Laughing Matters: Economies of Hyper-Irony and Manic-Satire in South Park & Family Guy

Abstract

The so called “Arab,” “Middle Eastern,” and “South Asian” (hereinafter “AMESA”) worlds are oft-described as barbaric, untrustworthy, anti-democratic, violent, and filled with religious militants. Many claim that animated cartoons propagate this bigoted point of view, and that engagement with progressive and antiracist systems of representation are rarely combined in mainstream media formats. Using episodes from the animated series Family Guy and South Park culled from 2001 through 2007, we highlight the presence of a new cultural moment in post-9/11 culture that we call the “economy of hyper-irony and manic-satire.” Through this framework, we find that animated cartoons simultaneously reproduce and confound racist and essentialist representations of AMESA people.