southpark-analysis

[southpark-analysis]

Karen's Guardian Angel Makes no Sense Part II

Please, read part I first if you haven't done already https://www.tumblr.com/southpark-analysis/770594906188152832/karens-guardian-angel-makes-no-sense?source=share. I discussed there why I felt like Kenny pretending to be Karen's guardian angel makes no sense both in-universe and from a writing perspective. While I still hold those points I made, someone pointed out to me that South Park has selective continuity and that perhaps Kenny revealing his secret identity as Mysterion was retconned or that she probably doesn't know Kenny is her "guardian angel", because she doesn't have friends to hang around with outside of Kenny, as revealed in "The Fractured But Whole". While I doubt that Kenny having revealed his secret identity was retconned, I do at least see it as a possible explanation. However, I cannot see it as a possible explanation that Karen has nobody else to play with but Kenny, given how many nice kids are in South Park. Kenny himself has friends and acquaintance despite being poor. How come he was able to find friends who don't look down to him despite his background but she isn't. Not to mention He could easily introduce her to his own friends or use his connections to find her friends like Wendy, Butters or many other kids. Not to mention that she literally thinks Kenny in his Mysterion costume is her guardian angel, so why didn't she just tell him she was lonely instead of joining a group he strongly disapproves of, like the Vamp kids? She comes across as stupid, not desperate for friends.

However, I've noticed another issue, which is perhaps even more glaring than everything else I mentioned. Even if I could buy Karen not knowing who her "guardian angel" truly is, even if I could think of a reasonable explanation why she's lonely to the point of joining the Vamp and later the Goth kids and even if I didn't find it out of place that Kenny would take on an alter ego just to cheer her up instead of, I don't know, talk to her as himself and find other real people who could also talk to her. Even if I wouldn't have an issue with all that, there's his weird choice of addressing himself as her guardian angel while wearing his Mysterion costume instead of addressing himself as, well, Mysterion. Think about it, he has a superhero identity, why wouldn't a superhero by her side be enough to cheer her up? Superheroes like Superman and Spiderman often interact with their loved ones while hiding behind their secret identities, yet they just use their already established secret identities. They don't call themselves angels, or gods or fairies. Does Kenny think Karen is too good for a superhero. This is surprising, given she never helps him in return, at least not on screen and the writers surely never even hinted she ever helped him in return. Does he think she's so fragile that she needs to think a guardian angel is by her side and that a superhero isn't enough? Given he not only has to deal with poverty and the same neglectful parents just like she has to deal with, but on top of it he takes care of her and also often dies without getting support for it. Sure, she's younger so she's more vulnerable than him and Kenny has always been selfless and heroic, but this is downright self-destructive martyrdom. Not to mention that it's not exactly healthy to take a fake identity just to cheer a loved one up in the first place.

Not to mention that Mysterion doesn't even look angelic in the slightest. He's a parody of batman, his appearance is dark and mysterious and not even closely to how the bible accurate angels look like either. He wears mostly dark colors, he wears a cloak that covers most of his face, a silly question mark attached to a string on his head and even underwear over his pants. The show even joked about it in The Coon trilogy. It can be that Mysterion calling himself an angel was meant to be a joke, but it's just bizarre. There's no setup and punchline to it, there's no character commenting on how ridiculous this is and there surely aren't any other jokes surrounding the scenario.

The whole thing is just manipulative, treating Karen like a fragile flower who needs super extra protection and also never having her proactive in the slightest.

[southpark-analysis]

Thanks for answering. I certainly didn't imply that Yoichi seemed predatory per se, but more that he came across as way to willing to bond with a kid he just talked to the first time. While the narrative does call the OFA users vestiges instead of people it also portrays them constantly as highly empathetic and noble, which seems to contradict the claim of them being solely vestiges, as you pointed out. What I found weird about Yoichi not telling Deku his own name, is because people have a reflex to first tell their own names when getting to know someone, especially if they want to bond with that person or plan to do important things together. It literally takes a few seconds to tell his own name. Sute, Yoichi waned to tell Deku more, but why not even try telling Deku his own name in the last few seconds? Why not take a few seconds once he meets Deku to tell his own name before starting telling his backstory. Maybe the narrative was never meant to imply there's something wrong with Yoichi, but it still comes across as weird and self dehumanizing to me. Also, as for Deku reaching out for them with his hand. He didn't have a mouth, he couldn't speak and he was clearly terrified. I feel like it was more of a way to get attention or feel his surroundings with his hand or something similar rather than Deku trying to get phyiscal contact with them. He did realize those are the OFA users and he felt admiration, but him wanting to touch them at this point feels out of character.

As for Deku not taking his hand away when Yoichi touched it, Deku was still clearly visibly scared or at least shocked. While him not taking his hand away implies he didn't thin he's in danger, it doesn't mean he wasn't uncomfortable by the touch, given he just met Yoichi. I always interpreted that scene of Deku while not seeing Yoichi as an outright potential threat, still wasn't used to getting such physical contact from a stranger so he didn't know how to react.

It can be that Yoichi's thought process was that Deku wanted to touch him so he touched the kid's hand in return. However, just because someone shifts their hand in your direction, it doesn't mean they feel close to you. It doesn't mean they want to touch you. In real life touching others to offer comfort rarely works if the people aren't already close. It's also a bit creepy because until that point Yoichi only observed Deku from the distance, so him already wanting to touch Deku feels like a fan who formed a parasocial relationship with a celebrity and then tries to touch the celebrity when meeting them in real life. By that I mean literally just touching. While Yoichi doesn't come across as predatory, he comes across as disconnected and not knowing how to properly form bonds.

What I meant by weird was that Yoichi seemed like he lost his sense of self or at least has very bad social skills. It's likely that canon never meant to portray him this way, but it's still weird given that Deku didn't try to touch All Might out of affection, despite being the biggest All Might fan. The time he grabbed All Might's leg before the later jumped into the air was to stop him to ask him a question, not to form a close bond. Even Deku, the awkward, friendless teenager whose so obsessed with All Might to the point of imitating his face still seems to better understand that he shouldn't rush in to bond with All Might.

Hey, I was wondering. Did you also find it weird that the first time Yoichi talked to Deku he didn't properly introduced himself and jumped right into his backstory? He didn't even tell his own name. Not only that, but after finishing his backstory he took Midoriya's hand into his own. After he just talked to the kid for the first time. What makes it weirder is that, as stated, he didn't even introduce himself first.

Not—particularly?  Okay, so like, I love me a Creepy OFA and a Yoichi with some dark spots, as I’ll discuss below the cut, but my thoughts tend to go in different directions than this.  Forgive me if I’m misreading you based on my experience with fandom parlance, but your usage of “weird” here comes across to me as implying suggestive, even scandalous, motivations from Yoichi, a kind of sensationalistic Stranger Danger, and that’s just not a read I ever took from the scene in question.

Though Yoichi may not have known this, Deku didn’t need to be talked through who exactly he was seeing.  He figured out who Yoichi was within seconds of the dream starting, between already having been told the story of OFA’s origin with the two brothers, recognizing All For One’s voice, and AFO and Yoichi addressing each other as Brother.    

Yoichi said at the end that he wanted to show Deku more, but Deku was only at 20%.  Deku’s low integration with the power limited how much and how long he could interact with the vestiges—that limitation came back up in Banjo’s first appearance and was still in effect until Vestige!AFO “forcibly drew [the vestiges] out” during the war.  With the OFA vestiges stated to be far more latent and vague prior to Deku, the dream encounter was probably the first time Yoichi ever managed to directly address one of the bearers!  If that connection was still patchy and Yoichi didn’t have a lot of access to Deku’s mind yet, he might not even have known that Deku had already been told the story of OFA’s origin.     Presumably, then, Yoichi was trying to get as much across as he could in as little time as possible—hence leading with a version of the backstory that quickly communicated who he and AFO are, why AFO is a bad dude that Yoichi is against, and how One For All was first created.  He just didn’t have time for more details than that, and every second he wasted on introductions would cut into other things he could be showing Deku instead.    

I don’t think he shows untoward initiative in taking Deku’s hand.  Deku was already reaching out—indeed, he was reaching out for Yoichi, albeit the Yoichi of the past.  Deku also doesn’t drop his hand when the dream fades and Vestige!Yoichi staggers out of the dark, which he easily could have if he were feeling wary.  Instead, his hand is still extended when Yoichi reaches back for it, telling Deku both to be careful and not to be afraid.  I think the touch is intended to be reassuring.

No, it’s not how you’d want to behave with a stranger in real life, but the mindscape isn’t a real-life space and Yoichi isn’t some rando on the street.  He’s the driving voice of One For All, the fateful power entrusted to Deku, and a man who spent nearly his entire life under AFO’s thumb.  Given those factors, I don’t read Yoichi as being particularly suspicious there, or hold it against him that he gets right to business.

None of that is to say, though, that there’s nothing sketchy about Yoichi!  I think you can read quite a lot into him that the canon would rather you not, and can go even farther than that if you’re willing to put your own spin on things for AUs or the like.

(Hit the jump.)

For starters, I’ve never liked the tendency of the OFA bearers to refer to each other by number rather than by name, something that starts out kinda sporadic but gets exacerbated considerably in the endgame.  It makes them feel militaristic, even self-dehumanizing, which is particularly galling when Kudou starts intoning piousness about peoples’ quirks being embodiments of their individual wills and desires.  Hey, Second, if you think AFO should be afraid of quirks because of the people behind them, maybe try using those peoples’ names.

I also desperately wish we could have had a version of the story that was willing to explore Yoichi as a hardliner making sweeping proclamations about how an oppressed minority should use their meta-abilities when he himself doesn’t have one of those meta-abilities and therefore is at very little risk of being killed by an anti-meta mob. My ideal Yoichi would hear about Stain's crusade and say, “He's going a little too far, but he's not wrong.”

Seriously, I’d love it if BNHA would acknowledge Yoichi as being legitimately, admirably far-sighted about his brother’s machinations, but also that he only has the luxury of that long-term outlook because his brother is attending to all his basic needs.  Yoichi doesn’t have to worry about food or a place to live, he’s in no physical danger with his terrifying older brother looking out for him, and he has no dependents of his own.  That’s all because his brother is keeping him locked in a vault against his will, of course; I’m not saying he should be fawning and grateful to AFO!  It’s just that he comes across as very strict and inflexible when he fails to recognize that not everyone can take for granted the sustenance, shelter and safety he is so ready to reject.

I wish the story could acknowledge it as a character flaw, that Yoichi is so sheltered and isolated that he can’t empathize with people who will make bad bargains if it means helping their loved ones, people who are living every day in fear and are desperate for a way out of that fear.  Heck, I’d like it even more if Yoichi could empathize with that (he’s got all the reason in the world to both love and fear his brother, after all, and they did grow up on the streets!), but his own unbending viewpoint leads him to assert that it’s more moral to starve to death than accept a deal with the devil, and so that’s what everyone should be willing to do.

And of course, that’s all just about Yoichi as an actual person, which the thing in OFA definitively is not, no matter how the story treats him.  During the mindscape conference post-war, he says outright that he and the other ghosts within One For All are, with the sole exception of All Might, just quirk vestiges, not real souls.  Every day, I wish for a version of BNHA that was willing to take that distinction seriously!  I’ve got tons of thoughts on how OFA could have been made creepier and more of a challenge for Deku to overcome simply by treating it as a power instead of a person, a power with its own dictates and drives, a “will” detached from a conscience or true self-awareness.

As a bonus, this would also have let the endgame have its cake and eat it too with Demon Lord AFO.  Allow the real man nuance and affection for people, a motivation for his megalomania that goes beyond “Because that’s what my favorite comic book character did,” maybe even (how shocking!) a willingness to entrust his fortunes to his chosen heir.  Save the cartoon villainy for the quirk, which manifests with AFO’s face and mannerisms but is really just a mindless drive to consume, no more sapient than an AFO-themed chatbot.

That’s what I’d have liked All For One and One For All to boil down to, really:  one a quirk that exists to devour and the other a quirk that exists to destroy the devourer.  And somewhere in all of that, the Deku who wants to use One For All to save and the Shigaraki who wants to use All For One to destroy have to center and find themselves.

(Ahem.)

That’s my oversharey thoughts on Creepy OFA and Yoichi as an actual human being with objectionable traits and uncomfortable belief structures.  But canonically?

I suppose Yoichi and the others in OFA being hardline anti-AFO militants—which they sort of are and sort of aren't, because their writing lacks consistency—could feed into a willingness to come on stronger to Deku than is entirely kosher. I wouldn’t call that behavior “weird,” though; I’d call it “urgent,” or possibly “anxious.” If I wanted to argue that Yoichi willfully chose a narrative that would discourage sympathy for AFO, maybe I’d throw in some words like “peremptory” or “dissuasive of asking inconvenient questions,” but even those suggest a level of calculated, dogmatic malice towards AFO that I just don't read Yoichi exercising there. His focus is on explaining the origin of One For All, not demonizing AFO—he could surely dig up much worse memories, if that were the aim! If anything, the memories he chose gave more room for a nuanced AFO than the full story did!

Whatever I think of Yoichi's rhetoric, in any case, he certainly didn’t come off to me as some kind of closet pervert or underhanded groomer because he took the hand Deku had already extended towards him in a gesture of comfort and solidarity.

   

Apologies again if that's not what you meant in calling him weird, but please understand that these days that is the context I most frequently see people using “weird” to not-so-subtly imply.

[southpark-analysis]

I must admit that you made a very insightful observation. I have to disagree with Kenny not sugarcoating things for Karen though. By pretending he's her guardian angel, he does indeed make the situation look way nicer than it actually is. I don't hold it against him and perhaps it's not really out of character from him, but it still came out of nowhere. The topic of this being in character for Kenny or not never really bugged me much, it's more about how it doesn't make any sense Karen wouldn't have figured out by now who her "guardian angel" truly is. Regardless if it is in character or not for Kenny to act this way, the situation itself makes no sense and it's superficial.

As for Karen being too isolated to know the news, she goes to school everyday. Kids had posters of Mysterion in their lockers. There must be some kids who know Karen is related to Kenny, there's no way nobody wouldn't have brought that up around her. There's no way she would've never heard of Mysterion. There's a difference between having no friends and living under a rock. I know South Park is extremely exaggerated, but this is just another way to reinforce Karen as extremely weak.

I don't think her having only her older brother to play with makes any sense either. There's no logical way she was so desperate to the point of joining the vamp kids, considering that:

1) Her "guardian angel" didn't want her two

2) She has nothing in common with the vamp kids.

3) There are plenty of nice kids in school, there are clubs she could join and her own brother has friends and other connections despite being poor like her. There must be SOMEONE else besides her brother willing to interact with her from time to time. Take Dougie or Butters for instance. They sure as hell aren't picky.

Maybe it's not because she's poor that others avoid her. It wouldn't surprise me if the show revealed the reason no one else besides her brother wants to be with her, is because she is actually way too sensitive and she never helps anyone. I don't actually think Matt and Trey came up with this explanation, I don't really have any evidence she is completely useless, but since from what little we've seen of her, her only role is to be taken care of, it wouldn't be illogical for her to always rely on others entirely. No offence if you like the character and I am not really accusing her of being completely useless, but she pretty much is useless for the show. Even her role of being taken care of by Kenny could've been fulfilled by other existent characters, even if not to the same extent, but those characters were helpful towards Kenny in return and they don't constantly revolve around Kenny either.

Karen deserved better.

Karen's Guardian Angel Makes no Sense

If you are a South Park fan, you probably know that Kenny poses as Karen's guardian angel with his Mysterion alter ego. While it's sweet of him and all, it doesn't really make any sense if you think about it. Let me explain.

I will start with the most egregious problem, that being that Mysterion already revealed his identity in front of the whole Town. There's no way this didn't become the talk of the town, how would Karen not heard about this at school or on the streets? Furthermore, though not quite as nonsensical, wouldn't she also have also seen at school other kids calling her "guardian angel" Mysterion and calling him a superhero instead of, well a guardian angel? Wouldn't she also have questioned this?

Now, Kenny also used his Mysterion alter-ego to deal with his parents and they also didn't recognize him long after he revealed his true identity. However, the South Park adults are not the sharpest tools in the shed and Kenny's parents in particular are often drunk or high, so they were probably too disconnected from reality to understand when other people were talking about Mysterion's true identity or they did understand that, but they brushed it off as a drug-induced hallucination. Matt and Trey probably didn't think about an explanation, but I still can't think about possible explanations to why Kenny's parents don't know who Myterion truly is. However, this is not the case with Karen, who doesn't consume drugs nor alcohol and who wasn't established as stupid.

I don't even think it's in character for Kenny to hide behind an alter-ego to cheer someone he loves up. Kenny is perverted, highly hedonisitic, reckless and tough. Of course, he also has a selfless, heroic side, which is sometimes shown in his superhero alter-ego. Sure, he is a good person deep down, but he is also a very straight forward person. I don't recall him ever sugarcoating what he says or does. I don't recall him not having enough self-confidence to hide his true self from other people. I don't recall him ever hiding his true identity to make someone feel safe, besides Karen. Sure, he hides things from other people, but that was when he didn't want to get caught doing illegal stuff like cheesing. Sure, he used his Mysterion alter-ego to hide his true identity from the whole town, but that was so that villains and the police wouldn't know where to find him in private, not to make himself look more powerful than he truly is. I can buy him being more resposnible around his sister, but why wouldn't he just take care of his sister as his true self? Alternatively, why not tell her it's him in the costume? Does he not trust her to keep his secret? Does he think he's not enough for her? Does he think she's too sensitive to trust him as his true self?

They clearly added this plot point just so that the agnostic foster parents would get pissed at the other foster kids for referring to Kenny as a guardian angel.

Now you might be thinking, "Who cares it doesn't make sense? South Park is a very surreal and raunchy comedy. It's best material comes from jokes that are unrealistic/don't make sense.". Yes, their JOKES don't have to make sense and those jokes are often even effective as plot points. Kenny's interactions with Karen however are meant to be taken seriosuly, for the most part at least. If they are meant to be taken seriously they need internal logic or at least they can't be too jarring. Now you might be thinking: "Who cares if it's meant to be serious? It matters how it makes you feel, not if it makes sense.". To that I reply that we can't choose how we feel. I can't choose to feel touched by a giant plot hole and serious out-of character moments. Furhtermore, the show didn't even use Karen much, nor she get any development besides very superficial stuff. I must admit, that I felt touched by "The Poor Kid" at first, but the more I think about it, the less sense it makes and the more I realize how superficial Kenny and Karen's relationship truly is. The irony is that Kenny already had way better developed relationships with his friends and even with one-shot characters like Tammy and Kelly. So Kenny and Karen's dynamic isn't only nonsensical and superficial, it's also redundant. It's nonsensical even from a writing perspective. What is the point of creating Karen if all you end up doing with her is using her as a plot device that needs constant care so that another one of your characters gets the spotlight, when you already have plenty of developed characters that could also serve Karen's role sometimes? Sure, Stan, Kyle and aren't nearly as fragile as Karen, but they are not perfect or untouchable. It can't be THAT hard to imagine them being incapacitated from time to time and Kenny having to rescue or comfort them. It certainly can't be harder than creating a new character. There's also Butters who is one of the more fragile characters, he could use some more help from Kenny from time to time. In fact, he and Kenny had shown great chemistry (In the sense that their relationship is entertaining, as I see their relationship as platonic. No offense to Bunny shippers.). It also goes without saying that Butters already has way more development and agency than Karen.

They could've also had Kenny help some other recurring characters, like Wendy, Craig, Tweek, Jimmy and many more.

They could've even had Cartman fulfill Karen's purpose. Sure, he's often the villain, but he's not pure evil and he can get along with others, especially Kenny. He also seems to have improved in later seasons, though how far he'll go or if this will even last is something we'll have to wait and see.

Sure, it would make even less sense for Kenny to pose as any other's guardian angel than it does for Karen, but the mere concept of adding Karen just so that Kenny has someone to take care of makes no sense, so him being Karen's guardian angel feels redundant regardless.

There's also the fact that, of course, Kenny doesn't need to be constantly helpful to get more spotlight. No, don't get me wrong, he's not a Mary Sue, he's not even close to it, but since South Park already has tons of interesting characters, said characters have potential to contribute to a plot with Kenny.

[southpark-analysis]

What is even more ironic is that Kenny also serves as the "kid" of his friends, as evidenced by the Vaccination special, but that does not feel as out of place as Karen. If you think about it, Kenny is poor, so it makes sense the other boys would want to help him. He is also the youngest, albeit no by much. He is the biggest trouble maker in the group aside from Cartman and Stan at least acted like a big brother figure to Kenny on occassion.

This picture is from "The Jeffersons". It came only one season before Karen was introduced and even in her first episode, in "Best Friends Forever", she was just a background character that most people didn't even notice. To add insult to injury, even in "Best Friends Forever" the focus was on Kenny and his friends, Stan and Kyle in particular trying to save him. Moving back to Stan, he also gave me big brother vibes in "The Passion of The Jew" when he interacted with Kenny.

I totally agree that Kenny being a cool big brother has potential, but even before Karen was added he already had a much better older-younger sibling relationship. It doesn't mean he can't be a good big brother himself, but it does show the creators can write sibling dynamics well not just generally, but with Kenny too.

Furthermore, as I already mentioned, the other characters need help on occasion too. I think it also would've been easier for the creators to use their existent characters more often than to add Karen. I mentioned Stan giving me big brother vibes, but that doesn't mean Kenny can't aact like an admirable YOUNGER brother to him. Kyle is sometimes taken out of town and Stan would miss him, Kenny could try to cheer Stan up. Maybe write another Stan and Kenny plot like in "The Passion of The Jew", but incapacitate Stan somehow and Kenny has to save him. Maybe a plot where Stan teaches Kenny a cool skill (in the holiday special Stan gave Kenny instructions how to better impersonate someone else and he took the phone to continue himself one their friends screwed over, so it seems Stan is more experienced at that). They could also develop Kenny and Kyle's relationship more or have Kenny help Kyle similarly to what I mentioned about Stan. Kyle and Kenny don't have that many direct interactions with one another. There are also other characters they could use and they could play around with the idea.

Sure, the show has been running for long and art highly depends on inspiration, but I am sure there were other way better and easier methods to give Kenny more spotlight than giving him someone to care for and then reducing said someone to a plot device.

Karen's Guardian Angel Makes no Sense

If you are a South Park fan, you probably know that Kenny poses as Karen's guardian angel with his Mysterion alter ego. While it's sweet of him and all, it doesn't really make any sense if you think about it. Let me explain.

I will start with the most egregious problem, that being that Mysterion already revealed his identity in front of the whole Town. There's no way this didn't become the talk of the town, how would Karen not heard about this at school or on the streets? Furthermore, though not quite as nonsensical, wouldn't she also have also seen at school other kids calling her "guardian angel" Mysterion and calling him a superhero instead of, well a guardian angel? Wouldn't she also have questioned this?

Now, Kenny also used his Mysterion alter-ego to deal with his parents and they also didn't recognize him long after he revealed his true identity. However, the South Park adults are not the sharpest tools in the shed and Kenny's parents in particular are often drunk or high, so they were probably too disconnected from reality to understand when other people were talking about Mysterion's true identity or they did understand that, but they brushed it off as a drug-induced hallucination. Matt and Trey probably didn't think about an explanation, but I still can't think about possible explanations to why Kenny's parents don't know who Myterion truly is. However, this is not the case with Karen, who doesn't consume drugs nor alcohol and who wasn't established as stupid.

I don't even think it's in character for Kenny to hide behind an alter-ego to cheer someone he loves up. Kenny is perverted, highly hedonisitic, reckless and tough. Of course, he also has a selfless, heroic side, which is sometimes shown in his superhero alter-ego. Sure, he is a good person deep down, but he is also a very straight forward person. I don't recall him ever sugarcoating what he says or does. I don't recall him not having enough self-confidence to hide his true self from other people. I don't recall him ever hiding his true identity to make someone feel safe, besides Karen. Sure, he hides things from other people, but that was when he didn't want to get caught doing illegal stuff like cheesing. Sure, he used his Mysterion alter-ego to hide his true identity from the whole town, but that was so that villains and the police wouldn't know where to find him in private, not to make himself look more powerful than he truly is. I can buy him being more resposnible around his sister, but why wouldn't he just take care of his sister as his true self? Alternatively, why not tell her it's him in the costume? Does he not trust her to keep his secret? Does he think he's not enough for her? Does he think she's too sensitive to trust him as his true self?

They clearly added this plot point just so that the agnostic foster parents would get pissed at the other foster kids for referring to Kenny as a guardian angel.

Now you might be thinking, "Who cares it doesn't make sense? South Park is a very surreal and raunchy comedy. It's best material comes from jokes that are unrealistic/don't make sense.". Yes, their JOKES don't have to make sense and those jokes are often even effective as plot points. Kenny's interactions with Karen however are meant to be taken seriosuly, for the most part at least. If they are meant to be taken seriously they need internal logic or at least they can't be too jarring. Now you might be thinking: "Who cares if it's meant to be serious? It matters how it makes you feel, not if it makes sense.". To that I reply that we can't choose how we feel. I can't choose to feel touched by a giant plot hole and serious out-of character moments. Furhtermore, the show didn't even use Karen much, nor she get any development besides very superficial stuff. I must admit, that I felt touched by "The Poor Kid" at first, but the more I think about it, the less sense it makes and the more I realize how superficial Kenny and Karen's relationship truly is. The irony is that Kenny already had way better developed relationships with his friends and even with one-shot characters like Tammy and Kelly. So Kenny and Karen's dynamic isn't only nonsensical and superficial, it's also redundant. It's nonsensical even from a writing perspective. What is the point of creating Karen if all you end up doing with her is using her as a plot device that needs constant care so that another one of your characters gets the spotlight, when you already have plenty of developed characters that could also serve Karen's role sometimes? Sure, Stan, Kyle and aren't nearly as fragile as Karen, but they are not perfect or untouchable. It can't be THAT hard to imagine them being incapacitated from time to time and Kenny having to rescue or comfort them. It certainly can't be harder than creating a new character. There's also Butters who is one of the more fragile characters, he could use some more help from Kenny from time to time. In fact, he and Kenny had shown great chemistry (In the sense that their relationship is entertaining, as I see their relationship as platonic. No offense to Bunny shippers.). It also goes without saying that Butters already has way more development and agency than Karen.

They could've also had Kenny help some other recurring characters, like Wendy, Craig, Tweek, Jimmy and many more.

They could've even had Cartman fulfill Karen's purpose. Sure, he's often the villain, but he's not pure evil and he can get along with others, especially Kenny. He also seems to have improved in later seasons, though how far he'll go or if this will even last is something we'll have to wait and see.

Sure, it would make even less sense for Kenny to pose as any other's guardian angel than it does for Karen, but the mere concept of adding Karen just so that Kenny has someone to take care of makes no sense, so him being Karen's guardian angel feels redundant regardless.

There's also the fact that, of course, Kenny doesn't need to be constantly helpful to get more spotlight. No, don't get me wrong, he's not a Mary Sue, he's not even close to it, but since South Park already has tons of interesting characters, said characters have potential to contribute to a plot with Kenny.

[southpark-analysis]

Karen's Guardian Angel Makes no Sense Part I

If you are a South Park fan, you probably know that Kenny poses as Karen's guardian angel with his Mysterion alter ego. While it's sweet of him and all, it doesn't really make any sense if you think about it. Let me explain.

I will start with the most egregious problem, that being that Mysterion already revealed his identity in front of the whole Town. There's no way this didn't become the talk of the town, how would Karen not heard about this at school or on the streets? Furthermore, though not quite as nonsensical, wouldn't she also have also seen at school other kids calling her "guardian angel" Mysterion and calling him a superhero instead of, well a guardian angel? Wouldn't she also have questioned this?

Now, Kenny also used his Mysterion alter-ego to deal with his parents and they also didn't recognize him long after he revealed his true identity. However, the South Park adults are not the sharpest tools in the shed and Kenny's parents in particular are often drunk or high, so they were probably too disconnected from reality to understand when other people were talking about Mysterion's true identity or they did understand that, but they brushed it off as a drug-induced hallucination. Matt and Trey probably didn't think about an explanation, but I still can't think about possible explanations to why Kenny's parents don't know who Myterion truly is. However, this is not the case with Karen, who doesn't consume drugs nor alcohol and who wasn't established as stupid.

I don't even think it's in character for Kenny to hide behind an alter-ego to cheer someone he loves up. Kenny is perverted, highly hedonisitic, reckless and tough. Of course, he also has a selfless, heroic side, which is sometimes shown in his superhero alter-ego. Sure, he is a good person deep down, but he is also a very straight forward person. I don't recall him ever sugarcoating what he says or does. I don't recall him not having enough self-confidence to hide his true self from other people. I don't recall him ever hiding his true identity to make someone feel safe, besides Karen. Sure, he hides things from other people, but that was when he didn't want to get caught doing illegal stuff like cheesing. Sure, he used his Mysterion alter-ego to hide his true identity from the whole town, but that was so that villains and the police wouldn't know where to find him in private, not to make himself look more powerful than he truly is. I can buy him being more resposnible around his sister, but why wouldn't he just take care of his sister as his true self? Alternatively, why not tell her it's him in the costume? Does he not trust her to keep his secret? Does he think he's not enough for her? Does he think she's too sensitive to trust him as his true self?

They clearly added this plot point just so that the agnostic foster parents would get pissed at the other foster kids for referring to Kenny as a guardian angel.

Now you might be thinking, "Who cares it doesn't make sense? South Park is a very surreal and raunchy comedy. It's best material comes from jokes that are unrealistic/don't make sense.". Yes, their JOKES don't have to make sense and those jokes are often even effective as plot points. Kenny's interactions with Karen however are meant to be taken seriosuly, for the most part at least. If they are meant to be taken seriously they need internal logic or at least they can't be too jarring. Now you might be thinking: "Who cares if it's meant to be serious? It matters how it makes you feel, not if it makes sense.". To that I reply that we can't choose how we feel. I can't choose to feel touched by a giant plot hole and serious out-of character moments. Furhtermore, the show didn't even use Karen much, nor she get any development besides very superficial stuff. I must admit, that I felt touched by "The Poor Kid" at first, but the more I think about it, the less sense it makes and the more I realize how superficial Kenny and Karen's relationship truly is. The irony is that Kenny already had way better developed relationships with his friends and even with one-shot characters like Tammy and Kelly. So Kenny and Karen's dynamic isn't only nonsensical and superficial, it's also redundant. It's nonsensical even from a writing perspective. What is the point of creating Karen if all you end up doing with her is using her as a plot device that needs constant care so that another one of your characters gets the spotlight, when you already have plenty of developed characters that could also serve Karen's role sometimes? Sure, Stan, Kyle and aren't nearly as fragile as Karen, but they are not perfect or untouchable. It can't be THAT hard to imagine them being incapacitated from time to time and Kenny having to rescue or comfort them. It certainly can't be harder than creating a new character. There's also Butters who is one of the more fragile characters, he could use some more help from Kenny from time to time. In fact, he and Kenny had shown great chemistry (In the sense that their relationship is entertaining, as I see their relationship as platonic. No offense to Bunny shippers.). It also goes without saying that Butters already has way more development and agency than Karen.

They could've also had Kenny help some other recurring characters, like Wendy, Craig, Tweek, Jimmy and many more.

They could've even had Cartman fulfill Karen's purpose. Sure, he's often the villain, but he's not pure evil and he can get along with others, especially Kenny. He also seems to have improved in later seasons, though how far he'll go or if this will even last is something we'll have to wait and see.

Sure, it would make even less sense for Kenny to pose as any other's guardian angel than it does for Karen, but the mere concept of adding Karen just so that Kenny has someone to take care of makes no sense, so him being Karen's guardian angel feels redundant regardless.

There's also the fact that, of course, Kenny doesn't need to be constantly helpful to get more spotlight. No, don't get me wrong, he's not a Mary Sue, he's not even close to it, but since South Park already has tons of interesting characters, said characters have potential to contribute to a plot with Kenny.

Here's part 2: https://www.tumblr.com/southpark-analysis/776847602775916544/karens-guardian-angel-makes-no-sense-part-ii?source=share

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South Park Has too Many Characters

Don't get me wrong, most of the characters are good or at least decent, but there are tons of characters who don't get as much screen time as they deserve or they are downright underdeveloped.

I feel for instance like the show didn't give Wendy enough screen time, but she is one of the lucky characters, since she often has an important compared to most other recurring characters.

Heidi however is pretty much a background character now. However, she is also one of the lucky ones since she got quite a long arc and character development.

Damien on the other hand has only one episode. He is never seen interacting with his father Satan, even though the latter frequently appeared.

There's also Kevin Mccormick, who has always just been there since the show's beginning. They then gave Kenny a little sister in the season 9 episode "Best Friends Forever", where she was just a background character and I didn't even notice her during the first viewing. She only became relevant six seasons later and her only role since then is to be taken care of by Kenny. Adding her didn't even make it easier to give Kenny the spotlight more often, since she was rarely used. Not to mention that if they wanted Kenny to take care of someone, there were already plenty of other characters he could've helped. Sure, his friends aren't nearly as vulnerable as Karen and it wouldn't make any sense for him to pretend being their guardian angel (I'd argue it doesn't even make sense for him to pretend being Karen's guardian angel, but that's a story for another day), but they are not indestructible either. The show frequently puts these kids in danger, it has supernatural elements. Writing Kenny as the one needing help/rescue more often would've also been better than adding Karen just to waste her, since with Kenny they bother giving him legitimate character development and agency. Karen was only relevant in 2 episodes and 1 game segment. If instead of adding her, the writers had Kenny take care of any other character or had him be the one needing help, it wouldn't be nearly as jarring, even if those plots were mediocre or even bad.

Speaking of Kenny, many people complain he doesn't get enough relevance either. I pretty much agree with this, but I don't think it's too big of a problem for the same reason I don't mind it that much Wendy didn't get more screen time.

I am not expecting them to develop every single character or to give all of them the same amount of relevance. Most minor characters should stay like that. As I mentioned, I can cut them some slack for underusing a character that already had plenty development and multiple appearances. Though it highly depends both on the character and the story overall if I consider them underused. For instance, I dislike not getting at least a few interactions between Damien and his father, but I don't mind Gary being used only once, since he was pretty much there for the Mormon theme of the episode and not very memorable in comparison to other South Park characters. He's a good enough character and I wouldn't have minded if he appeared more often, but I don't really miss him either. There are some fans who wanted him back badly and it's totally fine if you also want that.

This is pretty much all I have to write for this post. I don't think it's possible for the creators to perfectly write every single character and I can accept underused characters to a certain extent, but in South Park's case the problem feels to big for me.

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Micheal Jackson as the Final Boss

Recently I asked myself, why is Michael Jackson the final boss of "The Fractured but Whole"? His character was never really evil on the show, all the bad things he caused being by accident or out of denial rather than real malice. Furthermore, at the end of "Dead Celebrities" he finally accepted that he died and was willing to go to the afterlife. Why the fuck would he want to possess Karen? Especially since she was scared. This is never explained. It was probably meant to be a a joke, but if so, I don't get what is humorous about him having control over Karen's body and making her dance like him. I also don't find it funny that when the vampire kids summoned Corey Ham we got Michael Jackson instead. If you find it funny, this is totally fine, but I think it would've been better if they used an actually villanous character for this. I think it would've actually been funnier if they used Corey Ham instead. They could've used any of their other celebrities too.

Then it hit me. Michael Jackson returning as a ghost and possessing a little kid is the exact same plot as "Dead Celebrities" only with way less effort and way less funnier. They literally put Karen into a recycled plot from Ike (of course "Dead Celebrities" had a lot more going on, I was referring to the Michael Jackson part in particular). The creators care so little about Karen that even when they give her character development they literally write her as a lesser version of Ike. They probably didn't actively plan this, but regardless of intentions, she still comes across as a lesser version of Ike.

Note: I don't think all the celebrities South Park has made fun of are evil or mean irl. The creators themselves claimed they don't think all celebrities they parodied are bad people. My point was about the fictional versions of the cleebrities.

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About Irrelevance and Sexism

I made a post a while back and this person responded claiming Karen's irrelevance is not out of sexism and I agree. I didn't mean to accuse the South Park creators of sexism, but unfortunately Karen's role reminded me of sexist portrayals, even though that was not the intention. I just felt the need to let out my frustrations.

Also, about Karen having more potential to be more developed if she was from the beginning of the Show, I greatly disagree. Maybe at the beginning of the show the creators would've had more plans with her, but the show is still very long and there have been many years since Karen had relevance. They still had plenty of time to give her more development and relevance and it didn't have to be (exclusively) major roles. The fact that Karen became a derogatory term yet they never used the character named Karen to joke or make a point about it is a missed opportunity for satire, which the show mostly does.

Karen could've also interacted more often with other characters besides her brother, like Ike, other girls and many more. The show already has plenty of recurring characters and I get it can be hard to keep track on all of them, but if that is the case, wouldn't it be harder to add one of the main characters a sibling? They could've more easily developed Kenny's existent relationships more or develop his character more and ironically, the creators did both of those things way more than they developed Kenny and Karen's relationship even after introducing Karen.

While it's still possible they thought Karen could be a catalyst to offer Kenny more relevance, whatever their reason was, they did not think this through.

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On Karen's Pajamas

I couldn't help but notice how they changed Karen's pajamas from this

to this

and I really do not think it was necessary, since South Park characters rarely change clothes.

I understand changing her hairstyle, since she looked too much like Heidi, but her pajamas were different from other ones we've seen and we don't often see the characters in pajamas anyway.

While changing pajamas is a nitpick, I couldn't help but notice how now she wears a onesie, something that usually babies wear, while she is 6. There's nothing wrong with wearing onesies when you are older, but in Karen's case I find it rather suspicious that they were willing to change her pajamas to something usually worn by much younger children, yet they never had her relevant unless someone else, usually Kenny, was taking care of her. Even in The Fractured But Whole, where she got more character development and she was even used for jokes, she was still constantly taken care of by Kenny.

It feels like rather than trying to get audience sympathy by developing her as a character, more specifically by showing other sides of her that aren't vulnerable, like skills, helping other characters out, socializing on an equal level with other characters, stand up for herself or even using her for jokes, they would much rather just make her look even more childish and vulnerable than she is, or at least than she should be at her age. Sure, she might be a minor character, but she was a major character in two episodes and she is one of the main characters' sister, in a show where recurring characters often get the spotlight, especially the family members of the main 4, except for Kevin and to a large extend Karen.

Or maybe they simply gave her new pajamas without trying to set any message, but considering they rarely did this for any other character and how underused and underdeveloped she is, they really shouldn't have bothered with her pajamas. Her old pajamas looked better anyway.

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South Park Younger Siblings

South Park creators, you have Ike from the very first episode, you give him tons of development and scenes and even make him unrealistically badass for his age.

Well done! Ike rocks.

You also had plans in Starvin Marvin to give Kenny a sister, but you decided not to, only to add her many years later after all, even though her existence doesn't make sense. Now, the South Park timeline doesn't make sense, but since the other children barely aged, it looks like Karen popped out into existence, since she is 6 years old. To be fair, the show sort of has selective continuity. It's not like Avatar The Last Airbender, where such a decision would be horrendous. I still would've been more invested in Karen if she was from the beginning or at least if her existence didn't break story rules, but if you write her well I can forgive it.

What is Karen's role in the show? Kenny saves her and takes care of her. Sure, she is nice, but she didn't really help anyone or herself either, not on-screen at least.

She barely even showed personality traits. We know she is shy, sensitive, naive and does not like conflict. She is close to her mom and brother Kenny. She likes dolls. In the fractured but whole we learn she doesn't often get to socialize with others besides Kenny and thus she joined the vampire kids only to later realize how fucking lame they were and to join the Goth kids. Later she is no longer a goth with no explanation and no further character development. The show does not even use her in the Karen episode, but it makes Randy a Karen.

South Park creators, if you just wanted someone Kenny takes care of, he was already helpful and even heroic towards both his friends and strangers. Spoiler: He was even willing to die forever for his friends in the Coon trilogy. Did you plan for Karen to just be someone who Kenny takes care of even in Starvin Marvin, where you decided not to add her? You are capable of giving Ike tons of development, what is stopping you from giving Karen a little more development and importance?

Karen is barely more than a damsel in distress. The damsel in distress trope is not inherently bad, I only hate it when a competent character does something extremely stupid just so that they can become one or when the character in question has little to no personality and agency and is more a plot device than a character. About the latter, when I say the character needs agency, I am not saying they need to save themselves or others, but they should show skills or at least attempt to do something, otherwise they come across as unbelievably weak. The only exception where I don't care about this is if the characters overall don't get much development, like most old fairy tales or certain video games where the gameplay is more important than the story or characters. However, this is not the case with South Park. I used the term damsel in distress, but this can apply to any character regardless of gender, though it is more prevalent for female characters, in older stories at least. While South Park often underuses female characters in my opinion, it also underuses plenty of male ones too and most female characters have a fair share of development and agency even if I think they don't appear as often as they should. However, I can't help but find it fishy that out of the main characters' younger siblings the girl is reduced to a damsel in distress while the boy gets tons of development and relevance. It was probably not intentional, but it reminds me of the sexist world view of women being inferior to me and needing constant protection.