One of the things we decided to code about small businesses is the stereotypical “going out of business” signs. These signs usually point to big business as the evil entity that is taking away all of the small business’ customers. This episode of South Park plays up the going out of business signs by also illustrating an abandoned downtown area with shops having broken windows and doors that are boarded up with wood. It shows how powerless small business owners are over larger corporations.
Throughout the episode, characters comment on how low the prices are and what great deals the new Wall-mart offers compared to the local small businesses. Even when the people of South Park decide that they are all going to make an effort to shop at their local stores, they each secretly shop at the big box store instead. While the writers mean to jab at viewers who practice the same habits, they fail to make genuine criticisms at companies like Walmart that take advantage of small towns that don't have large incomes or expendable money to invest in products that are locally sourced or hand crafted etc. etc. Instead they paint consumers as slaves to capitalism without any self control to shiny new deals. At the very end of the episode, when the people of Springfield finally decide to actually patronize locally owned small businesses like Jim's Drugs and it eventually grows into a big business, the writers again undercut the critique of big business. By showing the eventual growth of Jim's Drugs into another big box store, they imply that shopping at small businesses is futile because of the cycle it evolves into.
Comments
Post a Comment