Stan Marsh

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South Park character

Stanley 'Stan' Marsh
Age:	9
Gender:	Male
Hair color:	Black
Job:	Student
Religion:	Roman Catholic (Briefly converted at various times to Atheist, Mormon, and Scientologist)
First appearance:	The Spirit of Christmas
Voiced by:	Trey Parker

Stanley "Stan" Marsh is a fictional character in the animated television series South Park. Voiced and based on series co-creator Trey Parker, Stan and Kyle often trade places as the protagonist of the four. Stan is arguably the most "normal" of the kids, and is generally honest, very mature for his age, and well-meaning. He is slightly more assertive than his best friend Kyle. He is often distinctly unimpressed by adults or adult influences, and although not particularily troublesome, holds very little respect for them. Stan also has asthma, as shown in "Sexual Harassment Panda" when Cartman wants to take his inhaler, although this condition has not affected Stan since. He is ambidexterous, though he uses his right hand more frequently.

Life

Stan Marsh was born in 1990 on October 19 to Randy and Sharon Marsh. He lives at 2001 Bonanza Street, South Park Co. 80439. Ever since Stan was in Kindergarten, he has been friends with Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman and Kenny McCormick. As they grew up together, it is easy to say that Stan became the most sensible and reasonable one, often doing the right things. Sometimes this role is reversed and Stan is the gullible one, while Kyle Broflovski is the reasonable one. Stan fell in love with Wendy Testaburger, who became his love interest through most of the shows run. They became boyfriend and girlfriend, despite Stan's tendency to throw up on Wendy every time she tried to talk to him. Their romance faded as time went on, to the point they wouldn't even talk for weeks. In Stan's defense, he was extremely busy during the time span in which this occurred. Their relationship ended when Wendy broke up with Stan in the episode Raisins. Stan tried to get her back but she had already moved on with Token Black. Stan is empathetic and sensitive, a trait his friends tend to pick on. This has been shown by his love for animals. He first showed his compassion for animals in Volcano, when he refused to shoot a bunny while hunting with his uncle Jimbo. Another example is when he tried to save calves from a ranch, which intended to make veal out of the cows in Fun with Veal. He managed to get the name "Veal" switched to "Tortured Baby Cow", thereby saving the cows lives because no body wanted to eat it anymore. When their Afghani doppelgangers sent Stan and his friends a goat, they had no place to put it so Stan decided to send it back by sneaking onto an Army base and putting it in a aircraft. He temporarily joined PETA, though since his life was being threatened he did not have much choice in the matter. Stan also went to great lengths to return an Orca Whale to the moon (He had been tricked into thinking that was where it had come from, and that it was dieing on earth). Stan has easily joined fads without a second thought (which leads to him being led astray from reality). He was up to date with all the latest Chinpokomon products, and became a metrosexual for a short while in South Park is Gay. This contrasts with his reasonable personality, but in the latest episodes he has taken the stance as his friend Kyle, and generally stays out of fads. Stan's moral self was tested in Trapped in the Closet, when he became the leader of the church of Scientology after scoring the highest Thetan levels, and being thought to be the reincarnation of L. Ron Hubbard. He was then told by the church's inner ranks that the church was a scam, and if he went along with it he would make millions. Stan was hesitant, but for a short while greed overcame him. He ultimately didn't feel right lying to so many people, so he finally told the truth, although nobody believed him. Kyle Broflovski and Stan Marsh are best friends, most of the time siding with each other on the same issue and siding against Eric Cartman. They share the same views on most matters, and both draw a moral out of an episode. Only twice have the two been in serious conflict. When Stan and Kyle discover a frozen man, in Prehistoric Ice Man, they both have different names for him and Kyle's is chosen, leading to an escalated conflict where the two engage in a fight over who discovered him and what his name is. Similar to this, Kyle is chosen for a school assignment to take care of an egg with Wendy Testaburger, leading Stan to grow dangerously jealous of the two, even though he and Wendy were broken up. Kyle was oblivious to this. On both occasions the friendship was still intact. With Eric Cartman, Stan is generally opposing him, although on certain occasions, the two have sided together on small issues, such as whether Cartman pretending to be Kyle's dead gradmother was funny. The two were also once together without Kyle in Two Days before the Day after Tomorrow. They were playing in a boat, and appeared to be having fun together, until the drove the boat into a beaver dam. Kenny McCormick, while usually on Cartman's side, is on good terms with both Stan and Kyle. There is not much interaction between Stan and Kenny, but in Kenny Dies, Stan has trouble dealing with the fact Kenny is dying (despite the fact he dies in every episode) and refuses to visit him. In the end, Stan gets over himself and decides to visit Kenny, but discovers that Kenny is already dead, and that he is too late. He is emotionally devastated, thinking of himself as Kenny's worst friend. But when he discovers Cartman was not promoting Stem Cell research to save Kenny, but was actually using Kenny's death to legalize Stem Cell research and build his own pizza restaurant. This comforted Stan, who pointed out he wasn't Kenny's worst friend; Cartman was. In another episode, The Passion of the Jew, he and Kenny go together to see The Passion of the Christ, and they agree that it sucked, and they want their money back. They then travel together to Mel Gibson's home, and manage to steal back their money.

Friendship with Kyle

A topic taken into account many times during the series is Stan's best-friendship with Kyle Broflovski. They have been best friends since the very beginning of the show. They have been known to end up working together in certain adventures, such as in "Fantastic Easter Special", and are often dragged into the same circumstances due to this, such as in "Imaginationland Episode II". Stan has saved Kyle's life on several occasions without hesitation, most notably in "Super Best Friends", and has once stated that he doesn't want Kyle to die until he does. He nearly always defends Kyle when Cartman's hatred of him goes over the top, such as in "Cartmanland" and "Cherokee Hair Tampons". Stan often becomes anxious about Kyle when he is tricked by various scams or becomes immersed in his hatred of Cartman, bending over backwards to encourage or reassure Kyle, convince him otherwise, or to get him out of trouble. They are almost always seen together, or talking to each other, even in the absence of Cartman or Kenny, and usually do everything and go everywhere together, making them rather like twins. Also, in the opening credits of the show, they sing the same lines together. In the 11 seasons the show has been on the air, they have broken up a number of episodes, such as "Prehistoric Ice Man", "Super Best Friends", "Kenny Dies", "Douche and Turd", "South Park is Gay!", "Follow that Egg!", and most recently, "Guitar Queer-o". They have reconciled on-screen in all of these episodes, with the exception of "South Park is Gay!" They are even shown hugging at the end of "Smug Alert!". The episode "Guitar Queer-o" arguably focuses more than any other on their friendship, as a big argument between the two forms the major conflict of the story. However, in the end they reconcile, with no lasting damage done to the friendship. Stan also had a great deal of concern when Kyle was voted the ugliest boy in the class in "The List". Their friendship is so strong that Cartman calls them "fags" and has even commented, "You wanna get a room so you can make out for a while?". It is also notable that in "Imaginationland Episode III", Kyle was the only person who could hear Stan's voice in his head when Stan was trapped in Imaginationland.

Family and Home

Stan is the son of Randy Marsh (a geologist with the United States Geological Survey) and Sharon Kimble Marsh (a receptionist at Tom's Rhinoplasty). Stan is frequently embarrassed by their stupidity. In "Bloody Mary" his dad asks, "How did I have such a smart son?", and Stan replies, "I had a great teacher." Randy says back, "Ah, thanks son.", but Stan instead says, "Not you, my karate teacher, he's really smart." He has an older sister, Shelley Marsh, who bullies him on a regular basis, although she probably does love him deep down inside, as in "An Elephant Makes Love to a Pig", she has been severely abusing him, but in "Pre-School" helps him when he was threatened by a bully. Stan's crotchety 102-year-old wheelchair-bound grandfather, Marvin Marsh, calls him "Billy" and often attempts to coerce Stan to kill him. He is also the nephew of hunter Jimbo Kern, Randy's half-brother. Stan's parents share their names with Trey Parker's real-life parents, Sharon Parker and Randolph "Randy" Parker Jr. Incidentally, Trey also has a sister named Shelley, who behaved very similar to Stan's Shelley. Stan's pets have included a gay dog named Sparky, and (temporarily), an evil goldfish who murders people and frames Stan, driving Sharon Marsh, who buries the dead bodies in her backyard and locks Officer Barbrady in the basement, to insanity. Stan's dad Randy has also been depicted as a mild alcoholic in "The Losing Edge" and was later forced to become an AA member in "Bloody Mary", where Stan had to constantly object to Randy drinking. He told Randy he needed to learn some "disciprine" (a quote used in obviously poor English by his Japanese karate teacher earlier in the episode); this speech convinced Randy to drink in moderation.

Appearance

He wears a dark blue hat with a red trim on the bottom and a red poof-ball at the top. He wears a red-collared brown coat, blue jeans, and red mittens. He has a plain mop of thick, shaggy black hair, like his father.

Catchphrases and Mannerisms

Since its beginning, the series has had a running gag where when Kenny is killed, Stan will announce, "Oh my God, you/he/they/we killed Kenny!" Kyle will then respond: "You/those/we're bastard(s)!" Stan's often-used catchphrase during the early seasons was "Dude, this is pretty fucked up right here," which originated in the second Spirit of Christmas short (the profanity was bleeped out). In recent episodes however this catchphrase faded. In many episodes, Stan often sums up the episode's main points in a small speech that often begins with, "You know, I learned something today." In different episodes Kyle does this instead, and a few other characters such as Cartman or the Mayor have as well. In the late episodes, Stan also has a habit of pinching the bridge of his (unseen) nose and shutting his eyes tightly when frustrated or exasperated (as the actor Lino Ventura). A good example of this is in the episode "ManBearPig" where he does this motion when on the phone with Al Gore. Another example is in the episode "With Apologies to Jesse Jackson", when he does it all the way home from the TV show. His mother is also seen doing the motion in that scene. He also does it the whole time when the reporter is talking to Randy in "Goobacks". The gesture seems to be a learned habit developed by his constant frustration with his parents. Stan often groans, "Aw-awww!" when he's upset, which seems to be an inherited habit, as his father does this sometimes as well. This is the same Catch phrase Trey Parker used in Baseketball Whenever he gets mad, frustrated or gets dragged into something he often says, "Goddamnit!", not to be confused with Cartman's catchphrase, "Aw! God-damn-it!"