| "Britney's New Look" | |||
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| South Park episode | |||
Britney Spears, preparing to shoot herself. |
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| Episode no. | Season 12 Episode 2 |
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| Directed by | Trey Parker | ||
| Written by | Trey Parker | ||
| Production code | 1202 | ||
| Original air date | March 19, 2008 | ||
| Episode chronology | |||
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| List of season 12 episodes List of South Park episodes |
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"Britney's New Look" is the second episode of the twelfth season of the animated series South Park, and the 169th episode of the series overall. It originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on March 19, 2008.[1] In the episode, Kyle Broflovski and Stan Marsh take pity on Britney Spears after a botched attempt at suicide that removes the upper two-thirds of her head, and try to save her from the cruel cycle of cultural martyrdom.
The episode was written and directed by series co-founder Trey Parker, and was rated TV-MA in the United States.
Contents |
After seeing on the news that Britney Spears has been spotted in South Park and a man has been paid $100,000 for a photo of her urinating on a ladybug, Stan, Kyle, Cartman and Butters decide to stage a photograph of her crapping on a squirrel (actually Butters in costume), although Butters feels that they should leave Spears alone. They pass the security at the "Komfort Inn," where she is staying, by claiming to be her children. Spears is elated that her children have come to see her, but once she realizes that they are not actually her kids she falls into deeper depression. Finally overwhelmed by the constant harassment and jokes, she attempts suicide by shooting herself in the head with a shotgun.
Miraculously, though the top two-thirds of her head is missing, Spears survives. Guilt-ridden, Kyle and Stan visit her in hospital to apologize, telling themselves that they should have left her alone, just like Butters said before. When one of the paparazzi breaks through the window, Spears' manager sneaks her and the boys out the back into his car but the paparazzi chases them. They escape to her recording studio, where she is made to record a comeback song, although Stan and Kyle insist that this will only make matters worse. She later performs at the MTV Video Music Awards, where the crowd nitpicks her "flaws", almost completely overlooking the fact that two-thirds of her skull is gone and she can only "speak" in horrible gurgles.
The boys decide they need to help Britney and devise a plan to take her to the North Pole by train to escape from it all. Kyle diverts the paparazzi and eventually confronts them for abusing her, pointing out that she is no longer in any condition to handle it and that she might die from it. To Kyle's horror, they explain that she "has to die." A narrator announces Stan's mission to bring Britney to the North Pole. The train engineer notices Spears on his train and stops at a village site where the paparazzi, villagers, and Kyle are waiting. The villagers explain to the boys that ritual human sacrifice is needed for a good corn harvest; however, in modern, more civilized times, people prefer to drive their sacrifices to suicide rather than stoning them to death. The crowd overwhelms Spears and proceeds to somehow photograph her to death, leaving Stan and Kyle in shock.
Months later, South Park residents comment on the good corn harvest while at the supermarket. A newsflash appears on TV, informing the townspeople that Miley Cyrus (star of Hannah Montana) is quickly becoming a major superstar. The townsfolk of South Park see her as their next target. Stan and Kyle reluctantly go along with them, having given up all hopes of reasoning with them.
Stone and Parker indicate that the episode was based on placing Britney Spears in the Shirley Jackson short-story "The Lottery[2]," and in fact, several lines from the episode are quotes directly lifted from the story.[3]
When attempting to sneak away from the paparazzi at the hospital, one reporter emits a piercing scream while pointing at the escaping boys and Spears' manager, identical to the behavior of the pod people from "Invasion of the Body Snatchers".[4]
Travis Fickett of IGN found the episode disappointing and gave it a review score of 6.0 out of 10.0. Fickett described the episode as being like "someone attempting to do South Park, and failing".[5]
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