Recap / South Park S 8 E 3 The Passion Of The Jew

Original air date: 3/31/2004

Cartman leads a campaign against the Jews after seeing The Passion of the Christ while Kyle is left feeling guilty of what people of his religion did in the past. Meanwhile, Stan and Kenny end up not liking the movie and try to get their money back from Mel Gibson and discover that he is completely insane.

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This episode provides examples of the following tropes:

• Ambiguously Evil: Mel Gibson is quite unambiguously insane, but it's unclear how intentional the anti-Semitic effects of his film were.
• An Aesop: In the end, Stan imparts a lesson to the townspeople about how good Christians should be focusing on everything Jesus stood and died for, and how their obsession with the gruesome details of his death led to so much misery over the centuries.
• Aren't You Going to Ravish Me?: Or in Gibson's case, "Aren't You Going to Torture Me?"
• Ax-Crazy: Mel Gibson, which Stan and Kenny find out the hard way.
• Bait-and-Switch:
  • After Kyle admits to Cartman that he was right about The Passion. Cartman is seen in his room on his knees praying presumably to God. It then cuts to a poster of Mel Gibson, which is who he's actually addressing.
  • Stan and Kenny stare blankly at the screen after the film's over, but instead of being horrified like Kyle was, they simply say it sucked and that they want their money back.
• Big Brother Instinct: While dealing with Mel Gibson's crazy antics, Stan was staying in front of Kenny most of the time, was running in front to find an escape for both of them and even pushed him away from Mel Gibson at one point.
• Big Brother Mentor: In addition to Stan being quite protective towards Kenny this episode (see Big Brother Instinct above), Stan was the one who did the planning and talking during his and Kenny's subplot to get their money back, while also teaching Kenny about the principle of getting a refund when you dislike a product and how to obtain that.
• Berserk Button: Gibson does not take kindly to being called crazy.
  Stan: This guy is freaking daffy!
  Gibson: How dare you call me crazy!? This means war! (overdramtically draws a gun, then starts whooping and laughing as he chases Stan and Kenny around with his gun, firing it randomly)
• Broken Pedestal: Cartman, and to a lesser extent the rest of the town, is quickly disappointed to learn how much of a lunatic Gibson is, though in Cartman's case it's after Gibson defecates on his face.
• Can't Take Criticism: Gibson himself reacts to any criticism of The Passion of the Christ by claiming it's like saying Christianity sucks.
• Captain Oblivious: Applies to the Passion fans recruited by Cartman as a whole. It's one thing for them not to notice that they're chanting in German rather than Aramaic. It's quite another for them not to find it in any way odd that their group is led by an eight-year-old boy dressed as Hitler.
• Delusions of Eloquence: Cartman mispronounces his German chants while putting on his Nazi rally, mainly pronouncing the word for Jews (Juden) as "jew-den", the proper pronunciation is "you-den".
• Despair Event Horizon: Kyle goes into this after watching The Passion.
• Dub Induced Plothole: The German dub uses a literal translation of the original script, so it's unable to explain why Cartman's audience doesn't understand what he's saying, making it appear that they don't recognize their own language or are knowingly chanting for the extermination of the Jews.
• Epiphany Therapy: Kyle fully recovers from his Heroic BSoD and regains his pride as a Jew after Stan assures him that Passion is less of an encapsulation of the essence of Christianity than it is merely a manifestation of Gibson's psychosis.
• Excrement Statement: The episode ends with Gibson defecating all over Cartman, and by extension the principles he's demonstrated throughout the episode.
• Failed a Spot Check: None of the Mel Gibson fanbase members notice that Cartman is dressed up as Adolf Hitler. Of course, given how unintelligent the adults are in South Park, it shouldn't be at all surprising.
• Hype Backlash: invoked After much hype behind the film, Stan and Kenny decide to check it out... and they're put off by all the gore, think it's simply bad, and immediately demand a refund.
• I Have This Friend: Kyle does this while talking to Father Maxi about his guilt.
  Kyle: I have this friend, see? And this friend belongs to a certain chosen people of Israel and it so happens these chosen people killed your lord.
  Maxi: Ah, you mean he's a Jew?
  Kyle: Right, but he can't live with the guilt anymore. Because even if Jesus wasn't really the son of God, he was still a nice guy and didn't deserve what happened to him in Mel Gibson's movie! I can't sleep at night, I mean my friend can't sleep at night!
• Innocently Insensitive: The Passion fanbase led by Cartman are completely oblivious to any anti-Semitic messages Cartman or the film itself may be suggesting and are genuinely just moved by its portrayal of Jesus' sacrifice. Their obliviousness leads to them unknowingly approving Cartman's Nazi-inspired slogans, goose-stepping and all.
• Irony: When Stan and Kenny try to take out some money from Mel Gibson's wallet for an 18 dollar refund of his movie and found he has only a $20 bill in his wallet, it was Kenny who was asked if he has 2 dollars to to make up for the difference, which he has.
• I Resemble That Remark!:
  • The Jews outraged by the anti-Semitic stereotypes in Passion all have big noses and speak in a thick Yiddish accent.
  • Mel Gibson, in response to being called crazy, starts acting even more insane.
• It's the Principle of the Thing: In their effort to get back their $18 from Gibson, Stan and Kenny spend an additional $86 in travel costs. They acknowledge this, but they agree that it's the principle of the thing that matters.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Kyle thought so — Cartman claims that the Jews were responsible for the death of Jesus, as seen in the film, and up until he saw it, he thought Cartman was just being the typical douche. Of course, this is subverted when the rest of South Park discover who Gibson really is.
• Not Now, Kiddo: When Stan sees Mel Gibson chasing the bus, he goes up to tell the bus driver. The bus driver replies with "Ha, ha, very funny. Now sit down and stop playing games."
• Only Sane Man: Stan and Kenny are the only ones that didn’t massively overreact about the film, with them only wanting a refund.
• Passion Play: Eric Cartman dresses like Hitler and uses a group of Christians' love of The Passion to get them to help him to exterminate the Jews, making them think that the German for "It is time for revenge. We must exterminate the Jews" is Aramaic. The episode is extremely critical of the film, but it ends with An Aesop about Christianity.
  Stan: It's our eighteen dollars! Your movie sucked!
  Gibson: You can't say my movie sucked, or else you're saying Christianity sucked!
  Stan: No, dude, if you wanna be Christian, that's cool, but, you should follow what Jesus taught instead of how he got killed. Focusing on how he got killed is what people did in the Dark Ages and it ends up with really bad results.
  Jack: You know, he's right, Elise. We shouldn't focus our faith on the torture and execution of Christ.
  Ticket Salesman: Yeah. Lots of people got crucified in those times. We shouldn't rely on violence to inspire faith.
  Cartman: Aw, aw, no, come on, people, we're so close to completing my final solution!
  Kyle: Oh, dude, I feel so much better about being Jewish now that I see that Mel Gibson is just a big wacko douche.
  (Gibson craps on Cartman)
• Reasonable Authority Figure:
  • Dr. Schwartz tries to prevent the Jewish community from forming an angry mob, quite assured the town is sensible enough to know The Passion is only a movie. It is only when he sees the film's fan group goose-stepping past the synagogue that he joins in trying to boycott the film, though still by sensibly informing the theatre and civilians of the terrible behavior it is causing.
  • Similarly, Father Maxi shows no resentment to Jews and points out to Kyle that The Passion isn't entirely accurate to the Bible and it's mostly based on passion plays from the Medieval Age which often enticed anti-Semitism. He passes it off as just a movie and not legitimate Christian teaching and doesn't become an obsessive fan like Cartman or the other Christians in South Park.
• Saw "Star Wars" Twenty-Seven Times: Cartman mentions seeing The Passion 34 times.
• Self-Deprecation: Stan mentions that the last bad movie he and Kenny sat through was BASEketball, a live-action sports comedy Trey and Matt starred in that the duo is now embarrassed of.
• Shout-Out:
  • Gibson paints his face a la William Wallace. He also screams "Freedom" in the same fashion that he did during Wallace's execution at some point while chasing Stan and Kenny.
  • The whole chase scene where Gibson repeatedly appears in front of Stan and Kenny in a different costume each time while singing is directly lifted from the Looney Tunes short Yankee Doodle Daffy. Lampshaded when Stan says that Mel is "freaking daffy!"
  • When Gibson continues the chase to South Park, he's in an 18-wheeler exactly like the one he drove in The Road Warrior.
  • The episode opens with the boys playing Star Trek, pretending they're members of Starfleet and Cartman's mom's minivan is their ship.
• Snuff Film: Stan and Kenny flat-out panned The Passion as this, thus their trip to Malibu to get back their $18 from Gibson.
• Take That!:
  • At The Passion of the Christ, which had recently been released at the time, as well as the hype — and controversy — surrounding it. Mel Gibson himself is portrayed as a cartoonishly insane man who's obsessed with torture.
  • Kyle's nightmare of joining the rest of the Jews in killing Jesus ends by suddenly flashing to a live-action photo of Alan Alda, which ends up being the breaking point and causes Kyle to wake up screaming.
• Tempting Fate: Dr. Schwartz, the rabbi in the South Park synagogue tries to calm his congregation, insisting that people will recognise The Passion is just a film and there is no cause for alarm. Cue Cartman and his Passion group goose-stepping past the synagogue chanting anti-Semitic slogans (albeit none of them except for Cartman himself realizes that's what they're chanting).
• The Guards Must Be Crazy: Mel Gibson's mansion has a guard, but he's more busy reading a magazine than doing his job, allowing Stan and Kenny to easily enter the mansion and meet Gibson himself.
• This Means War!: Gibson's reaction when Stan calls him crazy.
• Too Kinky to Torture: Mel Gibson. But he would really like you to try:
  Stan: Look, dude, we came a long way. We're not leaving until you give us our money.
  Gibson: Oh, yeah?! Well, you're going to have to find it first. But I won't tell you where I keep my money! (takes off his shirt) You can torture me all you want, I still won't tell you!
  Stan: (taken aback) T-torture you?!
  Gibson: (takes off his pants) Ha! So you do intent to torture me! Well, go ahead! (straps himself to a stretcher rack) Do your worst! You still won't get your ticket money back! I can take whatever you can dish out!
  Stan: ...We don't want to torture you.
  Gibson: I get it, but you "don't have a choice", is that it? Well, go ahead! I just sure hope you don't use those whips over there (gestures with his head) on the wall!
• Villainous Breakdown: When he arrives at South Park, Gibson starts goading people to torture him, before smearing crap on a wall, equating criticism towards his movie to saying Christianity sucks, and defecating on Cartman.
• Would Hurt a Child: Gibson shoots at Stan and Kenny (don't worry, he misses) and tries ramming them off the road in retaliation for them not liking his movie and demanding a refund for their film tickets.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: This is Stan's reaction to seeing Gibson pursuing them in the gas truck from Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior while wearing William Wallace's blue woad face paint from Braveheart.
  Stan: Oh you've got to be shittin' me!

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