Who is Kyle Broslofski?
Jewish kid hits big time in TV's 'South Park'
REBECCA RAPHAEL
Jewish Student Press Service
Kyle is one of four third-graders whose misadventures unfold on the animated hit "South Park," Comedy Central's highest-rated program ever. The cable network's show has gained a growing following over the past year, particularly on college campuses.
Photo courtesy of Comedy Central
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Now that Jerry Seinfeld has said his goodbyes to "Must-See TV," a foul-mouthed 8-year-old is crafting his takeover of the small screen. Though he may not have Jerry's comic genius, receding hair line or outrageous salary, he's got the word "Jewish" stamped across his resume and he's ready to make it big.
In the animated show "South Park," Kyle Broslofski and his pals are bent on pushing TV's boundaries just as far as they please. Nestled in the Colorado Rockies, South Park is home to Kyle, Kenny, Cartman and Stan, four potty-mouthed third-graders for whom the supernatural, extraordinary, unusual and insane are just part of growing up. A backlash against political correctness, "South Park" is what can be called an equal opportunity offender.
Between Kyle (the smart kid who's easily persuaded), Cartman (the fat kid who insists he's just "big-boned"), Stan (the leader of the group), and Kenny (the poor kid who dies in nearly every episode), everyone and everything is a target for mockery. When not "ripping" on each other and those who cross their paths, the rascals are forced to deal with real-life issues such as euthanasia, environmental concerns, world hunger, gluttony and homophobia.
On a typical day in "South Park," the four spend time with each other and interact with maladjusted adults including Mr. Garrison, their mentally unbalanced teacher who speaks through a hand puppet called Mr. Hat; Chef (voiced by Isaac Hayes), the lovable cafeteria worker and UFO fanatic who breaks into songs with raunchy lyrics at every opportunity; and their parents, each of whom is ineffective, neurotic and warped.
Their boyhood exploits have created a national phenomenon and earned instant cult status for "South Park," particularly on college campuses. With 4.5 million viewers tuning in each week, "South Park" is the most popular series in the history of Comedy Central, the all-comedy cable network.
"South Park" was born in 1995, when Brian Graden, then an executive at the Fox television network, commissioned Matt Stone, 26, and Trey Parker, 28, to create a holiday video for him to send to friends and colleagues. The two former University of Colorado film students took on the project and used construction paper cutouts and stop-action animation to produce "The Spirit of Christmas." Their five-minute film, in which gutter-mouthed kids watch Jesus and Santa try to kill each other in a wrestling match, was passed around in Hollywood circles and ignited a buzz that made its way across the country. Before long, the word-of-mouth explosion landed Parker and Stone's material in a bidding war among the networks, and they signed a deal for 13 episodes of "South Park" with Comedy Central.
While the third-grade characters harass each other for practically any reason at all, Kyle is the only one whose ethnic background is not only defined but is also the source of ridicule. Despite his father, who wears a kippah, and his pushy mother, who calls him "bubbe," Kyle is not totally in touch with his Jewishness. In fact, he's not really sure what being Jewish even means. When his friends ask him, "Aren't you Jewish, Kyle?" he responds, "Yeah, I think so." And when a school counselor says, "I understand you're Jewish," he answers, "Not on purpose!"
As far as Kyle knows, being a Jew is simply grounds for mockery, a trait that sets him apart from his friends. Though he finds eight nights of presents during Hanukkah appealing, Kyle feels particularly like an outcast during the holiday season. "The "South Park Christmas Special," which was the fourth-highest rated cable program of the year, took a closer look at the real-life issues he confronts as the only Jewish kid at South Park Elementary School. Kyle's embarrassment and isolation begin when his mother raises a ruckus about his role in the school Christmas play's Nativity scene. Never mind the on-stage depiction of the actual birth of Jesus from between the legs of an 8-year-old (who is criticized for not making her labor pains sounds more believable); Kyle's mother is outraged that her son is playing Joseph.
"My family doesn't celebrate Christmas. We're Jewish," she shouts in front of Kyle's entire class, leaving him mortified by her outburst. When he can't go to the mall to see Santa and he's deprived of the small pleasure of catching snowflakes on his tongue (the local policeman confirms that he cannot catch "Christmas" snowflakes because he's Jewish), the loneliness becomes unbearable. He breaks into song: "It's hard to be a Jew on Christmas. My friends won't let me join in any games. And I can't sing Christmas songs or decorate a Christmas tree . . . I'm a Jew, a lonely Jew. I'd be merry, but I'm Hebrew. . ."
References to Kyle's Jewishness have been plentiful in other episodes as well. Most characters latch on to the fact that Kyle is Jewish; it is the trait that defines his character. Kyle is the Jewish kid in the same way that Cartman is the fat kid or Kenny is the poor kid. So when Cartman tells Kyle to "Go back to San Francisco with the rest of the Jews," the insult is as nonsensical as Kyle's response: "You idiot! There are no Jews in San Francisco."
Creators can sympathize
The situations Kyle faces may be outrageous and unbelievable, yet viewers can, and do, relate to him. "I can totally sympathize with Kyle," explained Stone. "I mean I'm pretty much him." Stone not only does the voice-overs for Kyle, but he also chooses his story line, adventures, and is responsible for his personal profile. Though Stone did not grow up wearing a green cap with earflaps, he knows exactly where Kyle is coming from.
"We're both reactionary, short-tempered and impatient," Stone said in an interview. But the similarities don't stop there. He was born in Houston and raised in the suburbs of Denver. Stone's mother is Jewish, his father Irish and he, like Kyle, considers himself "ethnically Jewish, but that's about all."
It was his own annual experience during the holiday season that gave Stone the idea for the Christmas special. "On Christmas Day for my entire life, I've had nothing to do." Though neither Stone's parents nor grandparents are as religious as Kyle's father, Stone made a conscious decision to portray him with a beard, kippah and the recognizably Jewish last name Broslofski. "It just creates more opportunity for comedy," he said. "It gives us more things to make fun of, and we just think it's funny."
Parker identifies most closely with Stan, but he draws on his own experiences to create Kyle's character as well. "There was one Jewish person in my whole town, and while the rest of us did Christmas stuff, she had to come out and do a Hanukkah song," Parker said of Conifer, his Colorado hometown in the real county of South Park. "She was totally just like the token Jewish person. I did not want to be her," Parker said.
As for criticism of their offensive humor, Parker said, "We're not in the business of offending people; we're in the business of making people laugh." Besides, when all is said and done, Stone said, "all the kids are good friends. Nobody is fat, Jewish, lonely, whatever; they're just all friends."
Rebecca Raphael is a staff writer for New Voices, a publication of the Jewish Student Press Service, based in New York.
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