Eric Cartman

Template:South Park character

Eric Theodore Cartman, commonly referred to by his family name, Cartman, is one of the four main fictional characters on the animated television series South Park, along with Stan, Kyle, and Kenny, and is the series' main villain, antagonist and antihero. He is voiced by the series co-creator Trey Parker.

Eric Cartman (typically addressed by his last name) is spoiled, foul-mouthed, ill-tempered, insensitive, sadistic, sociopathic, selfish, greedy, loudmouthed, lazy, wildly insecure, bigoted, and manipulative. He is portrayed as having a general lack of moral responsibility or social conscience.

Called Cartman by the other main characters and Eric by adults and "Butters", it is unclear which name he considers to be his principal one. He has referred to himself by both names, although when phoning Kyle to ask for his help in the episode "Go God Go",and when talking to Jimmy in the episode "The Death of Eric Cartman", he identified himslf as Eric, and this is how he introduces himself to strangers, suggesting he sees this as his more polite and agreeable persona. Cartman is portrayed as both the "fat kid"^[1] and the "antihero" of the South Park gang,^[2] and has also been called "South Park's main villain".^[3] His personality has noticeably changed over the course of the series. While always self-centered and bigoted,^[4] he was more of a mean-spirited characterization of adolescence in the earlier seasons, with little psychological (in logic) or ethical grounding in life. ^{[citation needed]} As the series progressed his personality became more aggressive and cunning, evolving into conduct disorder, that would likely be categorized as antisocial personality disorder were he over the age of 18, by the fifth season; in the premiere episode, Cartman masterminds the murder of a boy's parents in order to feed them to the boy.^[5][6] His bigotry visibly morphs into racial hatred and theorizing.^[7]

Cartman can usually manipulate people into doing what he wants. His manipulations can be extremely cruel and occasionally violent. Butters Stotch, an innocent and unpopular South Park boy, is the most frequent victim of Cartman's manipulations, and is often talked into helping Cartman execute his plans, acting as his sidekick in many episodes.^[8] Cartman's descent into sociopathy occurred in the episode "Scott Tenorman Must Die", in which he developed a fierce obsession with, and later exacted revenge upon, a 9th grader who cheated him out of $16.12. The episode was ranked by fans as the greatest of his top twenty-five moments in a range vote on Comedy Central's website.^[9]

Cartman is very aggressive verbally, threatening and challenging others repeatedly, but almost invariably proves to be incapable of following through with his threats. This can be seen in several episodes, most prominently "It's Christmas in Canada": After he didn't make it home on time for Christmas, Cartman repeatedly provoked Kyle into fighting, only to be left mewling on the ground after Kyle reluctantly slapped him in the nose. Although Cartman acts tough, he is in actuality emotionally vulnerable and needy (as might be expected with a bully), frequently relying on his mother for support and as a means of escape when situations get out-of-hand or punishment looms. When locked in jail in Cartman's Silly Hate Crime 2000, he cries for his Mom, and learns to appreciate his friends, at least for the episode.

Cartman has an intense rivalry with Kyle, whom he views as inferior primarily because Kyle is Jewish. His lazy, rude, and antisemitic behavior towards Kyle (or occasionally Stan) often gives rise to loud arguments, which in earlier seasons typically ended with Cartman peevishly saying "Screw you guys... I'm going home!" and leaving the group. In later seasons, as the character became noticeably more sociopathic, he would respond to Kyle's criticisms with "Shut up, jew!!" or similar invective. Though fights between the two have become a centerpiece of the show, their default relationship appears to be "friend", however uneasy the friendship may be. Notably, both Cartman and Kyle have saved each other's life: Kyle saving Cartman in "Trapper Keeper" and "ManBearPig"; Cartman saving Kyle in "Smug Alert" (when Kyle is incapacitated both by LSD and the titular smug and Cartman transports him and his family to safety), and in the "Imaginationland" series, when he uses CPR to revive Kyle after he died. Cartman's ostensible heroism in the latter episode, however, stems from his purely selfish desire to ensure that Kyle makes good on a bet to "suck his balls" in the event that Leprechauns actually exist (which for that episode's purposes, they do).

Cartman is also generally abrasive to Stan and Kenny (Kenny for being poor and Stan for being a "pussy"), though much less so than towards Kyle, and Stan and Kenny seem far more tolerant of the anti-social side of his personality. It has been suggested that Kenny and Cartman are best friends,^[10][11] and Kenny is often the only one to laugh at Cartman's jokes. Stan is typically tolerant of Cartman, even on occasions when he is making fun of Kyle. In an apparent show of affection, Cartman tells him that he "still hates him less than Kyle" in the episode "Trapped in the Closet".

"Hate" is often used loosely to describe others' feelings towards Cartman. Kyle, along with several more minor characters typically refuse if Cartman asks them a favor, responding with the simple line, "Because I hate you," or a similar variation when Cartman asks them why, a reason that he typically sarcastically dismisses.

Besides being extremely talented at psychologically manipulating people, Cartman has been show to have a vast number of talents, such as in many different episodes he has been show to be perfectly fluent in Spanish. He has also been shown to be able to play the piano (Christian Rock Hard), and also is able to play the violin (Something Wal-Mart This Way Comes).

Dr Toni Johnson-Woods, writer of Blame Canada: 'South Park' and Contemporary Culture, characterized Cartman as "a hybrid of Archie Bunker, Jackie Gleason of The Honeymooners and the animated Fred Flintstone." ^[3]

Cartman's birthday is supposedly on January 31st. ^{[citation needed]}

In the original 1992 student film short "The Spirit of Christmas (Jesus vs. Frosty)", the character most analogous to Cartman is referred to as "Kenny"; in the later 1995 version of "The Spirit of Christmas (Jesus vs. Santa)", Cartman is referred to by name, and Kenny is the separate character that continues throughout the series. On the series South Park, Cartman appears prominently in its first episode, "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe". While the four main boys originally did not have very distinctive personalities, Cartman's unique character developed quickly throughout the first season. Parker and Stone have said that they based Cartman on Archie Bunker, commenting that they thought it might be impossible to put a character like Archie Bunker on late-20th century television, after the introduction of political correctness, unless they "made him a little eight-year-old fat kid."^[12][3]

His original catchphrase when he was angry was "I'll kick you in the nuts". Aside from Cartman's recurring antisemitic comments, one of his favorite catch phrases is "Screw you guys, I'm going home!". Upon winning or beating somebody in a challenge Cartman will give his signature laugh, "nah nah nah nah naah nah, heh heh heh heh hehh heh!" One of Cartman's most famous phrases ^[13], when he is attempting to exert his will upon others, is to say, "respect my authority!", pronounced "mah authoritah", in his southern accent. When called fat, he often replies by stating, "I'm not fat, I'm big boned!"^[14] Additionally, whenever he asks his mom to do something for him, in many cases an outrageous request such as signing him up for the Special Olympics despite his lack of a disability, he will try to put a thin sugar-coat on the request, and after being denied, say, "But, Mooooom!" in a high-pitched voice - a second denial results in the phrase becoming even higher-pitched to the point it is near indecipherable. He also constantly repeats the expletive "God dammit!". Cartman often yells "HEY!" (pronounced "AY!"), followed by an order or a threat. Cartman often uses the phrase "you're breaking my balls" or variations on that phrase when engaging in business negotiations, often attaining a deal that he wouldn't otherwise^[15]. When Cartman finds something gory, he often exclaims "Weak!" or "Super weak!".

In the earlier episodes of South Park, when Cartman's cat was near and started to meow (usually because it was hungry), Cartman would shout, "No kitty, that's a bad kitty!"

• Adolf Hitler in Pink Eye
• Aliens the movie in Cat Orgy
• Beth Chapman in Miss Teacher Bangs a Boy
• Casa Bonita in the episode of the same name
• The Chinpokomon "Pengin"
• Ethiopians in Starvin Marvin
• Jakovasaurs
• Jennifer Lopez (the puppet) in Fat Butt and Pancake Head
• Kicking people in the nuts (known as Rochambeau in Mecha-Streisand)
• Mel Gibson in The Passion of the Jew
• Microsoft Xbox 360 in Tsst
• Mr. Jefferson in The Jeffersons
• Nintendo Wii in Go God Go & Go God Go XII
• Okama Gamesphere in Towelie
• Rich people in Cartmanland and Here Comes the Neighborhood
• Sega Dreamcast in The Tooth Fairy Tats 2000
• Shakey's Pizza in Kenny Dies
• Sony PlayStation Portable in Best Friends Forever
• Stem cells in Kenny Dies
• Substitute Teacher in Tom's Rhinoplasty
• Terrance and Phillip in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut
• Theme Parks in Cartmanland
• Trapper Keeper Futura S 2000 in the episode of the same name
• Wall-Mart in Something Wall-Mart This Way Comes
• Wendy Testaburger in Chef Goes Nanners
• Wild Wild West, The movie, in Cat Orgy
• World of Warcraft in Make Love, Not Warcraft

• Anal probe in Cartman Gets an Anal Probe
• Afghanistan in Osama Bin Laden Has Farty Pants
• Barbra Streisand in Mecha-Streisand
• Cesar Millan (The Dog Whisperer) in Tsst
• Craig Tucker in Pandemic 2: The Startling
• Democrats in Volcano
• Eye doctor in The Succubus
• Family Guy in Cartoon Wars Part I and Cartoon Wars Part II
• Fat Camp in the episode of the same name
• Foreigners in Goobacks
• French people in Conjoined Fetus Lady
• Granola in Pink Eye
• Harry Potter in The Return of the Fellowship of the Rings to the Two Towers
• Hippies in Die, Hippie, Die
• Ike Broflovski in many episodes
• Islam in Osama Bin Laden Has Farty Pants
• Jesus in Christian Rock Hard
• Jews in many episodes
• Kenny McCormick in Volcano and South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut
• Kyle Broflovski in many episodes (they frequently argue or even fight with each other because of their disagreements)
• Lines in Cartmanland
• Little League Baseball in The Losing Edge
• Mee krob in It Hits the Fan
• Nannies in Tsst
• Normal Milk in Osama Bin Laden Has Farty Pants
• Mr. Hankey in Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo
• Old people in The New Terrance and Phillip Movie Trailer
• Peanut Butter Filled Chocolate Guns in How to Eat with Your Butt
• PETA in Douche and Turd
• Phil Collins in Timmy 2000
• Poor people in Chickenpox
• Rainbows in Weight Gain 4000
• Redheads in Ginger Kids
• San Francisco in Smug Alert!
• Scotland in The Biggest Douche in the Universe
• Scott Tenorman in Scott Tenorman Must Die
• Stan Marsh in Cartmanland and I'm a Little Bit Country
• Super Nanny in Tsst
• Sheila Broflovski in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut
• Succubi in The Succubus
• The Future and Waiting in Go God Go & Go God Go XII
• Towelie in the episode of the same name
• Tweek in The Simpsons Already Did It
• The v-chip in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut

• Cartman was placed tenth on TV Guide's 2002 list of the "Top 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters".^[16] In 2003, he was chosen as one of "VH1's 200 Greatest Pop Culture Icons", at number 198.^[2]

• In 2005, Cartman was ranked number nineteen on Bravo's 100 Greatest TV Characters.^[17]

• 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.^[18][19]

• Cartman's "You Will Respect My Authoritah!" scene in the "Chickenlover" episode May 20, 1998. appeared on 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".
• Cartman's head can be seen in the Head Museum in Futurama: Bender's Big Score and on a T-shirt worn by Bart Simpson in The Bart Book.

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