Insecurity (South Park)
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"Insecurity" is the tenth episode of the sixteenth season of the American animated sitcom ''
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 the ...
'', and the 233rd episode of the series overall. It aired on
Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American Cable television in the United States, cable television channel, channel owned by Paramount Global through its Paramount Media Networks, network division's Paramount Media Networks#MTV Entertainment Group, MTV Ente ...
in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
on October 10, 2012."Insecurity (Season 16, Episode 10)"
South Park Studios. Retrieved October 8, 2012.
The story concerns
Kyle Broflovski Kyle Broflovski () is a fictional character in the adult animation, adult animated sitcom ''South Park''. He is voiced by and loosely based on series co-creator Matt Stone. Kyle is one of the series' four central characters, along with his frie ...
's belief that his mother is having an affair with a UPS delivery man. When public suspicion falls upon the delivery man, package delivery to the neighborhood is threatened, and
Eric Cartman Eric Theodore Cartman, commonly referred to as just 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 characters, ...
purchases a home security system in response. The episode parodies
security alarm A security alarm is a system designed to detect intrusions, such as unauthorized entry, into a building or other areas, such as a home or school. Security alarms protect against burglary (theft) or property damage, as well as against intruders. ...
systems, and also contains references to
Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc., doing business as Amazon, is an American multinational technology company engaged in e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. Founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos in Bellevu ...
and the film ''
The Dark Knight Rises ''The Dark Knight Rises'' is a 2012 superhero film directed by Christopher Nolan, who co-wrote the screenplay with his brother Jonathan Nolan, and the story with David S. Goyer. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, it is the final instal ...
''. Multiple characters, including Cartman himself, impersonate the fictional
villain A villain (also known as a " black hat", "bad guy" or "baddy"; The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.126 "baddy (also baddie) noun (pl. -ies) ''informal'' a villain or criminal in a book, film, etc.". the feminine form is villai ...
Bane.


Plot

Gerald Broflovski dresses up as a UPS delivery man in order to engage in sexual roleplay with his wife, Sheila. Their three-year-old son, Ike, sees this and is convinced that his mother is having an affair with a real delivery man. He draws a picture of what he saw, and tearfully shows his older brother Kyle. When Kyle confides this to the other boys at
Stan Marsh Stanley "Stan" Marsh is a fictional character in the adult animation, adult animated television series ''South Park''. He is voiced by and loosely based on series co-creator Trey Parker. Stan is one of the series' four central characters, along ...
's house, Stan’s father Randy Marsh overhears them, and informs the other men in town of this. Soon, all the children and men in South Park, led by Randy, are under the impression that UPS delivery men are sleeping with their wives and mothers. Around this time,
Eric Cartman Eric Theodore Cartman, commonly referred to as just 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 characters, ...
decides to have a home security system installed to protect his mother. However, he accidentally triggers the device and becomes infuriated with the company's nonchalant reaction. The old mechanic at Skeeter's Bar convinces the men that the convenience of ordering products online has brought this situation upon them, relating the UPS delivery men to milk men of the 20th century. He recounts how back in his day, men got lazy and wanted to have milk delivered to their doorstep. Little did they know that the milkman delivering the milk would sleep with their wives. He says that history is now repeating itself with Amazon, with women receiving products from the e-commerce giant that they do not remember ordering. Randy then observes this phenomenon with his wife Sharon, and then finds Ike's drawing in Stan's room. Convinced that Thad, the UPS delivery man is sleeping with their wives, Randy and the men ask the old mechanic for advice. At first he states that there is no getting rid of the delivery man, not in any way they are "prepared for", but suggests they let him keep sleeping with their wives until he gets tired. Stephen, however, states that it is not just their wives anymore, believing that the UPS man is now going after the men too, as he just received a product that he does not remember ordering. The old mechanic tells them the only way to solve the problem is to kill the delivery man and resolve to return to purchase products in
brick and mortar Brick and mortar (or B&M) is an organization or business with a physical presence in a building or other structure. The term ''brick-and-mortar business'' is often used to refer to a company that possesses or leases retail shops, factory produc ...
stores, stating that his generation did the same with milkmen. The men each don Bane-type masks, severely beat up Thad, and leave Ike's drawing on him to indicate that they know what he did. When the deliveries continue, the men decide to install the Wolf Home Security personal alarm system, named "INSecurity", which is physically installed inside the user and triggered whenever the user feels insecure. This leads to rampant false alarms caused by the men's insecurities. Kyle attempts to address the issue of his mother's "affair" by having his parents sit down with the UPS delivery man. However, after Thad's UPS truck is destroyed by a bomb, he retreats deeper into the Broflovski's home before jumping out of a second-story window to his death. The men tell the police that Thad killed himself because he was a
psychopath Psychopathy, or psychopathic personality, is a personality Construct (psychology), construct characterized by impaired empathy and remorse, along with boldness, bold, disinhibited, and egocentrism, egocentric traits. These traits are often ma ...
who had been forced to have sex with his mother. They purportedly illustrate this by showing the police Ike's drawing, which they say they found in the man's pocket. When the police find a UPS uniform in the Broflovski's closet, Kyle and the men realize that Gerald was the UPS man that Ike saw. When the men inform the old mechanic that he was wrong about the trappings of modern convenience and merely need to be secure with themselves, the old man suggests that the security salesmen are having sex with their wives. As a result, Cartman and the men, again disguised as Bane, confront the security technician. The episode ends with him dragged out of his truck in shock after Cartman tells him that he should have " respected artman'sauthoritah".


Production

"Insecurity" was developed from an idea created during meetings for the show's 2014
video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...
, '' South Park: The Stick of Truth''. Parker and Stone and the team at South Park Studios had spent the summer prior to their fall run working on the video game, and one idea that came up was a character having to get into people's homes, and past their security systems. The idea got the team discussing in-home security systems, which Parker views as a "big scam" due to the rarity of the system alarming for a real emergency. Parker and Stone spoke to a close friend who is a policeman, who confirmed that they received
false alarm A false alarm, also called a nuisance alarm, is the deceptive or erroneous report of an emergency, causing unnecessary panic and/or bringing resources (such as emergency services) to a place where they are not needed. False alarms may occur with ...
s "all the time." The
United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of Law of the Unite ...
estimates that between 94% and 98% of all alarm calls to law enforcement are indeed false alarms. Several scenes were completed before the run began, with "Insecurity" set as the season premiere. Scenes scripted at this time included Cartman's dialogue back-and-forth with the security company employees, regarding his password. The storyline was still incomplete when its broadcast date neared, so they decided to wait on it for later in the season. At one point, they considered splitting the episode into a two-parter, between Cartman's battle with the security companies and the plot line regarding the postman. They decided to keep it one episode when they scripted scenes with the old man in Skeeter's Bar, feeling as though his dialogue connected the two stories enough. Parker remarked that the episode was inspired by his own life, when he had ordered items from
Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc., doing business as Amazon, is an American multinational technology company engaged in e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. Founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos in Bellevu ...
, only to forget what it is when it arrives. Likening the surprise to
Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...
morning, he noted in the episode's DVD commentary he has a tendency to order random items when ''South Park'' episodes are near completion: "I rder itemsthe most on Tuesday nights, when we're approving animation like crazy, it's like three in the morning, I'll just get on the computer and start ordering shit from Amazon €¦just to make Thursday ts arrival datelike Christmas."


Cultural references

The episode references Bane, a character within the
Batman Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...
universe, specifically, his depiction by actor Tom Hardy in the 2012 film ''
The Dark Knight Rises ''The Dark Knight Rises'' is a 2012 superhero film directed by Christopher Nolan, who co-wrote the screenplay with his brother Jonathan Nolan, and the story with David S. Goyer. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, it is the final instal ...
''. It also references UPS and
Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc., doing business as Amazon, is an American multinational technology company engaged in e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. Founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos in Bellevu ...
.


Reception

Ryan McGee of ''
The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...
'' gave the episode a B, writing that the episode "did its best to link up the fear of cuckoldry with the fear of home invasion, but the results themselves were mixed." Max Nicholson of
IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...
called the episode an "admirable entry" for the season, though noting "While the plot here was clearly framed around recycling these two jokes over and over, they were both strong enough to carry out the 22 minutes in full."


References


External links


"Insecurity"
Full episode at South Park Studios * {{South Park episodes, 16 South Park season 16 episodes Television episodes about suicide