A central point in Mikhail Bakhtin’s Rabelais and His World – grotesque realism – has significant implications on extreme forms of comedy seen today. Grotesque realism delves into the excessive and exaggerated nature of life and the body with a key principle of degradation, or “the lowering of all that is high, spiritual, ideal, abstract” [1]. Through this exaggerated imagery, which is often disgusting or repulsive, a shocking yet humorous response is produced. Bakhtin argues that the grotesque image “reflects a phenomenon in transformation, an as yet unfinished metamorphosis, of death and birth, growth and becoming” [2]. In other words, the concept of death – specifically a violet one, which is seen as ‘high’ and ‘spiritual’, is lowered in significance as it is showcased not to be taken seriously, but to be laughed at. Immediately, I thought of Kenny from South Park.
For those who don’t know, a running joke in South Park is that Kenny dies. A lot. Below is a compilation of moments where Kenny ‘dies’ in a variety of gruesome and violet ways in the show. (WARNING: it is violet so if you don’t want to see blood or a cartoon character die gruesomely, don’t watch).
In the compilation above, one of the main protagonists of the show is seen facing death in numerous violet and crazy ways, usually followed by the punchline “you killed Kenny, you bastards!”. However, these ‘deaths’ aren’t final, and Kenny is seen alive and unharmed in the following episode. These deaths follow the grotesque imagery perfectly: each scene is disturbingly violent, but because he never truly stays dead, it is not taken to be a serious death; thus, is degraded in significance. This ties into the “unfinished metamorphosis” because the cycle of Kenny’s life and death is infinite, while the realistic cycle of death in metamorphosis is permanent. Through its graphic imagery, depicting deaths as temporary, that produces a shocking but humorous effect, Kenny McCormick is the embodiment of modern-day grotesque imagery.
[1] Mikhail Bakhtin, ‘Introduction’ in Rabelais and His World, trans. Hélène Iswolsky (Cambridge, Mass.: M.I.T. Press, 1968), 19.
[2] Ibid, 24
I like the idea of violence and degraded significance making it more humorous. It reminded me of shows like The Boys, the violence is extremely graphic but again not so serious because all the characters are wackos, or they’re superheroes and will recover within the hour. So it’s just funny to watch them beat each other up with essentially zero consequences.
I really like your argument about Kenny being the epitome of modern-day grotesque imagery. I feel that a lot of cartoons rely on their animated nature in order to establish a new sense of realism within those universes. Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry also depict incredible violence without causing the audience distress because the creators have established that intros universe, acts like dropping an anvil on a character are survivable. This established reality within cartoons is one of the reasons why Who Framed Roger Rabbit is such a clever film; it shows that these laws of reality do not apply to human beings.