Boy, am I late! (Again) I promise number 1will bw here on time.
Although I have had my doubts lately, becuase the thing this article is about might not be what I first saw in it (due to my infamous ability to idolize the things and people I like). But I made my choice, and I will stick ti it.
This article is up here only because I want it to be. It was meant to be my masterpiece, the one thing that my readers will remember me by. Shame I didn’t write it as soon as I got the idea, it could have been great. So after countless revisions, additions and corrections, the thing stands before you as it is. Not well written, but the thought behind it is so beautiful, that it doesn’t really matter. This is my thinking at its best. Confused and sometimes making huge leaps of faith, but that’s me, so in a way I think this is the good piece. Shame it’s not that funny. It could have been great. Who knows, maybe I will revisit it after some time.
So, without any further ado, my top 2: An Ode To Butters. (Now the big question, what is number one?)
An Ode to Butters 15/6/2007
This piece is dedicated to all the nice people in the world.
The world we live in is full of paradoxes and ironies. Take soap, for example. Soap is meant to make things clean, to get stains off clothes. Isn’t it ironic, that one of the main ingredient in soap-making is fat, something that in itself causes the most terrible sort of stains. And talking about fats, you have different kinds of fat you know? Solid or liquid ones, vegetable or animal ones One of the solid fats is butter. When you have more butter, someone not all that good in English would think: butters. So following this rather twisted logic we arrive at Butters. But what on earth does this have to do with the South Park Butters? Butters is yet another paradox in our cynical, self-centered world. Butters is not just a character from South Park. Butters is the goodness and innocence surviving, in our cynical world.
To elaborate and substantiate this claim, we need to explore the fictional life and features of this character. Many (not only South Park characters, but also real people) seem to reject him as ‘lame’ or ‘uncool’, his parents are unable to love him unconditionally, and others just exploit him. Little do they realize that there is (or was) a little piece of Butters in them too (except perhaps with the exception Eric Cartman who’s rotten to the core). Even so, it is a sad irony that someone so nice and innocent should be rejected by the community, that they would try to make him feel inferior, even though he deserves recognition for who he is. Although it is technically incorrect to call Butters innocent or pure, he possesses a beautifully uncomplicated insight into things that can only be achieved through a degree of ‘naivety’ and being yourself that is neither found in today’s modern society, nor in the restrained lifestyle led according to strict religious dogmas. It is insight based on life itself, on one’s own terms.
And even when Butters tries to avenge himself, he cannot really do it, as most of his (Professor Chaos’) plans end up less successfully than he would wish. We see that although terrible wrongs have been inflicted upon him, he cannot avenge himself properly; he is not a natural at wrongdoing (unlike the above mentioned Eric Cartman). It is not in Good’s nature to be vengeful, but good must always be acknowledged as such and never rejected to the very periphery of the society. Butters can be unkind, but then again, truth hurts, and sometimes and often what we believe to be the truth hurts even more.
Let me also make one interesting comparison. For those of you who read Tess of the D’Urbervilles, you know how Tess being the good and the pure, is exposed to the outside world suffers a downfall and is forever rejected, and despite all her suffering, she always goes on, staying true to herself and (as one critic put it) she always springs back to life. So it is with Butters, his downfall being his inability to be ‘cool’ enough. All the suffering that his (fictional) fate inflicted upon him, he never ceases being an optimist and all the negative things make him grow stronger in a positive way .
The fact that we seem to regard the goodness and innocence as ‘lame’, that we do not accept in its purest form, but rather we try to change it, dilute it, use it to our own advantage is the greatest paradox in a society which we claim is built upon good . We should accept all Good, whether we think it cool or uncool, and maybe learn a few important lessons it has to offer. Lessons about friendship, care, forgiveness, sadness and most importantly, never despairing or looking back, but always looking forward, into a future that’s hopefully brighter (even if for poor Butters, this isn’t always the case).
And if anyone dismisses you as ‘too good’, a ‘geek’ do not bow your head down in shame. Rejoice. Because you know that good things happen to good people (eventually). And never regret being a tiny bit like Butters. It’s not every time that you can be like one of the nicest fictional people in the universe.
Long live Butters! (Even though that’s not technically possible, but you know what I mean)
Peter S.
