Continuing on the theme of Colorado, this will blog will look at Colorado’s impact on pop culture. Colorado isn’t a huge state and is geographically isolated, therefore it’s role in the media is fairly small. Shows such as Last Man Standing and Everwood along with movies such as Red Dawn have taken place in the state but Colorado’s most notable contribution to pop-culture is obviously South Park. Very few shows have quite had the impact (or generated quite the controversy) that South Park has and the most frequently asked question I get about Colorado is: “is Colorado really like South Park?” 

While South Park is satirical, the answer is yes. South Park is a fictional town based on Jefferson County, Colorado about 25 miles west of Denver in the foothills of the Rockies. This area signifies the boundary between suburban Denver and rural Colorado. This area, and Colorado, in general is known for being cultural and politically eclectic with libertarian leaning ideals, which is reflected in the show. South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone grew up in this area and the show is loosely based on their own experiences growing up. They became friends at the University of Colorado Boulder and began making construction paper cartoons that became popular throughout the university and eventually turned into a cartoon.

While many TV shows, such as Seinfeld and The Goldbergs have portrayed the Jewish experience, those shows took place in New York and suburban Philadelphia respectively. South Park is unique in portraying a Jewish character in an overwhelming non-Jewish area. Matt Stone based Kyle and the Broflovski family directly on his own experience of growing up as a Jew in Colorado. Kyle deals with constant antisemitism from Cartman and oftentimes feels displaced from many of his friends because of his heritage, especially

South Park also portrayed certain elements of Colorado perfectly. Two of my favorites included the episodes that dealt with Aspen and ziplining. The episode about Aspen mocks ski resort time share pitches along with the fake Botox filled rich people who inhabit Aspen. Even funnier was the ziplining episode which portrays the overly enthusiastic tour guides and annoying customers that inhibit many tourist destinations in Colorado.

South Park also portrays Colorado’s non-stop fascination with the Denver Broncos. Two of the most famous Broncos references include an episode in which Cartman tries to figure out which Broncos player is his dad and when the kids get all of the parents arrested by lying that they molested them and then after their parents were all in jail, decided to worship a statue of John Elway (there’s a reason it’s been called the most controversial show in history).

South Park also makes many subtle and small references such restaurants like Casa Bonita and Bennigan’s along with mocking various towns in Colorado from needing a Spanish dictionary in Pueblo (a town with a large Mexican community), to Greeley, which is referred to on a road sign as “the opposite of Hawaii.” The most brutal mocking was reserved for Boulder and the hippies who inhabit the college town.

South Park has been on T.V. for over twenty years and like many television programs portrays the culture of a specific region. South Park shows that Colorado is an odd, yet fascinating, part of the United States that straddles the cultural divide in a satirical format.