Cartman Joins NAMBLA

"Cartman Joins NAMBLA" is the fifth episode of the fourth season of the animated television series South Park, and the 53rd episode of the series overall.[1] It originally aired in the United States on June 21, 2000, on Comedy Central.

"Cartman Joins NAMBLA"
South Park episode
Episode no.Season 4
Episode 5
Directed byEric Stough
Written byTrey Parker
Production code406
Original air dateJune 21, 2000

In the episode, Cartman, in search of more mature friends, accidentally joins the "North American Man/Boy Love Association" (NAMBLA), and puts all the boys of South Park in jeopardy as a result. Meanwhile, Kenny tries to stop his mother and father from having another baby.

Plot

Cartman decides he is too mature to hang out with Stan, Kyle, and Kenny after Cartman disapproves of poor couples (like Kenny's parents) having more children, so he starts to look for older male friends in an Internet chat room. He stumbles upon the topic "Men Who Like Young Boys" and talks to some eager men who Cartman believes want to be friends with him. In reality, they are actually Internet predators who prey on young boys. Cartman meets a pedophile who goes by the Internet handle Tony316 at Mel's Diner. Much to Cartman's anger, he ends up arrested for soliciting sex from a minor. The next day, Cartman goes to meet a "Mr. Hammerhead", who, to Cartman's surprise, turns out to be Mr. Garrison, who is also arrested.

Naïvely concluding that Stan and Kyle are behind his new "mature" friends getting arrested, Cartman goes to see Dr. Mephesto about where he might find mature friends. Dr. Mephesto advises Cartman to join an organization known as NAMBLA, saying "you look about right." However, the NAMBLA that Dr. Mephesto is referring to is a fictional club for men who look like Marlon Brando (the North American Marlon Brando Look-Alikes). Cartman finds the North American Man/Boy Love Association, asks to join, and is made their poster boy. The organization decides to hold a banquet in Cartman's honor and asks him to invite all the boys in town. Cartman does so, with the exception of Stan and Kyle.

Federal officials, having learned that NAMBLA is meeting in South Park, raid the venue. However, they discover that they have raided the wrong NAMBLA meeting, that of Dr. Mephesto's group. The FBI teams up with the Marlon Brando lookalikes and rushes to stop the other NAMBLA's banquet. There, all the boys in town (including Stan and Kyle who were also invited) are in attendance, unaware of what is in store for them until the pedophiles take them to their hotel rooms, after which the boys run screaming in the halls.

Meanwhile, Stuart and Carol McCormick are trying to have another baby. As Kenny does not like the idea, he tries to prevent the baby's conception by tricking his father into playing catch, in which he hurls a fastball at his father's crotch to shatter his left testicle. When his mother gets pregnant anyway, he tries again by adding morning-after pills to a chocolate milk/vodka cocktail and gives it to his mother, who refuses to drink because of her pregnancy. Instead Stuart drinks it and as a result rushes to the bathroom where he repeatedly vomits and defecates. Later, Kenny convinces his family to go with him to North Park Funland to ride The John Denver Experience, a violent ride not recommended for pregnant women. However, Stuart gets a broken nose from the ride and ends up vomiting, defecating, and now, draining his bloody nose into a garbage can. After another nightmare involving the new baby, an enraged Kenny chases his mother through the town and into the NAMBLA hotel with a plunger, attempting to plunge the fetus out of her. Upon seeing this, Stuart angrily chases after Kenny to stop him from hurting his mother and their unborn child.

The two plots collide when the Marlon Brando look-alikes and the federal officers arrive at the hotel, and a madcap chase with the boys, both NAMBLAs (one of which are running naked), and the feds ensues. Kenny, still chasing after his mother and in turn being chased by his father, joins in. Cartman decides that Butters should be the sacrificial lamb for the pedophiles to have their way with. While Butters is sent into an empty room and leaves unharmed, Stuart enters a room to search for Kenny, only to find the NAMBLA pedophiles, who somehow mistake him for a little boy and proceed to gang-rape him.

In the end, all of the North American Man/Boy Love Association members are arrested by the FBI and they try to weasel their way out of jailtime by giving out a speech equating pedophilia with being an oppressed minority and that they simply cannot help their sexual attraction to young boys. It nearly works, as the FBI agents seem to be buying his stance, but Stan and Kyle retort at this by stating that, while they believe in tolerance and equality for all, the members of NAMBLA are criminals who molest children (who should never endure sex at such a young age) and therefore deserve to be treated as such. As the pedophiles are taken away to custody, Cartman backhandedly apologizes to his friends (including Butters) for almost getting them raped, assuring that they will "blossom into maturity" someday.

The raped Stuart is loaded into an ambulance, which accidentally goes in reverse and runs over Kenny, killing him instantly. Afterwards, Carol gives birth to an identical child they name Kenny, which she says has happened 52 times before. The French music (Page d'écriture by Yves Montand) that was played during the hallway scene is played during the closing credits.

Production

"Cartman Joins NAMBLA" was written by series co-founders Trey Parker and Matt Stone, was directed by Eric Stough, and was rated TV-MA in the United States and 15 in the United Kingdom.[1]

In 2006, IGN listed the episode as #8 on a list of their 10 Favorite South Park Episodes.[2]

Censorship
  • The British satellite channel Sky One banned the episode, due to the strong pedophilia references in the main plot and the subplot being centered on Kenny killing his mother's unborn child. The UK, digital channels Comedy Central and MTV UK, and terrestrial channels Channel 4 and Viva, have aired this episode and it does appear on the UK DVD release of South Park's fourth season. The episode is also available on the Amazon Prime Video UK streaming service.
  • The scenes of Stuart McCormick repeatedly vomiting and defecating into a toilet and garbage can (in addition to blowing his nose from an excessive nosebleed after riding the John Denver Experience) were removed for syndication in the United States.
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References
  1. "Cartman Joins NAMBLA". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved June 24, 2013.
  2. Zoromski, Dan Iverson & Brian (4 October 2006). "IGN TV's 10 Favorite South Park Episodes".
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