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THIS IS HOW MUCH I LOVE SOUTH PARK

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South Park character
Stanley 'Stan' Marsh
Age:	9
Gender:	Male
Hair color:	Black
Job:	Student
Religion:	Roman Catholic(Briefly converted at various times to Atheist, Mormon, and Scientologist)
First appearance:	The Spirit of Christmas
Voiced by:	Trey Parker

Stanley "Stan" Marsh is a fictional character in the animated television series South Park. Voiced and based on series co-creator Trey Parker, Stan often trades places with Kyle as the protagonist of the show. Stan is left handed. Stan is arguably the most "normal" of the kids, and is generally honest, very mature for his age, and well-meaning. He is slightly more assertive than his best friend Kyle. He is often distinctly unimpressed by adults or adult influences, and although not particularly troublesome, holds very little respect for them. Stan also has asthma, as shown in "Sexual Harassment Panda" when Cartman wants to take his inhaler, although this condition has not affected Stan since.

In the Japanese dub of the TV series, he is voiced by Hiro Yuki.

Contents 1 Character 2 Appearance 3 Personality 4 Family and Home 5 Relationships 5.1 Relationship with Wendy 5.2 Friendship with Kyle 6 Catchphrases and Mannerisms 7 Talents 7.1 Athletics 7.2 Music 7.3 Driving 8 References 9 Family 10 Appearance 11 Characterization 11.1 Religion 11.2 Personality 11.3 Health 12 External links 13 Appearance 14 Characterization 15 In other media 16 References 17 External links 18 Characterization 19 Relationship with others 20 Concept and creation 21 In popular culture 22 References 23 External links

[edit] Character

Stan is modelled after his voice actor, co-creator Trey Parker, also sharing the same birthday as him. Stan was born on October 19^[1] and is the youngest of the four main boys (Cartman was born July 1, Kyle May 26, and Kenny on March 22).

[edit] Appearance

Stan wears a dark blue hat with a red trim on the bottom and a red poof-ball at the top. He wears a red-collared brown coat, blue jeans, and red mittens or gloves. He has a plain mop of thick, shaggy black hair, like his father. Stan also apparently has blue eyes, as noted by Kyle when Butters makes construction paper versions of the boys in "A Very Crappy Christmas". In "The List", he ranked third in the initial corrupt list of who was cutest. However, he was not mentioned among those who had to change places due to the corruption, so it is possible that he is the second cutest boy, behind Token.

[edit] Personality

Stan is often considered the straight man of the four boys, normally the one having the most common sense. He is often skeptical of popular trends, such as in the episode "Cherokee Hair Tampons", when he challenged the character Miss Information and her shop of alternative medicine, in the episode "Super Best Friends", when he helped battle David Blaine's suicidal cult, and in episode "The Biggest Douche in the Universe" where he accuses psychic medium John Edward of being a fake. Stan is usually the one who is unaffected by the many scams, cults, and mass influences that South Park has been subjected to, and has a knack for seeing through falsely glorified practices and celebrities. He shares this trait with Eric Cartman, though Cartman usually exploits this for his own gain in some way, Stan tries to rectify it. Sometimes Kyle takes on this role, and it is Stan who is the gullible one, such as with the metrosexual trend in the episode "South Park is Gay!". Stan and Kyle's personalities tend to be similar, especially in the earlier seasons, but are not quite interchangeable, and they have developed more distinct and complex personalities during the show's run.

Stan is frequently embarrassed or infuriated at the stupidity of his parents (mostly Randy) and the other adults of the town, and he often goes against what his parents do. This is prominently shown in "My Future Self n' Me" when he finds out about the actor portraying his future self and goes so far as to trick Randy to cut the hand off of the actor to try and get them to admit they lied. The rather displaced cynicism that he exhibits when dealing with adults, as well as his inability to be impressed by celebrities or fads may also come from the fact that, due to his parents, he has probably never respected or trusted adults.

[edit] Family and Home

Stan is the son of Randy Marsh (a geologist with the United States Geological Survey) and Sharon Kimble Marsh (a receptionist at Tom's Rhinoplasty). Stan is frequently embarrassed by their stupidity. In "Bloody Mary" his dad asks, "How did I have such a smart son?", and Stan replies, "I had a great teacher." Randy says back, "Ah, thanks son.", but Stan instead says, "Not you, my karate teacher, he's really smart." He has an older sister, Shelley Marsh, who bullies him on a regular basis, although she probably does love him deep down inside, as in "An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig", she has been severely abusing him, but in "Pre-School" helps him when he was threatened by a bully. Stan's crotchety 102-year-old wheelchair-bound grandfather, Marvin Marsh, calls him "Billy" and often attempts to coerce Stan to kill him. He is also the nephew of hunter Jimbo Kern, Randy's half-brother.

Stan's parents share their names with Trey Parker's real-life parents, Sharon Parker and Randolph "Randy" Parker Jr. Incidentally, Trey also has a sister named Shelley, who behaved very similar to Stan's Shelley.

Stan's pets have included a gay dog named Sparky, and (temporarily), an evil goldfish who murders people and frames Stan, driving Sharon Marsh, who buries the dead bodies in her backyard and locks Officer Barbrady in the basement, to insanity.

Stan's dad Randy has also been depicted as a mild alcoholic in "The Losing Edge" and was later forced to become an AA member in "Bloody Mary", where Stan had to constantly object to Randy drinking. He told Randy he needed to learn some "disciprine" (a quote used in obviously poor English by his Japanese karate teacher earlier in the episode); this speech convinced Randy to drink in moderation. In the episode "Grey Dawn" it is stated that Stan's grandfather flew Spitfires over Germany. The Spitfire was used during World War II solely by England, and thus it is probable that Stan's ancestry is British.

Since "Fantastic Easter Special", he has been a member of a group called "The Hare Club for Men", which his father, grandfather, and the entire male side of his family has been members in for generations.

[edit] Relationships

[edit] Relationship with Wendy

For the first seven seasons of the show, Stan's sporadic girlfriend was Wendy Testaburger. In the first few seasons, a running gag was that Stan would throw up nearly every time Wendy spoke to him, and whenever they tried to kiss. As the show progressed, however, the Stan-Wendy storyline diminished greatly. In the season seven episode "Raisins", Wendy had Bebe tell Stan that "she breaks up", for Token, causing Stan to go into extreme depression. Wendy's role in the series has decreased immensely since this episode.

It became apparent that Stan still loved Wendy in the episode "Follow That Egg!", when he grew insanely jealous of Kyle for working with her. She also showed feelings for him at the end, when she implied she wanted to take him back, calling him a "great dad". He, however, decided to show her up by responding to her compliments with, "As if I give a crap about what you think, Wendy." At the end of "The List", however, it is heavily implied that Stan and Wendy reconciled. During the episode, Stan and Wendy adventure about attempting to find out why Kyle was ranked 16th (last) on the list of boys from cutest to ugliest. At the end, Wendy admits she had a good time hanging out with Stan, and believes he's changed since they were last together. They lean in to kiss, but in a near-exact copy of the end of "Cartman Gets An Anal Probe", Stan pukes on Wendy.

During an interview with Trey Parker and Matt Stone, when asked "Will Stan and Wendy ever kiss?" they revealed that the relationship was sexual in nature (See Wendy Testaburger).

[edit] Friendship with Kyle

A topic taken into account many times during the series is Stan's best-friendship with Kyle Broflovski. They have been best friends since the very beginning of the show. They have been known to end up working together in certain adventures, such as in "Fantastic Easter Special", and are often dragged into the same circumstances due to this, such as in "Imaginationland Episode II". Stan has saved Kyle's life on several occasions without hesitation, most notably in "Super Best Friends", and has once stated that he doesn't want Kyle to die until he does. He nearly always defends Kyle when Cartman's hatred of him goes over the top, such as in "Cartmanland" and "Cherokee Hair Tampons". Stan often becomes anxious about Kyle when he is tricked by various scams or becomes immersed in his hatred of Cartman, bending over backwards to encourage or reassure Kyle, convince him otherwise, or to get him out of trouble. They are almost always seen together, or talking to each other, even in the absence of Cartman or Kenny, and usually do everything and go everywhere together, making them rather like twins. Also, in the opening credits of the show, they sing the same lines together.

In the eleven seasons the show has been on the air, they have broken up a number of episodes, such as "Prehistoric Ice Man", "Super Best Friends", "Douche and Turd", "South Park is Gay!", "Follow that Egg!", and most recently, "Guitar Queer-o". They have reconciled on-screen in all of these episodes, with the exception of "South Park is Gay!" They are even shown hugging at the end of "Smug Alert!". The episode "Guitar Queer-o" arguably focuses more than any other on their friendship, as a big argument between the two forms the major conflict of the story. However, in the end they reconcile, with no lasting damage done to the friendship. Stan also had a great deal of concern when Kyle was voted the ugliest boy in the class in "The List". Their friendship is so strong that Cartman calls them "fags" and has even commented, "You wanna get a room so you can make out for a while?". It is also notable that in "Imaginationland Episode III", Kyle was the only person who could hear Stan's voice in his head when Stan was trapped in Imaginationland.

[edit] Catchphrases and Mannerisms

Since its beginning, the series has had a running gag where, when Kenny is killed, Stan will announce a variation of the line, "Oh my God, they killed Kenny!" Kyle will then respond: "You bastards!"

Stan's often-used catchphrase during the early seasons was, "Dude, this is pretty fucked up right here," which originated in the second Spirit of Christmas short (the profanity was bleeped out). In recent episodes however this catchphrase faded.

In many episodes, Stan often sums up the episode's main points in a small speech that often begins with, "You know, I learned something today." In different episodes Kyle does this instead, and a few other characters such as Cartman or the Mayor have as well.

In the late episodes, Stan also has a habit of pinching the bridge of his (unseen) nose and shutting his eyes tightly when frustrated or exasperated (as the actor Lino Ventura). A good example of this is in the episode "ManBearPig" where he does this motion when on the phone with Al Gore. Another example is in the episode "With Apologies to Jesse Jackson", when he does it all the way home from the TV show. The gesture seems to be a learned habit developed by his constant frustration with his father.

Stan often groans, "Aw-awww!" when he's upset, as does his father which is an exasperation used by the Trey Parker who voices the characters.

Whenever he gets mad, frustrated or gets dragged into something he often says, "God damn it.", not to be confused with Cartman's catchphrase, "Aw! God-damn-it!"

[edit] Talents

[edit] Athletics

Stan is quite athletically proficient, and is regularly the captain or star player of his school's sports teams, except in basketball where Kyle is the best player in the school. He was the Quarterback of the school football team in "Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride" and the pitcher and apparent Captain of the baseball team in "The Losing Edge". He was also on the South Park dodgeball team that won the world championship, and was on the Pee-wee hockey team when he was 4 years old, revealed in "Stanley's Cup".

[edit] Music

Although without the musical ability of Kyle or Cartman, Stan did manage to write and perform a song about the importance of hybrid cars in "Smug Alert!", playing the guitar rather well. He wrote a song for Wendy, which was sung by Elton John in the episode "Chef Aid". Like Kenny, Kyle and Cartman, he plays the violin. He is seen strumming a guitar in the episode "Die Hippie Die". Stan is also, according to the episode "You Got F'd in the A", a talented line dancer, instructed by his father. Of course he can also be seen playing instruments with his classmates in "Summer Sucks" and "World Wide Recorder Concert". Stan was the electric guitarist in the boys' band "Moop" in the episode "Christian Rock Hard". Stan also discovered his talents in the video game "Guitar Hero", and eventually pursued the goal of scoring 1 million points in the episode "Guitar Queer-o" with the help of Kyle.

[edit] Driving

Stan has been shown to be quite able to drive in quite a few episodes, despite his age and height, such as in "Towelie" (with Kenny operating the gas and brake pedals, he drove a pickup truck to "Tynacorp" in order to get Towelie out of reach of the military), "Bloody Mary" (when he drove Randy to the Virgin Mary statue) and "Night of the Living Homeless" (when he drove a modified bus through the hordes of homeless and then lured them away to California).

[edit] References

This television-related article or section describes an aspect of the series in a primarily in-universe style. Please rewrite this article or section to explain the fiction more clearly and provide non-fictional perspective.

Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (January 2008)

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South Park character
name=Kyle Broflovski
{{{name}}}
Age:	9[1]
Gender:	Male
Hair color:	Red
Job:	Student
Religion:	Jewish
First appearance:	The Spirit of Christmas
Voiced by:	Matt Stone

Kyle Broflovski is a fictional character in the Emmy-award-winning American animated series South Park. Voiced by series co-creator Matt Stone, Kyle is one of the show's four central characters, together with Stan Marsh, Kenny McCormick, and Eric Cartman. Stone has asserted that the character is loosely based on himself and his experiences growing up in suburban Colorado.

[edit] Family

His mother, Sheila Broflovski, is very overprotective; she instigates a war between the USA and Canada in the feature-length movie South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut because of Canadian natives Terrance and Phillip's extremely scatological R-rated movie. Mrs. Broflovski is very prone to "making a mountain out of a molehill" whenever she thinks something is threatening her son. Kyle's father Gerald Broflovski is a lawyer, but Kyle reiterates that despite his father's profession, they are not as wealthy as Token Black. Kyle also has an adopted younger brother, Ike Broflovski. Ike's birth parents are Canadian. He also has a cousin that appeared in "The Entity" and "The Losing Edge", also named Kyle.

[edit] Appearance

He wears a bright green ear-flapped cap (or ushanka), a bright orange jacket with black-edged pockets with a dark green collar, dark green pants and lime-green mittens or gloves. He is rarely shown without his cap, but without it he has a bright red-to-auburn Isro. In "Good Times with Weapons", his anime self is shown to have either brown or violet eyes.

[edit] Characterization

[edit] Religion

He is one of few Jewish characters in the show, though he shows a very Deist point of view throughout the course of the series. For instance, rather than integrating Jewish Mysticsm and Religious ideas with Science, he rather puts down supernatural explanations and prefers to see things scientifically rather than religiously. For instance, when Cartman claims to have Psychic powers and Kyle displays plausible psychic ability, he dismisses it saying that there is a reasonable explanation. He is considered by some to believe in God as First Cause and take on the religion of his parents out of respect for them (the latter being increasingly likely as he has actually met and seen Jesus, who is the reason for the Christianity-Judaism split). Cartman's most frequent topic to tease Kyle over is his religion, and because of this, Kyle is very insecure about his origins, and is more defensive than he is proud. He does not seem to know much about Jewish traditions or beliefs, as when his little brother, Ike, was going to have a bris in "Ike's Wee Wee", he thought Ike's entire penis was going to be cut off, rather than just the foreskin (this may be due to the fact that Kyle had his Brit milah at a younger age).

[edit] Personality

When angered or frustrated, Kyle has a tendency to clench his fists and growl or yell angrily. Kyle and Cartman share the AB negative blood type, as revealed in the episode "Cherokee Hair Tampons". It was also revealed in this episode that Kyle is a diabetic.

Kyle typically displays the highest moral standards of all the boys, even though he lies in "Are You There God? It's Me, Jesus". Kyle also usually gets higher grades than his associates, and often provides the sober thought to plans or ideas made by the other boys. As Kyle is the most rational of his peers, he usually acts as the protagonist to Cartman's antagonist. Kyle is on better terms with Stan Marsh, although they occasionally argue. Apart from Butters, Kyle is the most caring and compassionate of the boys. It is also revealed that he has no rhythm in "Rainforest Schmainforest". In the episode "Cartman's Silly Hate Crime" it is shown that Kyle is able to speak pig latin fluently. Kyle hates Eric Cartman, as he points out in many episodes, like "Kenny dies" and "Scott Tenorman must die"

[edit] Health

Besides Kenny, Kyle becomes sick more often than any of the other boys, likely due to his Type One diabetes. He experiences a painful infected hemorrhoid when Cartman inherits $1 million from his grandmother and uses it to buy his own amusement park in "Cartmanland"(though this could be psychosomatic, as the hemorrhoid disappears as soon as Cartman loses his park). He also needed a kidney transplant (that only Cartman could provide) in "Cherokee Hair Tampons". In the episode "Guitar Queer-o", sickness apparently prevents Kyle from practicing playing Guitar Hero as much as Stan does, and in the episode "Death Camp of Tolerance", he succumbs to the physical effects of torture before Stan and Cartman. However, in the episode "Chickenpox" he is the only person in his class who does not easily catch chickenpox, even after playing a game in which Kenny (who had chickenpox) spat into his mouth and he had to swallow it while saying "ookymouth" (an activity suggested by his mother in hopes that her son would catch chickenpox). He does catch it in the end, collapsing onto the ground melodramatically, though this only occurs after prolonged exposure to the sick Stan and Cartman.

[edit] External links

• Kyle Broflovski at South Park Studios
• Kyle Broflovski at KyleFanClub

• Kyle Broflovski at South Park archives, a South Park wiki

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South Park character
name=Kenneth 'Kenny' McCormick
{{{name}}}
Age:	9
Gender:	Male
Hair color:	Blond
Job:	Student
Religion:	Roman Catholic
First appearance:	Cartman Gets an Anal Probe
Voiced by:	Matt Stone Mike Judge (film)[2]

Kenny McCormick, voiced by Matt Stone, is one of the five (originally four) central characters of South Park, the four others being Eric Cartman, Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, and in recent seasons, Butters Stotch. He is notorious for dying and resurrecting again nearly every week during the first five seasons of the show. Since his reappearance after being "permanently dead", he dies much less often.

[edit] Appearance

Kenny wears an orange hooded parka, orange trousers, and brown mittens or gloves. He has been shown to wear a white tee-shirt under his parka. Underneath his hood he has blond hair, which looks very similar to that of another South Park character, Tweek. Kenny is also easily recognized for almost always wearing his orange hood over his head (although he does remove it during the movie South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut and in episodes, "The Jeffersons", and "Lice Capades"). He is also briefly seen without the hood in "The Losing Edge" and "Lil Crime Stoppers". He is also pulled out of his parka during the episode "The Tooth Fairy Tats 2000". Also, when he is pulled out of the water in "Super Best Friends", it is revealed that he died without his parka on and his face is seen. It would seem that his parka was made from pieces of his bedroom curtains, as in the episode "Quintuplets 2000", when Kenny is practicing opera singing, we see his curtains in the background. They are of orange material, and a huge part of one is missing.

Due to his hood, which covers his mouth and nose, all of his lines are mumbled, and are usually such that they'd be censored if they weren't. For example, he can be heard under his mumbling to be saying actual words, such as "I've had enough of this bullshit!" after Stan pointed out that Kyle was going to die but not showing much distress when Kenny dies or exclaiming "Holy shit, her tits are fucking huge", upon seeing their new Fourth Grade teacher Ms. Choksondik in the episode "Fourth Grade". People who meet him initially have difficulty understanding what he was saying, occasionally needing his friends to translate for him, although those who know him well, such as other residents of South Park, have learned to understand him. In "Good Times with Weapons" and "Starvin' Marvin", he has been shown to have blue eyes.

[edit] Characterization

Kenny comes from a poor, violent, and alcoholized family.^[3] His friends, especially Eric Cartman, often tease him for his poverty.

Kenny likes toilet humor and pornography, and is more sexually knowledgeable than the rest of the boys. In the episode "Rainforest Schmainforest" (1999), Kenny has a girlfriend named Kelly.

In a running gag for the five first seasons of the show, Kenny died in almost every episode. This was often followed by the catchphrase "Oh my God, they killed Kenny!" "You bastards!", usually said by Stan and Kyle, or some variation of it. He "permanently" died in the episode "Kenny Dies" (2001), and was taken off the show, with the creators confirming that they had killed the character for good.^[4] Despite of this, Kenny returned to the show less than one year later, first as a spirit possessing Cartman in "A Ladder to Heaven", then as his old self in "Red Sleigh Down". Kenny still dies in some episodes, most recently in "The List" (2007),^[5] but far less regularly than he did before "Kenny Dies".

[edit] In other media

Besides the South Park show, Kenny has made appearances in other South Park media, including the film South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999), and South Park videogames. Early versions of the character appeared in the Parker and Stone cartoons "The Spirit of Christmas [Jesus vs. Frosty]" (1992) and "The Spirit of Christmas [Jesus vs. Santa]" (1995).

In the book South Park and Philosophy: Bigger, Longer, and More Penetrating, there is an article about Kenny, by Southern Illinois University philosophy professor Dr. Randall Auxier, entitled "Killing Kenny: Our Daily Dose of Death."^[6]

Kenny's deaths and the "Oh my God! They killed Kenny!" catchphrase is well known in popular culture, and has appeared on various pieces of merchandise, from T-shirts to guitar straps (like the one used by The Police guitarist Andy Summers), and inspired the rap song "Kenny's Dead" by Master P.^[4]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Kenny McCormick on SouthParkStudios.com
• Repository of translated Kenny-isms
• Kenny sings Theme Song - slow speed

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This article or section describes a work or element of fiction in a primarily in-universe style. Please rewrite this article or section to explain the fiction more clearly and provide non-fictional perspective.

South Park character
Eric Theodore Cartman
Age:	9
Gender:	Male
Hair color:	Brown
Job:	Student
Religion:	Roman catholic
First appearance:	The Spirit of Christmas
Voiced by:	Trey Parker

Eric Theodore Cartman, commonly referred to by his family name, Cartman, is one of the main characters in the animated series South Park, and perhaps the most popular character in the series. Cartman is voiced by Trey Parker.

Cartman is notably and darkly eccentric, to the point of being evil, and often reacts in violent and over-dramatic ways to events. He dislikes and openly expresses his hatred of any race or group of which he is not a member, particularly of hippies and Jews, which is the cause of his intense rivalry with Kyle Broflovski. He often manipulates others to meet his own ends (at which he is very skilled) regardless of the consequences, even if it can result in death and destruction.

[edit] Characterization

Eric Cartman is portrayed as the "fat kid"^[7] and the antihero of the South Park gang.^[8] His personality has notably changed over the course of the series. While always self-centered and bigoted,^[9] he was portrayed as more of a mean, immature brat in the earlier seasons. As the seasons progressed, his personality became more aggressive and cunning, eventually crossing the line into outright psychopathy, while his bigotry morphed seamlessly into Nazi-like hatred and theorizing, as well as becoming viciously sadistic. There are several examples of this over the course of the series. He refuses, for example, to acknowledge his obesity (instead insisting that he is big boned). Also, in "Le Petit Tourette," he reveals his true sadness in the fact that he cries himself to sleep at night due to the absence of a father, while his hatred of Jews can be traced to his intense rivalry with Kyle Broflovski and former rivalry with Scott Tenorman. ^{[citation needed]}

Cartman's abilities to manipulate the other characters into doing what he wants have become keener over the course of the series, along with his overall intelligence. His intelligence and manipulative skills are perhaps best displayed in the famous and very dark episode Scott Tenorman Must Die, in which he develops a fierce obsession with - and later exacts revenge upon - a 9th grader who scammed him out of $16.12. This episode was ranked number one in "Cartman's 25 Greatest South Park Moments", that were chosen by voting on Comedy Central's website.^[10] Despite his great skills in manipulating however, he often says stupid things, makes stupid claims, and attempts stupid actions (although, to add comic flair to the storyline, his claims sometimes prove to be correct.) Cartman is also still very immature, and throws terrible tantrums when things don't go his way.

Cartman is a deep-seated racist and bigot and regularly teases his friend Kyle for being Jewish. His anti-semitism originally started as an excuse to tease his friend Kyle, but later evolved into a Nazi-esque theorizing after seeing Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, idolizing both Mel Gibson and the movie for inspiring him. While anti-semitism is the most common form of racism he uses, he showed a more bizarre hatred and disgust of "gingers", people with light skin, freckles and red hair. He also hates Stan for the fact that he is a pussy according to him.

His bigotry is more diverse, teasing his friend Kenny for being poor, believing handicapped people were put on earth by God for his own amusement, and even religious bigotry against former classmate Bahir, who he develops an immediate distrust for and (unsuccessfully) attempts to prove that he is a terrorist on the basis of his Muslim heritage. Cartman, in general, dislikes Muslims - in Osama bin Laden Has Farty Pants he openly criticizes Afghans, calling them "Sand monkeys" and "towel heads" in class.

Despite his personality flaws, or perhaps because of them, Cartman is incredibly charismatic, and is a natural born leader, usually being the default leader of the boys in times of crisis or adventure. His charisma also allows hims to manipulate crowds and mobs with ease, quickly gaining their trust and loyalty and just as easily dispersing them, almost always to forward his own interests. This is well demonstrated in the episode "Ginger Kids".

Though able to thoroughly manipulate and intimidate people on a psychological level, he is quite weak and sometimes cowardly when it comes to physical confrontations, with little more than a single punch enough to send him away crying or screaming. Even when fighting, he will constantly try to manipulate his opponent to gain the upper hand, usually resorting to a dirty blow to defeat his foes.

It would also seem that Cartman, though not known for his academic prowess, has exceptional skill with regard to language. In a number of different episodes, including "My Future Self n' Me," it is shown that he is near fluent in Spanish. In "The Passion of the Jew," he speaks passable German in his Hitler-like tirades. His use of Japanese is also essentially flawless in "Chinpokomon". The same is true of his Mongolian in "Child Abduction is Not Funny." He also has a penchant for photography and is well-versed with highly technical jargon used by professional photographers, as illustrated in both "Cartman Sucks" and the Imaginationland series.

He is of Dutch and Irish ancestry.^[11]

[edit] Relationship with others

Cartman's relationship with his friends and family is mostly a turbulent one. He has a domineering relationship with his mother, Liane Cartman, constantly ordering her around, to which she willingly submits for the most part. In the episode Tsst, Liane, with the help of dog trainer Cesar Millan, was able to briefly control Eric's behavioral, weight and personality problems, but not for long. In the commentary to the episode, Trey Parker said that Cartman's behavioral problems were mostly the result of Liane treating Eric like a friend and not like a son, allowing him to take advantage of her.

Cartman maintains a love-hate relationship with his three main friends, Stan, Kyle and Kenny, and often teases for various reasons; Stan for being a wuss or hippie; Kyle for being a Jew and Kenny for being poor. Though they resent Cartman for constantly berating them, they are normally tolerant of him as they consider him their friend whether they like it or not.

Cartman has a more bizarre and sinister relationship with Butters Stotch. Butters sees Cartman as a close friend with whom he can play and have sleepovers. Cartman, however, sees Butters as a loyal servant who will go along with anything he says and uses this to manipulate and abuse for his own gain and pleasure. Cartman often presents himself as a father figure to Butters, teaching him the finer points of negotiating in business, and the danger of Jews and “ginger kids”. Stone and Parker have both said in their DVD commentaries that they enjoy the antics between the two characters because they “are such opposites of each other”.

Although Cartman doesn't generally like anyone in particular, he was very fond of Chef, as seen in "The Return of Chef" where Cartman was crying in front of Butters and even admitted that he was going to miss Chef, but didn't know how to tell him. He normally went to Chef with his problems, and Chef was always willing to help him.

Although he is mean towards the opposite sex, it has been revealed that he has attractions towards them, showing that he doesn't completely hate them. In Tom's Rhinoplasty, Cartman, along with Stan, Kyle, and Kenny were all attracted to the substitute teacher, Ms. Ellen. Although she was a lesbian, and the boys did not understand what it meant, they tried to become lesbians in order to try to win her. In Chef Goes Nanners, he and Wendy were attracted to each other, and Wendy kisses him. At the end of the episode, Wendy reveals that her feelings for him have disappeared, and leaves Cartman sad and alone. In Le Petit Tourette, he reveals that he's secretly in love with a girl named Patty Nelson and in Bebe's Boobs Destroy Society, Cartman (along with all the other boys) were greatly attracted to Bebe (after she began developing breasts). At the end of the episode, all of their feelings for her disappeared when they found out the control that breasts had over their lives.

[edit] Concept and creation

According to creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, they thought it would be impossible to put a character like Archie Bunker on late-20th century television but decided that it might be allowed if he were an animated nine-year-old boy. Thus, Cartman was born.^[12]

[edit] In popular culture

Cartman was placed tenth on TV Guide's 2002 list of the "Top 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters".^[13] In 2003, he was chosen as one of "VH1's 200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons", at number 198.^[8] Also, in 2005, Cartman was ranked number nineteen on Bravo's 100 Greatest TV Characters.^[14]

Between late 1998 and early 1999, World Wrestling Federation wrestler John Tenta was given the gimmick and name "Golga" which involved him wearing South Park t-shirts and carrying a Cartman doll to the ring.^[15][16]

ABC used Cartman to introduce the starting line-ups of a Colorado Buffaloes game on November 24, 2007. ^[17]

In the Powerpuff Girls episode Imaginary Fiend. When Blossom was tripped and landed in the coat rack, she ended up dressed like Cartman. She also said "Uh he tripped me seriously" a similar way Cartman says his lines.

Cartman's head can be seen in the Head Museum in Futurama: Bender's Big Score.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• South Park Studios - Official Site
• Yowiki at the Internet Movie Database
• Eric Cartman Article on South Park wiki
• Lyrics to Cartman's Songs