When Fart Sounds Make You Emotional, a Look Into South Park’s Use of Sound

Trey Parker and Matt Stone would prank their film professors by speaking to each other in high-pitched voices to purposely disrupt the class. Ironically, those voices ended up being the same ones that later brought us iconic quotes such as “Screw you guys, I’m going home!” and “Oh my God, they killed Kenny!” These voices are undoubtedly South Park’s sonic footprint, defining the show’s humor and making it instantly recognizable. Aside from the quotes, what adds to South Park’s

The boys doing a “High School Musical” styled number.

 charm is how the creators use sound as a storytelling tool.   

When it comes to dialogue and the character’s voices, Parker and Stone created distinct tones and mannerisms to reflect the personality of each boy. Cartman’s whiny tone mirrors his obnoxious personality while Stan’s softer voice reflects his generally calm and laid-back personality. Kyle often speaks with a more sarcastic tone that reflects his short temper and tendency to argue and Kenny, whose voice is muffled by his parka, allows him to say some of the obscener phrases the other boys don’t say, making him just a bit more inappropriate. All four voices, along with the other kids in the show, are digitally pitched up to sound like crude elementary school kids to amplify the show’s childish aesthetic and comedic tone. With these voices, dialogue is often written to sound like something you would hear on a playground. Which is reflected in Season 12’s “Elementary School Musical”, where the show uses both dialogue and diegetic music to parody Disney Channel’s High School Musical.  

The episode starts with Cartman making fun of Kenny’s lunch, calling him poor just for having a bologna sandwich and water. Butters then asks if the boys want to go see High School Musical 3. The boys aren’t aware of what High School Musical is but are hit face to face with it when the kids in their school suddenly burst out into a musical number after being influenced by the movie and by Bridon Gueermo, who’s a parody of Zac Efron’s character. The first song in the episode, “Everyone is Special,” written by Parker mimics the upbeat style heard in Disney songs. The song has lyrics such as, “As long as we stick together, together will stay and every kid at school is special in their own way,” mocks the over-exaggerated optimism High School Musical has, a result of Parker studying the music and creating his own version to parody it. As the other kids stand on cafeteria tables and sing, the main boys react in confusion, finally prompting them to check out the movie. Parker and Stone use silence to highlight the boy’s reactions as they watch the movie, using the absence of sound as commentary to make a point that the movie is so bad it leaves you speechless. Cartman finally breaks the silence with, “This is cool? We are getting old, you guys.” Reflecting Parker and Stone’s own criticism about the movie and the confusion to its popularity. While “getting old” sounds funny in this episode, Season 15’s “You’re Getting Old!” is surprisingly one of South Park’s more emotional stories that’s conveyed with the use of sound effects and non-diegetic music. 

Stan on a swing, seeing nothing but shit.

On Stan’s tenth birthday, Kyle gifts him a new “tween wave” CD. Stan’s mother Sharon takes the CD away, telling Stan that the music wasn’t good for him. This sparks an argument between Sharon and Randy, Stan’s father, who insists that Sharon has become part of the old generation who criticize the younger generation’s music. Sharon tells Randy that Tween Wave music sounds like “crap” and challenges him to listen for himself. When Randy listens to the CD, he hears nothing but fart sounds- literally crap-but he denies it, rejecting the fact that he was getting old. 

Meanwhile, Stan also begins to hear the same farting noises when he listens to the CD himself. Soon, every song, movie and even his friend’s conversations began to sound like crap. This sound effect is used as a metaphor for growing up and losing the ability to enjoy things that once brought happiness as a kid. Stan’s newly developed cynicism isolates him from the other boys, and Randy’s refusal to grow up causes him and Sharon to separate. At the end of the episode, Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide”, plays over a montage of Stan’s parents separating and Stan drifting further away from his friends. In the season’s DVD release, Parker explains in the commentary that although they had backup options in case they couldn’t secure the rights to the song, no 

Even the flowers are shit.

other track would have worked as well as Landslide did. And that’s because the lyrics about change and growth mirror Stan’s realization that life inevitably changes and growing up means having to find ways to adapt to those changes. The fact that Landslide was a song they needed to have highlights how Parker and Stone know how and when to use music to tell a story. The episode started with fart sounds to maintain the comedy but ended on a more emotional note with Landslide to really point out the real message of the episode: that growing up is crappy, but it’s unavoidable. 

In conclusion, through their distinct voices, sound effects and music, Parker and Stone have used sound to land their stories perfectly making each episode both funny with their commentary on pop culture, and emotionally relatable, proving that even a show that uses fart sounds can have a deeper meaning. Their use of sound has become a recognizable feature of South Park’s storytelling, one that people around the world continue to quote and reference and perhaps use to disrupt their own film classes.  

Writer: Isabel Cisneros. Images: Jamie Soliz. Producer: Dante Ellis.

Works Cited: 

South Park. “Elementary School Musical.” Season 12, Episode 13, directed by Trey Parker, Comedy Central, 2008. 

South Park. “You’re Getting Old.” Season 15, Episode 7, directed by Trey Parker, Comedy Central. 2011. 

Parker, Trey. South Park: The Complete Fifteenth Season. Audio commentary, Comedy Central, 2011.