Kyle Broflovski
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| Kyle Broflovski | |
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| Gender: | Male |
| Hair: | Curly auburn |
| Age: | 9 (occasionally 8) |
| Job: | Student |
| Religion: | Jewish |
| First Appearance: | The Spirit of Christmas (Jesus vs. Frosty) |
| Voiced By: | Matt Stone |
Kyle Broflovski, a.k.a. 'Kyle' or 'Kyle Broflofski' or 'Kyle Brovlofski', is a fictional character in the animated series South Park. Voiced by series co-creator Matt Stone, Kyle is one of the four central characters, all of whom are eight- or nine-year old boys. Stone has claimed that Kyle was loosely based on himself when he was younger. His most notable catch phrases are 'You Bastard(s)!' (following Stan's 'Oh my God, you/they/we killed Kenny!'), and 'I've learned something today' (usually before the end of an episode). Kyle is Jewish. When angered or frustrated, Kyle has a tendency to clench his fists and growl or yell angrily. Kyle and Eric Cartman share the AB negative blood type.
Kyle typically displays higher moral standards than the other boys. Kyle also gets higher grades than his peers, and is the one who views things the most logically. Since Kyle is the more rational of his peers, he usually plays protagonist to Eric Cartman's antagonist. Kyle is on better terms with Stan Marsh, often to Eric's chagrin.
He wears a bright green hunting cap (or ushanka), a bright orange jacket with black trimmed pockets and dark green collar, dark green pants, and lime green mittens. He is rarely shown without his cap, but underneath it, he sports an auburn, curly 'Jew-fro', first seen in the episode "How to Eat with Your Butt", a hairstyle which he seems to resent. This is a nod to Stone's character in Cannibal! The Musical in which he wears the same style hat with an afro underneath. A photorealistic version of Kyle's appearance was produced as a police artist sketch for the episode "Free Willzyx".
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[edit] Family
His mother, Sheila, is very overprotective: she instigates a war between the USA and Canada in the feature-length movie South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut because of (Canadian natives) Terrance and Phillip's extremely scatological R-rated movie. Mrs. Broflovski is prone to making a mountain out of a molehill whenever something threatens her son. Even so, in the "Cherokee Hair Tampons" episode she turns to holistic and nature medicine when Kyle almost dies of kidney failure because he is diabetic. Stan is very upset about the possible death of Kyle (much more than about the many deaths of Kenny, much to his annoyance), and ultimately saves him by tricking Cartman into donating one of his kidneys to Kyle (Cartman had flatly refused to voluntarily do so). Cartman had to because he was the only other one with the AB negative blood type.
Kyle's father Gerald is a lawyer but, Kyle reiterates, they are not as wealthy as the Black family, also headed by a lawyer (probably because Gerald is not a very good lawyer and has gambling problems). In Season Three's Emmy-nominated "Chinpokomon", Kyle attempts to join the Chinpokomon fad; however, he is always a step behind his friends, never having the latest toys or games. Kyle has an adopted younger brother, Ike, whose birth parents are Canadian. He also has a cousin from Connecticut (Kyle Schwartz, "The Losing Edge") who is a Woody Allen-like Jewish stereotype.
Within his family, Kyle seems to have the strongest relationship with his brother Ike. Ike follows Kyle around and generally imitates his older brother whenever possible. For his part—and despite actions such as playing "kick the baby" (which features Kyle punting Ike like a football, usually through a window)—Kyle is fiercely protective of his little brother, and tries on occasion to educate Ike in the ways of the Jewish faith.
[edit] Life
While most of the South Park kids dislike Cartman, Kyle has a particularly strong hatred for him; the feud between the two has been a recurring theme. Cartman and Kyle often exchange insults, With Kyle the target of Cartman's Anti-Semitism, and Cartman being taunted about his weight. Whenever making a point, Cartman will often try to outsmart Kyle but usually winds up the loser of the argument. There are exceptions, in "Die, Hippie, Die", Cartman saves the town from a hippie music festival, and Kyle is forced to watch Cartman play with his new Tonka bulldozer in the school parking lot everyday. In "Smug Alert" it was revealed that without Kyle to irritate, Cartman's life is empty. In "Kenny Dies", Kyle seemed to show empathy towards Cartman, suggesting that despite being easily angered by Cartman's teasing, he still considers him a friend.
Kyle's friendship with Kenny is not as strong as his friendship with Stan, nor is it adversarial (like that with Cartman) but is clearly existent, as he invites him to various arrangements of his and promptly beats up Cartman in defense of Kenny following his "permanent" death.
[edit] Religion
Kyle is evidently the only Jewish kid in the fourth grade (of Eastern European ancestry), although South Park does have a synagogue. Kyle's last name has been alternately given as Broslovski, Broflofski, Broflovski, and Brovlofski in the series, though the characters say "Broflovski" or "Broslovski" the most often. The name comes from the maiden name of Matt Stone's mother, Sheila Belasco (Broslovski had been changed to Belasco when her ancestor immigrated to America). In "Spontaneous Combustion" there is a shot of Kyle's father Gerald's law office - on the façade it says 'Brovlofski'. In "Sexual Harassment Panda" his name is shown as 'Broflofski'. The various spellings may be due to some confusion in trying to transcribe the Cyrillic surname Бровловский into the Latin alphabet; the letter в is normally transcribed "v" but when voiceless is often written as "f" in English, like in the name "Rachmaninoff". Parker and Stone have confirmed that Kyle's last name is indeed Broflovski, which is also the spelling used in the "4th Grade" intro, seen in episodes 412 to 513. [1]
Kyle appears ambivalent toward his Judaism, although his parents are somewhat observant (Sheila Stone, mother of Matt Stone, was herself a secular Sephardic Jew). This is most likely part of his effort to fit in with his friends, who are Roman Catholic. Kyle is often more defensive than proud of his Judaism, and though he regularly attends such functions as "Jew Scouts", he often has a poor grasp on the history, traditions and rituals of his religion. This could also be the fault of his parents, who, in a misguided attempt to shelter their son, generally refuse to discuss with him the finer points of their religion. For example:
- When he heard that his brother Ike was going to have a Brit milah, he was under the misapprehension that it involved cutting off the entire penis rather than just the foreskin. This was despite the fact that Kyle is also circumcised.
- After seeing Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, he told Cartman that Cartman was right about Jews all along and stood up in his synagogue to demand that Jews apologize for the death of Christ.
- When he learned of Catholicism's conditions for getting into heaven, he renounced his faith on the basis that if the Jews were right about the matter, it would make no difference if he were a Catholic, but if the Catholics were right, he would go to hell for not accepting Christ (see Pascal's Wager).
Kyle also sometimes expresses feelings of self-loathing. Kyle is always saying that Jews are just like everyone else, and is often distressed when they display behavior that is stereotypically Jewish. He is often brought to anger by Jews who conform to such stereotypes, namely his cousin (also named Kyle) from New York City who has hypochondriac tendencies, is very good with money, and is a poor athlete.
Also, Kyle seems to use the phrase "Jesus Christ!" more than most Jews, and sometimes even more than his Catholic friends. He is also willing and able to acknowledge Christ in the many episodes when he meets him.
He and Stan alternate as leader of their group/voice of reason (while their fathers are normally the leaders/instigators of mass hysteria in the town). Kyle is witty, but unlike his best friend Stan, he tends to be cautious and is less likely to want to get involved in uncertain situations.
As revealed in the episode commentary for the episode "Kenny Dies", Stone and Parker were going to kill off Kyle for a whole year instead of Kenny but decided not to.
In Season Eight, Kyle was the center on one episode—"The Passion of the Jew"—which parodied the controversy surrounding The Passion of the Christ. In the episode, he sees The Passion because of Cartman's continuing use of it as an excuse to pick on Kyle more than usual. It was also revealed in this episode that Kyle is afraid of Alan Alda, the reasons for this are unknown. Kyle was also featured prominently in the episodes "Cartman's Incredible Gift" and "Woodland Critter Christmas". In the former, he attempts to convince the local police that Cartman's "psychic powers" are entirely false; at the end of the episode, it is implied that Kyle has real psychic powers. In "Woodland Critter Christmas", the Satanic woodland animals attempt to use Kyle as birth vessel for The Antichrist because he is a "heathen" and is not baptized because he is Jewish. Stan attempts to stop this by teaching young mountain lions to give abortions, but Christmas is eventually saved by Santa Claus, who shoots all of the critters with a shotgun. However, the entire "Critter" episode is really just a story written by Eric Cartman, which ends with Kyle dying of AIDS.
In the October 27, 2004 election-based episode, "Douche and Turd", Kyle leads the campaign for Giant Douche to be elected the new school mascot at South Park Elementary after PETA leads a campaign against Mooey, the cow.
In the March 9, 2005 episode "Mr. Garrison's Fancy New Vagina", Kyle wanted to play basketball for the all-state team, but could not because the coach said he was not built for the game due to fact he is Jewish. Frustrated, Kyle gets a "negro-plasty," to make him black and tall. However, the surgery is a failure, as it was only purely cosmetic; after trying to perform a slam dunk, Kyle's knees explode as the plastic surgeon had made his knee joints out of Mr. Garrison's former testicles.
In "South Park Is Gay!" Kyle's friends make him over into a metrosexual, as being metrosexual was the "cool" thing to do. Kyle then decides to not conform with the rest of South Park and goes back to dressing normally, despite teasing from his schoolmates. After Kyle gets beat up by the boys in his class and is rejected by his friends, he travels to New York with Mr. Garrison and Mr. Slave to kill the Queer Eye for the Straight Guy guys. They then discover that the Queer Eye people are actually crab people in disguise that are trying to take over the world.
In "Two Days Before The Day After Tomorrow", Cartman seemingly knew that Kyle, and all Jews for that matter, carried Jew gold around their necks (as well as a Jew gold decoy bag). Ironically, Kyle tosses a bag off a railing that may have actually contained gold.
Kyle has trouble accepting that Cartman is never sincere. Kyle keeps falling for Cartman's seemingly good intentions time and time again. This is seen in "Casa Bonita", "Cartoon Wars Part I", "Kenny Dies", and other episodes. Perhaps it is Kyle's idealistic optimism that there is some good in everyone, even in Cartman. Sometimes, Kyle will make it very clear that he knows Cartman is manipulating before finally giving in.
Perhaps the best estimate of Kyle's moral character occurs in the recent episode "Manbearpig"; at one point, Kyle nearly drowns trying to save Cartman's life, despite their past history. Although, in "Butt Out" he did not seem to care that the anti-smoking group members were trying to poison him.
Kyle also becomes more sick than any of the other boys, possibly due to his diabetes. He experiences a painful infectious hemorrhoid when Cartman inherits $1 million dollars from his grandmother and uses it to buy his own amusement park. He also needed a new kidney (that only Cartman could provide).
[edit] Talents
[edit] Athletics
Not only is Kyle one of the stars on his school's football team (as seen in "Big Gay Al's Big Gay Boat Ride"), he is also apparently the best basketball player in South Park within his age group. Although he aspires to someday play for the Denver Nuggets, Kyle suffers from the "handicap" of not being tall and black, which he attempted to rectify with cosmetic surgery (with grisly results, in "Mr. Garrison's Fancy New Vagina"). His favorite sports team is the Denver Broncos
[edit] Music
Kyle can play both the acoustic and bass guitar (as seen in the episodes "Hooked on Monkey Phonics" and "Christian Rock Hard"). He also showed his ability to play the flute in the episode "The Red Badge of Gayness". Despite this, Kyle is shown to have no rhythm whatsoever in "Rainforest Schmainforest". He also concurrently played the violin (badly) in "Summer Sucks" with Stan and Kenny. He was also part of a boy band in "Fingerbang." Kyle is also able to play the recorder in the episode "The Brown Noise". Kyle also seems to be a fan of the goth rock band, The Cure, going as far as declaring in the episode "Mecha-Streisand" that their 1989 album Disintegration is ""the best album ever".
[edit] Science
Kyle seems to have a good understanding of genetics, in 'Ginger Kids' he uses his class presentation to explain the genetical inheritance that leads to red hair, freckles and light skin. There are hints that his skills, or another of his talents, could have an impact on the future. Cartman, in 'Go God Go' part B, calls Kyle on his Timephone. In this call Cartman openly acknowledges "Kyle you are the smartest guy I know." The call means that Kyle is late for his ride, with him claiming that his "whole day is screwed up" the future is changed. Cartman's robot dog, K-10, turns into a robot cat called Kit-9.
[edit] Computer Skills
Kyle is quite a proficient hacker, as seen in the feature South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.
[edit] Weaponry
Weaponry is the most surprising of all Kyle's skills. He seems to be able to handle weapons well for his age. Kyle is seen using an energy weapon in "Towelie", with surprising effectiveness. In the episode "Wing", Kyle is able to wield a Heckler & Koch G36 assault rifle somewhat better than Cartman, despite both of them firing on full automatic. As far as marksmanship goes, however, Kyle is still nowhere near as good as Pip.
[edit] Language
As seen in the episode "Cartman's Silly Hate Crime 2000", Kyle is proficient, if not fluent, in Pig Latin. Kyle also has a talent for the Haiku, as seen in "Roger Ebert Should Lay Off the Fatty Foods". He is, in fact, able to come up with Haikus insulting Cartman off the top of his head.
[edit] External Links
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| Main characters | |||||
| Stan Marsh | Kyle Broflovski | Eric Cartman | Kenny McCormick | Butters Stotch | |||||
| Family members | |||||
| Gerald and Sheila Broflovski | Grampa Marsh | Ike | Jimbo Kern | Stuart and Mrs. McCormick | Richard and Mrs. Tweek | Liane Cartman | Randy and Sharon Marsh | Shelley | Stephen and Linda Stotch | Kyle Schwartz | |||||
| List of other South Park residents | |||||
| Big Gay Al | Dr. Doctor | Dr. Mephisto | Mayor McDaniels | Ned Gerblansky | Officer Barbrady | Priest Maxi | Sergeant Yates | Tuong Lu Kim | Mr. Slave | |||||
| South Park Elementary staff and students | |||||
| Students: 6th Graders | Bebe | Clyde | Craig | Dougie | Jimmy | Kevin | Kindergarteners | Pip | Timmy | Token | Tweek | Wendy Staff: Chef | Mr. Adler | Mr. Mackey | Mr. Slave | Mrs. Garrison | Ms. Choksondik | Ms. Crabtree | Nurse Gollum | Principal Victoria |
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| Occasional characters | |||||
| Jesus | Mr. Hankey | Saddam Hussein | Satan | Terrance and Phillip | Towelie | Chef's parents | |||||
| Minor characters | |||||
