gunslingin’

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seeing as south park episodes aren’t gonna come until march, this gives me the time to talk about cupid ye…which i’ve wanted to after the episode came out but i figured i wouldn’t have enough time to. so i really planned this analysis to be after all the episodes were made for s26…but again seeing as they’re on break, i took my chances.

so this is the perfect time for me to talk about cupid ye and how the episode always read more kyman than style to me. this may sound absurd considering the episode phrases stan and kyle’s relationship in a romantic way, but i find that’s all it extends to. let’s review the episode for a bit so i can elaborate. sure, the phrasing implies some sort of romance between stan and kyle, and there’s even a scene where stan is stammering and love struck when kyle talks to him. But we don’t ever see stan act upon this. notice how throughout the entire episode stan NEVER confronts kyle about how he misses hanging out with him? i see people call kyle a bad friend for “ditching” him, but it’s a notion i never got. stan never said anything to kyle about it, kyle’s not a bad friend for wanting to have fun with someone else, it’s not ditching in the slightest (unless you’re going to try and actually imply kyle belongs to stan and should only be around him 24/7). how was kyle supposed to know stan felt this way? he was having fun with tolkien, kyle’s suddenly villain for having fucking fun??? i can only blame stan in this situation because all he did was avoid the problem and act like it didn’t affect him (when it did).

even at the end of the episode, he only confronts tolkien not kyle. this just signifies to me there’s a clear communication problem in stan and kyle’s friendship. for an unknown reason, stan doesn’t want to address things with kyle. with this fact in mind, that scene where stan is nervous to talk to kyle at lunch suddenly doesn’t look so cute anymore, in fact, it demonstrates a legitimately problem of stan’s.

it’s no wonder stan and kyle’s friendship is breaking off, stan can’t even discuss his feelings with kyle. he does nothing but mope around and feel sorry for himself when he could literally fix the problem if he talked to his super best friend.

but opposed that to cartman in this episode. what does cartman do in the episode when he realizes he did something wrong? he acts. he realizes he’s gone way too far with the rumor about kyle running hollywood and he actually does something about it. sure, stan can stand in front of kyle to protect him (which tolkien did too so even that’s not a style moment lol) but cartman’s the one who forced cupid ye (arguably himself) to take his meds to save kyle.

cartman got kyle in this mess but he got kyle out of it.

and let’s talk about the initial synopsis for the episode too.

the synopsis says cartman is jealous. watching the ep, it appears stan is jealous, and he is. so why would it say cartman is jealous? because cartman is projecting. cartman ordinarily doesn’t care if stan and kyle have a fallout, actually he typically relishes in them. but that’s only because he gets kyle to himself (ex: assburgers, cbaa). but this time, tolkien and kyle hang out. so cartman takes stan’s jealousy and acts like he’s doing it for stan and his friendship with kyle, but in reality he’s doing it because he’s jealousy. just as the synopsis says.

and i don’t think it’s a coincidence cupid me, cartman’s gay conscious, is in this episode about cartman being jealous of tolkien and kyle’s friendship. in their valentine’s day episode at that ;).

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: ̗̀➛jae, 18, they/them, non binary, lesbian, afro latina

south park’s “ginger cow”, season 17 episode 6 is honestly quite the er…interesting episode. but despite it’s rampant fart humor and what not, it’s still a goodie, especially in terms of comedy. (idk something about kyle saying “can i please i your piping hot farts in my mouth” makes me laugh every time.) but in terms of characterizing kyman’s dynamic….? that’s where it falls flat.

the episode ignores cartman’s relationship with kyle—particularly regarding kyle’s natural “fighting spirit”. when cartman does or says something nasty, kyle is the first to call him out on his bullshit, granted he’ll only do it if he personally doesn’t agree with what he’s doing (cbaa) but none the less, you can admit kyle often criticizes cartman. and you know how cartman reacts? yeah, he fights back. and it’s key to recognize what cartman does when kyle fights back at him. why mention this? well obviously people aren’t flat—they feel emotions and can be flippant; my case in point being there are times where kyle doesn’t call cartman out on his bullshit and “let’s him win”. let’s take “mr garrisons fancy new vagina” episode 1 of season 9.

in this episode, kyle tries out for the basketball team, whilst cartman hurls beforehand that jews can’t play basket basketball and obviously kyle fights back.

Cartman: This is ridiculous. Jews can't play basketball. Kyle [points right at Cartman]: I beat out YOUR fat ass, Cartman! [a referee's whistle is heard]

but as kyle plays, he isn’t exactly the best. and even his coach reaffirms cartman’s previous statement. this leaves kyle feel hopeless…

Cartman: Nyanyanyanyanyaaanyaaa! You-hoo-hoo-hoo loh-ost! Hahahahahaaahaaa! [No response. Cartman can't get a rise out of Kyle] Kyle, I'm totally ripping on you at a totally inappropriate time. Kyle: I know. I deserve it. Cartman: Yeah, you know why? Because Jews can't play basketball! Kyle: You're right. [this disarms Cartman completely, and he walks away] Cartman: Jesus, that's no fun.

Interestingly enough, as soon as kyle forfeits and doesn’t put up a fight cartman spits that, “it’s no fun”. it’s a clear departure from how cartman reacts to kyle, with the only difference being kyle didn’t fight back. i think this statement alone shows that cartman enjoys the fight with kyle, as the quote reads “he can’t get a rise out him”

and by the way, kyle being subservient to cartman is different to cartman getting his way with him. taking imagination land for an example, kyle ultimately sucking cartman’s balls didn’t come immediately. in fact cartman actually draws the time out when he thinks he’s won. cartman chooses to actively relish the moment by listening to kyle complain, he dresses up and teases him about it (ball famished anyone?). it takes a very long time until kyle sucks cartman’s balls, and the only reason cartman could enjoy it as much as he did was because kyle put up a fight. it’s kinda like the phrase “boys like the chase.”

but in “mrs garrison’s fancy vagina” cartman wins very easily, kyle just agrees with cartman and doesn’t provide any argument or anything. as much as cartman likes to win, it means nothing to him if kyle didn’t fight him before he did.

it’s clear cartman enjoys kyle’s stubbornness, and it’s even stated and addressed in “smug alert”. quote,

Stan: You know, Cartman, you may be stoked now, but I bet you're gonna find that without Kyle around to rip on, your life is empty, and hollow.

and the episode straight up proves stan right with cartman feeling that butters, who is subservient to everything cartman throws at him, is a “lousy jew” because he didn’t have the fighting cadence like kyle. cartman thinks initially he can replace kyle but it’s clear he can’t; nothing can satisfy cartman than kyle fighting back at that moment. so you know what cartman does.

he risks his life to save kyle.

it’s something he didn’t even have to do (and the fact he doesn’t even admit to it???) but it just shows how much he cares about not only his entertainment, but kyle in general, to the point he could die trying to get them back. the truth is, cartman can’t live without kyle around. he likes how kyle has fight in him, and imagination land also as a goodie that advocates this.

when someone dies, often someone who was close to them will start admitting stuff as they pass. they’ll start saying how they feel about the person, who they think the person is etc etc. and obviously south park isn’t immune to this, i mean not only is this a common trope, it can enhance how sad a death scene is. so when in imagination land (2), when kyle is sworn to die, cartman admits something interesting…

Cartman: Godammit Kyle, you never walked away from anything in your life! Now fight! [smacks Kyle around] Fight! Fight! 

cartman claims kyle “never walked away from anything”, which of course refers to how frequent kyle bickers back. but it’s interesting cartman brings this up. something that ordinarily would be seen as an inconvenience that opposes him (fighting back) is being regarded as something good, like it’s something kyle should be proud of. the fact cartman confesses this on kyle’s death bed really proves how kyle having that stubbornness is very important to cartman.

so tldr: we can come to the conclusion cartman really likes it when kyle fights back and it’s very important he does.

so why did i say all of this? well because in ginger cow, kyle reacts a bit differently to cartman’s tricks. beings an avid peace lover, when the world has world peace kyle has no problem letting cartman er…fart on him for it.

now i don’t have any issues with how kyle is protracted here, actually it aligns in his character, because we can all totally see kyle doing something dumb or extreme to have peace in the world. but the way cartman is portrayed…

he basically relishes kyle’s servitude. and if you take everything we learned about cartman so far, this is WILDLY out of character. if cartman was characterized consistently in this episode, he would bail the fuck out if kyle started being like “ok yeah sure fart in my face.” like he’d be so turned off, he wouldn’t indulge in that shit at all. now if kyle fought the fart thing it would be different, and cartman probably would’ve enjoyed himself a lot more, the the fact is kyle didn’t and cartman was ok with that??? like who tf are you and what did you do with cartman.

it pretends like cartman didn’t risk his fucking life just to rip on kyle again and have him fight back. like that guy is unhinged for it, and to act like that shit never happened is insane people talk.

like atp you could’ve replaced kyle with butters and i’d believe it; butter is a lot more passive with cartman and cartman likes to have butters listening to his every word. like the episode would’ve been so much more believable in terms of dynamic.