Timeline for In South Park S7E6 "Li'l Crime Stoppers", why does Cartman stick up for Kyle?
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14 events
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| Jun 12, 2018 at 7:30 | comment | added | OP_rah | That's the thing about Cartman- he considers nearly everyone a friend. Why? As The Breast Cancer Show Ever explains, he can't fathom the idea of someone NOT liking him. Does this somehow mean he cares about his friends, or doesn't hate Kyle? No, not in any way, shape or form. Cartman is essentially an embodiment of the dark side of humanity, flanderized for comedy's sake. His motivations don't necessarily abide by realistic standards. Hence why he actually will save someone for purely selfish reasons, on their entertainment value alone. | |
| Jun 12, 2018 at 7:24 | comment | added | OP_rah | The "oh my god they killed Kenny" lines were almost always before season 5, and the characters themselves aren't nearly the same as they are now. Post season 5 establishes said characters; Stan becomes the everyday man voice of reason, Kyle becomes the moral center and foil of Cartman, and Cartman becomes the sadistic sociopath we know and love today. Again, to go beyond what the show states as true character motivations -as is Matt and Trey's writing style, very upfront- is going into speculative territory rather than canon. | |
| Jun 12, 2018 at 7:20 | comment | added | Flater | But if Cartman thinks it's okay to rip on friends (which he clearly does), then wanting to rip on Kyle does not prove that Cartman doesn't consider Kyle his friend or cares about him. You're trying to measure Cartman's character by your (or at least society's) standards (you do not rip on your friends to the degree that Cartman rips on Kyle), but the question is more about what Cartman thinks. That means you need to evaluate actions through Cartman's (flawed) perspective and reasoning. "Caring" is not just a physical action. It's also an internal emotion. | |
| Jun 12, 2018 at 7:20 | comment | added | OP_rah | Cartman's motivations being to gain an entertaining nemesis in Smug Alert is also 100% in character. He's done something similar in Go God Go: nearly killing himself via freezing just to avoid the boredom of waiting for a new Nintendo Wii. | |
| Jun 12, 2018 at 7:17 | comment | added | OP_rah | The show always, without a doubt, reveals what a character's motivations are one way or another. For example, 1% and Fishsticks among others. The episode Smug Alert is no exception to this, as Stan- one of the voices of reason- even tells Cartman that his life is empty without Kyle to RIP on. This isn't simply Cartman stating it, it's Stan himself. Cartman's actions also back this up as well, with the show deliberately going out of its way to present how boring Butter's reactions are. | |
| Jun 12, 2018 at 7:15 | comment | added | Flater | To be fair, there are cases of Stan and Kyle not caring about Kenny's death too. Near the end of the "Kenny dies every episode" gag, they phoned in their "oh my God they killed Kenny line" without any emotion at all. There's also the matter of Cartman saying something is true, and it actually being the case. Cartman seemed to only care about the PSP during the episode, but that doesn't mean he doesn't actually care about Kenny at all; he often says something just to get what he wants, even if it's not true. That's sort of the point of it: Cartman cares more than he claims to be or acts. | |
| Jun 12, 2018 at 7:05 | comment | added | Flater | You also need to consider that Cartman is almost a pathiological liar (although I don't think he needs to lie, he generally relies on doing so). It's realy hard to distinguish fact from fiction. He hates Kyle, but saves him from the smug storm, but then says it's so he can rip on Kyle more. He could claim wanting to rip on Kyle is the reason, to avoid admitting caring about Kyle. It seems naive to either assume that he must be truthful, or assume he must be lying. It could be either. But in reality, he did risk his own life to save Kyle. He cared about not losing Kyle. | |
| Jun 12, 2018 at 7:01 | comment | added | OP_rah | I need to look into the first point for in order to get back to you on that, but about Cartman caring about Kenny: In Best Friends Forever, Cartman is ultimately unfazed by Kenny's death, and only opts to intervene when he can get a PSP out of it. It's possibly one of the biggest deconstructions of a friendship Cartman has ever had. | |
| Jun 12, 2018 at 6:58 | comment | added | Flater | Kenny is a slightly simpler example here: Cartman rips on him endlessly, but is genuinely surprised if Kenny bails on him or gets upset. Other than the few instances of Cartman faking caring about Kenny (e.g. Kenny Dies), there are also instances where Cartman actually relies on Kenny's friendship (whenever Kyle and Stan pair up, Kenny tags along with Cartman). I think "dysfunctionally caring" is a more appropriate evaluation than "uncaring". | |
| Jun 12, 2018 at 6:52 | comment | added | OP_rah | By uncaring in this context, I'm referring to how he feels in general about others, outside what they can offer him. He is indifferent to the danger Stan and Butters are in during Imaginationland. He doesn't care about Ike's plight in Dead Celebrities until he discovers this affects his idol, Billy Mays. He also doesn't care about how the others feel about pirating in Fatbeard, or how his mother feels about him leaving. This is why I choose to call him "uncaring to the core", because in regards to others, if they don't provide him with some sort of gain, he simply doesn't care. | |
| Jun 12, 2018 at 6:44 | comment | added | Flater | I wouldn't describe Cartman as uncaring. If anything, he cares strongly about certain things, as he is often the plot catalyst to urge others into action (e.g. Die Hippie Die). It's not that he doesn't care, it's that he has a different (messed up) standard on how to handle the things he cares about. He has little self control and isn't introspective. He is deeply flawed, which bleeds into him caring about the wrong things (often unethical); but you can clearly see that he does care about the things that matter to him. | |
| Mar 1, 2018 at 5:19 | review | Late answers | |||
| Mar 1, 2018 at 7:48 | |||||
| Mar 1, 2018 at 5:04 | review | First posts | |||
| Mar 1, 2018 at 5:35 | |||||
| Mar 1, 2018 at 5:01 | history | answered | OP_rah | CC BY-SA 3.0 |