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Kyle Broflovski
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Kyle Broflovski (sometimes portrayed as Brovlofski or Broflofski) is a fictional character in the animated television series South Park. He is voiced by and based on series co-creator Matt Stone. Kyle is one of the show's five central characters, together with Stan Marsh, Kenny McCormick, Eric Cartman and Butters Stotch. He first appeared in The Spirit of Christmas shorts created by Stone and long time collaborator Trey Parker in 1992 (Jesus vs. Frosty) and 1995 (Jesus vs. Santa).
Kyle often displays the highest moral standard of all the boys and is usually depicted as the smartest.
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Encyclopedia
Kyle Broflovski (sometimes portrayed as Brovlofski or Broflofski) is a fictional character in the animated television series South Park. He is voiced by and based on series co-creator Matt Stone. Kyle is one of the show's five central characters, together with Stan Marsh, Kenny McCormick, Eric Cartman and Butters Stotch. He first appeared in The Spirit of Christmas shorts created by Stone and long time collaborator Trey Parker in 1992 (Jesus vs. Frosty) and 1995 (Jesus vs. Santa).
Kyle often displays the highest moral standard of all the boys and is usually depicted as the smartest. He often acts as the protagonist to Cartman's antagonist. One of the few Jewish children on the show, Kyle often feels like an outsider amongst the core group of characters.
Character
Kyle resides with his family in the fictional town of South Park, Colorado, where he is one of the smarter students in his fourth grade class at elementary school. He suffers from diabetes, and other bouts with his health have been the subject of several episodes. He once had to deal with a painfully-infected hemorrhoid, and in another instance was in dire need of a kidney transplant. Kyle's father Gerald is a lawyer, and his mother Sheila is a sometimes-overbearing housewife. Kyle has no biological siblings, but does have a younger adopted brother from Canada named Ike.
The lone Jew amongst his friends, Kyle is often both defensive and proud of his origins. He is nevertheless lonely in this regard, particularly around Christmas time, and takes solace in anticipating the annual appearance of Mr. Hankey, an anthromorphic piece of feces who emerges from the sewer to spread Christmas cheer. On a few occasions, Kyle has been shown to be insecure about Jewish traditions and beliefs, such as when he was told the story of Job, and when he misunderstood the true nature of a bris. Kyle is inept at choreographed dancing, and, in the eyes of Cartman, perpetuated the stereotype that "Jews have no rhythm".
Kyle often provides a sober thought to plans or ideas made by the other boys, and explains a moral outlook while drawing upon his vast knowledge and intelligence. He is able to speak pig Latin fluently, and is shown to be a capable hacker in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. Throughout the course of the series, he has expressed lessons in the dangers of censorship, pantheistic solipsism, metaphysics, and esoterism. Kyle is frequently the only child in his class to not initially indulge in a fad or fall victim to a ploy. This has resulted in both his eagerness to fit in, and his resentment and frustration.
Kyle's persistance and knack for persuasion have resulted in him accomplishing some notable feats, such as arranging for the Mexican space program to help launch a killer whale to the Moon in a misguided attempt to save the creature, convincing dictator Fidel Castro to bring democracy to Cuba, and encouraging a network president to air a cartoon likeness of the prophet Muhammad despite a retaliation threat from Al-Qaeda. He tends to try to offer reasonable or scientific explanations to situations most others view as supernatural in nature, and in opposition of propaganda dispensed by Cartman.
In the early seasons, Kyle showed little to no interest in girls. After sharing his first kiss with Bebe, he ran out, disgusted. He eventually developed an interest in a shy home-schooled girl named Rebecca Cottswald, which quickly became his first relationship. However, their relationship quickly ended when their first kiss together led to Rebecca suddenly taking up a promiscuous lifestyle.
Appearance
In tradition with the show's animation style, Kyle is composed of simple geometrical shapes, and isn't offered the same free range of motion associated with hand-drawn characters. In the show's earliest episodes, he was composed of construction paper cutouts and animated through the use of stop motion. Kyle is now animated with computer software, though he is portrayed to give the impression that the show still utilizes its original technique.
Kyle wears a bright green ear-flapped cap (ushanka), a bright orange jacket, dark green pants, and lime-green mittens or gloves. In the rare instances he is shown without his cap, he is shown to have a bright red-to-auburn Jewfro, a hairstyle he seems to resent. In "Elementary School Musical" it was styled to resemble the hair of High School Musical's Corbin Bleu. Being referred to as a "daywalker" by Cartman, he does not possess the freckles and fair skin that are often associated with those who have red hair, traits that Cartman believes are associated with a person being restricted to only coming out at night.
Family
Kyle's father Gerald appears to be a caring and rational father, and often attempts to teach Kyle important morals. This role was reversed when an indignant Kyle pleaded with his father to stop taking part in numerous lawsuits that were bankrupting his school. His mother Sheila is very overprotective and fits the mold of a Jewish mother stereotype. Though her outspoken and manipulative nature usually overwhelms Kyle, he tends to show that he truly loves her, and takes offense to any insult Cartman may offer about her. Kyle's overall good relationship with his parents has not been without its squabbles, one of which resulted in Kyle tricking the authorities into taking them to prison after the two failed to fulfill a promise to him. Although he engages in the reckless act of playfully kicking him like a football, Kyle is concerned for the well-being of his Canadian-born adopted brother Ike. He has hidden him from both internment forces, and his own family when he thought they intended to cut off his entire penis during a circumcision. Kyle also traveled all throughout Canada in a search to reclaim him from his biological parents. Kyle has a first cousin also named Kyle, whom he resents for being the embodiment of Jewish stereotypes and causing Kyle to question whether or not he was a self-hating Jew.
Relationships and friends
Stan
In the group, Kyle and Stan are portrayed as the closest friends. Their relationship is a common topic throughout the series. They always sit or stand together whenever they are in class, at assemblies, waiting at the bus stop, or generally hanging around. The two do have their frequent disagreements, but always reconcile without any long-term damage to their friendship. There have been numerous times where the duo hug or put a hand on the other's back to show signs of affection.
Kenny
Kyle and Kenny don't interact that much during the show and aren't seen alone together very much, but are known to be quite good friends. Kyle has claimed that Kenny was not his friend in order to avoid having to spend the night at his poverty-stricken household, but in several instances has proven to be truly concerned for Kenny's health and safety. Despite not being Jewish himself, Kenny accompanied Kyle to a camp intended for Jewish children. Kyle normally has the angrier reaction of yelling "You bastard(s)!" following Stan's exclamation of "Oh my god, he/she/you/it/they/I/we/ killed Kenny" after one of Kenny's trademark deaths.
Cartman
The enmity between Cartman and Kyle has been in the show from the start, but has become significantly more pronounced as the series has progressed. Cartman holds an anti-Semitic attitude towards Kyle, whereas Kyle makes cracks at Cartman's weight and is horrified and disgusted with Cartman's immorality, cruelty, bigotry, and greed. Their rivalry often elevates to the point where Kyle becomes so obsessed with beating Cartman at whatever he does, he sometimes abandons Stan and Kenny in the process. He has a tendency to make what he thinks are safe bets with Cartman, and often loses these bets when the improbable actions promised by Cartman are accomplished.
Butters
Kyle is on very good terms with Butters Stotch. Kyle is considered more friendly and caring of Butters than anyone else in the show, due to Butters' cooperation with him. Despite not being against of the idea of using Butters as a scapegoat to help his friends get to their goals, Kyle is more concerned of Butters' safety. Kyle also opposes Cartman's harmful treatment of Butters.
External links
- at South Park Studios
- at KyleFanClub
at South Park archives, a South Park wiki
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