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{{Short description|Fictional characters}}
{{Cleanup|date=November 2006}}
{{South Park character| {{Infobox character
| multiple = yes
image=]|
name=Gerald and Sheila Broflovski| | name = Gerald and Sheila Broflovski
| series = ]
gender=] and ]|
hair=Gerald: brown, Sheila: red| | image = Gerald and Sheila Broflovski.png
| alt =
age=about 40-45 |
| caption = Gerald (''left'') and Sheila (''right'')
job=Lawyer|
| first = {{plainlist|
religion=]|
* "]" (Gerald)
start="]" (Sheila)
] (Gerald)| * "]" (Sheila)
}}
finish=Ongoing|
| last_major =
voice=](Gerald)<br>] (Sheila)|
| last_minor = <!-- or |last_issue= -->
| last_date =
| last = <!-- Use instead of last_major= etc. when custom or complex formatting is needed. -->
| creator = ]<br />]
| based_on = <!-- if not an original creation, use {{based on|character|author}} -->
| adapted_by = <!-- for character adaption articles -->
| designer = ]<br />]
| portrayer =
| voice = '''Gerald:'''<br />]<br />'''Sheila:'''<br /> ] (1997–1999)<br>] (2000–present)
| motion_actor =
| full_name =
| nickname = <!-- or |nicknames= -->
| alias = {{plainlist|
* S-WOW Tittybang (Sheila)<ref name="It's a Jersey Thing">"]"</ref>
* Skankhunt42 (Gerald)<ref>"]"</ref>
}}
| species = <!-- or |race=; for non-humans only -->
| gender =
| title =
| occupation = '''Sheila''': ]<br>
'''Gerald''': ]
| affiliation = <!-- or |alignment= -->
| fighting_style =
| weapon =
| family =
| spouse = <!-- or |spouses= -->
| significant_other = <!-- or |significant_others= -->
| children = ] (son)<br />] (adoptive son)
| relatives = ] (nephew){{plainlist|
* '''Sheila:'''
* Joey Broflovski (father)
* Cleo Broflovski (mother)
}}
{{plainlist|
* '''Gerald:'''
* Richard Broflovski (father)
* Margaret Broflovski (mother)
* Murrey Broflovski (brother)
}}
| religion = ]
| origin = South Park, ]<br />], ] (in "]")<br />] (Former home of Sheila)
| nationality = American
}} }}
'''Gerald and Sheila Broflovski''' are fictional characters in the animated series ]. They are the parents of ] and ] (]). Gerald is voiced by ] and Sheila has been voiced by ] and currently by ].

==Gerald==
===Appearance===
Gerald wears a ] ], a ] jacket and ] trousers. He has brown hair and a beard. Although it has not been seen or confirmed yet, it it most likely that Gerald is bald beneath his ]. His last name suggests ] ancestry.

===Personality===
Out of all the parents in South Park, Gerald appears to be the most caring and rational father. He teaches Kyle on important morals and appears to be more concerned with the environment and current events than most South Park residents.

He is a kind, amiable person, though he can be obnoxious and stubborn once in a while. He does, however, have gambling problems and is sometimes too obsessed with money. Mostly, though, he is seen as a responsible and caring father, sometimes to a fault.

===Occupation===
Gerald is a ]. He has handled legal matters including:
*Getting ]'s name put on the album ''"Stinky Britches"'' in ].

*Helping ] successfully sue Stan after Stan called him an "Ass-sucker" in ].

In ], Gerald helped the other children sue each other after various forms of name-calling were classified as ]. This led to the case of Everyone vs. Everyone, which was dropped when Sexual Harassment Panda changed his name to Don't Sue People Panda.

He is also the city attorney.

==Sheila==
===Appearance===
Sheila wears a ] suit with her ] in a ]. She is ]. Curiously for a resident of ], Sheila speaks with a rather broad ] (although it is mentioned in ] that she moved to the town from a large city).

Her first name, and red hair, suggest ] ancestry.

===Protests===
Upon hearing of anything she finds offensive, Sheila remarks "What what what?" Cartman once noted this happens usually ]. Sheila has protested against many things including:

====]====
Sheila and her family apparently comprise the entire South Park Jewish community. She was angered that the school play was anti-Jewish in '']'' and forced the play to adopt a non-religious theme, ultimately provoking a riot in which she beat up ] as he was restrained by her husband.

====]====
She lobbied with the other parents to have the show-within-a-show "Terrance and Phillip" taken off the network (much like the controversy and the protests against the TV show "Beavis and Butthead" who Terrance and Phillip are based on), which succeeds, but only until a worse TV show was put on the air as a replacement.

====]====
She was annoyed by the boys making fun of Nurse Gollum because she had the fictional disease "conjoined twin myslexia" so she taught them about the disease, but the boys started trying to split their heads open with ice picks to get supposed fetuses out (except Kyle and Kenny, who probably knew the disease didn't really exist, because Kenny laughed after hearing the lecture and Kyle didn't get very scared). When Stan's irate mother told Sheila "Next time you want to scare the hell out of my son, go sit in the road until a truck runs you over!" she angrily protested to have a "conjoined fetus week" that was dedicated to Conjoined Twin Myslexia and South Park's only sufferer (the school nurse, Nurse Gollum). She got really annoyed (especially when unwanted pictures were taken), and she angrily said at the end of it that the week was the last thing she wanted. Principal Victoria and Sheila just declared her "an ungrateful bitch."

====]====
Sheila pokes her nose into many other people's business and doesn't like her family (or anyone else in fact) discriminating others. In ] she was a hypocrite in telling Kyle that Mr. Garrison's ] was okay because it makes him feel how he is on the inside, but then denied Kyle a ], until of course, her husband got a "dolphinoplasty".

====]====
In the movie ] Sheila was one of the main characters when the boys had been "sucked in" by Terrance and Phillip's antics from their film ].

In fact it led to Kenny copying Terrance lighting his fart on fire killing Kenny. Kenny is famous for dying however. Sheila then created '''"MAC"''' or '''"Mothers Against Canada"''' (Terrance and Phillip are Canadian). She even installed a ] in Cartman to shock him whenever he swore.

Sheila thought she was acting for the best but it then lead to '''America-Canada''' war. Then Satan and ] used this to invade Earth. Satan's armies were fended off by Cartman's malfunctioning V-Chip and Satan killed Saddam who had been irritating Satan for a while after Kenny's spirit (who went to Hell) convinced him to end it. Satan then took Mr. Hat to Hell with him and gave Kenny one wish for helping him. He said he wanted everything back to normal even though it meant he (Kenny) would have to go to Hell. Kyle then said that in the end Cartman's swearing saved everyone. Sheila realized and since then has cut down on her protesting.

====]====
She attempted to protest against the Cartman family for leading the whole school into believing her son was responsible for 9/11, but was brushed aside by Mr. Mackey, who was trying to find out who did the urinal deuce.

====Others====
Sheila has been in protests against the Iraq War in '']'' and various others.

===]===
This is a song sung by Cartman in the episode "]" and the movie '']'' (in which towards the end of the song Sheila was actually standing behind Cartman, who proceeded to sing the song to the end before looking behind him and exclaiming "Aw, fuck!").

==Marriage==
Unlike the ] and ]'s respective parents, Gerald and Sheila seem to have a fairly stable marriage and do not typically fight. However, their relationship did get strained in "]," due to Gerald's ]. Gerald also seems occasionally annoyed by his wife's meddling in others' lives, though this seems to be fairly subdued.

Interestingly, the Broflovskis seem to have an ], or at least have been known to have affairs. Gerald was one of Cartman's potential fathers in "]," implying he and Ms. Cartman may have had sex; and Sheila is shown having sex with ] in "]." Gerald apparently knew about this, coming in a moment after and cheerfully asking "How was it?" Sheila responds that it was "pretty much what I expected."

==Extended Family==
Though never seen alive, Kyle's grandmother has been mentioned several times. Most of these references seem to be a reference to the same woman, Cleo, who is Sheila's mother (see trivia below); Gerald's parents have never been mentioned.


'''Gerald''' "'''Jerry'''" '''Broflovski'''{{efn|In Jewish culture, the male takes the wife's last name instead of the female taking the husband's last name.}} and '''Sheila Broflovski'''{{efn|Their last name has also been spelled Broslovski, Broslofski, Brovlofski, Broflofski, and Brovlowski.}} are fictional characters in the ] '']''. The two are an upper middle-class married Ashkenazi Jewish couple who raise their ten-year-old son ] and three-year-old ]-born adopted son ] in the fictional town of South Park, ].
Sheila also has at least one sister, who is never seen. However, Kyle's cousin, ]---Sheila's sister's son---has been seen twice.


In tradition with the show's ], they are both composed of simple geometrical shapes, and are animated with use of a computer, though they are given the impression of being ] cutout compositions animated through the use of ], which was the technique used to animate the "]" shorts and the show's ].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.everwonder.com/david/southpark/animationsp.html| title=The Method Behind the Madness of South Park| publisher=everwonder.com| access-date=2009-01-28}}</ref> Gerald is voiced by series co-creator ] and Sheila was originally voiced by ] and is currently voiced by ]. Their first names are derived from the first names of Stone's parents, Gerald and Sheila Stone.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2007/apr/01/art.artanddesign|title=The Observer profile: Matt Stone and Trey Parker|last=Harris|first=Paul|date=2007-04-01|work=The Guardian|access-date=2020-01-17|issn=0261-3077}}</ref>
==Episodes in which Gerald and Sheila Broflovski are prominent==
*] - Protest Terrance and Phillip.


==Characters==
*] - Tells Kyle off for claiming ] is real.
Though they are named for Stone's parents, Gerald and Sheila's characters are not largely inspired by the couple. While Stone's mother is Jewish, his father is a gentile of ] descent, and Stone says they raised him in an agnostic household. Stone decided to portray the character of Gerald as recognizably Jewish, stating that doing so "creates more opportunity for comedy".<ref name="whois">{{cite web|url=http://www.jewishaz.com/jewishnews/980522/kyle.shtml |title=Who is Kyle Broslofski? |access-date=2009-02-04 |author=Raphael, Rebecca |publisher=Jewish News of Greater Phoenix |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070812045230/http://www.jewishaz.com/jewishnews/980522/kyle.shtml |archive-date=August 12, 2007 }}</ref> Gerald grew up in South Park, and met Sheila while they attended college.<ref>{{cite episode |title=] |series=South Park |credits=Trey Parker and Matt Stone |network=Comedy Central |airdate=1998-08-26 |season=2 |number=210}}</ref> The two moved back to Gerald's hometown when Kyle was younger because Sheila wanted to raise her children in a small town environment,<ref>In '']''</ref><ref name="entity">{{cite episode |title=] |series=South Park |credits=Trey Parker and Matt Stone |network=Comedy Central |airdate=2001-11-21 |season=5 |number=511}}</ref> but in "]", the Broflovskis briefly moved to ] when Gerald felt that South Park wasn't "progressive" enough.<ref name="smug">{{cite episode |title=] |series=] |credits=Trey Parker and Matt Stone |network=Comedy Central |airdate=2006-03-29 |season=10 |number=1002}}</ref> In a few instances, Sheila indicated displeasure with Gerald's indulgent and hypocritical behaviour,<ref name="boobage">{{cite episode |title=] |series=South Park |credits=Trey Parker and Matt Stone |network=Comedy Central |airdate=2008-03-26 |season=12 |number=1203}}</ref><ref name="fancy">{{cite episode |title=] |series=South Park |credits=Trey Parker and Matt Stone |network=Comedy Central |airdate=2005-03-09 |season=9 |number=901}}</ref> and Gerald occasionally displays subdued annoyance with his wife's meddling in others' lives. However, their marriage has been portrayed as more stable than those of the other prominent adult couples in the series, and the couple once overcame a temporary setback in their sex life when Gerald briefly suffered from ].<ref name="combust">{{cite episode |title=] |series=South Park |credits=Trey Parker and Matt Stone |network=Comedy Central |airdate=1999-04-14 |season=3 |number=303}}</ref>


Gerald and Sheila share a strong devotion to their Jewish faith, while expressing deep concern on the multiple occasions Kyle's faith in Judaism becomes enervated; However, in earlier episodes the couple has been portrayed attending the Catholic church in South Park. The couple tend to showcase liberal viewpoints, having protested the ]<ref>{{cite episode |title=] |series=] |credits=Trey Parker and Matt Stone |network=Comedy Central |airdate=2003-04-09 |season=7 |number=701}}</ref> and supported ] during the ].<ref name="lastnight">{{cite episode |title=]|series=] |credits=Trey Parker and Matt Stone |network=Comedy Central |airdate=2008-11-05 |season=12 |number=1212}}</ref>
*] - Tells Kyle Ike was adopted.


===Gerald===
*] - Gerald represents Chef in a court case over who made the song ''"Stinky Britches."'' And Sheila gives ] money after he has sex with her, which is for some reason, approved by Gerald (most likely because he doesn't want to look like a bad lawyer by having a client going to jail).
Gerald is a lawyer who also serves on South Park's council as the city attorney,<ref name="hippie">{{cite episode |title=]|series=South Park |credits=Trey Parker and Matt Stone |network=Comedy Central |airdate=2005-03-16 |season=9 |number=902}}</ref> and his role in this profession has been put on display in episodes such as "]" and "]" in which a trial or legal issue plays a large part in the plot.<ref name="boobage"/><ref name="chefaid">{{cite episode |title=] |series=] |credits=Trey Parker and Matt Stone |network=Comedy Central |airdate=1998-10-07 |season=2 |number=214}}</ref><ref name="panda">{{cite episode |title=] |series=South Park |credits=Trey Parker and Matt Stone |network=Comedy Central |airdate=1999-07-07 |season=3 |number=306}}</ref> He commonly wears an olive-green jacket over a purple shirt and forest green trousers. White ] are Gerald's underpants of choice.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://southpark.cc.com/video-clips/stbpph/south-park-battle-in-the-breastriary |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201026101653/https://southpark.cc.com/video-clips/stbpph/south-park-battle-in-the-breastriary |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 26, 2020 | title=Battle in the Breastriary&nbsp;— South Park | date=26 March 2008 }}</ref> He sports a contemporary{{clarify|date=January 2020}} ] and separated ], and is almost always seen donning a pink ]. When not wearing the yarmulke, Gerald is shown to have ]. He is a generally kind, amiable person, though at intervals he has been shown to assume a snobbish attitude that disaffects his friends and family. Examples include the episode "]" where it is revealed that he used to be close with ] when they were younger but that the two had a falling out due to economic differences or when he begins acting like an arrogant snob after buying a hybrid car in "]". In "]", Gerald repeatedly sued South Park Elementary (which was faultless in every case), and later every citizen of South Park, showing his shameless monetary greed and disregard for civil propriety. Gerald was once seen to have a repressed gambling problem,<ref>{{cite episode |title=] |series=South Park |credits=Trey Parker and Matt Stone |network=Comedy Central |airdate=2003-04-30 |season=7 |number=707}}</ref> and prior struggles with a fictional form of inhalant abuse known within the show as "]".<ref name="boobage"/> Gerald is, in ] of the show, revealed to be an internet troll. His internet alias is 'Skankhunt42', and initially, everyone thinks that Eric Cartman is, in fact, Skankhunt42. When trolling, he makes provocative statements against women, and, most notably, creates images where he "puts a dick in mouths." He always drinks red wine and listens to music by ] when trolling. His antics eventually place him in the news after trolling a Danish olympian, making him one of the two main villains of the entirety of season twenty alongside Lennart Bedrager.


===Sheila===
*] - Gerald cannot get an erection with Sheila, yet he gets turned on by three young women who want to sue ] for getting ]. This implies that due to her appearance, or more likely her behavior, he finds Sheila unattractive.
Sheila made her first appearance in the season one episode "]" (where she was originally named Carol), and she exhibits several traits commonly associated with those of a ]. She wears her hair in a ], is overweight, and typically wears a midnight blue suit jacket over a light gray blouse, with a dark red skirt and gray stockings. She speaks with a ], and appears to be of less-than-average height relative to the other female adults on the show. In the episode "]", it is revealed that Sheila was originally from New Jersey, where she was known as "S-Wow Tittybang", and that she and Gerald moved to South Park to avoid having their newly conceived child grow up there. Apart from being briefly appointed to the fictional federal position of "Secretary of Offense" under the ], Sheila is a stay-at-home mother. As a result of hearing something shocking or inappropriate, she is often heard exclaiming "WHAT, WHAT, ''WHAT''!?", saying each word in rapid succession and putting more emphasis on the last "what". Sheila has been depicted as being a huge fan of ].<ref>{{cite episode |title=] |series=] |credits=Trey Parker and Matt Stone |network=Comedy Central |airdate=1998-02-18 |season=1 |number=113}}</ref>


In earlier seasons, Sheila often spearheaded public opposition to things she deemed harmful to children or to the Jewish community. She led a group to ] to protest ], a Canadian comedy duo whose television show's ] is what she believed to be a negative influence on Kyle.<ref name="death">{{cite episode |title=] |series=] |credits=Trey Parker and Matt Stone |network=Comedy Central |airdate=1997-09-17 |season=1 |number=106}}</ref> Her outrage escalated in '']'' when she further protested Terrance and Phillip by forming "Mothers Against Canada", which eventually instigated a war between Canada and the United States making her one of the main villains of the film. At the climax of the film, she takes her crusade against the duo to the extreme by fatally shooting Terrance and Phillip; despite her son's protests, which fulfills an apocalyptic prophecy allowing Satan, his minions, and his lover ] to invade the Earth. This aspect has been toned down in recent years, and is more or less completely absent from newer episodes. Her relationship with Gerald varies, in the episode "]" it is shown that Gerald suffers from periodic sexual dysfunction and erectile dysfunction which put a strain on their relationship. In "]", she and her husband used ] to have better sex.
*] - Helps people sue each other for name calling which is classed as sexual harassment.


Upon seeing Kyle taking part in a school play which involved a ], Sheila pleads with the mayor to ban the use of any religious imagery within the town that could perceived as offensive to those of different beliefs.<ref>{{cite episode |title=] |series=South Park |credits=Trey Parker and Matt Stone |network=Comedy Central |airdate=1997-12-17 |season=1 |number=110}}</ref> In addition to her ethnicity, ] also despises Sheila's activism, which he perceives as an attempt to inhibit anyone's ability to have fun. Cartman has even expressed his hatred for Sheila by singing a song entitled "Kyle's Mom's a Bitch" in "]" and ''South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut''.
*] - Goes with the other parents to ] but get stuck in a ] meeting.


==Family==
*] - Gerald and Sheila have to give Ike back to his birthparents.
{{Main|List of South Park families}}
Although Sheila is inclined to be overprotective of her sons, she and Gerald tend to be caring and loving of both ] and Ike, with Sheila often referring to the boys with ] terms of endearment. The couple often try to strengthen the bond between their two sons, and encourage Kyle to accept and love Ike as though they were biological brothers. The two also accompany Ike during activities that enrich his status as a ], such as sitting with him as he read two ] novels in one day.<ref>{{cite episode |title=] |series=South Park |credits=Trey Parker and Matt Stone |network=Comedy Central |airdate=2000-06-19 |season=4 |number=410}}</ref> Gerald is mostly seen as a responsible and caring father, and often attempts to teach Kyle important morals, though sometimes to a fault. Thinking he would delight Kyle by making more money, Gerald instead distressed his son by increasing the family's income at the expense of bankrupting the local elementary school.<ref name="panda"/> Gerald also alienated Kyle (and several other townsfolk) when, as one of the very few ] owners in South Park, he became increasingly self-righteous.<ref name="smug"/> Despite these isolated incidents, Kyle usually holds a high opinion of Gerald. Sheila is often unaware of the overwhelming effect her protests has on Kyle until Kyle gains enough courage to confront her and tell her that her actions are not the proper way to be a mother figure in his life. Kyle tends to show that he truly loves Sheila, and takes offense to any insult Cartman may offer about her.


Sheila has a deceased mother named Cleo (who also shares Gerald's surname of Broflovski) who is frequently mentioned on the show. She was seen (albeit as a corpse) in the episode "]" when Kyle reluctantly allowed his friends to exhume her body so that they could use it in a Halloween prank. Sheila also has a nephew named ] (her sister's son) who is another of the show's embodiment of Jewish stereotypes. Aside from his wife and sons, none of Gerald's relatives have made a major appearance on the show. However his brother, Murrey Broflovski, featured in the episode Ike’s Weewee briefly.
*] - After Kyle is convinced surgery is okay (after Mr. Garrison's sex change) Gerald goes to complain to the doctor there. The doctor then convinces Gerald to have surgery to make him a dolphin.


==See also==
*] - Gerald becomes snobbish after buying a hybrid car. He then makes the family move to San Francisco after he feels that nobody in South Park cares about the environment as much as he does.
{{portal|Television|Animation|Cartoon|Comedy}}
*]
*]
{{clear}}


==Notes==
*] - Complain about Kyle being blamed for 9/11 by Cartman.
{{Notelist}}


==References==
*] - They discover Ike is having a sexual relationship with his kindergarten teacher.
{{reflist|30em}}


==Trivia== ==External links==
{{sister project links|South Park|auto=yes}}
{{Trivia|date=June 2007}}
*Gerald and Sheila are the names of ]'s own parents.
*Stone claims to have learned names like "bubbe" from his maternal grandparents, who, like Sheila, were ]ish.
*The surname "Broflovski" is derived from Broslovski, the maiden name of Matt Stone's mother (changed to Belasco when an ancestor immigrated to the United States). Early in the series the family's last name was represented in many variants, such as Brovlofski, etc.
*In "]," Sheila's deceased mother's gravestone has the last name "Broflovski;" while this is most likely just a mistake, it seems to imply that she and Gerald had the same last name before they married (implying that they were ]), or that Gerald assumed Sheila's name.
*Sheila was briefly the Secretary of Offense during the Clinton Administration in South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut
*While the entire Broflovski family is portrayed as Jewish on the show, Matt Stone's real-life father is not Jewish, only his mother is (and Stone has mentioned that they were always non-practicing).
*Of the real ]'s family, the only member who is not represented on the show is his sister, Rachel Stone. This could possbily be because Stan (and in real life, Trey) has a sister and with Matt and Trey considering themselves very similar anyway, for both Kyle and Stan to have a sister would make them far too similar.


{{South Park characters}} {{South Park}}
{{Trey Parker and Matt Stone}}
{{Authority control}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Broflovski, Gerald and Sheila}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Broflovski, Gerald And Sheila}}
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Latest revision as of 00:14, 29 November 2024

Fictional characters Fictional character
Gerald and Sheila Broflovski
South Park characters
Gerald (left) and Sheila (right)
First appearance
Created byTrey Parker
Matt Stone
Designed byTrey Parker
Matt Stone
Voiced byGerald:
Matt Stone
Sheila:
Mary Kay Bergman (1997–1999)
Mona Marshall (2000–present)
In-universe information
Alias
  • S-WOW Tittybang (Sheila)
  • Skankhunt42 (Gerald)
OccupationSheila: Activist
Gerald: Lawyer
ChildrenKyle Broflovski (son)
Ike Broflovski (adoptive son)
RelativesKyle Schwartz (nephew)
  • Sheila:
  • Joey Broflovski (father)
  • Cleo Broflovski (mother)
  • Gerald:
  • Richard Broflovski (father)
  • Margaret Broflovski (mother)
  • Murrey Broflovski (brother)
ReligionJudaism
OriginSouth Park, Colorado
San Francisco, California (in "Smug Alert!")
Newark, New Jersey (Former home of Sheila)
NationalityAmerican

Gerald "Jerry" Broflovski and Sheila Broflovski are fictional characters in the animated television series South Park. The two are an upper middle-class married Ashkenazi Jewish couple who raise their ten-year-old son Kyle and three-year-old Canadian-born adopted son Ike in the fictional town of South Park, Colorado.

In tradition with the show's animation style, they are both composed of simple geometrical shapes, and are animated with use of a computer, though they are given the impression of being construction paper cutout compositions animated through the use of stop motion, which was the technique used to animate the "Spirit of Christmas" shorts and the show's first episode. Gerald is voiced by series co-creator Matt Stone and Sheila was originally voiced by Mary Kay Bergman and is currently voiced by Mona Marshall. Their first names are derived from the first names of Stone's parents, Gerald and Sheila Stone.

Characters

Though they are named for Stone's parents, Gerald and Sheila's characters are not largely inspired by the couple. While Stone's mother is Jewish, his father is a gentile of Irish descent, and Stone says they raised him in an agnostic household. Stone decided to portray the character of Gerald as recognizably Jewish, stating that doing so "creates more opportunity for comedy". Gerald grew up in South Park, and met Sheila while they attended college. The two moved back to Gerald's hometown when Kyle was younger because Sheila wanted to raise her children in a small town environment, but in "Smug Alert!", the Broflovskis briefly moved to San Francisco when Gerald felt that South Park wasn't "progressive" enough. In a few instances, Sheila indicated displeasure with Gerald's indulgent and hypocritical behaviour, and Gerald occasionally displays subdued annoyance with his wife's meddling in others' lives. However, their marriage has been portrayed as more stable than those of the other prominent adult couples in the series, and the couple once overcame a temporary setback in their sex life when Gerald briefly suffered from erectile dysfunction.

Gerald and Sheila share a strong devotion to their Jewish faith, while expressing deep concern on the multiple occasions Kyle's faith in Judaism becomes enervated; However, in earlier episodes the couple has been portrayed attending the Catholic church in South Park. The couple tend to showcase liberal viewpoints, having protested the 2003 invasion of Iraq and supported Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential race.

Gerald

Gerald is a lawyer who also serves on South Park's council as the city attorney, and his role in this profession has been put on display in episodes such as "Sexual Harassment Panda" and "Chef Goes Nanners" in which a trial or legal issue plays a large part in the plot. He commonly wears an olive-green jacket over a purple shirt and forest green trousers. White briefs are Gerald's underpants of choice. He sports a contemporary beard and separated mustache, and is almost always seen donning a pink yarmulke. When not wearing the yarmulke, Gerald is shown to have male-pattern baldness. He is a generally kind, amiable person, though at intervals he has been shown to assume a snobbish attitude that disaffects his friends and family. Examples include the episode "Chicken Pox" where it is revealed that he used to be close with Stuart McCormick when they were younger but that the two had a falling out due to economic differences or when he begins acting like an arrogant snob after buying a hybrid car in "Smug Alert!". In "Sexual Harassment Panda", Gerald repeatedly sued South Park Elementary (which was faultless in every case), and later every citizen of South Park, showing his shameless monetary greed and disregard for civil propriety. Gerald was once seen to have a repressed gambling problem, and prior struggles with a fictional form of inhalant abuse known within the show as "cheesing". Gerald is, in season 20 of the show, revealed to be an internet troll. His internet alias is 'Skankhunt42', and initially, everyone thinks that Eric Cartman is, in fact, Skankhunt42. When trolling, he makes provocative statements against women, and, most notably, creates images where he "puts a dick in mouths." He always drinks red wine and listens to music by Boston when trolling. His antics eventually place him in the news after trolling a Danish olympian, making him one of the two main villains of the entirety of season twenty alongside Lennart Bedrager.

Sheila

Sheila made her first appearance in the season one episode "Death" (where she was originally named Carol), and she exhibits several traits commonly associated with those of a stereotypical Jewish mother. She wears her hair in a beehive, is overweight, and typically wears a midnight blue suit jacket over a light gray blouse, with a dark red skirt and gray stockings. She speaks with a Brooklyn accent, and appears to be of less-than-average height relative to the other female adults on the show. In the episode "It's a Jersey Thing", it is revealed that Sheila was originally from New Jersey, where she was known as "S-Wow Tittybang", and that she and Gerald moved to South Park to avoid having their newly conceived child grow up there. Apart from being briefly appointed to the fictional federal position of "Secretary of Offense" under the Clinton Administration, Sheila is a stay-at-home mother. As a result of hearing something shocking or inappropriate, she is often heard exclaiming "WHAT, WHAT, WHAT!?", saying each word in rapid succession and putting more emphasis on the last "what". Sheila has been depicted as being a huge fan of Barbra Streisand.

In earlier seasons, Sheila often spearheaded public opposition to things she deemed harmful to children or to the Jewish community. She led a group to New York City to protest Terrance and Phillip, a Canadian comedy duo whose television show's toilet humor is what she believed to be a negative influence on Kyle. Her outrage escalated in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut when she further protested Terrance and Phillip by forming "Mothers Against Canada", which eventually instigated a war between Canada and the United States making her one of the main villains of the film. At the climax of the film, she takes her crusade against the duo to the extreme by fatally shooting Terrance and Phillip; despite her son's protests, which fulfills an apocalyptic prophecy allowing Satan, his minions, and his lover Saddam Hussein to invade the Earth. This aspect has been toned down in recent years, and is more or less completely absent from newer episodes. Her relationship with Gerald varies, in the episode "Spontaneous Combustion" it is shown that Gerald suffers from periodic sexual dysfunction and erectile dysfunction which put a strain on their relationship. In "Insecurity", she and her husband used sexual roleplay to have better sex.

Upon seeing Kyle taking part in a school play which involved a nativity scene, Sheila pleads with the mayor to ban the use of any religious imagery within the town that could perceived as offensive to those of different beliefs. In addition to her ethnicity, Eric Cartman also despises Sheila's activism, which he perceives as an attempt to inhibit anyone's ability to have fun. Cartman has even expressed his hatred for Sheila by singing a song entitled "Kyle's Mom's a Bitch" in "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" and South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.

Family

Main article: List of South Park families

Although Sheila is inclined to be overprotective of her sons, she and Gerald tend to be caring and loving of both Kyle and Ike, with Sheila often referring to the boys with Yiddish terms of endearment. The couple often try to strengthen the bond between their two sons, and encourage Kyle to accept and love Ike as though they were biological brothers. The two also accompany Ike during activities that enrich his status as a child prodigy, such as sitting with him as he read two John Steinbeck novels in one day. Gerald is mostly seen as a responsible and caring father, and often attempts to teach Kyle important morals, though sometimes to a fault. Thinking he would delight Kyle by making more money, Gerald instead distressed his son by increasing the family's income at the expense of bankrupting the local elementary school. Gerald also alienated Kyle (and several other townsfolk) when, as one of the very few hybrid vehicle owners in South Park, he became increasingly self-righteous. Despite these isolated incidents, Kyle usually holds a high opinion of Gerald. Sheila is often unaware of the overwhelming effect her protests has on Kyle until Kyle gains enough courage to confront her and tell her that her actions are not the proper way to be a mother figure in his life. Kyle tends to show that he truly loves Sheila, and takes offense to any insult Cartman may offer about her.

Sheila has a deceased mother named Cleo (who also shares Gerald's surname of Broflovski) who is frequently mentioned on the show. She was seen (albeit as a corpse) in the episode "Korn's Groovy Pirate Ghost Mystery" when Kyle reluctantly allowed his friends to exhume her body so that they could use it in a Halloween prank. Sheila also has a nephew named Kyle (her sister's son) who is another of the show's embodiment of Jewish stereotypes. Aside from his wife and sons, none of Gerald's relatives have made a major appearance on the show. However his brother, Murrey Broflovski, featured in the episode Ike’s Weewee briefly.

See also

Notes

  1. In Jewish culture, the male takes the wife's last name instead of the female taking the husband's last name.
  2. Their last name has also been spelled Broslovski, Broslofski, Brovlofski, Broflofski, and Brovlowski.

References

  1. "It's a Jersey Thing"
  2. "Member Berries"
  3. "The Method Behind the Madness of South Park". everwonder.com. Retrieved 2009-01-28.
  4. Harris, Paul (2007-04-01). "The Observer profile: Matt Stone and Trey Parker". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-01-17.
  5. Raphael, Rebecca. "Who is Kyle Broslofski?". Jewish News of Greater Phoenix. Archived from the original on August 12, 2007. Retrieved 2009-02-04.
  6. Trey Parker and Matt Stone (1998-08-26). "Chickenpox". South Park. Season 2. Episode 210. Comedy Central.
  7. In South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut
  8. Trey Parker and Matt Stone (2001-11-21). "The Entity". South Park. Season 5. Episode 511. Comedy Central.
  9. ^ Trey Parker and Matt Stone (2006-03-29). "Smug Alert!". South Park. Season 10. Episode 1002. Comedy Central.
  10. ^ Trey Parker and Matt Stone (2008-03-26). "Major Boobage". South Park. Season 12. Episode 1203. Comedy Central.
  11. Trey Parker and Matt Stone (2005-03-09). "Mr. Garrison's Fancy New Vagina". South Park. Season 9. Episode 901. Comedy Central.
  12. Trey Parker and Matt Stone (1999-04-14). "Spontaneous Combustion". South Park. Season 3. Episode 303. Comedy Central.
  13. Trey Parker and Matt Stone (2003-04-09). "I'm a Little Bit Country". South Park. Season 7. Episode 701. Comedy Central.
  14. Trey Parker and Matt Stone (2008-11-05). "About Last Night...". South Park. Season 12. Episode 1212. Comedy Central.
  15. Trey Parker and Matt Stone (2005-03-16). "Die Hippie, Die". South Park. Season 9. Episode 902. Comedy Central.
  16. Trey Parker and Matt Stone (1998-10-07). "Chef Aid". South Park. Season 2. Episode 214. Comedy Central.
  17. ^ Trey Parker and Matt Stone (1999-07-07). "Sexual Harassment Panda". South Park. Season 3. Episode 306. Comedy Central.
  18. "Battle in the Breastriary — South Park". 26 March 2008. Archived from the original on October 26, 2020.
  19. Trey Parker and Matt Stone (2003-04-30). "Red Man's Greed". South Park. Season 7. Episode 707. Comedy Central.
  20. Trey Parker and Matt Stone (1998-02-18). "Mecha-Streisand". South Park. Season 1. Episode 113. Comedy Central.
  21. Trey Parker and Matt Stone (1997-09-17). "Death". South Park. Season 1. Episode 106. Comedy Central.
  22. Trey Parker and Matt Stone (1997-12-17). "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo". South Park. Season 1. Episode 110. Comedy Central.
  23. Trey Parker and Matt Stone (2000-06-19). "Do the Handicapped Go to Hell?". South Park. Season 4. Episode 410. Comedy Central.

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