Butters Stotch
Butters Stotch | |
---|---|
Linda Stotch (mother) | |
Significant other | Charlotte (ex-girlfriend) |
Birthday | September 11, Lihue, Hawaii |
Residence | South Park, Colorado, United States |
Leopold "Butters" Stotch is a fictional character in the
Butters is depicted as more naive, optimistic, and gullible than the show's other child characters and can become increasingly anxious, especially when faced with the likelihood of being grounded, of which he is extremely terrified. As a result, he is often sheltered and unknowledgeable of some of the suggestive content his peers understand, and is also frequently the victim of abuse and manipulation by Eric Cartman.
Butters debuted as an unnamed background character when South Park first premiered on
Role in South Park
Butters attends South Park Elementary as part of
As a result, Butters vengefully adopted the alter ego of
Despite being displaced from both his role as the "fourth friend" and from the eventual return of Kenny, Butters has continued to be a major character in recent seasons and is still a good friend to the group. Formerly a social outcast in earlier episodes, he has nevertheless been seen spending considerable amount of time with the other children, and continues to be a frequent source of help to Cartman, while also being the main victim of Cartman's pranks and manipulation: for instance, in the
Character
Creation and design
On August 13, 1997, Butters first appeared as a background character when South Park debuted on Comedy Central with the episode "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe".[7] For the episode, the character was composed of construction paper cutouts and animated through the use of stop motion.[8] Since then, like all other characters on the show, Butters has been animated with computer software, though he is portrayed to give the impression that the show still utilizes its original technique.[8] In the tradition of the show's animation style, Butters is composed of simple geometrical shapes and colors.[8][9] He is not offered the same free range of motion associated with hand-drawn characters; his character is mostly shown from only one angle, and his movements are animated in an intentionally jerky fashion.[2][8][9] Butters has a large tuft of blond hair on top of his head, and is usually depicted wearing an aquamarine jacket with dark green pants and black shoes. While originally voicing Butters without any computer manipulation, Stone now speaks within his normal vocal range while adding a childlike inflection, a slight stutter, and a Southern accent. The recorded audio is then edited with Pro Tools, and the pitch is altered to make the voice sound more like that of a fourth grader.[10][11]
Development
The character is loosely based on South Park co-producer Eric Stough,[12] whom Stone and Parker regard as a "goody-goody" because of his reluctance to offend. The inspiration behind the major development of Butters was, in the words of Parker and Stone, the geeky behavior that Stough irritated the aforementioned creators with during their production of the 1999 South Park TV-to-Film adaptation South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut in the studio office of Paramount Pictures.
Parker and Stone then decided to parody Stough's antics in the series by transferring it to the character of Butters and proceeding to write the episode "Two Guys Naked in a Hot Tub", which aired three weeks after Bigger, Longer & Uncut was released.[13] The nickname "Butters" evolved from Parker and Stone calling Stough "little buddy" for about three years.[14][15] Prior to making his first major appearance in the
Butters gradually became one of Parker and Stone's favorite characters, and for the show's
Personality and traits
Though using profanity on occasion, Butters does not indulge in this language as often as the other children on the show, instead preferring to use
Butters is also known for being gullible, quickly believing anything told to him by others and tending to do whatever he is told to do with little protest, no matter how ridiculous these things seem to be. As such, he is always made an unknowing accomplice in Cartman's various devious schemes. There are cases, however, where Butters has shown a darker side, such as in episodes like "
In other media
Butters appears as a nameless background character with only one line in the 1999 film South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.[citation needed]
Butters plays a major role in the three-episode "Imaginationland" story arc, which was reissued straight-to-DVD as a full-length feature in 2008.[23][24] Butters is the main playable character in South Park Imaginationland, a mobile game for the iPhone loosely based on the show's Imaginationland trilogy of episodes.[25] In the video game South Park Let's Go Tower Defense Play!, Butters can be selected as a playable character used to establish a tower defense against the game's antagonists.[26]
He also appears in a major role as a companion fighter in the video game
A DVD box set of 13 Butters-centric episodes, A Little Box of Butters, was released in September 2010.[27]
A pinball game with a Butters theme, entitled "Butters Very Own Pinball" (named after the season five finale "Butters' Very Own Episode"), is playable on the mobile app video game South Park Pinball.[28]
See also
References
- ^ Don Kaplan (2002-04-08). "South Park Won't Kill Kenny Anymore". New York Post. Archived from the original on 2010-06-03. Retrieved 2009-05-05.
- ^ a b c d Jaime J. Weinman (2008-03-12). "South Park grows up". Macleans.ca. Archived from the original on 2009-08-02. Retrieved 2008-04-30.
- ^ Griffiths, Eric (2007-06-21). "Young offenders". New Statesman. Retrieved 2009-05-03.
- ^ William Cohen (2005-11-04). "Respect Its Authoritah!". The Cornell American. Archived from the original on January 29, 2010. Retrieved 2009-05-05.
- ^ Randy Fallows (January 2002). "The Theology of South Park". The Institute for the Study of American Popular Culture. Retrieved 2009-05-03.
- ^ Virginia Heffernan (2004-04-28). "What? Morals in 'South Park'?". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-07-08.
- ^ "South Park turns 10". theage.com.au. 2006-09-27. Retrieved 2009-07-23.
- ^ Penton Media. Archived from the originalon 2009-03-29. Retrieved 2009-04-28.
- ^ a b Abbie Bernstein (1998-10-27). "South Park - Volume 2". AVRev.com. Archived from the original on 2013-05-15. Retrieved 2008-04-30.
- ^ "South Park FAQ". South Park Studios. 2009-02-10. Archived from the original on 2009-05-11. Retrieved 2009-04-30.
- ^ "40 Questions". South Park Studios. 2001-10-04. Archived from the original on 2010-11-29. Retrieved 2009-01-30.
- University of Colorado at Boulder. April 21, 2008. Archived from the originalon June 6, 2011. Retrieved March 22, 2014.
- ^ Trey Parker, Matt Stone (2003). VH1 Goes Inside: South Park (TV). Viacom International. Interview with Trey Parker and Matt Stone
- ^ a b Trey Parker, Matt Stone (2003). "South Park" — The Complete Fifth Season (DVD). Comedy Central. Mini-commentary for episode "Butters' Very Own Episode"
- ^ "An interview with Matt Stone". Archived from the original on 2008-12-19. Retrieved 2021-01-02.South Park Studios. Accessed on Feb. 16, 2009
- ^ "FAQ – South Park Studios". www.southparkstudios.com. Retrieved 2009-08-07.
- ^ Dudley Price (2003-12-18). "Butters one of 'South Park' creator Trey Parker's favorite characters". The America's Intelligence Wire. Retrieved 2009-08-14.
- ^ a b c Ryan Nyburg (2005-03-03). "Who killed Kenny? South Park defines a generation with its jokes". Oregon Daily Emerald. Retrieved 2008-08-14.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Vanderwerff, Emily (2007-08-13). "South Park: The Best of the Bleeping Best". The Press-Enterprise. Archived from the original on 2008-04-11. Retrieved 2009-08-14.
- ^ Arp and Yu, p. 27
- How to eat with your butt
- ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "South Park - Kyle, Butters & Kenny Are Sex Addicts". YouTube.
- ^ "South Park: Imaginationland Will Bring the Laughs on DVD on March 11th". www.movieweb.com. 2008-01-17. Retrieved 2009-08-14.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Chitwood, Scott (2008-03-11). "DVD Roundup: 3.11.08 Blu-ray and DVD Review - ComingSoon.net". www.comingsoon.net. Archived from the original on 2008-05-14. Retrieved 2009-08-14.
- ^ Buchanan, Levi (2008-07-12). "IGN: South Park Imaginationland Review". wireless.ign.com. Archived from the original on 2009-07-31. Retrieved 2009-08-14.
- ^ Brudvig, Erik (2009-10-06). "South Park Let's Go Tower Defense Play Review". IGN Entertainment. Archived from the original on 2009-10-10. Retrieved 2009-10-10.
- ^ "Press Release: A Little Box of Butters". PR Newswire. July 12, 2010. Retrieved July 31, 2011.
- ^ "South Park Pinball Trailer Reveals the Designs for the Two Pinball Tables". Gamer Headlines. 13 October 2014. Archived from the original on 2017-03-16. Retrieved 2017-03-15.
Bibliography
- Yu, Catherine (2006). Arp, Robert (ed.). South Park and Philosophy: You Know, I Learned Something Today. Blackwell Publishing (The Blackwell Philosophy & Pop Culture Series). ISBN 978-1-4051-6160-2.
External links
- Leopold "Butters" Stotch at South Park Studios