Eric Theodore Cartman, voiced by Trey Parker, is a fictional character in the animated series South Park. He is one of the four central characters. Cartman is arguably the most well-known and recognizable character of South Park.
Cartman wears a light blue and yellow cap, a red jacket, and brown pants most of the time. He wears a green or white T-Shirt under his jacket, though it is rarely seen. He has light brown hair (although it is occasionally black, such as when he is presented as Adolf Hitler or a sumo wrestler); and of the four leads is the one who is most frequently seen without his cap. He has a double chin, large hands and feet, and is often made fun of due to his obvious weight problem, a fact that Cartman himself is in denial about, claiming that he is "just big boned" when it is shown to obviously be his own fault as a result of his diet of excessive and unhealthy foods.
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 nine-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.
In 2005, Cartman was ranked number nineteen on Bravo's 100 Greatest TV Characters.
Personality and impactEric Cartman (typically addressed by his last name) is depicted as spoiled, foul-mouthed, ill-tempered, insensitive, sadistic, sociopathic, greedy, 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 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 and manipulating sociopath."
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
As the anti-hero of the four leads, Cartman was never intended to be the focal point of the series. 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, Butters and Kenny. Aware of Cartman’s popularity, the show’s writers are often careful to not 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 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; 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. 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 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. 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 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 cut out cardboard of Justin Timberlake. In Cartman Sucks, Cartman takes pictures of himself with Butter's penis in his mouth, believing it will make the other boy look homosexual. Kyle, Stan and Kenny however explain that such actions in truth make Cartman look gay, which results in Cartman trying to get a picture taken of his own penis in Butter's mouth.
Заглавие: Eric Cartman (Eng.) 
Пон Май 07, 2007 9:18 am
