Night of the Living Homeless

"Night of the Living Homeless"

"Night of the Living Homeless" is episode 1107 (#160) of Comedy Central's South Park. It was first broadcast on April 18, 2007. This episode marks the end of the first half of Season 11, which continued on October 3, 2007. The episode's title is a spoof/parody of the film, Night of the Living Dead, and the episode itself spoofs Dawn of the Dead.

Synopsis

Homeless people have been showing up in South Park in large numbers. The boys are unable to play basketball, since homeless people are sleeping on the court. Kyle recommends that they do something about it, and Cartman agrees, and announces that he will jump over them on his skateboard, wearing an Evel Knievel-style cape, insisting that it was Kyle's idea. The town council has also taken notice of the problem, and come up with ridiculous, ineffective solutions, such as turning the homeless into tires for their cars. Park County's expert on homelessness advises that if no-one gives them anything, they will leave.

Kyle feels bad for the homeless, and gives a homeless man twenty dollars he'd been saving for an Xbox game. The number of homeless immediately grows dramatically because they think that other residents of South Park will also give them money as Kyle did, and they wander everywhere, zombie-like, begging people for change. Randy, the Stotches, Jimbo, and Gerald Broflovski wind up stranded on top of the town Community Center, with hordes of homeless below. Chaos and confusion reign as homeless people on the street cause dozens of accidents. Gerald panics and tries to get to the bus station. He throws his change at some homeless people, and realizes that he just gave away his bus money. Gerald now needs change for the bus, and begins begging for it, becoming "one of them".

The boys, meanwhile, are still seeking a solution, and inquire at the home of the homeless expert. He informs the boys that homeless people actually live on change, almost like food. He tells them that the nearby town of Evergreen had solved a similar homeless problem, and that they should travel there and find out what they did. As the boys travel, more adults escape to the Community Center roof. One of the adults, Glenn, discovers that he has become homeless due to banking politics, and Randy is forced to shoot him.

The boys make it to Evergreen, which has been devastated. There are only three remaining survivors, dressed in camouflage and heavily armed. They are distrustful of the boys and threaten to shoot them, since, being minors, they are not home-owners and are therefore "homeless". They appear ready to shoot the boys until one recognizes Cartman as the "boy who jumped 30 homeless". While talking to the survivors, who have clearly become paranoid, Kyle finds a pamphlet on the ground, which advertises South Park as a "haven for the homeless". He realizes the Evergreen townspeople got rid of their homeless by convincing them to migrate to South Park. The children realize that they must get rid of the homeless because Kyle reasons that if their parents were as stupid as them, the town would fall apart like Evergreen. At that moment, the leader's burned wife arrives suffering heavy burns over her body as she was torched by her husband who feared she might have become a homeless. She shoots him and one of his companions before being shot herself. The dying companion turns on the other and shoots him to death as he is falling.

The boys heavily reinforce a bus and take it to the Community Center in South Park, where the homeless have gathered below the adults. They advertise California as "super cool for the homeless" by singing a modified version of 2Pac and Dr. Dre's "California Love," and lead them there. Before heading back to South Park, Cartman shows off by jumping his skateboard over three homeless people. The episode ends with Stan saying to Kyle "Honestly, I don't know what you see in this."

Production

Writing on the episode's basic story and jokes began at the show's writer's retreat at Hyatt Grand Champions Resort conference center, in Indian Wells, California during the break between seasons 10 and 11.

In the preview for the episode on Comedy Central, Randy Marsh runs into his home and locks the door. He is then asked by his wife what is wrong, which causes him to turn and scream that he doesn't have any change. In the actual airing of the episode, he runs into the South Park Community Center and his brother-in-law, Jimbo Kern, asks him what is wrong, resulting in Randy's screaming. As the episodes are produced over a week-long period up until the show's airdate, such short-term changes prior to airing are common.

Continuity

• This episode gives new information on many of the South Park adults. In the scene of the town meeting, their various titles are revealed, consistent with the same titles in "Die Hippie, Die".

• Jimmy Volmer's father is apparently the Chief of the Fire Department.
• Randy Marsh seems to be the councilor in charge of parks and public places.
• Gerald Broflovski appears to be the city attorney.
• Wendy Testaburger's mother is City Planner.
• Mr. Mackey is for Public Health
• Linda Stotch is City clerk/Treasurer
• In the episode "Die Hippie, Die", Chef was the head of Public Safety Department. After his death, he was replaced by Glenn, who died in this episode.

• The man killed in a car accident while driving the boys to the Homeless expert's home is Mayor McDaniels' aide, Ted.

Allusions to zombie films

The episode features numerous references, allusions, and similarities to a variety of zombie movies, stereotypes, and clichés - making it the fourth episode this season to parody another work. For example, the homeless play the role of zombies, and chant for "change" - parodying the zombie stereotype of chanting "brains", as in The Return of the Living Dead films. Much of the music heard during the episode is adapted from George A. Romero's Zombie trilogy, including the theme from Dawn of the Dead. An aerial shot of hundreds of homeless wandering aimlessly at a street intersection is a near perfect replica of a scene from the opening sequence of Day of the Dead. South Park's homeless expert is a parody of Dr. Logan from Day of the Dead, and quotes dialog from John Carpenter's The Thing. The Expert also keeps a homeless specimen on a chain, similar to the soldiers in the movie Day of the Dead and 28 Days Later. And the scene in which one of the survivors, having lost his home, is shot by Randy parallels the scene in Dawn of the Dead in which Peter is forced to shoot a zombified Roger and somewhat the scene in Shaun of the Dead where Shaun is forced to shoot his mother after she is bitten. The name of the episode comes from Night of the Living Dead. The episode also parodies the "Dawn of the Dead" remake, especially when the boys modify the bus.

Cultural references

• The license plate of the car of the man who gives the boys a ride reads "J03M4M4", which refers to the common phrase "Yo Mama" using elements of leet speak.
• The song the boys sing advertises California (Santa Monica, Brentwood, Marina del Rey and Venice) and is a take on "California Love" by 2Pac and Dr. Dre. At the end of the song, you can hear Cartman sing "In the city, city of Venice! Right by Matt's house, you can chill if you're homeless!" Matt Stone lives in Venice, California, and complained that "there's like a zillion homeless" in an interview with Rolling Stone.
• The town the boys visit in the episode is called Evergreen. Evergreen is a real town in Colorado where Trey Parker graduated high school.
• The surviving townspeople of Evergreen claim that San Antonio had first convinced the homeless to migrate to Evergreen. Ironically San Antonio has a major homeless facility under construction called "Haven for Hope", similar to the brochure Kyle found promoting South Park as a "haven for the homeless."
• When the boys walk through the town at night, a background song from Metal Gear Solid can be heard.

External links

• "Night of the Living Homeless" at South Park Studios
• Night of the Living Homeless at TV.com