OUTLINE EXAMPLE 1

Kyle Rayner

Instructor Andrew Winslow

ENGL 101 152

08 September 2003

Source Text: “O Holy Night” from South Park.

General overview: My general plan is to give a diachronic (vs. synchronic) analysis of the “O Holy Night” sketch. I’m not sure about everything yet, but I’d like to talk in general about the use of irony throughout the song. Later, I’d like to do an analysis of the “Dreidle Song” for the text-in context essay, which contains a twist on the themes developed here, and Cartman gets a chance to get even with Kyle for the cattle prod treatment.

I. Introduction/ Background/ Argument

a. South Park traditionally pokes fun at virtually every religious system sooner or later.

b. In this case, the show exposes dissociations between the spirit of Christmas (charity, mercy, love, etc) with the commercial side by putting a self-serving character on the end of a cattle prod to remember a traditional Hymn.

II. The Major Characters

a. Mr. Garrison – an effete and widely considered homosexual character.

b. Eric Cartman – all-around racist, rude, impolite, jerk. Defining characteristic: self-serving

c. Kyle Brafslofsky – a young Jewish peer

III. “Shock Therapy”

IV. Giving Kyle the Prod

V. The use of irony

VI. No provocation/ Electric Laughter

a. First instance of the shock treatment is one where Cartman hasn’t even made a mistake

b. Moreover, Kyle enjoys shocking Cartman (he giggles after each prod).

VII. The Mistakes:

a. Mumbles

b. “Christmas trees and pie”

c. “and so we give presents”

d. Incoherence

e. “Missed it”

VIII. Just for the fun of it

a. At the end of the song, Kyle really gets into the punishment and continues to shock Cartman even when the singing portion of the song is over.

IX. The French words

a. Why the “French” words?

X. Preliminary Conclusions: I really have to tease these out, but I want to talk about how Cartman’s substitution of cultural values creates the irony within the text (is irony the right word?). Everything in the sketch is in extremes, but the one constant is that when Cartman gets really pressed for the words, all he can do is try to “fake it” through to the other side using nothing more than what he thinks Christmas is about. So he cites, Christmas trees, pies, and presents instead of the actual religious themes that would normally be there. The greatest irony is that it is two traditionally disenfranchised groups (known for being persecuted by Christians) that are policing him.