The dangers of ‘Miss Information’: science and comedy in South Park

Abstract

Interest in the possible role for comedy as a medium for communicating and engaging the public in science is growing. However, current researchhas so far been restricted to exploring whether the content of scientificknowledge is accurate and precise within comedy, and whether the publicmight be said to understand science better for having watched it. In thiscommentary, I suggest that this approach neglects the diversity with whichscientific ideas and images are used in comedy, particularly when comedyis written without the explicit goal of communicating science. I present mycurrent research on the American animated comedy South Park, whichsuggests a different story: science serves to expose the hypocrisy andself-interest that governs the town. I suggest that examples such as SouthPark might benefit the analysis of comedy and science, by seeking toexplain the very presence of science in comedy and in doing so, explorethe values attributed to science within popular culture