Creation
Cartman was created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Cartman made his debut in the animated short film “Jesus vs. Frosty”, having the name Kenny. He was heavily inspired by Archie Bunker.
Appearance
Cartman is almost always seen wearing a red jacket, yellow gloves, a blue hat with a yellow puff ball on top, brown pants, and black shoes. He has brown hair and brown eyes. Cartman is an overweight child, and is noticeably larger than his friends. He possesses a potbelly and a double chin. It has been shown that his weight problem may be genetic, as his whole family, excluding his mother, are also overweight.
Personality
Many words can be used to describe Eric Cartman: overweight, spoiled, lazy, foul-mouthed, mean-spirited, racist, sexist, anti-semitic, petty, envious, charismatic, narcissistic, bigoted, and ill-tempered. He has been often referred to as the reincarnation of Satan, and the root of all evil. Cartman is also extremely sadistic. He has committed numerous crimes, from vandalism to murder. Eric often mocks and bullies (both physically and verbally) the other children at school, and as a result many of them despise him. He is shown to have no moral compass, and seems to disregard good or bad altogether.
Cartman simply does what he feels is necessary to get himself ahead in life. He is sensitive about his weight, and often denies that he has a weight problem by saying “I’m not fat, I’m big-boned”. Cartman is a charismatic person, and seems to be a natural born leader, able to influence large groups of people very quickly and make them follow even his most racist or ridiculous causes. He is shown to have a particular fondness for a snack food called “Chessy Poofs”. Cartman’s popular catchphrases are “Screw you guy, I’m going home” and “Respect my authority” (which he humorously pronounces as “respect mah authori-tah”). He usually says the later when he is given a position of authority.
History
Eric Cartman is a fourth grade student in Mr Garrison’s class at South Park Elementary. He is friends with the show’s other 3 main characters Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski and Kenny McCormick. Although friends, the other three characters tend to rip on Cartman a lot more than they would each other or someone else in their school because of his weight and negative personality.
Kyle and Eric have an ongoing rivalry. Cartman is constantly teasing Kyle for being a “Dirty Jew” to which Kyle will reply with some derogatory term for his weight problem. Eric will also tease Kenny for being poor and having poor parents, again to which Kenny will reply “F**k you fat ass”
Eric’s mother is a hermaphrodite drug pusher named Liane Cartman. Although loving and caring of her son, she does make her living selling her body for sex or selling narcotics of some sort. Cartman’s biological father is Jack Tenorman. Eric had only recently discovered Jack as his biological father, this came after he had killed Jack (and wife) and made them into a chilli soup to be consumed by his half brother Scott Tenorman as a revenge ploy. Sometimes, Cartman takes on a super hero identity called “The Coon”, which is a partially based on Batman. He lead the super group called Coon and Friends, which consists of himself, his friends and some of his classmates. He is often kicked out of the group or not acknowledged as the leader because of his narcissitic tendencies and idiotic or selfish agendas.