Eric Cartman

Eric Theodore Cartman, commonly referred to by his family name, Cartman, is one of the four main characters in the animated series South Park (the others being Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Kenny McCormick). Cartman is voiced by the series co-creator Trey Parker.

Cartman is notably and darkly eccentric, to the point of being extremely 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 the Jews, which is the cause of his intense rivalry and dislike with Kyle Broflovski, and of hippies. 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.

Characterization

Eric Cartman is portrayed as the "fat kid" and the antihero of the South Park gang. His personality has notably changed over the course of the series. While always self-centered and bigoted, 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, 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, being the only one of the main characters to not have one. Though it is obvious through the course of the show that he has a personality disorder, it can never be pin-pointed to just one type, and instead showing signs of sociopathy, psychopathy and narcissism.

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. Cartman exacted his revenge on him by having the boy's mother and father killed and subsequently, tricked him into unknowingly eating their remains. Upon discovering his parents demise, the boy burst into tears. This caused Cartman great delight, who then proceeded to lick the tears off the boy's face calling them "yummy and sweet". This episode was ranked number one in "Cartman's 25 Greatest South Park Moments", that were chosen by voting on Comedy Central's website..

Cartman is viciously intolerant of anything He doesn't agree with, and will go to lengths in order to get his way (eg Cartoon Wars Part I, Cartoon Wars Part II). He is also deeply Anti-Semetic, something which he orginaly used to pick on his friend, Kyle Broflovski, but later evolved into a Nazi-esque hatred after seeing Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, idolising both the movie and Mel Gibson for it. Later in the series He was also shown to be Anti-Islamic, developing an immediate distrust for fellow classmate Bahir, who he tries to prove, albeit unsuccessfully, a terrorist based on his Muslim heritage (The Snuke). Other than this, he has showed little other forms of racism, other than throwing racial slurs to black classmate Token.

He is of Dutch and Irish ancestry.

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.

An early episode in the show's first season explored the identity of Cartman's father. With most of the town's male populace as possible suspects, due to their having relations with Cartman's mother, it was revealed that the promiscuous Liane is actually a hermaphrodite, and that she actually is Eric's father. Cartman's mother remains a mystery.

Cartman maintains a love-hate relationship with his three main friends, Stan, Kyle and Kenny, and often teases them 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. Kenny generally seems to accept Cartman as his best friend (in Kenny Dies), though in a later episode, Kenny states in his will that he never liked Cartman (Best friends forever), and the two have been seen playing together without Stan and Kyle. It is possible Cartman treats Kenny the way he does because he does not know how to react to having a friend.

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 Butters 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”. Cartman mainly considers Butters to be a "fag" and even refers to him with insulting code names like "faggot" as seen in the first episode of the Imaginationland series. In Smug Alert!, when Kyle moves to San Francisco, he is willing to replace him with Butters as the "dumb jew to rip on" despite Butters not being Jewish.

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.

Cartman also has a pet cat named Mr. Kitty. Although it is hinted that this cat is female in the episode Cat Orgy, the episode Major Boobage states clearly that it is male. Cartman is always yelling at it, and very rarely gives him any love. However, in Major Boobage he hides his cat in his attic (purposely similar to Anne Frank) when a law is passed that makes cats illegal in South Park.

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 was an animated nine-year-old boy. Thus, Cartman was born.

In popular culture

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

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.

Cartman's "You Will Respect My Authoritah!" in the Chickenlover episode May 20, 1998. is covered by The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

ABC used Cartman to introduce the starting line-ups of a Colorado Buffaloes game on November 24 2007. Cartman also appears on screen between play at Los Angeles Kings games.

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.

External links

• South Park Studios - Official Site
• Template:Imdb character
• Eric Cartman Article on South Park wiki
• Lyrics to Cartman's Songs