Butters Stotch is a major character in Comedy Central's South Park franchise. He is a fourth-grader in South Park Elementary. Butters' role gradually began to increase after he replaced Kenny during his temporary removal in Season Six. This allowed Butters to gain more screen time and further develop his character. He is the "innocent child" in the group and Cartman's most exploited and possibly best "friend". Butters is loosely based on Eric Stough, an animation director/producer that works on the show.
Biography[]
Leopold "Butters" Stotch is a fictional character in the adult animated television series South Park. He is voiced by series co-creator Matt Stone and loosely based on co-producer Eric Stough. He is a student at South Park Elementary School.
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. His name is a play on the confection butterscotch.
Butters debuted as an unnamed background character when South Park first premiered on Comedy Central on August 13, 1997; his role gradually increased, becoming one of the series's most frequently present characters beginning with season 3 and eventually the de facto fifth main character. Creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have stated that he is one of their favorite characters.
Butters attends South Park Elementary as part of Mr. Garrison's (later Mrs. Garrison's) 4th grade class. Storyboards and scripts for seasons 1 and 2 had his original names as "Puff Puff" and "Swanson" respectively. In "AWESOM-O", he says his birthday is on September 11. He learns from his parents in "Going Native" that he was born on the island of Kaua'i. During the show's first 58 episodes (1997 through Season 4 episode "4th Grade" in 2000), Butters and the other main child characters were in the third grade. He lives in South Park as the only child of Stephen and Linda Stotch, from whom he perpetually faces the looming prospect of being grounded and abused. When the character of Kenny McCormick was temporarily written off the show near the end of Season 5, Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, and Eric Cartman allow Butters into their group as the "fourth friend"
Appearance[]
Butters has a small tuft of bright blond hair on the top of his head. He wears a turquoise jacket and dark green pants. For the rest of season 19, Butters wore a neck brace after trying to commit suicide in "Safe Space". In South Park: Post Covid: The Return of Covid, he wears a dark blue suit over a turquoise shirt and brown shoes. He also carries a pair of blue-tinted glasses on his forehead.
Personality[]
Though using profanity on occasion, Butters does not indulge in foul-mouthed language as often as the other children on the show, instead preferring to use minced oaths; "oh hamburgers" is one he uses frequently, as well as "gee whiz" mostly in earlier seasons. Butters speaks with a mild stutter and tends to fidget with his hands.[1] The other characters perceive him as "nerdy",[2] and he obliviously maintains a wholesome attitude and mild disposition despite the tragedy and abuse that he frequently encounters.[1][3] His happy-go-lucky persona has been described as resembling that of a typical 1950s sitcom child character,[4] and is usually presented in stark contrast to the harsh treatment he receives at the hands of his friends and strict parents, including his mother's deranged attempt to murder him after discovering his father's bisexuality,[1] as well as when his grandmother happens to be in town and constantly bullies him during her stay. Stone describes him as embodying "permanent innocence".[4] Butters, however, sees himself as a problem child because his parents tell him so and often expresses remorse at being "out-of-control". Exceptions to this include the episode "The Ungroundable", in which Butters makes his parents worry about their ability to ground him when he refuses to be punished. This rebellious behavior begins after he joins the vampire kids at his school, but ends when he helps the Goth kids burn down a Hot Topic store.[5] On the season 14 episode "Sexual Healing", Butters didn't want to have to buy a Batman costume when hearing about David Carradine's autoerotic asphyxiation death after testing positive for sex addiction.[6]
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 "The Tale of Scrotie McBoogerballs" and "Butterballs"; in the latter of which he viciously assaulted Dr. Oz and verbally castigated his abusive grandmother.
Behind the scenes[]
- In "AWESOM-O", it is revealed that Butter's birthday is September 11, a fact not disclosed until just over two and a half years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Cartman did not use this information against Butters in "Mystery of the Urinal Deuce".
- Butters was originally named "Puff Puff" and "Swanson".
- Despite this, he was not a named character in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut; the eight draft of the script just referred to him as "small boy".
- In "Damien", he was shown as a bully who tortured Pip with the other children.
Butters is friends with Pip and Dougie.
- According to "Cartman Sucks", Butters' blood type is O.
- Butters is shown as left-handed in "AWESOM-O", but in "My Future Self n' Me" and "Quest for Ratings" as well as most of the recent episodes he is shown as right-handed. This is either a continuity error or Butters is ambidextrous.
- During some DVD commentaries, Matt Stone and Trey Parker mention that Butters is one of their "top 3 favorite characters".
- In the South Park Season 6 intro until he was kicked out as the fourth friend, Butters is seen holding a sign saying "The Butters Show" over the South Park sign. After being kicked out, he is shown as Professor Chaos, knocking the sign down before laughing inaudibly.
Butters has a phenomenal imagination and it was put to use to re-imagine "Imaginationland" back to the way it was before the terrorists invaded.
- He plays left field on the South Park little league baseball team. His dad is also the coach/manager.
Butters seems to be competent with firearms, as shown in "Fun with Veal" using a G36 Rifle, but in "The China Probrem" he could not he even handle a Glock 17 and is not as competent. Butters' moniker evolved from "little buddy", Matt Stone and Trey Parker's nickname for South Parks animation director and producer Eric Stough.
- Butters is shown to be very fair when it comes to business, as seen in "Butters' Bottom Bitch", where he shares the earnings with the girls in the "kissing company".
- In "Sarcastaball", it is shown in a dream he has crushes on Wendy and Red.
Butters once had a girlfriend from Michigan named "Carrie", as shown in "Toilet Paper".
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Ryan Nyburg. "Who killed Kenny? South Park defines a generation with its jokes", Oregon Daily Emerald, 2005-03-03. [dead link]
- ↑ Vanderwerff, Emily. "South Park: The Best of the Bleeping Best", The Press-Enterprise, 2007-08-13.
- ↑ Arp and Yu, p. 27
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedgrowsup2 - ↑ for instance in How to eat with your butt
- ↑ Archived at GhostarchiveTemplate:Cbignore and the Wayback MachineTemplate:Cbignore: "South Park - Kyle, Butters & Kenny Are Sex Addicts". YouTube. Template:Cbignore
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