‘South Park’ Addresses Rule 34, Yaoi And The Problem Of Aggressive Acceptance

Last night, South Park explored Rule 34 and fan-made couplings in the most sexually tolerant, and funniest, way possible. The Season 19 episode “Tween x Craig” tested the limits of South Park’s new progressiveness by forcing two of its straight, male background characters to be in a relationship.

If you don’t know, Rule 34 is a generally accepted Internet rule that says if a subject exists, someone has created pornography or sexually provocative material about it. This is one of the many reasons why it’s never wise to Google My Little Pony images without safe search on. Most of the time, if a show or movie gains substantial attention in the mysterious realm of sexualized fan art, the phenomenon is politely left unaddressed. Occasionally, it may be mentioned by the actual people involved in the fictional relationships, mostly at the hands of talk show hosts striving to make their guests uncomfortable.

However, shows and movies rarely take the time to directly address their fan communities. That’s not what South Park did.

Last night, the residents of South Park were met by an onslaught of Tweek x Craig slash art, which, as Parker and Stone discovered, is very real on the Wild West of the Web. If you don’t remember who Tweek or Craig are, you’re not alone. Tweek is the coffee-fueled manic depressive boy who replaced Kenny for a short time during Season Six, and Craig’s most notable achievement is being leader of the Guinea monsters during the Pandemic series. The most these two characters have interacted is when they fought in Season 3’s “Tweek vs. Craig.”

In last night’s episode, the Asian-American girls of South Park Elementary keep drawing the straight Tweek and Craig as a couple, testing the limits of the town’s tolerance and new-found politically-correct culture. The town’s residents rise to the occasion almost too well, embracing the Tweek x Craig yaoi artwork, teaching the new couple what sexual consent looks like, and giving both boys money. Unfortunately, neither of the boys are gay.

In a beautifully-crafted inverse, Tweek and Craig have to weigh the cost of fighting against their society’s expectation of them to be a couple against the benefits of conforming to expectations that are not representative of them as people. Also thrown into the mix is a bitterly sweet plot line about Craig’s father coming to terms with his “gay” son, and a not-so-sweet story starring Cartman and his cupid self. The result is a nuanced episode about listening to what someone says their sexuality is rather than assigning them the sexual label you think fits them best.

Eventually the boys do decide to continue their fictional relationship, but it takes several love songs for them to get there. As the A.V. Club’s review has pointed out, this episode embodies what South Park does best — taking a trend and following it without question to its most extreme end. Though the town becomes obsessed with embracing and not victimizing homosexual members of its community, these good intentions are what ultimately victimize Tweek and Craig. Sure, it’s a funny and insane episode, but it’s also a smart take on the dangers of using political correctness to pressure people to adopt positions and labels they don’t actually believe in. PC-bashing is definitely a theme this episode as it has been all season.

Another theme this season is continuity. Craig’s perceived sexuality is a callback from “The City Part of Town” when the Mayor introduced him as homosexual to the Whole Foods representative. This is all to say that South Park is comically killing it this season. Here’s hoping all of that continuity ends in a great Season 19 finale.

[You can stream all of South Park, including Season 19, on Hulu]

Kayla Cobb is a proud graduate of Clemson University and loves her cat and TV shows more than some people love their kids. You should really follow her on Twitter at @KaylCobb.

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