"Bebe's Boobs Destroy Society" is the tenth episode of the
sixth season of ''
South Park
''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boys Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand th ...
'', originally aired on July 17, 2002. In the episode,
Bebe Stevens's breasts begin to develop, and the boys are suddenly drawn to her even though they had no interest in her before. The episode focuses on and satirizes men's
fascination over women's breasts.
Plot
The children return to
school for the first time since the death of
Ms. Choksondik
''South Park'' is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. The ongoing narrative revolves around five children, Stan Marsh, Eric Cartman, Kyle Broflovski, Kenny Mc ...
in the episode "
Simpsons Already Did It", for the time being
Mr. Mackey
Mr. Mackey Jr. is a fictional character in the adult animated television series ''South Park''. He is voiced by series co-creator Trey Parker and debuted in the season one episode "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo". The guidance counselor at South P ...
will teach them. During the break,
Bebe (
Wendy's best friend) has started to develop
breasts. Though they are small (she at first thought they were
mosquito bites), they prompt all the boys in town to begin to think that she is unusually smart and cool, without even understanding why. However, this causes Wendy and the other girls to get incredibly jealous, especially since
Stan
Stan or STAN may refer to:
People
* Stan (given name), a list of people with the given name
** Stan Laurel (1890–1965), English comic actor, part of duo Laurel and Hardy
* Stan (surname), a Romanian surname
* Stan! (born 1964), American author ...
, Wendy's boyfriend (who hasn't asked Wendy to hang out with Stan and the other boys), is one of the boys affected. The girls begin making up malicious rumors about Bebe and accuse her of being sexually promiscuous.
Consequently, the boys begin to fight and bicker about who gets to play with Bebe, sound effects from ''
Cannibal Holocaust
''Cannibal Holocaust'' is a 1980 Italian found footage cannibal horror film directed by Ruggero Deodato and written by Gianfranco Clerici. It stars Robert Kerman as Harold Monroe, an anthropologist from New York University who leads a rescue ...
'' play as the boys fight like the primitive men from ''
2001: A Space Odyssey'' and ''
Planet of the Apes''.
Throughout the episode
Cartman
Eric Theodore Cartman, commonly referred to by his surname Cartman, is a fictional character in the adult animated sitcom ''South Park'', created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone. He is voiced by Parker, and is one of the series' four main charact ...
plays a game he calls 'Lambs', which involves placing one of his dolls in a pit in his basement and torturing it, saying, "It puts the lotion on its skin, or else it gets the hose again.", as a reference to ''
Silence of the Lambs''.
Eventually, the boys get into a fight and seem to permanently turn into cavemen. Meanwhile, Bebe, worried that boys might never take her seriously (as happened to her mother, a
stereotypical
In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can be, for example ...
dumb blonde), consults a
plastic surgeon about
breast reduction surgery; however, he rejects the proposition because he considers breast reduction "insane" (which is made apparent especially after giving contrasting personalities to two female colleagues: one with large breasts, and the other flat-chested). He then tells her that if she wants them bigger, "now might be the time to size up"; Bebe leaves his office in frustration and disgust. Similarly when Wendy asks for a breast implant he accepts her request, but only after she announces she has three thousand dollars in cash, despite her mother's protest that she is too young. Meanwhile, Stan draws pictures of breasts on the wall of his house referring to his work and breasts as "Ah-tah," an apparent reference to the film ''
Quest for Fire'', wherein prehistoric man refers to fire as "Atar." Stan's father, Randy, has a talk with him about his breast-obsession, going along with Stan's calling breasts "Ah-tahs", and describes all women have breasts: "And one day you'll meet a pair of boobs you want to marry." This eventually convinces Stan to snap out of his caveman-like trance.
After this scene, Bebe is shown in bed, with her breasts glowing and speaking to each other, plotting to rule the world by taking over the boys' minds. Bebe awakens and screams, her mother quickly runs into the room to ask her what is happening, she explains what she heard and her mother calmly replies that it is only natural for a growing woman to have boobs that plot to take over boys minds. This is where Bebe snaps, claiming she does not want boobs that are going to try to rule the world, and begins to come up with a plan to fix this problem.
The next time they are seen, at school, Bebe walks in wearing a box over her chest, which causes all the boys to suddenly break out of their trance; Stan shares his father's advice not to let breasts control their lives, and the boys all agree that it is for the best. Consequently, when Wendy shows up with her new breast implants, she is ridiculed rather than praised. Butters goes up and pokes them, saying that they are all "hard and oogy," to which Cartman replies "What a stupid bitch!" Wendy looks embarrassed.
Production
In the DVD commentary, Parker describes the inspiration for the show came from a party where two of his friends were drunk and trying to hit on a girl. One of the guys starts stroking the girls hair, when the other guy reached to stroke the girls hair too, the first guy started making guttural gorilla noises. Stone describes how South Park takes the view that
society is the only thing that keeps people from descending into savages.
On syndicated broadcasts, the scene where Wendy is in surgery getting breast implants is cut.
The episode has been used to examine the treatment of female characters in South Park.
Home media
"Bebe's Boobs Destroy Society", along with the sixteen other episodes from ''South Parks sixth season, were released on a three-disc DVD set in the United States on October 11, 2005. The sets included brief audio commentaries by Parker and Stone for each episode. IGN gave the season a rating of 9/10.
References
External links
"Bebe's Boobs Destroy Society"Full episode at South Park Studios
*
{{South Park episodes, 6
South Park (season 6) episodes