Kyle the INFJ-A

Posted on March 3, 2017 by livelyliza

These will be my own interpretations of each of the main four. Since these are gonna take a while I may as well separate them into individual posts by character. Besides they’re easier on people’s dashes this way.

Kyle

Introverted – (”I like getting my energy from dealing with the ideas, pictures, memories, and reactions that are inside my head, in my inner world. I often prefer doing things alone or with one or two people I feel comfortable with.”)

First and foremost, Kyle is an introvert. Individuality is important to him and he is constantly looking at himself in a critical way. Even in tense situations he is constantly self reflective and tends to view things on a much deeper level on his peers.

He’s never following the crowd. He never knows the trends, never knows gossip and relies on his extroverted friends to know what’s going on in the world most times. It’s never his priority to get into everyone’s business at school, though he knows at some level it is a necessity.

But naturally he’s in his own world. He wants to make sure that his ideals are kept in check and he wants to make sure that he’s the one keeping them in check.

Intuitive – (
“Paying the most attention to impressions or the meaning and patterns of the information I get. I would rather learn by thinking a problem through than by hands-on experience. I’m interested in new things and what might be possible, so that I think more about the future than the past. I like to work with symbols or abstract theories, even if I don’t know how I will use them.

“)

On the surface Kyle MAY want to be the “get the facts straight” kind of guy, but that’s just because he’s following in Stan’s footsteps. Kyle very often is the first one to seek and sight the deeper meaning in situations, and ask “what does that mean?” instead of “what objectively happened?” He is the first to accuse Cartman of being the cause of something or be the cause of something because he knows how Cartman is.

When his friends see something minor happen he’ll get worried because he knows what it will lead to.

He analyzes a lot deeper than others expect and can see signs of something repeating itself before it happens. And as we know he’s practically gone nuts over analyzing when it’s come to reality in ToothFairy’s Tats 2000.

Feeling – (
“
I believe I can make the best decisions by weighing what people care about and the points-of-view of persons involved in a situation. I am concerned with values and what is the best for the people involved. I like to do whatever will establish or maintain harmony.”)

I mean this one’s pretty straight forward isn’t it? Kyle’s the most justice-driven boy of the group. And it’s not just justice for the sake of what’s right, even though people may see it as that. Contrary to popular and his own belief, Kyle does not actually believe in Karma. He doesn’t systematically keep track of people’s wrongdoings and crucify them for that. He lives in a world of second chances because that’s based on what he feels should be done. No calculations needed. Just, in the moment. Hell, think of how many second chances he gives Cartman.

Kyle’s actions are heavily driven by his emotions. And that means it’s not rational. Even though he willingly placed himself in staggering amounts of debt for an entire town of people who didn’t know how to handle money and surely didn’t deserve it, he also knowingly exploited infants for his own personal gain and also tried to rationalize it. His actions aren’t by any stretch of the imagination rational, and surely when he gets older his consistency will even out– but – What’s important here is WHY he made these contrasting decisions.

Because of his environment. In one situation, he exploited babies sure, but everyone around him was happy and smiling. People were having fun. He was placed in a position where he could brighten people’s days with a little bit of cash and a happy go lucky attitude – one reflected from his partners.

The other situation he acted drastically because of the environment he was placed in. Everyone around him was in complete distress. They were stressed, angry, afraid. Kyle is an empathetic person, susceptible to the emotions he feels around him. When someone feels, he feels.

His emotions completely dictated his actions and therefore he was able to make a massive sacrifice that in any other situation would have seemed completely ludicrous. His hunger for Justice is completely passion driven, whether it’s empathy or anger.

Meaning in the same regard, that he can’t force this kind of “justice” out of himself when he feels it’s not warranted, even though objectively and by laws of Karma, a certain individual does deserve his justice.

Judging – (“To others, I seem to prefer a planned or orderly way of life, like to have things settled and organized, feel more comfortable when decisions are made, and like to bring life under control as much as possible.”)

As seen directly in A Very Crappy Christmas, Kyle heavily prefers to make plans and follow through with them. This doesn’t mean he does so all the time; emotions can get in the way, but it’s what he’s most comfortable with. With a straight forward attitude like Kyle’s, ambiguity is frustrating. Despite his vivid imagination and the vast realm of possibilities, he’s frightened by “what if’s.” They pop into his mind all the time, but if he doesn’t figure them out, it makes him anxious.

Things have to be done. If they’re in the process of being done, or MIGHT be done, we’ll see, Kyle gets frustrated. Especially if it’s something he doesn’t like. Unlike the other boys he doesn’t enjoy stalling and pushes himself to make decisions no matter how hard they may be.

Kyle hates being left hanging. There always has to be an answer. Even if the answer is “I don’t know.” Even if it’s a grey area, declarations, to Kyle, are necessary.

I’ll be doing the rest of the main four soon, one by one.

gif sources: @south-park-gifs and @i-learned-something-today

Me and my friends were talking some time back, and one of them brought up the possibility of Butters being on the autism spectrum (autism, aspergers, PDD-NOS). I figured it could be plausible because of his echolalia, possible stimming (rubbing his knuckles together), and am I the only one that sees that he is socially unaware most times? I was wondering what do you think?

Posted on February 4, 2017 by livelyliza

I would really not consider Butters rubbing his knuckles together stimming. It’s not that uncommon for people who are nervous to do something as a physical reaction, like laughing, biting your lip, bouncing your leg, biting your nails, peeling your nails, rubbing your thumbs together… that’s not stimming. That’s just a nervous habit.

As for the social awareness, yeah he may be socially unaware some of the time but that’s incredibly excusable since he’s a kid. And remember, Butters goes out of his way to involve himself in every social thing that he can. He tries to hang out with the guys a lot, keeps up to date about rumors going around the school and generally is enthusiastic and not hesitant at all to greet new people.

To me that’s the thing that really works against the idea that he has autism, since to at least some degree those with autism tend to be avoidant of social interaction unless their parents make a huge effort to make them social. Stimming itself is usually a way for autistic people to disassociate with things around them and distract themselves with their own noises or something they heard from their favorite show.

So with Butters, autism doesn’t really add up. There are lots of kids when they’re young that are socially inept or seem to be quirky but that doesn’t mean they’re autistic. It might just mean they’re late bloomers. I think Butters is just one of those kids.

Let’s take a look at Shelly Marsh

Posted on November 18, 2016 by livelyliza

I’m a little put off by the fact that people even question why I dislike Shelly so much. Like not that much, because I get it, yeah, she said something cool like once and turned a wimp into a little less of a wimp, but that isn’t exactly her saving grace, guys. Shelly Marsh on the whole is a terrible, awful human being, bred by an awfully negligent family. More negligent than you would expect.

Shelly doesn’t get much screen time at all, but when she does you bet your ass she’s screaming at someone to get her way. And if she’s not doing that, she’s beating the shit out of Stan.

Stan specifically by the way. I mean it’s not like Stan’s the only one she beats up. Clearly she’s kicked the crap out of Cartman too. But the most she did to Cartman was punch him and give him a wedgie. The cruel and unusual stuff is saved specifically for Stan. That is, if you haven’t seen Season 1, running a lawn mower over his face, smashing a tv over his head, throwing him down the stairs and repeatedly setting him on fire.

And it’s weird – in a way it feels like the audience is just saying to Stan what Mr. Garrison said to Stan.

Shelly beating up Stan isn’t treated seriously by anyone. Not his friends, not his family and not the audience. It’s just accepted as something that’s fine. That Stan just needs to “get over.” Because Stan is “letting” Shelly do it.

But that isn’t the case at all with Shelly. Shelly beat the shit out of Stan’s mutated clone, who threw fucking cars around.

So it’s not as if she’s physically weaker than Stan, which is often the excuse when it comes to females hitting males. And even if she was physically weaker than Stan, she was still using tools on him. Still no matter the case people have that “she’s a girl” stigma. They think nothing of it and assume that Stan should be able to handle it because he’s a guy and she’s a girl.

Sigh. But that’s our biological nature. I have no choice but to digress. Let’s move on and analyze.

We learn in the very first episode that Shelly’s anger comes from her insecurity. Her very first line is, “Are you looking at my headgear?” And then afterward she unleashes her unrelenting rage.

This rage seems to be primarily caused by insecurity, reiterated in Cat Orgy, where she brags to her friend about pulling Cartman’s underwear over his head and other experiences of humiliating other boys.

( It seems like this is directed towards any boys that are younger than her. ) She bullies these boys as a way to get approval from her friends. Which actually makes sense, since, Shelly being 12 puts her at least two grades above Stan. Which means she’s a 5th grader. Or a 6th grader these days.

According to this show (and also personal experience,) this grade is dominated by the bullies. While we see that Stan and his gang also tend to bully, 6th grade is the time that both bullying and angsting really starts to shine. I actually wouldn’t be surprised if Shelly was bullied by some of the 6th graders that Stan and the gang always come across. Either that or maybe she has a crush on one of the kids and is trying to impress him. Probably that middle kid with the ego problem.

Either way it’s probably a combination of insecurity and a desire to fit in. Shelly’s desire for cruelty definitely doesn’t stem directly from her family life. We’ll talk about that in a bit. It mostly stems from the fact that she is surrounded by bullies and feels as if she has to take their example.

That and, she’s angsting hardcore. We already talked about the fact that her anger is a direct reaction to insecurity, but she’s also desperate. In the third season she starts dating a 22 year old named Skylar, not because she actually likes him, but because he’s willing to date her.

She consistently fights him off because she knows that she’s not supposed to be doing anything with him (at least the Marshes raised her well there). She doesn’t exactly think he’s smart or talented, even knowing she can write better music than him, but she stays because he validates her. When he leaves her she cries not because she likes him, but she thought he liked her.

As she says in the next quote, “No one’s ever liked me before.” Shelly knows that she’s ugly. Nobody in her grade is willing to date her. This clearly leads to her being bullied, which makes Shelly incredibly insecure. Her perpetual anger is directly from her insecurity, and is a defense mechanism.

Her thought process is probably, “I won’t let these other kids laugh at me the way the 6th graders do.” That, and it’s insecure assertion that she is better, so that she can get some footing in the 6th grade social circle. She has to be a bully like all the other kids, even if it means just bullying little kids.

(She’s probably not that respected for that in her grade.)

On a side note though, the whole interaction with Cartman is interesting. She feels a closeness to Cartman after letting her guard down slightly, and they even manage to work together. However I think this was because of Cartman and had little to do with Shelly. it was Cartman who showed vulnerability first, and was essentially a quid pro quo for the two of them.

But anyway, their friendship mostly doesn’t matter. They hardly ever speak again on a personal level. The closest they get is,

Which.. is actually a little clever by Cartman. You might think that this is some kind of suck up tactic from Cartman, but taking their history into account, it can also come off as a veiled threat.

Essentially Cartman could be saying, “I know you’re just pissy because you’re insecure about your looks.” Because Shelly told him this directly. This is basically Cartman’s dirt on Shelly, because if she treated him too badly then he could potentially tell his friends about this insecurity, or prod at the subject until he gets a reaction that Shelly wouldn’t like. But clearly Shelly sees through this immediately, telling Cartman off and going on with her bullying antics. Her friendship with Cartman seemed to be a one time use.

The only meaningful relationship she had was with Larry Feegan, which I wish we had a chance to see more of, but he fuckin died off screen. But basically Larry was to Shelly what Heidi is to Cartman. She may have had a gateway to change, even moreso since she’s older, but the only way Shelly was going to really change was if Larry was really exceptional.

And he definitely wasn’t.

Shelly’s effort is appreciated, though it doesn’t say much about her since Larry’s way in was endless praises. The relationship could’ve easily turned sour with Larry as soft and malleable as he is. We can only take guesses on how Shelly would’ve handled wearing the pants in a relationship, being only thirteen and all.

Gonna give credit where credit is obviously do though, Shelly has little sprinkles of good morals in there, though they’re grossly overshadowed by her violence and spoiled attitude.

She knows not to fool around at a young age as we learned above. In the Trent Boyett episode she bargained with the boys to help them out if they did the right thing too. It’s fair to say that Sharon did teach Shelly basic morals.

But while we’re on the subject of Shelly’s parents, can we just stop for a sec and talk about Shelly’s parents?

In the 5th episode where everyone was so pissed off about what Stan’s clone did, his parents barge in ready to have an intervention with Stan. Shelly steps in, tells them that everything that happened in the town was her fault. The parents say sorry for mistaking Stan for the culprit and give him a hug.

…And then they just fuckin leave

Stan was about to be punished for rampaging through the town. His teacher and uncle were on his ass about that shit, and now that Shelly takes the blame, nothing happens. She doesn’t even get reprimanded. They literally just treat it like it never happened.

Not only that, in a much later episode, Over Logging, Shelly flips the fuck out and just starts beating the shit out of Stan and Randy just picks her up and tells her to stop.

And that’s pretty much the end of their interaction. The punishment for Shelly beating Stan is… Shelly gets stopped.

It shows in only little snippits but there’s several unsettling moments where we can tell that Stan is mistreated by everyone in his family, essentially being seen as a punching bag – not only for Shelly – for everyone.

exhibit a:

exhibit b:

exhibit c:

And just to toss in there, Exhibit D:

love this shining reference though

But what I’m trying to say is, seeing how Randy and Sharon treat him when they’re upset, it’s no wonder Shelly beats the crap out of him. The Marshes prioritize Shelly’s needs over Stans. Shelly beats him up because she knows she won’t actually get punished for it. She, like the rest of the family, sees him as more of a hindrance than a family member.

Why that is, I don’t know. Maybe Randy ran off and made a Jon Snow. Maybe Stan is Randy’s illegitimate son that he brought home and kinda sorta treated him as a son. idk

But in conclusion, Shelly’s anger mostly stems from massive insecurity about herself and the inclination to bully like the rest of her 6th grade peers. Literally all the 6th graders we’ve ever seen have been bullies, so this isn’t exactly a stretch.

And her inhumane torture of Stan is justified to her due to the fact that his entire family pretty much dehumanizes him.

“But wait!” You protest, “Your whole analysis is a testament to why Shelly could be sympathized with! She’s a victim of circumstance!”

Well, everyone’s a victim of circumstance. Casey Anthony’s a victim of circumstance. It doesn’t mean their actions are justifiable. And at the end of the day, Shelly is really just a violent, spoiled brat who terrifies others to get her way.

“Wait just a second, Sibyl,” You protest again, eyebrow raised and hand placed thoughtfully on your chin. “Cartman is also a violent spoiled brat. But you still like him. What’s the deal?”

That’s a fair point, Hypothetical Harry. But there are three key differences between Shelly and Cartman.

Even though Cartman has done some pretty heinous shit, he, unlike Shelly, has to be pushed. Cartman’s default is a snarky kid that shoots zingers at the teacher and bullshits to his friends. Shelly’s default is literally beating the shit out of Stan.

Another key difference between Cartman and Shelly is that Cartman is an optimist. He doesn’t wallow in shit, he’s a doer. Shelly kicks and screams about whatever doesn’t go her way and rarely ever takes any positive action. By definition she’s a pessimist. Guess pessimists run in the family.

The third key difference is that while Cartman surrounds himself with friends, Shelly is incredibly isolative. I don’t mean like introverted, I mean she’s antisocial. Any chance for interaction is met with hostility when it comes to Shelly, no matter who we see her interacting with.

And she also doesn’t have a sense of humor.

An isolative, pessimistic and abusive character with no sense of humor doesn’t make for a very enjoyable one, but Shelly’s analysis was very enjoyable to write. Hope you guys enjoyed it too~

A Short List of why Kyle is Seen as Emotionally Tough

Posted on October 23, 2016 by livelyliza

In Kenny dies, Kyle is the one who is trying to keep the group together to be there for Kenny. He doesn’t cry because he insists on being strong for Kenny, and he is the only one of Kenny’s friends to actually pull this off.
Usually the first to call others out on bullshit.
This is reinforced in Butterballs when Kyle is the only character placed into the bullying situation who actually saw through the bullshit tactic.
Always has a power struggle with peer pressure; and even if he eventually gives in he’s usually the only one who tries.
Endured being surgically sewn to two other people and being dragged around by his lips, an incredibly traumatic experience.
Doesn’t let himself be pushed around by anyone, not even his best friend when things gets tough.

Just to say, it’s not for no reason. He’s more consistently tough than he is weak.

Can you do a character analysis thingy on Clyde?

Posted on September 12, 2016 by livelyliza

So let’s jump right into it, Clyde is probably the most misunderstood character by the fandom.

I’ve seen him portrayed as a douchey jock and a whiny crybaby, but he’s usually just a douchey jock with a spoon of awkwardness slopped ontop. And while I agree that Clyde can have a tendency to be awkward, I gotta say I heavily disagree with the disdain the fandom has towards Clyde. I like Clyde as he is and despite him being a side character there’s some pretty consistent care that goes into him.

First thing’s first, Clyde is a pretty emotional kid. No, I don’t mean he cries a lot. I mean that Clyde’s a bottle of high energy and rampant thoughts waiting to come out.

Now this might seem similar to the zany portrayal that the fandom gives Clyde, and they’re onto something, but if you’ve seen the show Clyde actually doesn’t act highly emotional. He acts reserved. So why say that Clyde’s highly emotional?

‘Cuz man. He’s not naturally reserved. Clyde may act like he’s as chill and a popular dude. But the reason he acts like that is because he wants to be that. He wants to not give a fuck. He wants to be cool like his friend Craig.

Craig is a cool motherfucker that really doesn’t give a fuck and everyone in school knows this (he pulls it off better than Clyde). Clyde being his friend and someone also seeking popularity, looks up to Craig and allows Craig to take him under his wing. This dynamic seems to work pretty well. These boys seem pretty loyal to each other, and it allows Clyde to maintain this air of chill if for no other reason than Craig rubs off on him. (And if you’re asking yes I fuckin ship it fuck Creek ok this is the real shit)

But even with that in mind, Clyde isn’t like Craig. He’s naturally emotional. He has stress that does build up. He’s trying to shove himself into this box of what he’s supposed to be but the fact of the matter is he can’t hold his emotions in forever. That results in sudden bursts of emotion.

There are these little snippets of emotion that will slip through the cracks but that’s not what he wants people to see. Clyde has decisive thoughts and definitive views. He even agrees with some (some) of Cartman’s views, but he would never admit to it if you asked him. Clyde is insecure. He shows extreme hesitation with expressing his opinions most of the time.

Over the seasons he’s come to express himself a little more bit by bit, but the fact still stands that Clyde most of the time doesn’t feel comfortable being himself. Inside he’s an energetic thoughtful boy, probably with lots of interests we don’t know about. But somehow he got it in his head that this wasn’t the appropriate way to act.

Was it the schoolyard environment that made him do that? Considering Cartman has always spoken his mind and Clyde has been there for most of it, I’d say probably not. Plenty of kids act out and speak their mind. So that proobablyyy meaaanss

hmmmm

Now I know that this was the only real snippet of Clyde’s mom we got before she died, and from that alone you’d say, “Wow Clyde, don’t flip off your dead Mom you fuckin asshole.”

BUT

would it be so far fetched to say that Clyde’s insistence on being as reserved as Craig is a big help to him in his household? To say that Clyde’s emotions before Craig only made situations with his mom worse, and he had to disconnect a little to find any bit of relief?

That maybe just maybe Clyde had a very good reason for flipping her off?

I MEAN LOOK. LOOK AT THIS INTERACTION.

Did you notice how much Clyde is flinching? How distressed he is from this interaction?

if a Mom would scream at the top of her lungs for something so trivial, Clyde is walking on eggshells every time he comes home. And he grew up with that.

And yes, Clyde did feel a familial connection with his Mom on some level. Clearly there is some endearment in this relationship. But ultimately

these are his final thoughts on her. (It’s kind of a cute homage to Craig’s influence too fshkdf)

And this is why I think Clyde doesn’t deserve the shit he gets. He doesn’t cry because he’s a baby – he cries because when you try to be someone you’re not, when you have a very vocal personality and you just hold all that stress in, the final straw could be anything.

Could you please do a character analysis of Butters?

Posted on August 21, 2016 by livelyliza

Butters – oh god Butters.

Butters is a weird one. He’s right up there with Cartman on how miserable he is. And like Cartman he hides it, but in a polar opposite of an attitude.

Butters outlook on life is, if I were to describe it in the most basic way, a facade.

I’d say he’s an optimist, and he is a lot of times.

But it’s kinda complicated.

Butters is that kind of character where it seems like he’s sweet and happy and dumb, but as we’ve seen in Butterballs, and Going Native, he can show some nasty true colors. Not to say that Butters is mean or nearly as mean as Cartman, but he does share some similarities with him. For example, Butters knows more than he lets on. He just prefers to disguise this knowledge with feigned ignorance.

Butters Very Own Episode was probably where Butters was the most genuine, just being himself and being honest. This episode was all about honesty and ironically, this is the episode where he learns the value of lying. Because Butters insisted that his parents be honest about what they went through, Butters is deeply disturbed. At the end of that episode we see a glimpse of what we continue to see in Butters’ character for the rest of South Park.

Butters: I really wish I didn’t know that stuff. I guess I learned that sometimes, lying can be for the best. Yup. Oh well, when I want a chipotle bleu cheese bacon burger at Bennigan’s, I forget all about my dad… bein’ queer and my mom tryin’ to kill me. I’m gonna be okay.
Stan: Really?
Butters: Naw, I’m lyin’.

And that’s just what he does most of the time. Between Linda and Stephen Stotch, Butters was raised in basically a nut house. His parents ground and isolate him if he does anything slightly bad, or just if they feel like it. As a child that needs social interactions, he’s basically under their heel, and the only way he can get out if he acts synthetically sweet.

On the playground the rules are the exact opposite, and it’s jarring to Butters. In the boys’ world you don’t get shit if you’re nice. The only way to gain footing in their eyes is to show you have a spine.

When a boy enters the main four’s gang, they go through a little bit of an initiation process. For Cartman it lasted years, and he finally stopped being oversensitive to being called fat and eventually turned into a ruthless exaggeration of what the boys wanted.

But Butters couldn’t really do that. If he were to try to be mean the way the boys want him to be mean, it’d just mean hell for him when he comes home. His parents are fuckin batshit and won’t tolerate anything but their son’s sweet facade. It causes a real problem in school because these boys don’t really seem to care about Butters’ situation. If anything it makes school that much worse for him.

But despite the fact that he gets shit on at school all the time, it’s much better than what his parents would do to him if he acted out. I mean god DAMN these parents these are the two psychiatrists they took him to

And they locked him up in the fucking basement and fed him humans because they thought he was a demon. After that I think a little playground bullying seems worth going through as an alternative.

It’s implied that Butters gets shit on by the school as a whole. Both Stan’s gang and Craig’s gang pick on him and tell him he’s stupid dork or tie him to a tetherball pole, among other insane antics.

He’s been through his fair amount of shit with the boys and under reacted to all of it, even though they’ve disrespected and royally fucked him over consistently.

Inside this makes him a bitter, cynical person toward the world who feels powerless most of the time, but takes pleasure in the idea of people on his shit list dying. This is clearly seen with Cartman in Pee.

This is in contrast to Kyle, who, with a similar sense of justice/revenge believes Cartman should be punished. And despite that Kyle just couldn’t stand to let him freeze to death in the cold.

But Butters is different. His revenge includes the cruelness Kyle’s revenge omits. He doesn’t second guess like Kyle – if there’s an opportunity, Butters seizes it.

And I don’t need to mention the obvious

and

Not to mention beating the shit out of Scott Malkinson out of pure, aimless anger. I’d say he did that because he knew there wasn’t a chance of repercussion from Scott because nobody likes Scott anyway.

But basically, I mean we all knew this, Butters has a shit ton of pent up rage. But I don’t think it’s just a breaking point thing. That IS part of his personality. His true self peeks through multiple times in little cynical ways, when after seeing Kyle drink a glass of pee, “Do you need to wash your hands?”

And in Butterballs:

Not to say this isn’t justified. I mean… sometimes it isn’t. But I’m saying, the bitter, revenge thirsty cynical Butters will come out if he feels it’s safe enough. It’s a very opportunistic thing.

In Season 18 people were like “Oh, Butters wouldn’t burn down the gym! He’s to sweet! It was probably Cartman!” But no, that’s exactly what Butters would do.

This is completely consistent with his character. He thought he would be saying goodbye to that hellhole of a school for good. And he was so thrilled that he took full advantage of it. When he had the chance to beat the shit out of his virtual dad, you bet your ass he did.

(It’s debatable whether or not that Dad was actually virtual.) Butters, even though saying he felt dark and empty after beating up Dr. Oz, has a pretty opportunistic sense of vengeance.

So in conclusion, Butters is aware of how shitty everything is for him, but he smiles and acts kind because he feels like he doesn’t have a choice. (And I think he feels like he’s being the bigger person a lot of times.) But if he does have a choice, he’s pulling out his shit list.

Hi I /really/ enjoyed your character analyses of Stan, Kyle and Cartman in terms of how they see the world. Could you please do a similar thing for Kenny, if you have any clues/ideas/headcanons? I was thinking Mysterion and his background?

Posted on August 15, 2016 by livelyliza

Thanks! I love doing these so it’s no problem. So you want me to do one on how Kenny sees the world… hmm…

That’s a tough one actually. Kenny’s outlook on life’s kind of hard to pin down, but it’s understandable for someone in his situation. Kenny fluctuates from being a frightened child who doesn’t wanna die, to a being a willing sacrifice because despite him really disliking the pain of death, he knows he’ll just come back. As early as Cartman’s Mom is a Dirty Slut he’s been aware that he can die and just come back with no consequence, so he’s been willing to put himself in deadly situations when it’s necessary to save others.

What is really sad about Kenny, though, is that in the present season, he’s died so many times that he wants to stay dead. Forever. This is painfully clear in Coon vs Coon and Friends.

“Only an immortal can kill another immortal! [to Cthulhu] Here’s your prize! Take this curse away from me, you big pussy!“

In this moment Kenny knows that if Cthulhu were to kill him, he’d be dead forever, and that’s exactly what he wants. He wants to stop being torn to pieces, being sent to heaven or hell, only to be yanked back into the living world over some arbitrary reason.

To Kenny this would be like constantly moving back and forth from place to place, never being allowed to settle down. To some extent Kenny is used to it, but obviously he’s tired of it. He just wants to stay in one place.

He probably has friends in Hell, and friends in heaven. Though, he’d probably prefer to live in hell. The people in south park heaven don’t really seem all that fun. The biggest perk Kenny gets there is being able to play that golden PSP. I’d say that’s better than being routinely tortured by satan, but Kenny is already routinely tortured, so, that’s not a big plus from him.

But the sad part of that is, if Kenny were to die forever, I don’t think he’d have an afterlife.

When Cartman banishes the boys to R’Lyeh, Mysterion gets a sense of familiarity towards the city.

Toolshed: Dude, where the fuck are we?
Mysterion: I don’t know, but… I feel like… I’ve… been here before.

( Fun fact, R’lyeh isn’t actually in another dimension like Cartman seems to think, R’lyeh according to Lovecraft, is on Earth, a sunken city deep in the South Pacific. The city itself has general coordinates, but this part of the south pacific is far too difficult to reach right now.

But I guess it is a dark oblivion since it’s a gateway to another dimension.)

But anyhow, Kenny’s statement about the place suggests that he is from the dimension that R’lyeh originates from. His spirit is that of an immortal creature. I’ve talked about this specifically so I’m gonna do a little insert here.

And as for Kenny, because of the fact that Carol and Stuart were part of that occult, it can be assumed that the cult was trying to summon Cthulhu like the oil company did.
They probably tried to use Carol as a human sacrifice, but when she didn’t die, the cult assumed it didn’t work. But instead what happened was they summoned part of Cthulhu’s consciousness and infused it with Kenny’s soul. Since he was meant to be a sacrifice but was unborn when the ritual was performed, Kenny wasn’t hurt during the ritual, but the powers of the ritual keep trying to take him back over and over, trying to keep their sacrifice.
But since part of his soul is fused with Cthulhu’s consciousness he’s unable to die and keeps coming back.

Now considering we don’t know much about the dark dimension Cthulhu came from, we don’t know if Kenny is part of Cthulhu himself or a different creature entirely. But considering the cult that his parents were a part of is thoroughly obsessed with Cthulhu specifically, it could be assumed that the ritual that Carol and Stuart were a part of was one to bring about his return. And I know, honestly, it could go either way.

Henrietta:Cthulhu and other beings are from this city, but for years cultists have tried to bring them into our world.

But, if we assume that his soul is a small part of Cthulhu, like I headcanon, then engaging Cthulhu in a fight would be the greatest and worst thing Kenny ever did, because not only would Cthulhu kill him forever, but he’d destroy a part of himself forever. And that might bring about Cthulhu’s own death as well.

And at that point both of them would cease to exist.

It’s a little far-fetched to say Kenny is part of Cthulhu, but I still enjoy that headcanon. Another headcanon I have, if you pay attention to my Kenny’s eyes, his irises are very slowly changing from his original color to a more and more violet purple. ( I need to go back and change the baby picture because his eyes should’ve started off as Turquoise.) This goes on a spectrum, if m4 was long enough you’d see his irises slowly change from purple to red, red to orange, and finally, orange to yellow.

Fuck. I might make a fanfiction about that. Aaah.

BUT ANYWAY

Kenny’s viewpoint on life is very humble. He simply indulges in what he can, while he can, because life to him is an inconsistent illusion, and he is aware that there are forces influencing his life that he has no control of. Kenny’s an improviser.

He makes do with what he can, for as long as he can, and appreciates the small consistencies in his life. He has many values but with how crazy south park is, he goes with whatever life calls for in that moment.

if you had to assign the roles of a pessimist, realist, and optimist to the boys, who would get what?

Posted on August 14, 2016 by livelyliza

Hmmm. Warning, this is gonna be a long post.

Right away, I’m thinking Stan’s a pessimist. It’s canon that he has an incredibly cynical mind. This is actually something I have in common with Stan. He doesn’t as much about pretty white lies as much as he cares about the cold hard truth. He couldn’t let Kyle believe cold readings were true, just like he couldn’t let himself become the leader of false hope.

This line kind of blurs down the line as I believe that Stan, after Ass Burgers, seems to become sick of his own truths and begins to indulge in false happiness. This is plainly obvious in both Scause for Applause and Butterballs, and it’s actually kind of sad. I feel like there’s an inner turmoil that goes overlooked here.

Stan yo-yo’s between being able to see through so many lies, and being moderately oblivious if not completely. I don’t think that’s a character inconsistency. I think, as a child, he’s trying to find a way to balance himself out so he doesn’t have to be so unhappy all the time. I think as smart as he is, he plays dumb, subconsciously if not intentionally, to achieve some kind of happiness. He plays dumb so that he might have the chance to indulge in what he considers to be everyone else’s stupid fun, to have some chance of enjoying himself. And sometimes this does work, sometimes he indulges too much and ends up jacking it in San Diego.

So Stan is a pessimist trying to disguise himself as an optimist, which at its worst makes him look either dumb or egotistical.

The realist of the group is… Kyle I guess.

Kyle’s more of an idealist but there’s not really many other characters that fit the definition of realist as much as Kyle does. Kyle isn’t very good at being a realist when he gets emotional, but he does try his best to be a realist when he can. Similar to Stan, he is interested in the cold hard truth of the world, But the difference between Stan and Kyle is that he doesn’t let it keep him down.

More often than not Stan is the one letting things be, and Kyle is the one trying to shake up the system. He thinks about what he can do to make things change and tackles situations head on, doing whatever he can to beat the odds. And despite one or two breakdowns, he’s not about to let himself be swayed by the painful truth of anything.

Kyle’s a fighter right down to his last cell, and he’s not afraid to show that he is. He often puts the truth in people’s face even if they react badly, because to him, truth is the second most important thing in life. Justice is the first.

But because he’s a realist he also second guesses himself. He shows sympathy to those who he thinks have done wrong but still have a chance to beat the odds, because he can be blunt, but he doesn’t want to be cruel.

He appears to others as a preachy martyr most of the time, but that’s simply because his image, when he gets in those justice induced states, are the last thing on his mind.

The optimist of the group is without a doubt, Cartman.

It might seem a bit odd to call the meanest, cruelest motherfucker in the group an optimist, and it might seem like I’m biased, but this is actually something I thought way before I plunged deep in love with Cartman.

Optimism is when you convince yourself that there’s always a silver lining, always a bright side to any situation. You might think Optimists can’t be mean characters, but when you take optimism to an extreme, well, you get Cartman.

Cartman is so optimistic he’s insensitive. His main focus of his optimism is keeping himself happy. Sure, he might rage, he might fall into despair sometimes, but if you rewatch the episodes, he ends up deluding himself into happiness or recovering and treating the situation with nonchalance.

In Kenny Dies, he legitimately sheds tears for Kenny, trying to hide the fact that he’s crying for Kyle because he’s so upset. But he only has a few moments before he starts insisting to Kyle that he’s going to cure Kenny. And he does attempt to do this until he thinks it’s too late for Kenny. At that point, Cartman scrambles for an opportunity to make something positive about the situation. ANYTHING positive. Even the smallest thing. He attempts to spread this happiness to the boys, foolishly thinking he won’t be seen as insensitive and somehow make the boys happy.

Strangely enough, it ends up working for Stan – not in the way he wanted, but it did work. He cheered up. Kyle was pissed though.

And in general his incredibly dark humor is what makes him so optimistic. Cartman is aware more than most kids in the show of the world’s woes and problems. He always knows what’s going on before the rest of the boys do, even the really terrible things happening in other countries. But instead of preaching to others about how to stop it like Kyle would, or admitting that he’s helpless to stop it like Stan would, Cartman turns it into a joke.

Tragedy + Time = Comedy

The formula of humor is Cartman’s optimism. A lot of times minus the time part. Cartman does not give two shits about whether or not he’s being sensitive. He is that desperate for positivity.

Another good example of Cartman scrambling for the silver lining, but in a much sadder way, is when he got the shit beat out of him by Wendy. He thought he was going to be treated differently because of it, but his classmates unintentionally reassured him that nothing was going to change. Though this would make most people sad, he forced himself to save face by acting completely delusional in order to express that nothing had changed.

A very important aspect of Cartman is that he ALWAYS recovers. In the Poor and Stupid episode, he has many downfalls where he’s sobbing about the fact that he can’t be what he wants to be, and despite his stupid reasons and discouragement from Stan and Kyle, he digs deep and finds a way to become inspired. The same thing happens when he’s at the hospital. He’s so discouraged that he even tells the doctor to pull the plug on him. But this is only a lapse in time. He eventually convinces himself to get right back up again and go for some arbitrary goal in order to feel happy.

All in all, I think Cartman is so optimistc and so insensitive because he is painfully aware of how cruel he is and how cruel the world is. I think he feels like he’s in too deep, and if he ever stops telling himself that there are things to be happy about, he does become suicidal, despite not wanting to be.

Reminds me of this scene.

….Also holy fuck that got real.

I hope you enjoyed my ranting about these mofos.

yummykyman