Tolkien Black

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
"Token Black" redirects here. For the general use of a Black token character, see Tokenism.
Tolkien Black
South Park character
First appearance"Cartman Gets an Anal Probe" (1997)
Created by
Designed by
  • Trey Parker
  • Matt Stone
Voiced by
In-universe information
AliasTupperware
GenderMale
Occupation
  • Elementary school student
  • Police officer (future)
FamilyLinda Black (mother)
Steve Black (father)
EducationSouth Park Elementary
ResidenceSouth Park, Colorado, United States

Tolkien Black,

animated television series South Park. He was originally voiced by Trey Parker, later changed to series art director, storyboard artist and producer Adrien Beard. Originally the character was named "Token Williams" and then "Token Black", as a play on Tokenism. His name was retconned in the episode "The Big Fix" to Tolkien, named after J. R. R. Tolkien
.

Biography

Tolkien (named after author J. R. R. Tolkien) attends South Park Elementary, he initially is a third-grade student of Mr. Garrison's class before moving up to fourth-grade.

He was originally the only black student attending the school until

Nichole Daniels was introduced in "Cartman Finds Love
".

Residing in South Park, he is the

Daniels family first appeared. Before his name was retconned in "The Big Fix", it was a pun on the concept of racial tokenism
.

Character

Creation and design

Tolkien debuted in the series' first episode, "

stop motion. From "Weight Gain 4000" onward he is animated digitally, though in a way which mimics the original use of the construction paper. Tolkien is not offered the same free-ranged motion as hand-drawn characters, as he is shown on one angle, and is animated with a jerky fashion.[2][3]

Tolkien is African-American, with dark brown skin and short black hair, and usually wears a light purple long sleeve shirt with a yellow letter "T" on it, and dark blue jeans. Up until

season 5, Tolkien, along with other African-Americans, had darker skin. Adrien Beard speaks with his normal vocal range and is edited with Pro Tools, which alters the pitch to that of a fourth grader.[4]

Following the release of "The Big Fix", Tolkien's name was edited in all previously-released material to match the retcon, including subtitles of past episodes. Because "The Big Fix" establishes that Stan and Randy have been unaware of Tolkien's real name up until this point, Tolkien's name is still subtitled as "Token" in their dialogue.[citation needed]

Personality and traits

In "

Randy Marsh's use of the word "niggers" on Wheel of Fortune, and refused to acquiesce to Stan's demand that he declare that it was not a problem. In "Christian Rock Hard" he becomes increasingly irritated with Eric Cartman's pandering to racial stereotypes. In that episode, he is annoyed when he is able to spontaneously play bass guitar, despite never having learned to play it, a confirmation of one of Cartman's claim that all black people can play the bass guitar
. Cartman's racial language culminates in Tolkien beating him up by the end of the episode.

Tolkien is shown to be a talented singer in the episodes "Wing" and "Here Comes the Neighborhood".

Reception

Paste magazine ranked him at No. 17 on a list entitled "The Top 20 Best South Park Characters".[5] He was ranked at No. 19 by Looper on a list entitled "25 Popular South Park Characters Ranked Worst to Best".[6]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Tolkien Black? South Park Reveals & Fixes Token's Real Name". Screen Rant. 10 February 2022.
  2. Penton Media
    . Retrieved 2009-04-28.
  3. ^ Abbie Bernstein (1998-10-27). "South Park – Volume 2". AVRev.com. Archived from the original on 2013-05-15. Retrieved 2008-04-30.
  4. ^ "40 Questions". South Park Studios. 2001-10-04. Archived from the original on 2010-11-29. Retrieved 2009-01-30.
  5. ^ "The 20 Best South Park Characters". Paste. 7 September 2016.
  6. ^ Levitt, Barry (March 10, 2022). "25 Popular South Park Characters Ranked Worst to Best". looper.com. Looper. Retrieved March 10, 2022.

External links

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