"The China Probrem" is the eighth episode in the twelfth season of the American animated television series ''

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 boysStan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand ...

''. ''South Park Studios''. Accessed October 4, 2008 The 175th episode of the series overall, it originally aired on Comedy Central in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

on October 8, 2008. It was the mid-season premiere for season 12, and was dedicated to

Isaac Hayes Isaac Lee Hayes Jr. (August 20, 1942 – August 10, 2008) was an American singer, actor, songwriter, and composer. He was one of the creative forces behind the Southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served both as an in-house songw ...

, the voice actor of

Chef A chef is a trained professional cook and tradesman who is proficient in all aspects of food preparation, often focusing on a particular cuisine. The word "chef" is derived from the term ''chef de cuisine'' (), the director or head of a ki ...

, who died on August 10 of that year. The episode was rated TV-MA-LSV for strong language, sexual content, and violence in the United States. In 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 ...

, after watching the intimidating opening ceremonies of the recent Olympic games, understands that the Chinese are just days away from invading his homeland. While the rest of the American people are haunted by the memory of a recent tragic event, only Butters will stand with Cartman as he tries to confront the Chinese. Meanwhile, Kyle seeks to bring

George Lucas George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker. Lucas is best known for creating the '' Star Wars'' and '' Indiana Jones'' franchises and founding Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as c ...

and

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Sp ...

to justice for "raping"

Indiana Jones ''Indiana Jones'' is an American media franchise based on the adventures of Dr. Henry Walton "Indiana" Jones, Jr., a fictional professor of archaeology, that began in 1981 with the film '' Raiders of the Lost Ark''. In 1984, a prequel, '' Th ...

in ''

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull ''Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull'' is a 2008 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg and the fourth installment in the ''Indiana Jones'' series. Released and taking place 19 years after the previous ...

''. The flashbacks mimic rape scenes from '' Boys Don't Cry'', ''

The Accused Accused or The Accused may refer to: * A person suspected with committing a crime or offence; see Criminal charge ** Suspect, a known person suspected of committing a crime * The Accüsed, a 1980s Seattle crossover thrash band *''The Accused'', a ...

'', and ''

Deliverance ''Deliverance'' is a 1972 American survival thriller film produced and directed by John Boorman, and starring Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty, and Ronny Cox, with the latter two making their feature film debuts. The screenplay was adapt ...

''.

Plot

After watching the Beijing 2008 Olympics on television,

has been plagued by nightmares about the Chinese, believing that they will invade America. He tries to warn his friends but Kyle says he "can't do this any more" and leaves. Stan later confronts Kyle, the latter stating that he cannot pretend things are normal again after "the

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ...

of a friend". He confesses his feelings of deep guilt and regret over the fact he, Stan and their friends "just stood there and did nothing". Elsewhere, Cartman convinces Butters that China is going to take over America and kill Butters' parents. Butters decides to join Cartman's group, the American Liberation Front. Stan, Kyle,

Kenny Kenny is a surname, a given name, and a diminutive of several different given names. In Ireland, the surname is an Anglicisation of the Irish ''Ó Cionnaith'', also spelt ''Ó Cionnaoith'' and ''Ó Cionaodha'', meaning "descendant of Cionnaith". ...

, Clyde and Jimmy start to remember and have flashbacks of the rape which is revealed to be their viewing of ''

''. They are appalled and devastated to see

(voiced by

Matt Stone Matthew Richard Stone (born May 26, 1971) is an American actor, animator, filmmaker, and composer. He is known for co-creating ''South Park'' (since 1997) and ''The Book of Mormon'' (2011) with his creative partner Trey Parker. Stone was interes ...

) and

(voiced by

Trey Parker Randolph Severn "Trey" Parker III (born October 19, 1969) is an American actor, animator, filmmaker, and composer. He is known for co-creating ''South Park'' (since 1997) and '' The Book of Mormon'' (2011) with his creative partner Matt Stone. ...

)

. Meanwhile, Cartman and Butters dress up as

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 ...

Chinese children and go to

P. F. Chang's China Bistro P. F. Chang's China Bistro is an American-based, casual dining restaurant chain founded in 1993 by Paul Fleming and Philip Chiang that serves Asian fusion cuisine. Centerbridge Partners owned and operated Chang's until acquired by the private e ...

to try to trick the Chinese people into telling them when the "invasion" is set to occur. The two boys' antics begin to annoy everyone, but when they are asked to leave, they instead take the entire restaurant hostage. Cartman gives Butters a gun and tells him to fire at a man who is trying to escape. Butters promptly shoots the man in the penis, which upsets Cartman greatly. At the same time, Kyle and his friends visit the Park County

District Attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a ...

and ask him to arrest Spielberg and Lucas for raping Indiana Jones and he tearfully agrees to help them. Afterwards, they go to the Park County Police Station to have Spielberg and Lucas arrested. Back at the restaurant, the police arrive to respond to the hostage situation. When the police try to enter the restaurant, Butters fires a warning shot and also hits the Chinese policeman in the penis, angering Cartman all the more. Meanwhile, the police find and take away Spielberg and Lucas (while raping a

Stormtrooper Stormtrooper or storm trooper may refer to: Military *Stormtroopers (Imperial Germany), specialist soldier of the German Army in World War I *''Sturmabteilung'' (SA) or Storm Detachment, a paramilitary organization of the German Nazi Party *8th In ...

), despite their protests over a lack of evidence and the huge totals they have brought in at the box office. At the restaurant, Cartman gives up on his mission of saving America after Butters shoots another man in the penis and surrenders to the police. As he is walking outside, a police officer arrives to inform the others that Lucas and Spielberg are finally in custody. The officers and hostages all rejoice that "it's all over", and while everyone is hugging and crying, Cartman and Butters sneak away. Reflecting on the day's events, Cartman decides he'd rather be Chinese than "a nation of unethical dick shooters". Butters is unable to see what all the fuss is about, as he thought ''Kingdom of the Crystal Skull'' was "pretty good".

Production

In the DVD commentary for the episode,

admits that he received a shot of steroids in order to complete the voice work for the episode.

compares the rape scenes to the earlier season 12 episode, " Britney's New Look", for being darker than it is funny. For the creators the scariest part of the new Indiana Jones is the fear that the quality of South Park will eventually decline.

Reception

The episode premiere drew 3.7 million total viewers, 2.5 million in the 18–49 demographic. This was up 21% from the previous fall's debut and topped all of cable during its time period. It stands as the show's most-watched fall premiere since 1999. IGN's Travis Fickett gave the episode a 9 out of 10, praising both storylines and writing that " e show is as funny and as smart as ever — and it's back at just the right time." 411mania's review, written by DC Perry, criticized the episode for using material that felt dated, but described it as "pretty solid" and gave it a rating of 7.3 out of 10.

Controversy

The episode's rape scenes caused some controversies. ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'' Catherine Elsworth wrote that Parker and Stone seemed "to have taken the taboo-busting to a place even hardened ''South Park'' watchers have found hard to go".

Nikki Finke Nikki Jean Finke (December 16, 1953 – October 9, 2022) was an American blogger, journalist, publisher, and writer. She was a consultant to Penske Business Media LLC and senior editorial contributor for PBM run by media owner Jay Penske. She ...

reported that her knowledge was that Paramount, which distributed the

Lucasfilm Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC is an American film and television production company and a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is a business segment of The Walt Disney Company. The studio is best known for creating and producing the '' Star Wars'' and ...

-owned ''

'' franchise (while Paramount itself is owned by Comedy Central parent Viacom), had no intention to protest against the episode, but, in the words of an insider, " antedit to go away".

Home media

"The China Probrem", along with the thirteen other episodes from ''South Park'' twelfth season, were released on a three-disc DVD set and

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

set in the United States on March 10, 2009. The sets included brief audio commentaries by Parker and Stone for each episode, a collection of deleted scenes, and two special mini-features, ''The Making of 'Major Boobage'' and ''Six Days to South Park''.

References

External links

"The China Probrem"
Full episode at South Park Studios * {{DEFAULTSORT:China Probrem, The South Park (season 12) episodes 2008 controversies 2008 controversies in the United States Anti-Chinese sentiment Anti-communism Animation controversies in television Cultural depictions of Steven Spielberg Cultural depictions of George Lucas Indiana Jones Television controversies in the United States Television episodes about rape Obscenity controversies in animation Obscenity controversies in television