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EspañolERIC CARTMAN
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''Cartman redirects here. For the band, see Cartman (band)''
'Eric Theodore Cartman', commonly referred to as 'Cartman', is a fictional character in the animated series ''South Park''. He is voiced by series co-creator, Trey Parker.
Cartman is one of four central characters in the series and often acts as a catalyst for their adventures through his over-enthusiasm and selfishness. Cartman is notably eccentric, often reacting 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 the Jews due to his rivalry with Kyle Broflovski, leading to him idolizing Adolf Hitler. He often manipulates others, at which he is very adept, to meet his own ends, regardless of the consequences to other people, even if it can result in deaths and destruction.
According to Trey Parker and Matt Stone, when they were creating ''South Park'' they were vexed that it would be impossible to put a character like Archie Bunker on late-20th century television. They thought, however, that if he were an animated eight-year-old boy, it might just be allowed. Thus, Cartman was born.[1]
Cartman's personality has notably changed over the course of series. While always self-centered and bigoted, he was portrayed as more of an immature brat in the earlier seasons. As the seasons progressed, his personality became more aggressive and cunning, eventually crossing the line into outright sociopathy, while his bigotry morphed seamlessly into Nazi-like hatred. His abilities to manipulate other people into doing what he wants have become keener, along with his overall intelligence (though he still can be extremely stupid).
In 2005, Cartman was ranked number nineteen on Bravo's 100 Greatest TV Characters.
Cartman was born August 2, a date that is based on the birthday of Carroll O'Connor, the actor who played Archie Bunker.
His name may have been influenced by World War II German ace Erich Hartmann, or the musician Eric Carmen.
Eric Cartman (typically addressed by his last name) is spoiled, foul-mouthed, ill-tempered, insensitive, sadistic, sociopathic, greedy, hypercritical, wildly insecure, bigoted and manipulative. He is portrayed as having a general lack of moral responsibility or social conscience. He also seems to take pleasure from others' misfortune, and is generally unable to show empathy, although there have been exceptions, such as in "How to Eat with Your Butt". This has been also parodied, as well as the cliche of a typical villain becoming benevolent, in episodes such as "Cartoon Wars", where Cartman appears as having a good motive at the beginning, but changes afterwards. In "The Death of Eric Cartman", Kyle brands him a "fat, racist, self-centered, intolerant, manipulative sociopath". Cartman, however, does not consider himself to be a bad person, in fact he seems to disregard good or bad altogether and does whatever he feels is necessary for him to get ahead. Cartman seems to be motivated not so much by personal gain as by asserting superiority over others, usually Kyle. In Red Hot Catholic Love, he won $20 in a bet with Kyle, but instead of using the money, he simply flaunted it in front of Kyle until Kyle conceded that Cartman was right, ruining his sense of victory and causing him to throw a tantrum. Cartman's much quoted line, "Respect my authority" (or as Cartman pronounces it, "authoritah") highlights his power hungry and dictatorial characteristic.
Ironically, despite (or perhaps because of) these qualities, Cartman also seems to be a natural-born leader, able to utilize overwhelming charisma and rhetoric to gain the obedience of large groups on a moment's notice. He appears innately aware of how to take advantage of "mob mentality" and direct it toward accomplishing his personal goals, as has been evidenced in countless episodes throughout the series' history. In situations where the other boys share his goals, Cartman is often the De facto leader (for example, Make Love, Not Warcraft and Marjorine). Indeed, the others consistently show a willingness to follow him and trust in his leadership when he's using his abilities for "good".
A recurring joke throughout the series is that, despite his mother's sweetness and wholesome demeanor, Liane Cartman is in fact a promiscuous, intersexed, crack-smoking, Scheisse porn queen, as well as a prostitute and overall degenerate. In the episode "An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig" Cartman exclaims, "If a girl was ever beating me up I'd be like, ' ''AY! Why don't you stop dressing me up like a mailman, and making me dance for you, while you go and smoke crack in your bedroom and have sex with some guy I don't even know, on my dad's bed!'' '" Liane, meanwhile, dotes on her son endlessly, beyond simply spoiling him. Cartman usually gets what he wants simply by whining.
After the show premiered, however, his outrageous and shocking behavior made him instantly popular with viewers. Another reason Cartman tends to stand out is because he is generally the most pro-active of the four main characters. Cartman is frequently the one to come up with new ideas and plans, usually told excitedly to an often unimpressed Stan, Kyle, and Kenny. Aware of Cartman’s popularity, the show’s writers are often careful not to temper the many unfavorable aspects of his behavior with contempt. Cartman frequently comes up with ideas that are ridiculous or offensive, and while he may appear to have the upper hand, his antics tend to inevitably turn on him. He is often shown receiving the brunt of consequences generated by his behavior by the end of the episode, although on certain occasions, Cartman is shrewd enough to either earn himself a pyrrhic victory ("Toilet Paper", for example), or allowing Stan and Kyle only such a gain (most notably "The Red Badge of Gayness").
Although Cartman frequently insults and taunts his friends, he sometimes appears to be more cowardly than they are when it comes to physical confrontation. In "It's Christmas in Canada," Kyle slaps Cartman and he immediately bursts into tears, thus showing that Cartman is not pain tolerant; a similar instance was during Cartman Sucks, although Kyle only punched Cartman in the arm.
Also in “Goobacks” Cartman threatens Kyle and it leads to Kyle giving Cartman a bloody nose; in “Christian Rock Hard,” Cartman is beaten up by Token after provoking him with racial jibes, and in several episodes, he is seen unable to overpower Kenny. However, in such earlier episodes as “Damien,” “Spookyfish,” and “Tweek vs. Craig,” Cartman has no problem with fighting the other boys back physically (and it is revealed that Sumo is his martial art of choice). Most recently, in episode “Cartoon Wars Part II,” he did not back down from fisticuffs with Kyle, and in the episode "With Apologies to Jesse Jackson", he was dominant in a physical fight against a midget (who supposedly had a black belt in karate). His peers, meanwhile, also give as much as they take — constantly calling him "fat ass," questioning his intelligence and intimating how they like him the least.
It has been repeatedly shown that Cartman has serious behavioral and emotional problems. He has shown incredible anger issues and violent tendencies while upset: at one point, he ground the parents of a teen he was angry with into chili and fed it to him, causing Kyle to say that he and Stan should never make Cartman angry again (this has since been regarded as Cartman's defining moment and has been brought up again numerous times during the series). He also has displayed traits of gender confusion, as he occasionally has tea parties with stuffed dolls (pretending they are talking about how cool he is), owns a female cat named "Mister Kitty", and in the episode "Bebe's Boobs Destroy Society", he was seen re-enacting a scene from ''The Silence of the Lambs'' as Buffalo Bill with a rag doll he named Polly Prissy Pants trapped down a well. As well, in episode 316, "Are You There God? It's Me, Jesus", Cartman claims that he has begun his first period because he is bleeding from his anus due to a stomach virus which causes his colon to bleed. He believes that every boy needs to have their period to become a man, leading to the other boys to wait for theirs unsuccessfully (this, however, can be attributed to his ignorance). In episode 601, "Freak Strike", Cartman goes on the Maury Povich Show to be a panelist during a discussion on out of control kids. In an attempt to win the assumed prize, he dresses up as a promiscuous teenage girl. In episode: “AWESOM-O,” Butters reveals to the residents of South Park a video of Cartman dressed as Britney Spears, while dancing around a cardboard cut-out of Justin Timberlake, which he apparently later had sex with. Cartman's possible gender confusion is most apparent in the episode "Cartman Sucks", in which Cartman takes pictures of himself with Butter's penis in his mouth to make Butters look homosexual. However, Kyle, Stan and Kenny explain that such actions actually make Cartman look gay, which results in Cartman trying to get a picture taken of his own penis in Butter's mouth.
He also exhibits obscure ways of talking. Aside from the sheer volume of expletives in his dialogue he also uses words in different contexts (i.e. instead of saying 'I'm serious' he will say 'I'm seriously')
Cartman has also had brushes with sexual abuse. In the episode "Cartman joins NAMBLA", his attempt to find older friends winds up with him almost being raped by members of the North American Man/Boy Love Association. In the episode, "Simpsons Already Did It", after discovering that semen will fertilize his Sea-People, he goes to a sperm bank to collect more. When Cartman later empties a bowl of semen into the tank, he tells Stan and Kyle that he got some of it from a man named Ralph in an alley, who told him to "close his eyes and suck it out of a hose". In episode AWESOM-O, a movie producer asks Cartman (who’s disguised as a robot) if he is a pleasure model. Cartman does not understand him until he takes his pants off, at which point, he runs out screaming. Also, in the episode "Fat Butt and Pancake Head", Cartman convinces Ben Affleck (among others) that his left hand is Jennifer Lopez; Affleck later has a sexual encounter with "Miss Lopez", leaving Cartman’s hand covered with his semen. In the episode Pre-School, Cartman moons Trent while still having nipples painted on, a photo of which the kids had sold as boobs to the sixth graders previously. The sixth graders are so overwhelmed that they take Cartman with them, apparently to abuse the "boobs". Also, in the episode "Cow Days" Cartman suffers a head trauma and thinks he is a Vietnamese prostitute. In the end of an episode, after he is back to normal, random men drives by in a black limo and says "Bye, Ming Li, thanks again", implying, that they had actually, a sexual intercourse. Finally, in the episode Fun with Veal, Cartman is awakened by the other boys and blurts out "No, uncle Jesse! No!" before realizing where he is.
Although Cartman can at times be worldly, he is often wildly misinformed — once believing that dolphins lived in igloos. Cartman has also been known to formulate complex, yet insane, plans, some of which have succeeded. In episode, "I'm a Little Bit Country", instead of studying, Cartman records various documentaries on the American Revolution from The History Channel on a TiVo and then electrocutes himself with it in a tub, which sends him on a flashback to 1776, and ultimately helps him stop the riots going on in present-day South Park between pro and anti-Iraq War activists after waking from a coma. Cartman’s ability to compose elaborate plots is demonstrated in episode "Scott Tenorman Must Die", and hints at his intellectual prowess, which are often overlooked due to his ignorance. One time, he threatened to rip a woman's "goddamn balls" off. Whether he was implying that the woman was a transvestite, or that he knows nothing of the female anatomy is unknown. Also, in the episode Chickenpox, when he was told that his mother sent him to Kenny's house so he would catch chickenpox, he claimed that he would "kick her in the nuts." But this may be because of the fact that his mother is a hermaphrodite.
Cartman consistently shows less interest in sexuality than the other boys. This seems intentional on the writer's parts, and fits with his self-absorption, immaturity and gender confusion.
An example for this would be seen in the episode "Raisins", where the boys end up in a Hooters-like restaurant, and all Cartman shows interest in is the food, rather than all the skimpily-dressed waitresses.
However, during the episode "Chef Goes Nanners", Cartman briefly became an object of affection for Wendy Testaburger. After being passionately kissed by Wendy at the end of the episode, he is disappointed when she says that she no longer has any feelings for him. In "Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset," Cartman shows a desire to be invited to the fourth grade girl's boy-girl party, and is angered when they reject him. He later gets a hip make-over and attempts to crash the party. The only other time Cartman was attracted to someone of the opposite sex was "Bebe's Boobs Destroy Society", in which he and the other boys were hypnotized by Bebe's newly-grown breasts (much to her chagrin).
In the episode "Marjorine" Cartman tells Butters to "just roll with it" if the girls start "lezzing out."
A defining arc during the show’s fourth season was Cartman’s single-minded quest to make 10 million dollars. The schemes he has tried include becoming a part of the “tooth trade” and stealing Tooth Fairy money from kids, starting a boy band called “Fingerbang,” and culminating in forming his own church and embezzling the church’s collection money. There is also an episode in which he tries to sell a crashed truck-load of aborted fetuses to the highest-bidding stem cell research center. In the episode Up The Down Steroid, Cartman had also pretended he was retarded to compete in the Special Olympics and win $1000. The reasons for this are never fully explained, although in one episode, after inheriting a million dollars from his grandmother, he reveals that he wishes to buy his own amusement park so he won't have to wait in lines for the rides. In the episode Manbearpig Cartman stumbles upon a pile of treasure while the boys are trapped in a system of caves. Afraid that the others might find the treasure and ask for some, Cartman decides to swallow as much of the coins and jewels as he can, causing him to become extremely bloated and unable to walk or swim on his own. Later in the episode it is revealed that the treasure is fake and used for photographs for tourists at the caves.
Cartman shows a pathological degree of impatience when forced to do something he doesn't want to do or when he has to wait for something he wants. An example of the former is seen in "I'm a Little Bit Country," in which Cartman electrocutes himself in an attempt to create a flashback and avoid studying; the latter is evidenced in the episode “Go God Go,” where Cartman freezes himself so he won't have to wait three weeks for the Wii console to be released.
Due in part to his adversarial relationship with Kyle (who is Jewish), Cartman is ''extremely'' anti-Semitic. In the season eight episode “The Passion of the Jew,” after seeing ''The Passion of the Christ'', he believes the film was Mel Gibson's way of rallying people against the Jews, and idolizes him for it. He then dresses up as Hitler and manipulates people, who think that they are simply raising awareness for the movie and Christianity, to join him in an anti-Jew march while chanting in mispronounced German: "''Es ist Zeit für Rache''" (It is time for revenge.) and "''Wir müssen die Juden ausrotten''" (We must eradicate the Jews). When Cartman plans to cheat and win the special olympics by feigning a disability, Kyle attempts to talk him out of it by telling him, regardless of their differences, that Cartman will surely go to Hell for such an act; Cartman replies that Kyle does not understand that Hell is reserved for the Jews, indicating once again his self-righteousness.
In episode: "Pinkeye," Cartman dresses up as Hitler for Halloween. When shown a documentary to demonstrate why dressing like him “isn't cool,” Cartman is enthralled and imagines himself being the one commanding the Nazi troops in the video. Cartman’s admiration for Hitler is further emphasized in episode: “The Entity,” after being offered $40 by Kyle not to tease Kyle's cousin, Kyle Schwartz, Cartman has trouble restraining himself from teasing Kyle about his Jewish heritage. When Ms. Choksondik later tells Kyle S. to concentrate, Cartman impulsively blurts out: “Maybe we should send him to concentration camp!”
A contradiction of his idolisation of Hitler is seen in "I'm a Little Bit Country" in this episode Cartman is incapable of pronouncing “Nazi” correctly (pronouncing it "Nay-zee") upon seeing it written, as though he had never come upon the word before. However as established above, Eric is a Nazi sympathizer and an admirer of Adolf Hitler. Another contradiction occurs in "Tsst", when Cartman compares his mother – who had been instructed how to treat her rampantly egocentric son by a dog whisperer – with Hitler, as a reason why she should be killed. Though this was only because his mother was punishing him had she been doing it to someone else he most likely would not have cared.
In addition to taking regular jabs at racial, ethnic and religious minorities, as well as people of lower income, Cartman is also prejudicial against redhaired, light skinned, freckled people, or ‘Gingers’. (Though this hatred may come from the fact that Kyle has red hair.) When the other three boys lead him to believe he has become a redhead himself, he is horrified. Later, he organizes a cult of homicidal ginger children bent on world conquest known as the ‘Ginger Separatist Movement,’ remarking: “I'm not going to live my life as a Goddamn minority!”
Cartman’s most passionate abhorrence is aimed at hippies, though he seems to use this term for liberals in general. In episode: “Die, Hippie, Die,” he believes that hippies will destroy the town, and while the rest of the town is initially skeptical, his fears are eventually borne out. In episode: “Smug Alert,” Cartman entered San Francisco (after vowing to never enter it), the heart of liberal America, to save Kyle. In order to avoid possible contamination, he wears a biohazard suit. When too close to liberals, he suffers what could be called an allergic reaction.
Cartman has a disturbing habit of appearing in other peoples’ homes in the middle of the night. He has a preoccupation with becoming “mature,” or at least more so than his friends, which frequently ends in him doing something that is anything but. Cartman also appears to be driven by a desire to surpass Kyle (especially), Stan, and Kenny. Knowing that his satisfaction chiefly comes with seeing other people unhappy, Kyle once deliberately congratulated Cartman on winning a bet. This, of course, ruined Cartman’s egotistical satisfaction at having humiliated him.
Cartman apparently sees scenes of sickening and/or disturbing imagery every time he closes his eyes, but thinks nothing of it. He also occasionally has milk come out of his nose when he laughs, even when he was not drinking any. This milk-sneezing problem is due to a malfunctioning kidney, which Cartman is tricked into donating for transplant, benefiting his friend Kyle, who receives the malfunctioning organ as seen in the episode "Cherokee Hair Tampons". Many of Cartman’s mannerisms were revealed to be inherited in "Merry Christmas Charlie Manson!", in which most of the Cartman family were depicted in a similar manner.
Although having his origins as little more than a comic foil, Cartman has evolved into a character of stunningly articulate manipulative talents, following closely in the footsteps of other famous manipulators such as the character Iago from William Shakespeare's Othello. In several episodes throughout the series, he employs this skill to get what he wants. His most frequent targets are Butters and adults in general, including convincing Butters to "take one for the team" and be anally pack raped by men from NAMBLA in Cartman Joins NAMBLA. He was able to get Congress to lift the ban on stem-cell research in the episode "Kenny Dies" and talked the ginger kids out of killing all non-gingers after Kyle told him that they had played a trick on him in "Ginger Kids". Earlier in that episode he had rallied all the gingers to exterminate all non-gingers in a Hitler-esque way. In the episode "Tsst", Cartman was able to drive several nannies from his house with insults and insinuation (even causing one to be put in a mental hospital and eat her own waste from a toilet).
Cartman's perceived stupidity by his friends can be attributed to his sometimes naive behavior, however his uncanny skill at manipulation, bilingualism, and ability to create elaborate schemes which are often effective imply a surprisingly high intellect. Cartman seems to have no problem talking to people and speaking in general. He has an uncanny way with words and uses that to his advantage whenever he plots an idea. For example, in "Kenny Dies," Cartman delivers a speech to the United States House of Representatives convincing them to vote in favor of stem cell research. He also appears to be multilingual (though not very well). He claims to be able to speak Spanish in Rainforest Schmainforest when he tells a Costa Rican freedom fighter that he wants burritos, and in My Future Self n' Me, he actually speaks Spanish to the Mexican workers hired to smear Butter's home with excrement. In D-Yikes Eric Cartman again demonstrates his proficiency in Spanish when hiring Mexicans to write an "essay" (which the immigrants mistake for the Spanish informal word for a friend [''ese'']) on The Old Man and the Sea. In The Passion of the Jew, Cartman speaks German (but most of his words are mispronounced).
In "Cartoon Wars", he exploited a controversy involving the appearance of Muhammad on FOX's ''Family Guy'' to try to get the show off the air; he pretended to be the hapless victim of an Islamic terrorist attack to try to discourage the FOX president and the ''Family Guy'' staff writers from airing the Muhammad episode. On another occasion he was able to convince the majority of the adults of South Park to nearly take over the U.S. via an out-of-hand re-enactment of the Civil War, as long as he kept them drunk so they wouldn't realize what they were doing.
Cartman's shining accomplishment (according to Comedy Central's list of "Cartman's 25 Greatest Moments") came in the episode "Scott Tenorman Must Die.", a testimony to Cartmans hidden ingenuity and cunning. Though Scott Tenorman continually defeats Cartman throughout the episode, Cartman has the last laugh as he indirectly coerces Scott's parents into a situation where they are trespassing, and are consequently shot and killed. Cartman then steals the bodies and makes them into a chili which he promptly feeds to Scott. In addition, Scott's plan to trick Cartman into eating chili filled with the pubic hairs of all the teenagers in town is foiled when Cartman switches this chili with Chef's. To make matters worse, Tenorman's favorite band, Radiohead, whom Cartman had arranged to be there so that they would be at the scene just as Scott had found out about his parents' deaths, sees him crying over the loss of his parents and deems him a cry baby. Cartman laughs hysterically at the inconsolable Tenorman, licking the tears from his face and dubbing them 'the tears of unfathomable sadness'.
★ "Screw you guys, I'm going home!"
★ "Respect mah authoritah!"
★ "I hate you guys."
★ "Hella." (hella-cool, hella-lame, hella-sweet etc.)
★ "Suck my balls!"
★ "I'm not fat, I'm big-boned."
★ "I will kick you ''squah'' in the nuts!" (squah=square)
★ "You ''m'he-ah'', me ''m'he-ah''." Accompanied by pointing. (Literally, "You here, me here.")
★ "You're breaking my balls." (used when negotiating a price)
★ "No kitty, that's a bad kitty!", "No kitty this is my pot pie!", etc.
★ "Bet Meeeeeehhhmm!!" ("But Mom!")
★ "Kick ass!"
★ "Wuteva, I do what I want!"
★ "I'm Seriously!"
★ "Sweet!"
★ "Lame"
★ "Weak"
★ "Awesome!"
★ "Be da sham"
★ "Jew!", and "Stupid Jew" (used mostly towards Kyle)
★ "That was totally tits"
★ "AY!" ("Hey!")
★ "You guys, You guys!" (Excited by something he has found)
★ "Ne ne ne ne ne ne, he he he he ha ha" (Used when ripping on someone, usually Kyle)
★ "This one time..." (Recounting something he did or saw)
Cartman is the only boy in the series who does not have a father shown at any time. This is because of his hermaphrodite mother (Liane Cartman), who actually fathered him herself. This shocking twist is revealed at the end of the two-part story arc, "Cartman's Mom is a Dirty Slut" and "Cartman's Mom is Still a Dirty Slut." Cartman's true mother is still unknown.
Cartman's extended family is shown in episode: Merry Christmas, Charlie Manson! where he and the others go on a trip to Nebraska to visit them for Christmas. Most of his relatives appear to be similar in manner to him; all fat, with the same speech accent and catchphrases. The family is seen again in the episode "Cartmanland," at his grandmother's funeral — where she leaves her estate (valued at $1,000,000) to Eric, citing that all the other family members would have spent it all on crack.
Cartman's mother frequently calls her son "poopiekins" or "poopykins", and is one of the few characters who usually refers to Cartman by his first name (the other characters refer to him by his surname or some pejorative phrase, "fat ass" being among the most popular). The others are Mrs. Garrison, Mr. Mackey, Butters and Jimmy.
Cartman has a cat named Mr. Kitty (who despite the name is actually ''female''), and a pot bellied pig named Fluffy (Mr.Kitty and Fluffy have never been seen together in the series thus far). He also has a stuffed frog toy named "Clyde Frog" though he has also referred to him as "Artemis Clyde Frog"(a parody of Artemus Gordon in Wild Wild West). Other beloved stuffed animals include Wellington Bear (a take on Paddington Bear), Polly Prissy Pants the rag doll, purple lizard Rumpertumskin (a take on Rumpelstiltskin), and Peter Panda.
Cartman and Kenny occasionally make "best friend" pacts with one another. This is mostly in response to Stan and Kyle being best friends, which sometimes leaves the other two boys alone with each other. They're also shown to share a sense of humor, as can be seen in the episode "How to Eat with Your Butt" when Kenny and Cartman continue an elaborate joke despite Stan and Kyle's rejection.
However, Cartman has at times displayed a special dislike for Kenny, often without reason. In the "South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut" Kenny and Cartman are alone in the scene, and Cartman blurts out "I hate you, Kenny." out of nowhere. In the episode, “Jakovasaurs,” Cartman makes up a song called "I Hate You Guys" where he sings: ''"I hate you guys / you guys are assholes / especially Kenny / I hate him the most."''It is possible that Kenny is Cartman's only friend and he does not understand how to react to having a friend. In episode, "Kenny Dies", Cartman proclaims that Kenny is his best friend among the three boys, but at the end of the episode it is implied that Cartman is Kenny's "worst friend" since he exploited Kenny's illness for personal gain. In the episode "Best Friends Forever", Kenny states in his will that he felt sorry for Cartman because of his inability to feel compassion and show decency. Also, Cartman proves that he is Kenny's BFF or best friend forever by combining his half of his necklace with Kenny's.
Recently Butters has taken Kenny's place as Cartman's closest friend although the dynamic between the two pairs is very different.
It seems that Cartman has a rather strong hatred for his redheaded friend Kyle, and shows that he has no tolerance for Kyle's Jewish faith. Because of this, Kyle strikes back with making crude remarks about Cartman's weight, only to which Cartman always fail to see that he is indeed overweight, and not "big-boned" like he thinks he is.
Since Kyle is the more rational of his peers, he usually put in the shoes of the protagonist to Eric Cartman's antagonist. Like in Cartoon Wars the two of them work against each other when Cartman tries to get Family Guy cancelled, while Kyle tries to stop him.
The two of them often have arguments about morals, like in Up The Down Steroid, where Cartman decides to pretend to be mentally handicapped so he can win the prize money. Kyle sees Cartman's plans as so horrible that he seriously worries that Cartman will go to hell for his antics in the episode. But Cartman says that Kyle is in no position to preach morals because he is Jewish.
Though in Smug Alert Cartman saves Kyle and his family when a large storm is about to go towards their house in San Francisco. But it was only because Cartman wanted Kyle to return to South Park because he had become bored not having his nemesis around.
In , when they were facing certain death, Cartman tried to atone for all the times he called Kyle "A filthy Jew", telling him "I didn't mean it. You're not a Jew", leaving Kyle to say that he was, and Cartman telling him not to be so hard on himself.
Butters has more or less become basically Cartman's sidekick, and Cartman's most often victim. Many episodes entire plots are around Cartman's antics against Butters. In Casa Bonita, Cartman faked an apocalypse so Butters would hide in a bomb shelter for over a week, so Cartman could go with Kyle, Stan, and Kenny to Casa Bonita instead of Butters. In AWESOM-O he dressed as a robot to trick Butters, but in the end this failed miserably because Butters showed a tape of him dressing like Britney Spears in front of everyone. In The Death of Eric Cartman all of the people in South Park decide to ignore Cartman because of him being a "selfish son of a bitch". Unlike the other boys, Butters isn't aware of the plan and Cartman believes that Butters is the only one who can see him now that he is dead. In Cartman Sucks he repeatably invited Butters over to spend the night to play pranks on him, until it backfired on him and he made an inappropriate picture which featured him putting Butter's penis in his mouth, which ended up being showed to the entire 4th grade class.
Cartman appears to be very musically talented. He plays the piano quite well in the episode "Christian Rock Hard" (although the piano plays by itself whilst he is singing), the violin in "Something Wal-Mart This Way Comes," the French horn in "Summer Sucks," the drums in "The Red Badge of Gayness," the harmonica in "Jakovasaurs," the recorder in "World Wide Recorder Concert," and the acoustic guitar in "Chinpokomon." His Christian rock group "Faith + 1" sold 1,000,000 copies of its album in the episode "Christian Rock Hard." In the film '', Cartman is shown singing in mock versions of Chinese, French, Dutch and an unidentified African language by singing "Kyle's mom is a Bitch". In "Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics", Cartman sings, "O, Holy Night" (despite several interruptions). In Chef Aid, he sings and does a German dance to raise money for Chef's legal fees. He also leads a boy band in the episode "Something You Can Do With Your Finger"
Cartman's musical tastes run toward progressive and arena rock in general and maudlin power ballads in particular.
"Cartman's Mom Is Still a Dirty Slut" shows for the first time that Cartman has the uncontrollable urge to finish singing Styx's "Come Sail Away" whenever he hears any part of the song, which he can do, under pressure, in 27 seconds. In Kenny Dies, Cartman sings "Heat of the Moment" to the United States House of Representatives convincing them to vote in favor of stem cell research. Cartman also appears to enjoy teen pop, as demonstrated in his Britney Spears dance sequence in "AWESOM-O". He also quotes, "Haha charade you are" from Pink Floyd's song, Pigs (Three Different Ones).
Cartman frequently bursts into song spontaneously, sometimes with melodies and topical lyrics of his own devising. This penchant for ''ad hoc'' songs was specifically mentioned in "Ginger Kids". This also happend in the episode "Cherokee Hair Tampons" when Stan asks Cartman to donate a kydney to a very sickly Kyle, Cartman replies by singing "No no no no no no no no no no!"
In a mean-spirited feeling, Cartman begins singing an Elvis version of "In The Ghetto" When in Kenny's neighborhood, namely, the ghetto.
For Rush's ''Snakes and Arrows'' tour, a short animated clip was made to introduce the song "Tom Sawyer," featuring the boys from South Park as a band attempting to perform the song. Cartman is featured as the lead singer. The dialogue is as follows:
★ Cartman: Alright people, let's get this party started...and a one and a two and a one two three a one two three. (music to Tom Sawyer begins) Oh yeah! Modern day warrior, today's Tom Sawyer! He floated down a river on a raft with a black guy! (He then begins to mimic the synthesizer solo from the song)
★ Kyle: Hold on, hold on! Those aren't the right lyrics fat ass!
★ Cartman: Tom Sawyer built a raft and floated down a river with a black guy, I read the book!
★ Kyle: That's not Tom Sawyer, that's Huckleberry Finn, stupid!
★ Cartman: I am Geddy Lee and I will sing whatever lyrics I want! (Saying ''want'' with his accent)
★ Stan: Just start the song again and this time, do it right!
★ Cartman:...Fine! And a one and a two and a one two three a one two three. (Rush begins to play the song)
Despite Cartman’s penchant for malevolence, he has displayed redeeming qualities, and has had a number of heroic moments where he has saved the boys, the town, and/or the entire world, though these moments often occur through motives on Cartman’s part that are not necessarily altruistic. Also, there have been many moments where the other boys seem to appreciate him, or at least understand why he is so rude and obnoxious. An example would be in “Kenny Dies,” where Kyle comforts Cartman. Another example is in “Cartman’s Mom is a Dirty Slut,” where the boys offer to give him 3,000 dollars for him to find out who his real father is.
★ In the full-length feature film, '', his frequent use of vulgarity, after getting electrocuted by a power box, coupled with the experimental V-chip implanted in his brain to stop him swearing (which gave him temporary electrostatic powers), deliberately helps save the world from Saddam Hussein.
★ In the episode Cat Orgy Cartman helps Shelley Marsh get her revenge on her ex-boyfriend.
★ In the episode “Rainforest Schmainforest,” he rescues the students of the choir tour from the Costa Rica jungle.
★ In the episode “Roger Ebert Should Lay Off the Fatty Foods,” Stan and Kyle were about to be brainwashed by the evil Dr. Adams while Cartman was on TV. This angered Cartman because nobody saw it and he destroyed the brainwashing machine before it was too late.
★ In the episode “Starvin' Marvin in Space,” Cartman tells Sally Struthers that her career encouraged people to help more people, and convinces her to help them. Amusingly, however, he lists this in “The Death of Eric Cartman" among the bad things that he's done.
★ In the episode “Osama Bin Laden Has Farty Pants,” he destroys the Taliban and sets up Osama bin Laden’s death (in a spoof of a World War II Bugs Bunny propaganda cartoon).
★ In "I'm a Little Bit Country" Cartman travels back in time to a vision of 1776 in order to meet the founding fathers and eventually saves the day and the town from total chaos.
★ In the episode “Die Hippie, Die,” his intolerance of hippies saves South Park from a drug-filled hippie music festival.
★ In the episode “Best Friends Forever” although he doesn't know it, he saved Heaven by going to the Supreme Court and requesting the pulling of Kenny's feeding tube (even though his motive was to get his hands on Kenny's PlayStation Portable).
★ In “Smug Alert!,” he travels to San Francisco (a place he had vowed never to go) and ultimately saves Kyle and his family from the smug storm that sucked San Francisco out of existence and into “its own asshole.” This, however, is rooted in Cartman’s realization that he needs Kyle around, because Kyle is a much better object of his hatred than Butters, who proved a poor replacement.
★ In “The Death of Eric Cartman” Cartman, along with Butters, rescues twelve people being held hostage at the Red Cross by three convicted murderers that had escaped from prison. Cartman and Butters thought that Cartman was a ghost and attempted to scare the fugitives by making ghost cries, flipping books, opening file cabinets and throwing papers out of them, and ringing bells. The fugitives are merely befuddled by Cartman’s behavior, which provides enough of a distraction for Butters to release the hostages and the police to arrest the convicts. This is one of the rare instances in which his actions are motivated by a need to be altruistic, as he thought that he had died and could not go to heaven because of all the horrible things he had done over the years, and needed to atone for them.
★ In “Make Love, Not Warcraft,” Cartman leads the attack with Stan, Kyle, and Kenny in World of Warcraft against the “one who has no life” and in the end kills him, making the game safe for other players to play again and saving the World of Warcraft.
★ In “Miss Teacher Bangs a Boy,” Cartman, emboldened by his appointment as the school’s hallway monitor, takes his authority seriously, and dresses up like Dog the Bounty Hunter, catching the kindergarten teacher and Ike making out in the school corridors, and reporting her to the principal. Kyle then comments, “Wow. I think I owe you one, Cartman.”
★ In “Go God Go XII,” Cartman apparently manages to save the Earth from a fate of atheists at war. By his meddling in the past (Albeit still in the quest for a Wii) he changes future history enough for the war to be erased, and is sent home.
★ In “The Snuke,” Cartman’s bigoted actions against a new Muslim child in class prompts others to inadvertently identify a real threat that saves the country from war with the British.
★ In "Wing" Eric leads the assault against the Chinese Triad (whom he believes are talent agents) in which he not only dodges gunfire, but returns it after he acquires a gun from a weapons rack. Kyle later joins him in the shooting.
★ In Weight Gain 4000 Cartman got so fat that he broke the stage he was on and sent sent Kathie Lee flying in the air so that Mr Garrison's bullet missed her (and hit Kenny instead).
1.
★ South Park Studios - Official Site
''Cartman redirects here. For the band, see Cartman (band)''
'Eric Theodore Cartman', commonly referred to as 'Cartman', is a fictional character in the animated series ''South Park''. He is voiced by series co-creator, Trey Parker.
Cartman is one of four central characters in the series and often acts as a catalyst for their adventures through his over-enthusiasm and selfishness. Cartman is notably eccentric, often reacting 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 the Jews due to his rivalry with Kyle Broflovski, leading to him idolizing Adolf Hitler. He often manipulates others, at which he is very adept, to meet his own ends, regardless of the consequences to other people, even if it can result in deaths and destruction.
According to Trey Parker and Matt Stone, when they were creating ''South Park'' they were vexed that it would be impossible to put a character like Archie Bunker on late-20th century television. They thought, however, that if he were an animated eight-year-old boy, it might just be allowed. Thus, Cartman was born.[1]
Cartman's personality has notably changed over the course of series. While always self-centered and bigoted, he was portrayed as more of an immature brat in the earlier seasons. As the seasons progressed, his personality became more aggressive and cunning, eventually crossing the line into outright sociopathy, while his bigotry morphed seamlessly into Nazi-like hatred. His abilities to manipulate other people into doing what he wants have become keener, along with his overall intelligence (though he still can be extremely stupid).
In 2005, Cartman was ranked number nineteen on Bravo's 100 Greatest TV Characters.
Cartman was born August 2, a date that is based on the birthday of Carroll O'Connor, the actor who played Archie Bunker.
His name may have been influenced by World War II German ace Erich Hartmann, or the musician Eric Carmen.
Personality and impact
Cartman uncapped in "How to Eat with Your Butt"
Ironically, despite (or perhaps because of) these qualities, Cartman also seems to be a natural-born leader, able to utilize overwhelming charisma and rhetoric to gain the obedience of large groups on a moment's notice. He appears innately aware of how to take advantage of "mob mentality" and direct it toward accomplishing his personal goals, as has been evidenced in countless episodes throughout the series' history. In situations where the other boys share his goals, Cartman is often the De facto leader (for example, Make Love, Not Warcraft and Marjorine). Indeed, the others consistently show a willingness to follow him and trust in his leadership when he's using his abilities for "good".
A recurring joke throughout the series is that, despite his mother's sweetness and wholesome demeanor, Liane Cartman is in fact a promiscuous, intersexed, crack-smoking, Scheisse porn queen, as well as a prostitute and overall degenerate. In the episode "An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig" Cartman exclaims, "If a girl was ever beating me up I'd be like, ' ''AY! Why don't you stop dressing me up like a mailman, and making me dance for you, while you go and smoke crack in your bedroom and have sex with some guy I don't even know, on my dad's bed!'' '" Liane, meanwhile, dotes on her son endlessly, beyond simply spoiling him. Cartman usually gets what he wants simply by whining.
Popularity
Cartman during a prostitution sting in “Chickenlover.”
After the show premiered, however, his outrageous and shocking behavior made him instantly popular with viewers. Another reason Cartman tends to stand out is because he is generally the most pro-active of the four main characters. Cartman is frequently the one to come up with new ideas and plans, usually told excitedly to an often unimpressed Stan, Kyle, and Kenny. Aware of Cartman’s popularity, the show’s writers are often careful not to temper the many unfavorable aspects of his behavior with contempt. Cartman frequently comes up with ideas that are ridiculous or offensive, and while he may appear to have the upper hand, his antics tend to inevitably turn on him. He is often shown receiving the brunt of consequences generated by his behavior by the end of the episode, although on certain occasions, Cartman is shrewd enough to either earn himself a pyrrhic victory ("Toilet Paper", for example), or allowing Stan and Kyle only such a gain (most notably "The Red Badge of Gayness").
Physical confrontations
Cartman holding a knife in the episode “Something Wall-Mart This Way Comes”.
Although Cartman frequently insults and taunts his friends, he sometimes appears to be more cowardly than they are when it comes to physical confrontation. In "It's Christmas in Canada," Kyle slaps Cartman and he immediately bursts into tears, thus showing that Cartman is not pain tolerant; a similar instance was during Cartman Sucks, although Kyle only punched Cartman in the arm.
Also in “Goobacks” Cartman threatens Kyle and it leads to Kyle giving Cartman a bloody nose; in “Christian Rock Hard,” Cartman is beaten up by Token after provoking him with racial jibes, and in several episodes, he is seen unable to overpower Kenny. However, in such earlier episodes as “Damien,” “Spookyfish,” and “Tweek vs. Craig,” Cartman has no problem with fighting the other boys back physically (and it is revealed that Sumo is his martial art of choice). Most recently, in episode “Cartoon Wars Part II,” he did not back down from fisticuffs with Kyle, and in the episode "With Apologies to Jesse Jackson", he was dominant in a physical fight against a midget (who supposedly had a black belt in karate). His peers, meanwhile, also give as much as they take — constantly calling him "fat ass," questioning his intelligence and intimating how they like him the least.
Eccentricities
He also exhibits obscure ways of talking. Aside from the sheer volume of expletives in his dialogue he also uses words in different contexts (i.e. instead of saying 'I'm serious' he will say 'I'm seriously')
Sexual Abuse
Cartman has also had brushes with sexual abuse. In the episode "Cartman joins NAMBLA", his attempt to find older friends winds up with him almost being raped by members of the North American Man/Boy Love Association. In the episode, "Simpsons Already Did It", after discovering that semen will fertilize his Sea-People, he goes to a sperm bank to collect more. When Cartman later empties a bowl of semen into the tank, he tells Stan and Kyle that he got some of it from a man named Ralph in an alley, who told him to "close his eyes and suck it out of a hose". In episode AWESOM-O, a movie producer asks Cartman (who’s disguised as a robot) if he is a pleasure model. Cartman does not understand him until he takes his pants off, at which point, he runs out screaming. Also, in the episode "Fat Butt and Pancake Head", Cartman convinces Ben Affleck (among others) that his left hand is Jennifer Lopez; Affleck later has a sexual encounter with "Miss Lopez", leaving Cartman’s hand covered with his semen. In the episode Pre-School, Cartman moons Trent while still having nipples painted on, a photo of which the kids had sold as boobs to the sixth graders previously. The sixth graders are so overwhelmed that they take Cartman with them, apparently to abuse the "boobs". Also, in the episode "Cow Days" Cartman suffers a head trauma and thinks he is a Vietnamese prostitute. In the end of an episode, after he is back to normal, random men drives by in a black limo and says "Bye, Ming Li, thanks again", implying, that they had actually, a sexual intercourse. Finally, in the episode Fun with Veal, Cartman is awakened by the other boys and blurts out "No, uncle Jesse! No!" before realizing where he is.
Ignorance
Although Cartman can at times be worldly, he is often wildly misinformed — once believing that dolphins lived in igloos. Cartman has also been known to formulate complex, yet insane, plans, some of which have succeeded. In episode, "I'm a Little Bit Country", instead of studying, Cartman records various documentaries on the American Revolution from The History Channel on a TiVo and then electrocutes himself with it in a tub, which sends him on a flashback to 1776, and ultimately helps him stop the riots going on in present-day South Park between pro and anti-Iraq War activists after waking from a coma. Cartman’s ability to compose elaborate plots is demonstrated in episode "Scott Tenorman Must Die", and hints at his intellectual prowess, which are often overlooked due to his ignorance. One time, he threatened to rip a woman's "goddamn balls" off. Whether he was implying that the woman was a transvestite, or that he knows nothing of the female anatomy is unknown. Also, in the episode Chickenpox, when he was told that his mother sent him to Kenny's house so he would catch chickenpox, he claimed that he would "kick her in the nuts." But this may be because of the fact that his mother is a hermaphrodite.
Sexual Tendencies
Cartman consistently shows less interest in sexuality than the other boys. This seems intentional on the writer's parts, and fits with his self-absorption, immaturity and gender confusion.
An example for this would be seen in the episode "Raisins", where the boys end up in a Hooters-like restaurant, and all Cartman shows interest in is the food, rather than all the skimpily-dressed waitresses.
However, during the episode "Chef Goes Nanners", Cartman briefly became an object of affection for Wendy Testaburger. After being passionately kissed by Wendy at the end of the episode, he is disappointed when she says that she no longer has any feelings for him. In "Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset," Cartman shows a desire to be invited to the fourth grade girl's boy-girl party, and is angered when they reject him. He later gets a hip make-over and attempts to crash the party. The only other time Cartman was attracted to someone of the opposite sex was "Bebe's Boobs Destroy Society", in which he and the other boys were hypnotized by Bebe's newly-grown breasts (much to her chagrin).
In the episode "Marjorine" Cartman tells Butters to "just roll with it" if the girls start "lezzing out."
Greediness
A defining arc during the show’s fourth season was Cartman’s single-minded quest to make 10 million dollars. The schemes he has tried include becoming a part of the “tooth trade” and stealing Tooth Fairy money from kids, starting a boy band called “Fingerbang,” and culminating in forming his own church and embezzling the church’s collection money. There is also an episode in which he tries to sell a crashed truck-load of aborted fetuses to the highest-bidding stem cell research center. In the episode Up The Down Steroid, Cartman had also pretended he was retarded to compete in the Special Olympics and win $1000. The reasons for this are never fully explained, although in one episode, after inheriting a million dollars from his grandmother, he reveals that he wishes to buy his own amusement park so he won't have to wait in lines for the rides. In the episode Manbearpig Cartman stumbles upon a pile of treasure while the boys are trapped in a system of caves. Afraid that the others might find the treasure and ask for some, Cartman decides to swallow as much of the coins and jewels as he can, causing him to become extremely bloated and unable to walk or swim on his own. Later in the episode it is revealed that the treasure is fake and used for photographs for tourists at the caves.
Impatience
Cartman shows a pathological degree of impatience when forced to do something he doesn't want to do or when he has to wait for something he wants. An example of the former is seen in "I'm a Little Bit Country," in which Cartman electrocutes himself in an attempt to create a flashback and avoid studying; the latter is evidenced in the episode “Go God Go,” where Cartman freezes himself so he won't have to wait three weeks for the Wii console to be released.
Anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry
Due in part to his adversarial relationship with Kyle (who is Jewish), Cartman is ''extremely'' anti-Semitic. In the season eight episode “The Passion of the Jew,” after seeing ''The Passion of the Christ'', he believes the film was Mel Gibson's way of rallying people against the Jews, and idolizes him for it. He then dresses up as Hitler and manipulates people, who think that they are simply raising awareness for the movie and Christianity, to join him in an anti-Jew march while chanting in mispronounced German: "''Es ist Zeit für Rache''" (It is time for revenge.) and "''Wir müssen die Juden ausrotten''" (We must eradicate the Jews). When Cartman plans to cheat and win the special olympics by feigning a disability, Kyle attempts to talk him out of it by telling him, regardless of their differences, that Cartman will surely go to Hell for such an act; Cartman replies that Kyle does not understand that Hell is reserved for the Jews, indicating once again his self-righteousness.
In episode: "Pinkeye," Cartman dresses up as Hitler for Halloween. When shown a documentary to demonstrate why dressing like him “isn't cool,” Cartman is enthralled and imagines himself being the one commanding the Nazi troops in the video. Cartman’s admiration for Hitler is further emphasized in episode: “The Entity,” after being offered $40 by Kyle not to tease Kyle's cousin, Kyle Schwartz, Cartman has trouble restraining himself from teasing Kyle about his Jewish heritage. When Ms. Choksondik later tells Kyle S. to concentrate, Cartman impulsively blurts out: “Maybe we should send him to concentration camp!”
A contradiction of his idolisation of Hitler is seen in "I'm a Little Bit Country" in this episode Cartman is incapable of pronouncing “Nazi” correctly (pronouncing it "Nay-zee") upon seeing it written, as though he had never come upon the word before. However as established above, Eric is a Nazi sympathizer and an admirer of Adolf Hitler. Another contradiction occurs in "Tsst", when Cartman compares his mother – who had been instructed how to treat her rampantly egocentric son by a dog whisperer – with Hitler, as a reason why she should be killed. Though this was only because his mother was punishing him had she been doing it to someone else he most likely would not have cared.
In addition to taking regular jabs at racial, ethnic and religious minorities, as well as people of lower income, Cartman is also prejudicial against redhaired, light skinned, freckled people, or ‘Gingers’. (Though this hatred may come from the fact that Kyle has red hair.) When the other three boys lead him to believe he has become a redhead himself, he is horrified. Later, he organizes a cult of homicidal ginger children bent on world conquest known as the ‘Ginger Separatist Movement,’ remarking: “I'm not going to live my life as a Goddamn minority!”
Cartman’s most passionate abhorrence is aimed at hippies, though he seems to use this term for liberals in general. In episode: “Die, Hippie, Die,” he believes that hippies will destroy the town, and while the rest of the town is initially skeptical, his fears are eventually borne out. In episode: “Smug Alert,” Cartman entered San Francisco (after vowing to never enter it), the heart of liberal America, to save Kyle. In order to avoid possible contamination, he wears a biohazard suit. When too close to liberals, he suffers what could be called an allergic reaction.
Miscellaneous mannerisms
Cartman has a disturbing habit of appearing in other peoples’ homes in the middle of the night. He has a preoccupation with becoming “mature,” or at least more so than his friends, which frequently ends in him doing something that is anything but. Cartman also appears to be driven by a desire to surpass Kyle (especially), Stan, and Kenny. Knowing that his satisfaction chiefly comes with seeing other people unhappy, Kyle once deliberately congratulated Cartman on winning a bet. This, of course, ruined Cartman’s egotistical satisfaction at having humiliated him.
Cartman apparently sees scenes of sickening and/or disturbing imagery every time he closes his eyes, but thinks nothing of it. He also occasionally has milk come out of his nose when he laughs, even when he was not drinking any. This milk-sneezing problem is due to a malfunctioning kidney, which Cartman is tricked into donating for transplant, benefiting his friend Kyle, who receives the malfunctioning organ as seen in the episode "Cherokee Hair Tampons". Many of Cartman’s mannerisms were revealed to be inherited in "Merry Christmas Charlie Manson!", in which most of the Cartman family were depicted in a similar manner.
Manipulation and leadership ability
Although having his origins as little more than a comic foil, Cartman has evolved into a character of stunningly articulate manipulative talents, following closely in the footsteps of other famous manipulators such as the character Iago from William Shakespeare's Othello. In several episodes throughout the series, he employs this skill to get what he wants. His most frequent targets are Butters and adults in general, including convincing Butters to "take one for the team" and be anally pack raped by men from NAMBLA in Cartman Joins NAMBLA. He was able to get Congress to lift the ban on stem-cell research in the episode "Kenny Dies" and talked the ginger kids out of killing all non-gingers after Kyle told him that they had played a trick on him in "Ginger Kids". Earlier in that episode he had rallied all the gingers to exterminate all non-gingers in a Hitler-esque way. In the episode "Tsst", Cartman was able to drive several nannies from his house with insults and insinuation (even causing one to be put in a mental hospital and eat her own waste from a toilet).
Cartman's perceived stupidity by his friends can be attributed to his sometimes naive behavior, however his uncanny skill at manipulation, bilingualism, and ability to create elaborate schemes which are often effective imply a surprisingly high intellect. Cartman seems to have no problem talking to people and speaking in general. He has an uncanny way with words and uses that to his advantage whenever he plots an idea. For example, in "Kenny Dies," Cartman delivers a speech to the United States House of Representatives convincing them to vote in favor of stem cell research. He also appears to be multilingual (though not very well). He claims to be able to speak Spanish in Rainforest Schmainforest when he tells a Costa Rican freedom fighter that he wants burritos, and in My Future Self n' Me, he actually speaks Spanish to the Mexican workers hired to smear Butter's home with excrement. In D-Yikes Eric Cartman again demonstrates his proficiency in Spanish when hiring Mexicans to write an "essay" (which the immigrants mistake for the Spanish informal word for a friend [''ese'']) on The Old Man and the Sea. In The Passion of the Jew, Cartman speaks German (but most of his words are mispronounced).
In "Cartoon Wars", he exploited a controversy involving the appearance of Muhammad on FOX's ''Family Guy'' to try to get the show off the air; he pretended to be the hapless victim of an Islamic terrorist attack to try to discourage the FOX president and the ''Family Guy'' staff writers from airing the Muhammad episode. On another occasion he was able to convince the majority of the adults of South Park to nearly take over the U.S. via an out-of-hand re-enactment of the Civil War, as long as he kept them drunk so they wouldn't realize what they were doing.
Cartman's shining accomplishment (according to Comedy Central's list of "Cartman's 25 Greatest Moments") came in the episode "Scott Tenorman Must Die.", a testimony to Cartmans hidden ingenuity and cunning. Though Scott Tenorman continually defeats Cartman throughout the episode, Cartman has the last laugh as he indirectly coerces Scott's parents into a situation where they are trespassing, and are consequently shot and killed. Cartman then steals the bodies and makes them into a chili which he promptly feeds to Scott. In addition, Scott's plan to trick Cartman into eating chili filled with the pubic hairs of all the teenagers in town is foiled when Cartman switches this chili with Chef's. To make matters worse, Tenorman's favorite band, Radiohead, whom Cartman had arranged to be there so that they would be at the scene just as Scott had found out about his parents' deaths, sees him crying over the loss of his parents and deems him a cry baby. Cartman laughs hysterically at the inconsolable Tenorman, licking the tears from his face and dubbing them 'the tears of unfathomable sadness'.
Catch phrases
★ "Screw you guys, I'm going home!"
★ "Respect mah authoritah!"
★ "I hate you guys."
★ "Hella." (hella-cool, hella-lame, hella-sweet etc.)
★ "Suck my balls!"
★ "I'm not fat, I'm big-boned."
★ "I will kick you ''squah'' in the nuts!" (squah=square)
★ "You ''m'he-ah'', me ''m'he-ah''." Accompanied by pointing. (Literally, "You here, me here.")
★ "You're breaking my balls." (used when negotiating a price)
★ "No kitty, that's a bad kitty!", "No kitty this is my pot pie!", etc.
★ "Bet Meeeeeehhhmm!!" ("But Mom!")
★ "Kick ass!"
★ "Wuteva, I do what I want!"
★ "I'm Seriously!"
★ "Sweet!"
★ "Lame"
★ "Weak"
★ "Awesome!"
★ "Be da sham"
★ "Jew!", and "Stupid Jew" (used mostly towards Kyle)
★ "That was totally tits"
★ "AY!" ("Hey!")
★ "You guys, You guys!" (Excited by something he has found)
★ "Ne ne ne ne ne ne, he he he he ha ha" (Used when ripping on someone, usually Kyle)
★ "This one time..." (Recounting something he did or saw)
Family
Cartman is the only boy in the series who does not have a father shown at any time. This is because of his hermaphrodite mother (Liane Cartman), who actually fathered him herself. This shocking twist is revealed at the end of the two-part story arc, "Cartman's Mom is a Dirty Slut" and "Cartman's Mom is Still a Dirty Slut." Cartman's true mother is still unknown.
Cartman's extended family is shown in episode: Merry Christmas, Charlie Manson! where he and the others go on a trip to Nebraska to visit them for Christmas. Most of his relatives appear to be similar in manner to him; all fat, with the same speech accent and catchphrases. The family is seen again in the episode "Cartmanland," at his grandmother's funeral — where she leaves her estate (valued at $1,000,000) to Eric, citing that all the other family members would have spent it all on crack.
Cartman's mother frequently calls her son "poopiekins" or "poopykins", and is one of the few characters who usually refers to Cartman by his first name (the other characters refer to him by his surname or some pejorative phrase, "fat ass" being among the most popular). The others are Mrs. Garrison, Mr. Mackey, Butters and Jimmy.
Pets and toys
Cartman has a cat named Mr. Kitty (who despite the name is actually ''female''), and a pot bellied pig named Fluffy (Mr.Kitty and Fluffy have never been seen together in the series thus far). He also has a stuffed frog toy named "Clyde Frog" though he has also referred to him as "Artemis Clyde Frog"(a parody of Artemus Gordon in Wild Wild West). Other beloved stuffed animals include Wellington Bear (a take on Paddington Bear), Polly Prissy Pants the rag doll, purple lizard Rumpertumskin (a take on Rumpelstiltskin), and Peter Panda.
Relationships
Kenny
Cartman and Kenny occasionally make "best friend" pacts with one another. This is mostly in response to Stan and Kyle being best friends, which sometimes leaves the other two boys alone with each other. They're also shown to share a sense of humor, as can be seen in the episode "How to Eat with Your Butt" when Kenny and Cartman continue an elaborate joke despite Stan and Kyle's rejection.
However, Cartman has at times displayed a special dislike for Kenny, often without reason. In the "South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut" Kenny and Cartman are alone in the scene, and Cartman blurts out "I hate you, Kenny." out of nowhere. In the episode, “Jakovasaurs,” Cartman makes up a song called "I Hate You Guys" where he sings: ''"I hate you guys / you guys are assholes / especially Kenny / I hate him the most."''It is possible that Kenny is Cartman's only friend and he does not understand how to react to having a friend. In episode, "Kenny Dies", Cartman proclaims that Kenny is his best friend among the three boys, but at the end of the episode it is implied that Cartman is Kenny's "worst friend" since he exploited Kenny's illness for personal gain. In the episode "Best Friends Forever", Kenny states in his will that he felt sorry for Cartman because of his inability to feel compassion and show decency. Also, Cartman proves that he is Kenny's BFF or best friend forever by combining his half of his necklace with Kenny's.
Recently Butters has taken Kenny's place as Cartman's closest friend although the dynamic between the two pairs is very different.
Kyle
It seems that Cartman has a rather strong hatred for his redheaded friend Kyle, and shows that he has no tolerance for Kyle's Jewish faith. Because of this, Kyle strikes back with making crude remarks about Cartman's weight, only to which Cartman always fail to see that he is indeed overweight, and not "big-boned" like he thinks he is.
Since Kyle is the more rational of his peers, he usually put in the shoes of the protagonist to Eric Cartman's antagonist. Like in Cartoon Wars the two of them work against each other when Cartman tries to get Family Guy cancelled, while Kyle tries to stop him.
The two of them often have arguments about morals, like in Up The Down Steroid, where Cartman decides to pretend to be mentally handicapped so he can win the prize money. Kyle sees Cartman's plans as so horrible that he seriously worries that Cartman will go to hell for his antics in the episode. But Cartman says that Kyle is in no position to preach morals because he is Jewish.
Though in Smug Alert Cartman saves Kyle and his family when a large storm is about to go towards their house in San Francisco. But it was only because Cartman wanted Kyle to return to South Park because he had become bored not having his nemesis around.
In , when they were facing certain death, Cartman tried to atone for all the times he called Kyle "A filthy Jew", telling him "I didn't mean it. You're not a Jew", leaving Kyle to say that he was, and Cartman telling him not to be so hard on himself.
Butters
Butters has more or less become basically Cartman's sidekick, and Cartman's most often victim. Many episodes entire plots are around Cartman's antics against Butters. In Casa Bonita, Cartman faked an apocalypse so Butters would hide in a bomb shelter for over a week, so Cartman could go with Kyle, Stan, and Kenny to Casa Bonita instead of Butters. In AWESOM-O he dressed as a robot to trick Butters, but in the end this failed miserably because Butters showed a tape of him dressing like Britney Spears in front of everyone. In The Death of Eric Cartman all of the people in South Park decide to ignore Cartman because of him being a "selfish son of a bitch". Unlike the other boys, Butters isn't aware of the plan and Cartman believes that Butters is the only one who can see him now that he is dead. In Cartman Sucks he repeatably invited Butters over to spend the night to play pranks on him, until it backfired on him and he made an inappropriate picture which featured him putting Butter's penis in his mouth, which ended up being showed to the entire 4th grade class.
Talents
Music
Cartman appears to be very musically talented. He plays the piano quite well in the episode "Christian Rock Hard" (although the piano plays by itself whilst he is singing), the violin in "Something Wal-Mart This Way Comes," the French horn in "Summer Sucks," the drums in "The Red Badge of Gayness," the harmonica in "Jakovasaurs," the recorder in "World Wide Recorder Concert," and the acoustic guitar in "Chinpokomon." His Christian rock group "Faith + 1" sold 1,000,000 copies of its album in the episode "Christian Rock Hard." In the film '', Cartman is shown singing in mock versions of Chinese, French, Dutch and an unidentified African language by singing "Kyle's mom is a Bitch". In "Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics", Cartman sings, "O, Holy Night" (despite several interruptions). In Chef Aid, he sings and does a German dance to raise money for Chef's legal fees. He also leads a boy band in the episode "Something You Can Do With Your Finger"
Cartman's musical tastes run toward progressive and arena rock in general and maudlin power ballads in particular.
"Cartman's Mom Is Still a Dirty Slut" shows for the first time that Cartman has the uncontrollable urge to finish singing Styx's "Come Sail Away" whenever he hears any part of the song, which he can do, under pressure, in 27 seconds. In Kenny Dies, Cartman sings "Heat of the Moment" to the United States House of Representatives convincing them to vote in favor of stem cell research. Cartman also appears to enjoy teen pop, as demonstrated in his Britney Spears dance sequence in "AWESOM-O". He also quotes, "Haha charade you are" from Pink Floyd's song, Pigs (Three Different Ones).
Cartman frequently bursts into song spontaneously, sometimes with melodies and topical lyrics of his own devising. This penchant for ''ad hoc'' songs was specifically mentioned in "Ginger Kids". This also happend in the episode "Cherokee Hair Tampons" when Stan asks Cartman to donate a kydney to a very sickly Kyle, Cartman replies by singing "No no no no no no no no no no!"
In a mean-spirited feeling, Cartman begins singing an Elvis version of "In The Ghetto" When in Kenny's neighborhood, namely, the ghetto.
For Rush's ''Snakes and Arrows'' tour, a short animated clip was made to introduce the song "Tom Sawyer," featuring the boys from South Park as a band attempting to perform the song. Cartman is featured as the lead singer. The dialogue is as follows:
★ Cartman: Alright people, let's get this party started...and a one and a two and a one two three a one two three. (music to Tom Sawyer begins) Oh yeah! Modern day warrior, today's Tom Sawyer! He floated down a river on a raft with a black guy! (He then begins to mimic the synthesizer solo from the song)
★ Kyle: Hold on, hold on! Those aren't the right lyrics fat ass!
★ Cartman: Tom Sawyer built a raft and floated down a river with a black guy, I read the book!
★ Kyle: That's not Tom Sawyer, that's Huckleberry Finn, stupid!
★ Cartman: I am Geddy Lee and I will sing whatever lyrics I want! (Saying ''want'' with his accent)
★ Stan: Just start the song again and this time, do it right!
★ Cartman:...Fine! And a one and a two and a one two three a one two three. (Rush begins to play the song)
Heroic moments
Despite Cartman’s penchant for malevolence, he has displayed redeeming qualities, and has had a number of heroic moments where he has saved the boys, the town, and/or the entire world, though these moments often occur through motives on Cartman’s part that are not necessarily altruistic. Also, there have been many moments where the other boys seem to appreciate him, or at least understand why he is so rude and obnoxious. An example would be in “Kenny Dies,” where Kyle comforts Cartman. Another example is in “Cartman’s Mom is a Dirty Slut,” where the boys offer to give him 3,000 dollars for him to find out who his real father is.
★ In the full-length feature film, '', his frequent use of vulgarity, after getting electrocuted by a power box, coupled with the experimental V-chip implanted in his brain to stop him swearing (which gave him temporary electrostatic powers), deliberately helps save the world from Saddam Hussein.
★ In the episode Cat Orgy Cartman helps Shelley Marsh get her revenge on her ex-boyfriend.
★ In the episode “Rainforest Schmainforest,” he rescues the students of the choir tour from the Costa Rica jungle.
★ In the episode “Roger Ebert Should Lay Off the Fatty Foods,” Stan and Kyle were about to be brainwashed by the evil Dr. Adams while Cartman was on TV. This angered Cartman because nobody saw it and he destroyed the brainwashing machine before it was too late.
★ In the episode “Starvin' Marvin in Space,” Cartman tells Sally Struthers that her career encouraged people to help more people, and convinces her to help them. Amusingly, however, he lists this in “The Death of Eric Cartman" among the bad things that he's done.
★ In the episode “Osama Bin Laden Has Farty Pants,” he destroys the Taliban and sets up Osama bin Laden’s death (in a spoof of a World War II Bugs Bunny propaganda cartoon).
★ In "I'm a Little Bit Country" Cartman travels back in time to a vision of 1776 in order to meet the founding fathers and eventually saves the day and the town from total chaos.
★ In the episode “Die Hippie, Die,” his intolerance of hippies saves South Park from a drug-filled hippie music festival.
★ In the episode “Best Friends Forever” although he doesn't know it, he saved Heaven by going to the Supreme Court and requesting the pulling of Kenny's feeding tube (even though his motive was to get his hands on Kenny's PlayStation Portable).
★ In “Smug Alert!,” he travels to San Francisco (a place he had vowed never to go) and ultimately saves Kyle and his family from the smug storm that sucked San Francisco out of existence and into “its own asshole.” This, however, is rooted in Cartman’s realization that he needs Kyle around, because Kyle is a much better object of his hatred than Butters, who proved a poor replacement.
★ In “The Death of Eric Cartman” Cartman, along with Butters, rescues twelve people being held hostage at the Red Cross by three convicted murderers that had escaped from prison. Cartman and Butters thought that Cartman was a ghost and attempted to scare the fugitives by making ghost cries, flipping books, opening file cabinets and throwing papers out of them, and ringing bells. The fugitives are merely befuddled by Cartman’s behavior, which provides enough of a distraction for Butters to release the hostages and the police to arrest the convicts. This is one of the rare instances in which his actions are motivated by a need to be altruistic, as he thought that he had died and could not go to heaven because of all the horrible things he had done over the years, and needed to atone for them.
★ In “Make Love, Not Warcraft,” Cartman leads the attack with Stan, Kyle, and Kenny in World of Warcraft against the “one who has no life” and in the end kills him, making the game safe for other players to play again and saving the World of Warcraft.
★ In “Miss Teacher Bangs a Boy,” Cartman, emboldened by his appointment as the school’s hallway monitor, takes his authority seriously, and dresses up like Dog the Bounty Hunter, catching the kindergarten teacher and Ike making out in the school corridors, and reporting her to the principal. Kyle then comments, “Wow. I think I owe you one, Cartman.”
★ In “Go God Go XII,” Cartman apparently manages to save the Earth from a fate of atheists at war. By his meddling in the past (Albeit still in the quest for a Wii) he changes future history enough for the war to be erased, and is sent home.
★ In “The Snuke,” Cartman’s bigoted actions against a new Muslim child in class prompts others to inadvertently identify a real threat that saves the country from war with the British.
★ In "Wing" Eric leads the assault against the Chinese Triad (whom he believes are talent agents) in which he not only dodges gunfire, but returns it after he acquires a gun from a weapons rack. Kyle later joins him in the shooting.
★ In Weight Gain 4000 Cartman got so fat that he broke the stage he was on and sent sent Kathie Lee flying in the air so that Mr Garrison's bullet missed her (and hit Kenny instead).
References
1.
External links
★ South Park Studios - Official Site
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