessons we can learn from possibly the most tasteless and offensive TV show of all time: South Park.
Full disclosure: I haven’t actually watched an episode of South Park in quite a long time. But I’ve seen many episodes over the years, and I am embarrassingly fond of the movie Team America (one of the most tasteless and offensive movies I’ve ever seen, as well as one of the funniest), which was also written and directed by the creators of South Park: Matt Stone and Trey Parker. So I feel confident that they continue to be tasteless, offensive and funny – and damn good storytellers.
I recently stumbled onto a very brief video clip of Stone and Parker making a guest appearance at what appears to be a film class at NYU, and I was struck by the simple but powerful lesson they shared.
[pullquote]That’s the curse of funny people: it’s easy to forget that part of the reason they are so funny is because they take the craft so seriously.[/pullquote]
I’ll admit, I was a little surprised by how seriously these two took the concept of storytelling when talking to a group of students. But that’s the curse of funny people: it’s easy to forget that part of the reason they are so funny is because they take the craft so seriously.
It’s not hard to imagine Stone and Parker just sitting in a writers’ room making fart jokes all day long, but you don’t keep a show running for 18 seasons as one of the highest-rated series on Comedy Central by accident. No, there’s some brainpower at work here, which became clear as Matt and Trey addressed their audience.
Cause and effect
In discussing how their writers’ room worked, they revealed that although they brainstorm and develop individual funny scenes, the key to turning those scenes into an actual story is in making sure that each scene causes the next scene to occur.
Why is this important? Because if there’s no relationship of cause and effect between scenes, you end up with simply a list of events or plot points, without anything driving the story forward. Parker pointed out how this is a common problem in the work of inexperienced writers, but Stone noted that he sees similar problems even in some current films, leaving him wondering, “What the @#$% am I watching this movie for?”
To avoid this pitfall in their own work, the South Park writers developed a very simple litmus test for determining whether they had achieved the desired causation between scenes, by seeing whether one of two words could be inserted between each scene:
“Therefore” or “but”
Whether you’re a South Park fan or not, I urge you to watch this two-minute (yes, it’s safe for work) video to learn the power of these two simple words. (EDIT: if you can’t access that link, try this one.)
Stone and Parker’s lesson prompted a real “a-HA” moment for me as a writer, and you can see on the faces of the students in the audience that many of them were experiencing the same epiphany.
So this left me thinking: what other lessons might there be to learn from Matt and Trey’s body of work?
I came up with four lessons, but you might find even more. But here’s something I want to emphasize: these lessons are NOT just for people writing funny stories (or tasteless stories, for that matter) No, despite my tongue’s reputation for spending a lot of time in my cheek, I’m serious in saying that I think ALL of us can learn something from the storytelling in South Park. To wit:
1. Dig deep.
Episode after episode, scene after scene, Stone and Parker show that they are not afraid to go to the uncomfortable place, often pushing the boundaries of what you can get away with on broadcast TV. Although they may present their topics through a lens of lowbrow humor, Stone and Parker are willing to take on religion, race, politics, sexuality, censorship, war, terrorism, society’s worship of celebrities and many more hot-button issues. Does your own work push that hard, or do you tend to play it safe? I know my own work could probably take a bolder stance far more often.
2. Be honest.
Brutally honest, in Stone and Parker’s case. They show a complete willingness – possibly a flat-out addiction – to having people go ahead and say and do things that we would normally only think or fantasize about.
[pullquote]One way to make characters “larger than life” – and thus, more compelling – is to have them say or do the kind of big, bold things that many of us would be too afraid to do or say in real life.[/pullquote]
This is actually why I started paying closer attention to Stone and Parker’s work, because this aligns directly with what I’ve learned in workshops led by our own Donald Maass. One way to make a character “larger than life” – and thus, more compelling – is to have him or her say or do the kind of big, bold things that many of us would be reluctant or too afraid to do or say in real life.
3. Kill somebody.
Stone and Parker truly milk this point, killing somebody in every episode. But to push it a step further, they kill the same person in every episode: the hapless Kenny. While this plot device left viewers scratching their heads after the first few episodes, it quickly became one of the show’s hooks: seeing what new and horrendous way they would find to kill Kenny in each episode.
Yes, it’s a dumb gag. But it also reminds us that even in comedy, the story has more impact when the stakes are high – and THAT is the lesson. To make our stories bigger, we often need to raise the stakes. Sometimes, that means killing a character – even a primary character.
[pullquote]To make our stories bigger, we often need to raise the stakes.[/pullquote]
Joss Whedon does this, often taking out a significant character in his TV shows and movies, and gut-punching the audience in the process. And fans of Game of Thrones know that George R.R. Martin takes it to a whole new level, gleefully killing off characters in whom you’ve invested hundreds of pages of reading, or tens of hours of viewing. NOBODY in Martin’s world is safe. And how awesome is that, preventing your reader from ever feeling too comfortable?
Whether you’re a serial cartoon-character-killer like Stone and Parker, or writing a quiet emotional exploration of some contemplative character’s inner journey, nothing prompts the “whoa – shit just got REAL” response in your readers like unexpectedly killing off a character. So take a look at your characters. Are you willing to have one of them walk the plank, in the name of amping up the stakes in your story? Hey, it’s a legal way for you to get away with murder!
4. Above all, be fearless.
I think anybody who watches South Park will quickly see that there seems to be nothing that Stone and Parker are afraid to tackle. They think nothing of breaking – hell, utterly pulverizing – any and all taboos, no matter who gets offended in the process. Do they cross the boundaries of good taste? Oh, hell yes. Constantly. But that’s the expectation they’ve created, and there’s a specific audience they’re trying to reach with all that tastelessness.
But that’s not the only way to be fearless. As writers, we can push ourselves to explore areas where most people are afraid to go – whether we’re being funny or deadly serious. You could even make the case that this is often what our readers WANT us to do: to take them to a place their own day-to-day lives would never take them. To me, this means they’re looking to us to be brave. Let’s not disappoint them.
How about you?
Have you ever learned valuable story lessons from an unlikely source? What do you think of Stone and Parker’s emphasis on causation between scenes? Do you see opportunities to apply any of the other lessons I’ve harvested from this scatologically obsessed duo? Please chime in, and as always, thanks for reading!
Image generated by this awesome South Park Avatar Creator
Author of the novels Me Again (originally published by Five Star/Gale), and Tony Partly Cloudy (published under his pen name Nick Rollins), Keith Cronin (he/him) is a corporate speechwriter and professional rock drummer who has performed and recorded with artists including Bruce Springsteen, Clarence Clemons, and Pat Travers. Keith’s fiction has appeared in Carve Magazine, Amarillo Bay, The Scruffy Dog Review, Zinos, and a University of Phoenix management course. A native of South Florida, Keith spends his free time serenading local ducks and alligators with his ukulele.
Good to be reminded of this. Conflict and passion, as the cornerstones of good fiction writing, need to be amplified. Nothing worse than flat or boring writing. Looking forward to killing someone, or pushing them over the edge into an illicit affair. Thanks for this, Keith.
For me, lately, it’s been Once Upon a Time. Here’s a show that started out playing by the rules of the writer’s story world, then all hell broke loose. Fantasy writers must lose their minds watching this show. Strict rules of magic are laid down, then conveniently broken when the writer’s find themselves in a corner.
But I love it.
The reason, I think, are the individual story lines of characters we thought we knew. Through clever backstory placement, the writers show us how the Evil Queen was once a young girl in love, only to have her true love murdered by her own mother and, by the way, it was all the fault of a certain young Snow White.
We find out that Rumpelstiltsken, certainly the character with the highest body count in his past, has a spark of good in him and everything he’s done has been out of love of his son.
The list goes on and on. What I’ve learned from OUAT is that all characters have good and evil in them. In a classic state the theme moment in season 3, the Evil Queen (Regina), tells the Wicked Witch that “evil is not born, it’s made, the same is true of good.”
I cheered.
Now, when I conjure up any character, I dig deeper into their past to see what it was that made them turn the corner. That backstory may never make it to the page, but it will be present and the reader will pick up on it, giving my story a whole new depth.
Thanks for chiming in, Ron. I briefly got caught up in that show, but for some reason fell out of watching it – I’ll need to revisit it.
And “evil is not born, it’s made” is a GREAT thing to keep in mind when developing your antagonist.
Ron, I love Once as well! For the same reasons. My kids were hooked and I found myself fascinated with the way the writers blend good and evil in every character, in every episode. I don’t watch much television, but Once is a great example of character development and back story. Highly recommended.
Denise (Dee) Willson
Author of A Keeper’s Truth and GOT
Really enjoyed this post–and I wholeheartedly agree that Parker and Stone are often underrated storytelling geniuses, and among the most clever social commenters out there, regardless of whether you happen to like their childish humor (which I do). The “but/therefore” litmus test is an excellent “shortcut” for determining how essential each scene is in moving the story forward (the holy grail of storytelling). Thanks for posting!
Keith–
Thanks for a clear and useful post. The formula Stone and Parker speak of is the kind of capsulized advice that is truly useful to any writer: instead of “and then,” think in terms of “but” or “therefore” to maintain cause and effect.
BUT: Many readers don’t admire the shock-and-awe approach that obviously holds so much appeal for you, and for the twenty-somethings attending the lecture at NYU. My guess is that “digging deep” and being “brutally honest” mean something different to me than to you.
THEREFORE: I will keep the formula, and skip the cartoon.
Full discloser of my own: I’ve never seen “South Park,” but I know about the show from family members who watch it.
Barry, it does sound like South Park would not be your cuppa, but I’m glad you’re open to the notion that we can pick up valuable writing lessons from unlikely sources.
Great post, and thanks for the video link. As for unlikely teaching sources, I feel like a learned a lot from my comic book obsession. That might be worthy of a post. I leaned Marvel over DC, not just because it was darker, but I think the storytelling was deeper.
As far as cartoons go, I was a huge Looney Tunes fan – particularly the early stuff through the immediate post-war years. As a kid, I found myself laughing at the broad gags of Bugs and Foghorn, but I also found myself leaning in for the deeper meanings and cultural references. I would often ask an adult to explain things like, “Who’s the woman with the German accent who ‘wants to be alone’?” Hence, I knew who Greta Garbo was when I was ten, for example. Among many others. Yep, I been fully ed-yoo-meh-kated by cartoons and comics. Does it show?
Thanks again for the South Park enlightenment, Keith. Haven’t watched an episode in a few years, but deep winter seems like a good time to remedy that.
Vaughn, yes! Comic books. Director Guillermo del Toro draws heavily from comic books when he is creating (his masterpiece is Pan’s Labyrinth in my opinion).
Keith, great post!
Thanks for your comment, Vaughn. I haven’t read any comic books since I became “serious” about writing, but it’s probably worth me re-reading some old stuff.
Comic books aside, I’m definitely a fan of the movies and TV shows that come out of the Marvel universe – I can’t wait for season 2 of “Agents of SHIELD” to resume!
Thanks for a great post, Keith!
You always enjoy reading your posts.
Thank you, Keith! I haven’t watched South Park, but your post gave me lots to think about!
For those of us outside the United States, the video isn’t accessible, but I found a clip from it here: https://www.aerogrammestudio.com/2014/03/06/writing-advice-from-south-parks-trey-parker-and-matt-stone/
Erin, thanks for posting that link! I’ve added it to my post now.
This is one Rocking Post on novel construction no matter where you are in the process.
“Therefore and But, Not Then”—such an obvious way to examine the outgrowth of a story’s scenes, we assume we’ve done it…”then” Oops! Not!
Always good to remember that which grows simplest grows best.
Thanks for the clip, the post, your humor and inspiration.
Wow. The -and then vs but-therefore lesson- it’s commonsense simple, the kind of brilliant commonsense simple it takes years of honing your craft to come to realize. All too obvious, but not. Thank you for this post, Keith. Thank you for pulling the not-so-obvious-obvious out into the light.
This post and that clip are both keepers. I’ve always admired the way Stone and Parker can catch me unexpectedly by having a character do or say something so outrageous, so shocking, the only response is to literally laugh-out-loud. Part of the reason it works is because however outrageous or shocking the thing the character says or does is, it is entirely credible within the context of the story being told.
Powerful stuff.
Aha! Should have been the name of this post.
Thanks, Keith, for both the post and the link. I watched the video and found myself in awe over the simplicity of it, as well as the down-to-learn demeanor of the South Park creators. What a wonderful piece of advice.
Denise (Dee) Willson
Author of A Keeper’s Truth and GOT
You know, this is similar in some ways, but when pro-wrestling is done well, there can be great storytelling involved.
In the 1980’s and 1990’s WWF/WWE storylines were often written in year-long story arcs. The antagonist would take something from the protagonist (a title or whatever) or injure or betray him. The good guy would spend the year rebuilding himself and overcoming other obstacles and then the story would climax at the big pay-per-view where the good guy would win in their final confrontation.
Seriously, I learned a lot about storytelling from wrestling when I was a kid. It was never presented as “real” to me, so I remember analyzing the plots and characters with my friends at a very young age.
Wow, Jason – that’s a great and totally unexpected source of storytelling insight!
Kudos to you for paying attention like that – hell, this makes me want to watch some wrestling!
Just don’t watch any NEW wrestling. Unless you’d like to witness a living example of some of the worst writing you can imagine. 10-15 years ago, they seem to have thrown out the idea of long-term planning and now just write each show week-to-week focusing only one what they can do to pop a big rating for TV that week.
Thanks for the great post Keith!
When I clicked on the short clip of Trey and Matt I was impressed. Like you said, they have to be better at writing stories than telling fart jokes all day to last over 18 seasons. One scene logically causing the next is everything as opposed to “and then” this randomly happened because it made the writer laugh. Who cares.
For me, it’s critical to connect the reader to the story based on a logical series of events that the protagonist has to struggle with, and eventually grow from, changing the way they view their world forever. Although Once Upon a Time isn’t my favorite, Regina is an amazing example of that. We’ve seen the way she’s grown throughout the years based on a somewhat logical series of events. I love the way Disney really changed the definition of family with Regina, Henry and Emma for example, but only because it logically plays off of the story as a whole. The show’s epic fail however, is when they throw some random idea in a character’s head in order to connect all of these Disney tales together instead of writing a story based on the best logical “therefore, but” story.
You teaching the “Therefore, But” concept would be a wonderful addition to the next Writer’s Unboxed conference!
Chris
I love all your selfies, Keith, but this has to be my favorite. (Or second favorite. The toast-Keith still cracks me up.)
The phrase I’ve been taught to avoid writing a string-of-pearls story is “and because of that ____”.
At the UnCon, one of the big messages I took away was the necessity to make my characters bolder. Like 200% bigger in their actions. I won’t lie; as a person who tends to be cautious in her real life, that’s a challenge. Fun, I’ll grant you, but a challenge.
This is what I get from this post: South Park, Northern Exposure, whatever. Take your lessons wherever you find them.
I read this post, therefore I learned something very important about effective writing: cause and effect trumps an enumeration of events anytime, but, at the same time be true to your characters.
Talk about challenges….
I had this really bold statement, but it counters the advice here, therefore I’ll not say anything.
Ok, seriously, great advice.
Thanks for this post, Keith. I love these simple gems; they’re the best.
The big question, though, is which came first: the South Park avatar or the post idea?
Thanks again, Keith. Great stuff.