traitor-boyfriend - Tumblr blog

[traitor-boyfriend]

traitor bf my beloved, awoken from thine slumber

every six months I log on to make my court mandated south park posts for 3k strangers and then trudge back to my cave to ride out my hibernation season

[traitor-boyfriend]

trustfall anon my beloved...

[traitor-boyfriend]

what did you think of spring break. gay stan is canon now basically right

(edit: meant to publish this a while ago and forgot because I have the short term memory of a goldfish now)

This made me realize I never gave my thoughts on the last two episodes. Will do another day. (ron howard arrested development narration: she did not.)

To answer your actual question, I -love- how often an episode plot that tangentially relates either directly or more discreetly to some kind of societal crisis of masculinity and/or gender anxiety includes Stan. obvious examples include Cissy, wherein which Stan is seemingly the only one outside of Wendy and Cartman's Shakespearean twelfth night transgender double bluff who has any semblance of actual "crisis" over the modern conception of gender identity, for seemingly no reason? We don't get a scene of him trying on a dress (*cough* chp9 of abfooc *cough*) or asking "what if I'm not a boy?" but his scenes seem to suggest or imply he is asking those questions privately with himself. Stan also shares a lot of focus in tweek and Craig -- not necessarily that homosexuality as a subject for commentary is 1:1 interchangeable with masculinity *now* but for an older generation, like those of Matt and Trey's age, it certainly is, and there really is no way to create a clear cut distinction between homosexuality and transgenderism as two separate experiences with no overlap despite efforts to on both sides of the culture war. Literally the first season of south park has Stan befriend a character named Big Gay Al and proclaim to the entire town that homosexuality is a natural and beautiful thing against the backdrop of our a-plot in which Stan laments his dog being gay b/c he isn't a 'butch' manly dog. Combine that with Stan's growing romantic disinterest in both Wendy specifically (with an episode -this- season showing just that) and girls more broadly as the show has gone on, goddamn. nevermind the subtext we can project onto on the covid specials where Stan, unwell and suffering the simulated tyranny of marriage to a woman (or, woman-figure. We are talking about a robot here.) Is only able to achieve any semblance of happiness by travelling into his own past to tell himself he needs to forgive Kyle or he will regret it every day for the rest of his life. So.

straight Stan -- 0. Gay Stan -- 1

honestly I think part of this is probably that trey parker in a lot of ways strikes me as someone very much so not a Man's Man, y'know. He's loves the shock value, paegentry, and the spectacle of flirting with cross dressing, homosexuality, and gender non-conformity in his chosen mediums in a very attuned... Dare I say, almost butlerian fashion. and also in a way that only infrequently comes across as judgemental or cruel. Though this is obviously not coming from a queer theorist framework and more just trey Parker's longstanding "if you tell me I can't do this I will just to spite you and also fuck you I can do what I want." attitude.

long story short, yeah. yeah stan's gay. throw up the banner.

[traitor-boyfriend]

honestly I'm mostly just mad that I saw Randy's cock and balls the entire special and not once did I get to see Sharon's famed ginormous hooters. A travesty. Devastated, if you will.

[traitor-boyfriend]

lol these two drink the drinks of their own colors. Gay.

[traitor-boyfriend]

what happened:

what should've happened:

[traitor-boyfriend]

[traitor-boyfriend]

Sorry I've been busy being an adult with a job but here's my verdict:

last week's episode: sucked and was mostly stupid, except for randy getting shot, which ruled.

this week's episode: on par with the first episode and competing with it for best thus far. solidly funny with a strong concept. good to get a stan episode even if he takes home the Worst Boy Alive trophy.

[traitor-boyfriend]

I have talked my own ear off about this plenty but thinking about it lately as a favorite podcast of mine is covering the topic right now and it is bizarre to think many, many years in the future when scientology has fully collapsed and we look back on it from a sociological perspective we will have to acknowledge South Park as a pretty significant (if not the most significant) cultural source of criticism responsible for irreparably damaging the church's public image and thwarting their efforts to successfully seize pop culture as a mode of manipulation for recruitment and fundraising in the 21st century, exacerbating the church's antagonistic and adversarial relationship with journalism and media, which has all but effectively killed them in the modern era. Like it's crazy to think the crude paper cut-out cartoon played a prominent role as neither defectors nor journalists in the eventual dismantling of the largest and most successful cult in American history.

[traitor-boyfriend]

I forgot to put it in my long episode post but Kyle describing himself as "unflappable" forced me to drop another dime in the Kyle Broflovski Homosexual jar.

[traitor-boyfriend]

boys’ primary social media & internet forums of choice:

cartman -- 4chan. self-explanatory. his favorite boards are /cm/, /pol/, but is also partial to /toy/ and /gif/. /Lgbt/ lurker firmly of the position that traps aren't gay.

kenny -- youtube. watches a lot of fail compilations, conspiracy theories, and doomsday preppers. occasionally he plays three hour long sigma male motivation and philosophy videos on the nature of evil in the background while huffing computer duster.

stan -- snapchat. the guy that makes a bunch of annoying black background 2 am “anyone up” snaps all the time and then is upset when no one is. Mostly watches others' stories and does not post incredibly often but is easily tricked into sending shirtless pics to girls from school despite better judgement then minorly freaks out when notified a screenshot was taken (for the purpose of light mockery at the girls' slumber parties) to Kyle who chides him for his low self-esteem.

kyle -- reddit. super annoying about it too. is a mod for 2-3 midsize subs where everyone hates him because he takes it far too seriously and is constantly making pinned posts reminding everyone of sub rules. always making snarky comments like “not sure why i’m being downvoted...” that are then in turn downvoted. Bitches to Stan about mod drama who gives it the good ol college try pretending he cares about the power struggle between him and mod u/PoohDonkey420

butters -- split between Pinterest and TikTok. likes a lot of paper craft and seasonal decorating ideas on Pinterest and then makes videos of his attempts to recreate them on TikTok; becomes a minor celebrity subject to many conspiratorial YouTube documentaries about his living situation given how often Stephen interrupts a video to yell at him that butters is not tech savvy enough to cut out in their entirety.

craig -- also 4chan. almost exclusively sticks to /co/ and /mu/ but likes to pop-in to /lgbt/ to remind everyone on board (see: Cartman) that traps are indeed gay.

clyde -- twitter. Gets no engagement whatsoever but is posting all day every day. Is always direct messaging chicks with onlyfans links in bio to see if he can sweet talk them into nudes for free. Never does. cries to Craig about it who then calls him pathetic.

tolkien -- instagram. gym thirst traps and pictures of expensive family vacations. Super into grindset posting about no days off and aspirational graphics, power of positive thinking type shit. falls victim to the charms of hot women hawking tummy tea.

jimmy -- also reddit. master of fake-post-as-creative-writing-exercise posting. Frequents r/TIFU and r/jokes, then cross-posts his r/jokes post into r/standupcomedy to ask “is this anything?” and receives maybe two comments, three if it’s a good day. is the “you sir win the internet have my upvote” guy.

tweek -- tiktok, but it's a love-hate relationship. the never-ending stream of short videos is the perfect time-wasting relaxation pit due to his severe ADHD but induces extreme paranoia about what exactly the algorithm *does*. never posts, just favorites funny and/or cute videos to show craig later; Craig laughs at maybe every fifth one.

[traitor-boyfriend]

Funny that the first episode dealt with social media because before the season started I had a huge list of the boys and their eventual social media of choice. Hold on let me find it

[traitor-boyfriend]

this is actually so wild

[traitor-boyfriend]

paragraphs-long episode 2 thoughts/comments/concerns incoming:

- this episode certainly felt more disjointed than the last, where the two concurrent story lines really don’t meet in a cogent way until the near-end of the episode, but with that said i didn’t hate it. there are some pacing issues, but while i certainly don’t think it was bad, but i hesitate to say it was great? i’d call it maybe average, i feel pretty neutral on it right now -- it has a lot of high moments despite that. though, this episode is really fascinating when we’re talking about character development. trey parker must’ve seen all the bitching and moaning i’ve done as of late about the lack of kyle-based plot lines and gave us a twofer (trey parker i know you read my blog please call me).

- ike crying as it cuts to the queen’s splayed dead body in the casket got a deep chuckle out of me. it’s funny how even ike sounds more adult now, too.

- kyle and ike fighting over the computer gave me the worst mid-aughts flashbacks to the “computer room” and fighting with my own brothers for screen time.

- butters has become SO conniving and i’m kind of into it… i have come to love butters’ progressive degradation as a character into something that is much. i don’t believe he’s intentionally trying to fuck with kyle but i do think that he picks up quickly on kyle’s affect and wastes no time in recruitment. bebe kicking the shit out of butters was also wonderful; it’s been a while since bebe’s had more than a nominal bone thrown her way so it was nice for her to have a couple speaking lines.

-it's inevitable given south park's role in television specifically to mock and parody american culture and celebrity that they will get it wrong sometimes in who they choose to go after and how hard. the case could easily be made given the public reckoning there's been over the public treatment of female celebrities specifically that someone like paris hilton is one of those people, or sarah jessica parker, or even someone like bono if you're so inclined; people had this conversation a lot surrounding britney spears and the dissolution of her conservatorship, though that's a fundamental misunderstanding of the message of that episode (and in a minor way, south park acknowledging its own role in that phenomenon.) i've been waiting to come back to this post because i wanted to see the response from a u.k. audience toward the worldwide privacy tour as well.

this, to me, is not one of those moments. this is absolutely an occasion where i’m on the side of south park and the tone of their mockery. sorry but i can’t even pretend to have sympathy for the richer-than-god failson of one of the oldest monarchies in the world. please keep in mind this in no way a defense of the royal family in any shape or form. this does not change that prince harry and meghan markle are extremely annoying opportunists; i did find it amusing to see the ways in which they cause disruption in the episode because it doesn’t feel that far off. the mention of all these interviews, books, tv shows and appearances, podcasts rehashing the same information over and over etc. are all set up for... what, exactly -- to garner support for meghan markle’s inevitable bid for some form of public office, probably something CA state-level? prince harry’s shitty, condescending advertisements hawking online therapy that both prey on vulnerable people who don't know how vastly unregulated and predatory these telehealth outlets are and cements his public image as a deeply sensitive & misunderstood victim? barf.

the most condemnation i've seen regarding this episode has to do with the idea south park is downplaying the role racism both within the royal family and the broader public of the united kingdom exhibited toward meghan markle, which is cited as one of the major reasons for the animosity between prince harry and the royal family. the episode seems to address this through one line specifically -- the line "he's ignoring me because i'm an ethnic woman!" and prince harry's "wait, you're ethnic?" i'm not going into depth about racism and meghan markle and the british royal family, but i do know from passing conversation i've had with lots of (american) people around the time of harry and meghan's wedding is that a lot of people did not know meghan markle was biracial until it became a prominent talking point. this wades into tricky waters about the american idea of the one drop rule, racial identity and racial perception, accusations of "blackfishing", racism in america and racism in the u.k., etc. i'm not going into great detail about that, but I can say that line from my own observation was a sentiment I heard pretty frequently, so I don't think it's pulled "out of thin air" as I've seen critics suggest. again, this is not me saying the british royal family is not racist -- just for clarity (it would be an insane thing to say regardless given that racism is interwoven into the structural history of the british monarchy) the question moreso how much this played a role in meghan markle's integration into royal life -- and this is matt and trey's answer from an american perspective. whether you find this astute or offensive depends on your inclinations when it comes to racial poststructuralism i suppose.

the only reservation i have in their portrayal is the implicit suggestion that prince harry is simply helpless to the whims of meghan markle as a gold digger and could be a halfway decent person outside her influence, which is far too charitable an olive branch to extend his way. my mother had a mild fascination with princess diana and thus both william and harry as they grew up and i remember a time where prince harry's various shenanigan's -- some innocuous, some significantly more egregious -- made for occasional fodder on the news, and this split from the royal family has been some of the best PR of his life considering he is now in a position to reap all the material benefit and privilege his life apart of royal lineage has awarded him (and continues to do so) yet distance himself as the moral black sheep and the more unsavory aspects of his family. though, the interview regarding his book (appropriately re-titled "waaagh") is a good dig at him.

- kyle, oh kyle... i think it’s a common fan interpretation of kyle to be sort of “above” more human pitfalls like self-consciousness or concern with what others think, and it made me glad to see the very opposite in this episode. i think kyle is less overt about these traits than someone like, say, stan or cartman has been in the past, but it’s very clear that kyle cares deeply about what people think of him and can easily become something of a fixation. we saw this pretty clearly in s21; in fact, self-image has been something of a recurring theme with kyle. he’s having a moment and much of that revolves around the constant existentialism in who am i? am i who i think i am or am i who others think i am? how much of people’s perception of me plays into who i actually am? is there any real delineation between the two? these are all very serious and philosophical questions that are at the heart of any discussion about identity; the battle between self-perception and being perceived, individual vs. group, man vs. himself.

there is SO. MUCH. to say about butters and kyle's entire conversation on the stairs about kyle's "brand"

Butters: Some kids call it your credibility or your reputation, but those things are just little parts of something much more important... Your brand. Think about it, Kyle. Who are you? Kyle: I'm just... I-I'm just me. Butters: See? You don't know what your brand is. So how is anyone else supposed to know? It's like a commercial for Kyle, but you're not putting a label on the jar. Kyle: Butters, this seems very out of character for you. Butters: That's because I've been workin' on my brand.

the importance placed on 'identity' has become such a huge conceptual restructuring in how we see ourselves and how others see us. i felt myself acutely in touch with kyle's confusion in stating that he is simply "just me" as this has been my own qualm in a lot of these discussions. but butters pitching it to him as that -- a jar without a label -- effortlessly puts it into simple terms that there needs to be an apparent, visual signifier that screams xyz adjective into public perception.

especially with the predominance of social media, this a huge issue for a lot of people now. a small example that captures this perfectly that most people can probably relate to is spotify wrapped! how many posts (especially on tumblr) do you see of people lamenting that they did not listen to enough 'cool' or 'obscure' music this year, or joking about leaving their spotify playing only 'cool' or 'obscure' music in the last few months of metrics gathering in the hopes of bumping this music into someone's top 5, half-hearted -joking-but-not-really anxiety about people seeing their "true" top artists and making fun of them or not thinking they are Deep or Serious or High Brow enough when it comes time to flood social media with a million different multi-colored cards distilling your personality down into a handful of songs and musicians? it's a nice idea in theory -- but what it culminates in practice is fostering a level of anxiety and self-policing into people who are so dependent on validation and positive affirmation through the internet, having to suppress a private self in favor of a public persona that is carefully cultivated and crafted for the sake of communicating "this is who i am" as opposed to just 'being.' this is not meant to ridicule these people, either -- it's an entirely normal human impulse to want to be understood our peers and community, for there to be concordant harmony between what we think of ourselves and what others think of us. if you considered yourself a generous person, would it not hurt you to hear, say, a loved one describe you as "selfish"?

if kyle does not know how to label himself, how will anyone else?

and it does not work to simply vocalize these traits -- they need to be exhibited in a nonverbal, aesthetic manner. you cannot tell people who you are lest they deem you a tryhard or disbelieve you. we see this when kyle approaches the guys after meeting with the man at cumhammer, where he tells them that he is a, "reliable, fun-loving, punctual, victim." kyle then declares that he's working on himself and that they'll like what they see, cue sad piano music. this is reiterated again by the brand manager who tells him that, "people can't see inside you. they can only see what kind of drink you're drinking."

at first i thought the whole idea of “branding” was going to lead into more about-face commentary on south park re: identity politics (every last identity trait being "victim" in particular i think alludes to this), but i think ‘brand’ itself is a more apt way to describe the manner we as a society are tacitly being encouraged to conceptualize ourselves as Things to be consumed rather than People meant to be experienced. social media specifically encourages people by a variety of means -- bombardment with advertisements, insidious interfaces and design functions designed to entice our baser, easily impressionable impulses not unlike casinos and front-end grocery check lanes, constant access and reminders to categorize ourselves -- to train our brains to monitor our own behavior to this insane degree.

we see just how desperate kyle is to be understood by his peers. more overtly than any other character i think, kyle hates to feel left out. we see how hurt he is in an episode like south park is gay -- the sense of betrayal that accompanies cartman, kenny, and stan dropping kyle for not following the fad and thus not being "cool," when the town issues a moratorium on his speeches (speeches being kyle's primary mode of communication with others and a way for him to process his own beliefs), wieners out etc., and that this isolation is extremely difficult for him to deal with. he is a very people-oriented person, whether those people be townspeople, friends, or family. so he begins to craft an image he thinks will make people like him more by exhibiting what he thinks they want to see from him: "i'm not going to complain about things, i'm more thick-skinned, and I want people to think I'm stronger mentally than I probably am."

but this is the problem -- kyle isn't any of those things, and he knows this! kyle is easily agitated, he is sensitive, and he does not hide distress well. so the only solution is to suppress his natural inclinations and project his cool Brand. It is extremely unnatural to see him saunter in to school as Cool Guy and the other boys show as such; they're confused mostly by kyle's behavior and find it odd. he thinks this is an improvement until he see butters' being beaten on the playground for the sake of his Brand.

his speech at the end that this discordance and suppression of our true selves leads us to be performers as opposed to people is a profound emotional revelation. i do truly love the ending of this episode -- with kyle initially upset with ike for not getting over his emotions and quickly accepting that this is who ike is -- "things get to you, it's who you are" -- in a way that is also a conscious acceptance of who *kyle* is. he walks forlorn out into the living room to hear a knock at the door and see his friends all there, wanting him to get out of the house as he's going through a lot, with kyle thanking them as they go out to play, inviting him to get out of his own head and be present with them as a group. a very touching thought to end on.

I missed the episode last night and I'm stuck at stupid work so my paragraph long post about the new episode is late but forthcoming.

[traitor-boyfriend]

Can't say I've formed a super strong opinion on just where Kyle falls between introversion v. extroversion but I think you make a really good case here for the latter; personally, I think much of the broader fan narrative of Kyle's introversion is informed not so much by a Kyle needing private contemplation and alone time, but moreso a misattribution re: Kyle's underdeveloped social skills when it comes to his consistent, prolonged inability to relate to his peers. Which also ties into Kyle's designation as the "mature" one of the group -- I would say, as a general rule, he is; Kyle's role as the moral mouthpiece often makes him the more knowledgeable, more eloquently spoken member of the main boys, but Kyle behaviorally is not above juvenile, age-appropriate concerns or misgivings.

I think Kyle is something of an "introvert" not by any natural disposition towards such but because he feels singled out, uniquely unrelatable, and misunderstood. Sometimes he is unfairly being maligned; sometimes it's imagined, but the end result is the same in him struggling to contain that desire to vocalize himself and reach a sense of understanding with other characters, which then leads to isolation. But we see quite a few times that isolation is not good for him and does not 'energize' or motivate him and merely reinforces his negative feelings. Typically it serves as a low point to spur him into action.

It's a good point you make in that Kyle as a character would probably deny it, but he *is* fundamentally a character that is extremely people-oriented. Even if he doesn't like or understand many of those people.

Unpopular opinion: It’s fine if you don’t agree with me on this, but I personally think that Kyle is an ambivert. You probably already know this, but an ambivert is someone who both introverted and extroverted at the same time. I headcanon him to be energetic and social sometimes but then be on the quiet side other times.

Don’t worry, my opinion on this is probably even more unpopular. I feel like most people think he’s an introvert, or just go along with the reading of him as one because it’s popular, or because they don’t care enough about personality typing or cognitive functions to really care about it one way or another. I’m in the minority in that I think he’s an extrovert, an ENFJ more specifically. Google disagrees. Oh well.

I can see the ambivert angle. I prefer it to a straight introvert take, for sure. Speaking as a complete introvert myself… Kyle is not one. He’s just not the kind of kid who needs his battery recharged with alone time - in fact, he thrives in groups and crowds (that’s not to say he’s always very skilled at socializing, or that others always respond well to him, but he does get energy from interacting with others). He’s also not one for quiet introspection, because he generally uses his friends as sounding boards for his internal conflicts. Prime example: Crack Baby Athletic Association. He also gives speeches not just to convince others to see his side, but also as a way of working through issues outwardly, in real time, with an audience.

Even in this most recent episode, he needed socialization, like, desperately, in order to feel good about himself and his friends clearly know that about him. He’d probably deny it if asked, but he likes being the center of attention. He loves to be listened to and regarded as someone worthwhile, and he seeks the approval of others so much so, to the point where it could be considered a character flaw (though he did make progress on this in the last episode). And he really, really doesn’t like being alone. If he’s not interacting with his friends, he’s trying to hang out with Ike. He made a whole Twitter hashtag over the fact that his family stopped hanging out with him enough. In Post Covid he was living alone and clearly pretty miserable that way. He just… gets so much out of being around other people, y’know? I can relate to him in so many ways, but not this way lol.

Introversion/extroversion is really about where you get your energy from. In my opinion, Kyle gets it from being around others and being heard by them. An introvert would be exhausted by that and need alone time to recharge and refresh. Is there room for an interpretation where he can be one or the other depending on the day? Yeah, of course. So while I don’t agree with you entirely, I do get your reading of it more than I get the introvert takes. We can be unpopular together!

[traitor-boyfriend]

kyle: “i’m not that outdoorsy”

me: *drinks my strawberry lemonade from wendy’s that i cut halfway with water cos it’s too sweet in a really smug and self-assured way, oh so confident in my superior intellect and intuitive sense of character because this singular line validates my long-term understanding of him and is specifically mentioned in several pieces of prose that will never see the light of day.*

[traitor-boyfriend]

I missed the episode last night and I'm stuck at stupid work so my paragraph long post about the new episode is late but forthcoming.