American History

I saw this short film quite a while ago. On the second season of South Park on DVD you can see clips of this early film by Trey Parker during the documentary Going Down to South Park also. Just thought I would let people know if you want to see some of this film. It's very funny, and the animation is supposed to be crappy ... it's a great little summary on American History. It's one of Trey Parkers college films. See it if you get the chance, it's awesome.

For those who are unaware of the story behind this short film, the 'narrator' of it is Trey Parker's college roommate, a foreign exchange student, who Trey just asked to tell his interpretation of what he knew about American history. Trey just recorded that audio and then made a very basic animation to go along with it.

It's not supposed to be a hilarious joke that was purposely concocted, but instead just an interesting/amusing piece. It's sorta along the same lines as other bits people have done from time to time having kids explain things as they understand them, but with a foreigner instead.

Caught this short at Spike and Mike's Sick and Twisted Film Festival in Austin tonight. Was it rough around the edges? Absolutely. Was it simply and cheaply animated? Of course. Is it obvious it was written by an as-yet-unpolished genius? God, yes. Witty, impeccably timed, with a hint of political commentary thrown in - what are now the defining characteristics of Trey Parker's style shown at their inception. Watch it and see what $10 worth of construction paper can do.

This short film was co-written by Trey Parker of South Park fame. It's amazing to see that just a year or so after this very, very rough film Parker made CANNIBAL: THE MUSICAL (though released three years later). The difference in quality of the two projects is astounding--like comparing a painting by a 3 year-old to a DaVinci painting!! The film consists of a Japanese student narrating a rather sketchy and only occasionally silly history of America in only five minutes. As I said, it's not all that funny and the graphics appear to be very, very, very crude approximations of the South Park style of cut-out animations.

The bottom line is that this isn't a particularly good short film, though it is worth seeing if you are a Parker fan and are dying to see some of his early work. However, I really think you'd be better off watching the cannibal musical or watching Parker and Stone's short YOUR STUDIO AND YOU. American HISTORY is rather slow going and not exactly something you need to see!

It is well documented that anything affiliated with the creaters of southpark is a trip. This is of course a definite. I liked it. Not too many people know about it though. Find some footage. I think it's pretty sweet *ss.