South Park Brought Back Its Best '80s Nostalgia Joke

South Park Brought Back Its Best '80s Nostalgia Joke

As South Park season 25 parodied Mr. Mackey's nostalgia for the '80s, the show built on the gag first seen in "Member Berries" and "Splatty Tomato."

In South Park season 25, the show brought back its best gag about ‘80s nostalgia while putting a new spin on the joke in the process. South Park has been spoofing ‘80s nostalgia for some years now, largely because the phenomenon isn’t going away any time soon. For example, South Park season 20 introduced “Member Berries” way back in 2016 around the debut of Stranger Things, one of Netflix’s biggest hits.

With Stranger Things season 4's release date nearing almost five years after its first season, the series has only grown in popularity in the intervening years. As such, South Park’s gag about nostalgia (and how it can cause people to inaccurately recall the past as a simpler, better time) has only become more relevant. This means it was no surprise that South Park season 25 brought back the gag for another topical remix in a 2022 episode.

South Park’s “Back to the Cold War” (season 25, episode 4) brought the show’s spoof of ‘80s nostalgia back by filling the episode’s soundtracks with both Mr. Mackey’s catchy favorite ‘80s songs (Wang Chung’s “Dancehall Days,” Men Without Hats’ “The Safety Dance”) and the earnest anti-war polemics of the decade’s pop output (Peter Gabriel’s “Games Without Frontiers,” Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s “Two Tribes”). Like how South Park’s Britney episode contrasted the pop star’s bubbly persona with the discomfiting realities of her life behind the scenes, this joke allowed the satire to contrast Mackey’s enthusiasm about bringing back the era of his fondly-remembered childhood with the dark reality that the threat of nuclear annihilation defined the decade’s pop culture.

After introducing the Member Berries and their obsessive, myopic nostalgia for ‘80s music and pop culture (which masked some pretty horrific views on other subjects), South Park built on the preceding season with the show’s It/Stranger Things parody “Splatty Tomato” (season 21, episode 10). That South Park episode joked about '80s nostalgia being misguided by filling the soundtrack with lesser-known hits from the era, leaving the kids bored and bemused by the lack of classic songs on the ‘80s compilation used to soundtrack their adventure. With Top Gun: Maverick’s release date looming as the prospect of another Cold War also rears its head, there’s no better time for South Park to remind viewers that the '80s weren't exactly a perfect decade or a wholly aspirational era.

“Back to the Cold War” is blunt and forceful in its message that cutesy nostalgia for the Cold War era shouldn’t be used to stoke an actual real-life conflict, as Mr. Mackey’s boast that “I’ve seen The Hunt For Red October dozens of times” is contrasted with his mother’s reminder later in the episode that “people died” the last time the US and Russia considered a conflict. Before anyone could suggest that the Ukraine Russia conflict is simply another extension of the cultural trend toward '80s nostalgia, South Park’s ongoing running gag was quick to remind viewers that there is a vast difference between fond memories and historical realities.