Kyle Broflovski
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| Kyle Broflovski | |
|---|---|
| Age: | 9[1] |
| Gender: | Male |
| Hair color: | Auburn |
| Job: | Student |
| Religion: | Jewish |
| First appearance: | The Spirit of Christmas |
| Voiced by: | Matt Stone |
Kyle Broflovski (portrayed as 'Brovlofski' on a sign at his dad's office in the season 4 episode Chef Goes Nanners[2]) is a fictional character in the Emmy-award-winning American animated series South Park. Voiced by and based on series co-creator Matt Stone, Kyle is one of the show's four central characters, together with Stan Marsh, Kenny McCormick, and Eric Cartman. Stone has asserted that the character is loosely based on himself and his experiences growing up in suburban Colorado. The surname Broflovski is derived from Brosloski, the original surname of Stone's mother (changed to Belasco when an ancestor immigrated to the United States).
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[edit] Family
His mother, Sheila Broflovski, 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 very prone to "making a mountain out of a molehill" whenever she thinks something is threatening her son. Her catchphrase is "What, what, what?!" Kyle's father Gerald Broflovski is a lawyer, but Kyle reiterates that despite his father's profession, they are not as wealthy as Token Black. Kyle also has an adopted younger brother, Ike Broflovski. Ike's birth parents are Canadian. He also has a cousin who appeared in "The Entity", "Red Sleigh Down" and "The Losing Edge", also named Kyle.
[edit] Appearance
Kyle wears a bright green ear-flapped cap (or ushanka), a bright orange jacket with black-edged pockets with a bright green collar,dark green pants and lime-green mittens or gloves. He is rarely shown without his cap, but without it he has a bright red-to-auburn Jewfro, a hairstyle he seems to resent. In "Good Times with Weapons", His anime self is shown to have either brown or violet eyes. In the episode "Ginger Kids" Kyle is referred to as a 'Daywalker' (a part ginger, the only ginger trait is the hair)
[edit] Characterization
[edit] Religion
He is one of few Jewish characters in the show, though he shows a very Deist point of view throughout the course of the series. For instance, rather than integrating Jewish Mysticism and Religious ideas with Science, he rather puts down supernatural explanations and prefers to see things scientifically rather than religiously. For instance, when Cartman claims to have Psychic powers and Kyle displays plausible psychic ability (by blowing up a few lightbulbs while shouting), he dismisses it saying that there is a reasonable explanation. He is considered by some to believe in God as First Cause and take on the religion of his parents out of respect for them (the latter being increasingly likely as he has actually met and seen Jesus, who is the reason for the Christianity-Judaism split). Cartman's most frequent topic to tease Kyle over is his religion, and because of this, Kyle is very insecure about his origins, and is more defensive than he is proud. He does not seem to know much about Jewish traditions or beliefs, as when his little brother, Ike, was going to have a bris in "Ike's Wee Wee", he thought Ike's entire penis was going to be cut off, rather than just the foreskin (this may be due to the fact that Kyle had his Brit milah at a younger age).
[edit] Personality
When angered or frustrated, Kyle has a tendency to clench his fists and growl or yell angrily. He has also apparently picked up Stan's trait of pinching the bridge of his nose when frustrated, as seen at the end of "I'm a Little Bit Country and super fun time." Kyle typically displays the highest moral standards of all the boys, even though he lies in "Are You There God? It's Me, Jesus". Kyle also usually gets higher grades than his friends, and often provides a sober thought to plans or ideas made by the other boys. Kyle usually acts as the protagonist to Cartman's antagonist. Kyle is on better terms with Stan Marsh, who are usually seen as very close friends. Either he or Stan are usually the ones to say "You know, I learned something today", and/or save the town from various disasters or negative influences. However, while Stan usually accomplishes this through his clear-headedness and unbiased views, Kyle usually does the same through his vast knowledge and intelligence. A notable example of this is in Cartoon Wars, where he warns the president of the Fox Network of the dangers of censorship and it's violation of American principles. Another instance is in Imaginationland Episode III, where he convinces the Pentagon General not to nuke Imaginationland by explaining that despite being "imaginary", imaginary characters are just as real as non-imaginary ones. (see Pantheistic solipsism). Apart from Butters, Kyle is the most caring and compassionate of the boys, but can be violent towards Cartman, and has beaten him up on several occasions, notably in "Kenny Dies" because Cartman had pretended to care about Kenny's illness in order to get the ban on stem cells lifted, only to then use stem cells to clone his own Shakey's Pizza, and in "Tonsil Trouble" after Cartman purposely infected Kyle with the HIV virus. It is also revealed that he has no rhythm in "Rainforest Schmainforest". In the episode "Cartman's Silly Hate Crime 2000" it is shown that Kyle is able to speak pig latin fluently. As for his friend Kenny McCormick, in most South Park episodes Kyle and Kenny seem to be quite good friends, and Kyle later heavily mourned Kenny's death in "Kenny Dies".
Kyle has revealed that his birthday is somewhere in October.[3]
[edit] Health
Besides Kenny, Kyle becomes sick more often than any of the other boys, likely due to his Type One diabetes. He experiences a painful infected hemorrhoid when Cartman inherits $1 million from his grandmother and uses it to buy his own amusement park in "Cartmanland" (though this could be psychosomatic, as the hemorrhoid disappears as soon as Cartman loses his park). He also needed a kidney transplant (that only Cartman could provide because they are both Blood Type AB-negative) in "Cherokee Hair Tampons". In the episode "Guitar Queer-o", sickness apparently prevents Kyle from practicing playing Guitar Hero as much as Stan does, and in the episode "The Death Camp of Tolerance", he succumbs to the physical effects of torture before Stan and Cartman. However, in the episode "Chickenpox" he is the only person in his class who does not easily catch chickenpox, even after playing a game in which Kenny (who had chickenpox) spat into his mouth and he had to swallow it while saying "ookymouth" (an activity suggested by his mother in hopes that her son would catch chickenpox). He does catch it in the end, collapsing onto the ground melodramatically, though this only occurs after prolonged exposure to the sick Stan and Cartman. Also Kyle was off school with a cold when Cartman was worried that there was a terrorist in their class. Probably the most serious illness Kyle has "contracted" so far is HIV, deliberately given to him by Cartman. However, thanks to Magic Johnson (and his cash), he is cured of the disease. In three instances, Stan has saved his life (two of which involve illnesses).
[edit] Best-friendship with Stan
In the group, Kyle and Stan are portrayed as the closest friends; they sing part of the opening theme song together, they generally stand next to each other in any situation and have both labelled themselves as Super Best Friends. Throughout the 12 seasons that South Park has aired, they have only 'broken up' 7 times, most recently in Guitar Queer-o, and have reconciled each time on screen (except in South Park Is Gay). In most episodes, Kyle prefers to side with Stan on arguments, however there have been instances where he has openly disagreed with Stan's views and sided with Cartman. Stan has saved Kyle's life three times, even when the situation has been potentially threatening or painful for him. Kyle, in turn, set out to rescue Stan and Butters in Imaginationland III, even experiencing a telepathic link with Stan. In Fun With Veal, Kyle worries over Stan's deteriorating health and barely left his side. Stan and Kyle show the physical evidence of their close friendship in Smug Alert!, when they hug on Kyle's return home from San Francisco, It's Christmas in Canada in which they sleep leaning towards each other (as opposed to Cartman and Kenny, who lean opposite directions) and The Return Of Chef: in a fictious 'Previously on South Park', they briefly hug at sunset. Kyle often gets himself involved in risky situations for the benefit of Stan, and vice versa. Cartman also recognized their close friendship in Kenny Dies.
[edit] Rivalry with Cartman
The enmity between Cartman and Kyle has been in the show from the start, but has become sigificantly more pronounced since season 4. Although most of the kids in South Park dislike Cartman, Cartman and Kyle's feud is a recurring and well-known theme. Cartman openly hates Kyle and considers him, as a Jew, to be sub-human. Kyle hates him in return, as well as being horrified and disgusted with Cartman's immorality, cruelty, bigotry and greediness. The two spend a great deal of time arguing and trading insults, with Kyle being the butt of Cartman's anti-semetism and Kyle making cracks about Cartman's weight and intelligence. Many episodes, such as Cartoon Wars, The Imaginationland Trilogy, Ginger Kids and several others deal with their animosity and attempts to defeat each other in their goals. Although Kyle always fights against Cartman's manipulative tactics, Cartman's hatred has been shown to have a negative effect on him. Cartman uses Kyle as a target for his sadistic desires and tendencies, and Kyle often becomes obsessed with beating Cartman at whatever he does, even abandoning Stan and Kenny in the process. However, Cartman has saved Kyle's life two times. The first time in Smug Alert, where he rescues Kyle and his family from San Fransico during a smug storm, and sends them back to South Park by bus. Also, he saves Kyle's life during Imagination Land II, where Kyle is not breathing, because he gets shocked. Cartman begs the doctor to keep "zapping" Kyle, until he wakes up. Kyle doesn't know about Cartman saving his life. However, neither Kyle nor Cartman seems to notice the toxicity of their relationship, and continue to live in close contact, even referring to each other as friends.
[edit] References
- ^ Trey Parker
- ^ http://i25.tinypic.com/nyts1s.jpg
- ^ In "Casa Bonita (South Park episode)", he says "I'm gonna take Butters. He invited me to his birthday party last month, so I owe him one." Butters' birthday is September 11th.
[edit] External links
- Kyle Broflovski at South Park Studios
- Kyle Broflovski at KyleFanClub
- Kyle Broflovski at South Park archives, a South Park wiki
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