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Starvin' Marvin (South Park)
Encyclopedia
"Starvin' Marvin" is the ninth episode of the first season
of the American animated television series South Park
. It first aired on Comedy Central
in the United States
on November 19, 1997. In the episode, Cartman
, Kenny
, Kyle
and Stan
send money to an African charity hoping to get a sports watch, but are instead sent an Ethiopian child whom they dub Starvin' Marvin. Later, Cartman is accidentally sent to Ethiopia, where he learns activist Sally Struthers
is hoarding the charity's food for herself. In an accompanying subplot, after genetically engineered turkeys attack South Park residents, Chef
rallies the residents to fight back, in a parody of the film Braveheart
.
The episode was written and directed by series co-creator Trey Parker
and was rated TV-MA in the United States and PG in the UK. "Starvin' Marvin" was the first South Park Thanksgiving
special. The episode simultaneously served as a satire on American indifference toward impoverished countries and the humanitarianism industry.
The episode received generally positive reviews and several commentators have described it as a classic South Park episode. According to Nielsen Media Research
, it was viewed by about 2.2 million households during its original broadcast, which at the time was roughly eight times Comedy Central's average viewership. Parker and Stone said they were unhappy with the turkey subplot
, which they wrote only because they felt obligated to include a B story. Sally Struthers was reportedly deeply offended by her portrayal in the episode. In addition to Starvin' Marvin, who became a popular minor character, the episode introduced regular characters Kyle's father Gerald Broflovski and Kenny's family members Stuart, Carol and Kevin McCormick.
, Cartman
, Stan
, Kenny
and Kyle
send money to Sally Struthers
' charity organization, the Christian Children's Fund
. They do not care about the cause, but want the free sports watch that comes with the sponsorship. However, due to a miscommunication, an Ethiopian boy is delivered to the boys instead of the watch. Although initially shocked, the four boys befriend him, and Cartman names the boy Starvin' Marvin. Meanwhile, mobs of wild turkey
s begin attacking and killing South Park residents. Mad scientist Dr. Mephisto tries to warn Mayor McDaniels that genetically engineered turkeys he had been breeding to feed to the poor have gone crazy and are now attacking humans. Mephisto is instead ignored and ridiculed by McDaniels.
The boys take Marvin to an all-you-can-eat buffet, where he is shocked by how much food the townsfolk consume compared to his home country, and by how wasteful Cartman is with his food. Back at school, Mr. Garrison announces the food drive is a failure because students have brought in only a few cans of creamed corn. The boys present Marvin to the class during show and tell
, after which Mr. Garrison and Principal Victoria tell the boys they will have to call Red Cross
and send Marvin home. Meanwhile, Dr. Mephisto shows Chef that the turkey DNA
is growing so rapidly that the turkeys might take over the world if they are not stopped.
The FBI
arrives to take Marvin back to Ethiopia, but Marvin tricks them into taking Cartman instead. Cartman, who had previously cared little for the impoverished in Africa, is unable to bear the lack of food and poor living conditions there. While praying to God, Cartman says he is sorry he made fun of poor people. He eventually finds a Red Cross shack, where Sally Struthers is hoarding all the food meant for charity. After a brief fight, Cartman exposes all of Miss Struthers's hoarding of the food supply to the Ethiopians, who then take control of the food supply.
Back in South Park, Chef rallies the townspeople to fight the genetically engineered turkeys. A massive battle ensues in which Kenny is killed, but eventually the South Park residents kill all the turkeys and claim victory. The FBI returns Cartman to South Park and takes Marvin home, but not before he brings the bodies of the dead turkeys back to Ethiopia for everyone to eat.
"Starvin' Marvin" was written by Trey Parker
, Matt Stone
and Pam Brady
. Directed by Parker, it was the first official South Park Thanksgiving
episode. Parker and Stone said "Starvin' Marvin", like other holiday episodes, proved difficult to make because they felt a responsibility to constantly top other previous holiday shows. Stone provided the voice of Marvin. According to the official South Park website, the character was not named after the Starvin' Marvin's brand of American gas stations, and that the similarity between the two names is just a coincidence. Jerry Seinfeld
, comedian and star of the popular sitcom Seinfeld
, contacted Parker and Stone and asked if he could record a guest voice performance because he was a fan of the show. Parker and Stone offered Seinfeld the throwaway background part of one of the turkeys, but Seinfeld's agent was "a bit put off" by the offer and did not accept.
The episode was partially inspired by the commercials for the Christian Children's Fund
, in which Sally Struthers encourages viewers to donate money to provide food for starving children in Africa. Parker said he did not really believe Struthers was hoarding food from the charity, but he came up with the concept because he found it funny that such an obese woman would make a public plea for food for others. Parker said he had always wondered how a starving African child would react if they were taken to a large buffet dinner at an American restaurant, with "people leaving tons of food on their plates", which served as further inspiration for the episode. Parker and Stone originally planned for Struthers to die at the end of the episode and have the African children eat her and live off her fat; Comedy Central executives told the duo they could not kill Struthers, although celebrities have been killed off in subsequent episodes without any objections from the network.
Parker and Stone were unhappy with the turkey attack subplot, which they felt "never really went anywhere" and ended abruptly without any satisfying conclusion. They nevertheless included it because they felt obligated to include a B story
, since every episode in the season so far had included one. Later in the series, they said they realized this was not necessary and made many episodes without a B story. Although the duo liked the "payoff" of the Starvin' Marvin main plot, they did not know how to end the turkey subplot, so they simply had the characters kill all the turkeys and claim that there were none left; they decided this sudden ending was the funniest possible option. Stone said of the subplot, "The turkeys were just an excuse to have the Braveheart
sequence." The animators enjoyed creating the turkey battle scene, which was designed to be shown in widescreen
aspect ratio while the rest of the episode was animated normally. However, the animation proved to be very difficult and took a long time to do because it involved a larger number of characters and animals in one scene than had ever been featured previously in the show before. Some of the characters in the far background were animated as gray and shadowy, which Parker said was not so much a visual effect as it was a "lighting effect meaning we didn't want to draw all these people".
In addition to Starvin' Marvin himself, the episode included the first appearances of several regular characters: Kyle's father Gerald Broflovski, as well as Stuart, Carol and Kevin McCormick, father, mother and brother (respectively) of Kenny, who were portrayed as incredibly poor and unhygienic. In a continuity error, the couple killed by the turkeys at Stark's Pond can be seen alive and unharmed during the turkey battle scene.
"as an overblown industry leeching off others' suffering and harming its purported beneficiaries". The episode also highlights America's consumerist
society and American indifference toward impoverished countries. The moral of the episode, explained by Stan in the final scene, encourages viewers to see suffering citizens of impoverished countries as real people, rather than images on television screens, which tend to make the viewers feel detached and alienated from them.
"Starvin' Marvin" explores and satirizes gluttony
in the US, particular through its unflattering portrayal of Sally Struthers, who gorges on donated food meant for starving children. The greed and wastefulness shown at the buffet scene, as well as Cartman's overall greediness and lack of understanding regarding the plight of starving African children, has been said to demonstrate an over-abundance and decadence typically associated with Americans. The destructive rampage of the turkeys provides a commentary on genetic engineering
. Scott Calef, a philosophy professor who studies popular culture, said the destruction sown by the turkeys, despite the best of intentions by Dr. Mephisto, are indicative of the unpredictable nature and ethical ambiguity of the use of genetic engineering for the betterment of humankind.
Starvin' Marvin proved to be a popular minor character, even though he would only appear in one more episode, the third season episode "Starvin' Marvin in Space
". The character was later featured in South Park Rally
, a 2000 racing video game from developer Acclaim
, in which Marvin races the other characters in a motorized wheat sack. Marvin is also featured in South Park 10: The Game
, a platform
mobile game
featuring a number of South Park characters. Eric Cartman's line, "That's a bad Starvin' Marvin!", became one of the most popular lines from the first season of the show.
The title character, Starvin' Marvin, is from the African nation Ethiopia, which experienced two famines in the mid-1980s. The American authorities who address his parents identify his family's surname as "Click Click Derk," although the attribution of this surname to a native Ethiopian couple is deliberately satirical of the American authorities' ignorance that a) Amharic, the national language of Ethiopia, is a Semitic
language unrelated to the Khoisan
and Bantu
"click languages" of southern Africa and b) "Derg
," of which "Durk" is an intentionally imprecise variant transliteration, is not a surname or a dynastic name but rather a descriptive term adopted by the military junta that deposed Emperor Haile Selassie I.
The scenes in which Chef, and later the lead turkey, don blue and white war paint and speak inspirational words to their armies are a parody of Braveheart
, the 1995 Mel Gibson
-directed film about Scottish historical hero William Wallace
. Parker said it was the first of many times a film was spoofed in a South Park episode, even though both said they enjoyed Braveheart. During class, Mr. Garrison incorrectly tells the children the internationally known British pop singer Engelbert Humperdinck
was the first man to walk on the moon. Also in the classroom, when it is suggested some poor people would rather die than go to a poorhouse, Cartman says, "Well then perhaps they should - and decrease the surplus population!" The line is lifted word-for-word from the Charles Dickens
novella A Christmas Carol
, prompting Mr. Garrison to respond, "Okay, kids, that's enough Dickens for one day." Kyle incorrectly tells Stan that Sally Struthers appeared on Full House
, an American sitcom that ran from the late 1980s to early 1990s; she actually starred in the 1970s series All in the Family
. When Dr. Mephesto asks Chef to look into his microscope, Chef says he sees "an extreme close-up of Vanessa Redgrave
's private parts", a reference to the Academy Award-winning British actress. At the end of the episode, Stan said it is important to remember the images of starving children on television are "just as real as you or I". Kyle says by that logic, MacGyver
is a real person too, a reference to the secret agent protagonist from the 1980s television series of the same name.
Tom Vogt, who served as the editor of South Park for several years, was inspired to join the show after watching a bootleg copy of "Starvin' Marvin". He had never seen the show before, but was so impressed by the episode he decided to drive to Colorado and seek a job with Parker and Stone. He was hired as the show's editor after contacting one of the South Park animators who used to work for the same company as he had.
in the United Kingdom. In its original American broadcast, "Starvin' Marvin" received a Nielsen rating
of 4.8, meaning the episode was seen by about 2.2 million households in the US. Television journalists described the rating as "astonishing" by Comedy Central standards; at the time, the network averaged a 0.6 rating (276,000 households) during prime time, and prior to South Park, the channel's highest rating was a 2.7 (1.24 million households) for the second season premiere of Absolutely Fabulous
. Several reviewers have described "Starvin' Marvin" as one of South Parks "classic episodes". Parker said the emotional moment when Starvin' Marvin returned home with all the turkeys made his mother cry, marking the first time he and Stone heard of an emotional reaction to their show.
After the episode aired, Parker and Stone received feedback that audiences felt "Starvin' Marvin" was especially unkind to Struthers. Although they did not speak to her themselves, the duo received word that Struthers was a fan of the show until "Starvin' Marvin" aired, after which she was very upset and reportedly reacted emotionally over her portrayal. Struthers was particularly saddened by the fact that her character steals food from the same starving children she had been working to help. Parker and Stone were slightly remorseful when they learned of her reaction and have said they did not have anything against Struthers personally. Nevertheless, Struthers was portrayed in an even less flattering way in the third season
episode "Starvin' Marvin in Space
" as a Jabba the Hutt
-like creature. In a DVD
commentary track, Parker said of Struthers, "Dude, you're really setting yourself up if you're going to be that fat and go on the air talking about [starving children]. ... We don't think she's a bad person, she's probably nice to try to do this, but cut down on the Twinkie
s a little bit before going on the air."
Tom Carson, television critic for The Village Voice
, praised the episode, which he said "featured some amazing sick jokes about American affluence and obliviousness". Dianne Williamson of the Telegram & Gazette praised "Starvin' Marvin" for taking a chance with the source material, and said, "Often I'm in awe at the courage of these [South Park] creators." The Advertiser of Lafayette
, Louisiana
, called the episode "hysterical" and particularly praised its satire of American consumerism. The St. Paul Pioneer Press
described the episode as "hilarious" and said, "We know we shouldn't laugh, but we can't help it." Vicki Englund of The Courier-Mail
complimented the "really bizarre storyline" and the moral of the episode, and especially praised the jokes about Struthers: "It might be a good idea not to eat during the hilarious second episode. Enough said."
Vern Perry, a reviewer with The Orange County Register
, called "Starvin' Marvin" his favorite South Park episode. The "Starvin' Marvin" episode was featured in a 1998 Chicago Tribune
list of the top ten reasons for the popularity of South Park. The Chicago Tribune also included "Starvin' Marvin" in a 2003 list of the top ten funniest episodes. Bill Ward, of the Star Tribune
, described "Starvin Marvin" as Cartman's "finest half-hour". Not all reviews were positive; Boston Globe
writer Matthew Gilbert, who described South Park as immature and low-brow, called "Starvin' Marvin" a particularly "uncuddly episode". Brian Boyd of The Irish Times
criticized the episode for making jokes at the expense of starving African children.
"Starvin' Marvin" was released, along with eleven other episodes, in a three-DVD set in November 1998. It was included in the third volume, which also included the episodes "Mecha-Streisand
", "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" and "Tom's Rhinoplasty
". "Starvin' Marvin" was also one of six episodes included on a 1998 VHS
called "South Park Festival Special", which included "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo", "Merry Christmas, Charlie Manson!", "Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics
", "Korn's Groovy Pirate Ghost Mystery
" and "Pinkeye". The episode, along with the other twelve from the first season, was also included in the DVD release "South Park: The Complete First Season", which was released on November 12, 2002. Parker and Stone recorded commentary tracks for each episode, but they were not included with the DVDs due to "standards" issues with some of the statements; Parker and Stone refused to allow the tracks to be edited and censored, so they were released in a CD separate from the DVDs. In 2008, Parker and Stone made "Starvin' Marvin" and all South Park episodes were made available to watch for free on the show's official website, "South Park Studios".
South Park (season 1)
The first season of the American animated television series South Park initially ran for 13 episodes on the US network Comedy Central, from August 13, 1997 to February 25, 1998. The creators of the series, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, wrote and directed most of the season's episodes, while Dan...
of the American animated television series South Park
South Park
South Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become famous for its crude language, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...
. It first aired on Comedy Central
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
on November 19, 1997. In the episode, Cartman
Eric Cartman
Eric Theodore Cartman is a fictional character in the American animated television series South Park. One of four main characters, along with Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, and Kenny McCormick, he is generally referred to within the series by his last name...
, Kenny
Kenny McCormick
Kenneth "Kenny" McCormick is a fictional character in the animated television series South Park. He is one of the four central characters along with his friends Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, and Eric Cartman. His oft-muffled and indiscernible speech—the result of his parka hood covering his...
, Kyle
Kyle Broflovski
Kyle Broflovski is a fictional character in the animated television series South Park. He is voiced by co-creator Matt Stone. Kyle is one of the show's four central characters, along with his friends Stan Marsh, Kenny McCormick, and Eric Cartman...
and Stan
Stan Marsh
Stanley Randall "Stan" Marsh is a fictional character in the animated television series South Park. He is voiced by and loosely based on series co-creator Trey Parker. Stan is one of the show's four central characters, along with his friends Kyle Broflovski, Kenny McCormick, and Eric Cartman...
send money to an African charity hoping to get a sports watch, but are instead sent an Ethiopian child whom they dub Starvin' Marvin. Later, Cartman is accidentally sent to Ethiopia, where he learns activist Sally Struthers
Sally Struthers
Sally Ann Struthers is an American actress and spokeswoman, best-known for her roles as Gloria Stivic on All in the Family, for which she won two Emmy awards, and as Babette on Gilmore Girls.-Personal life:...
is hoarding the charity's food for herself. In an accompanying subplot, after genetically engineered turkeys attack South Park residents, Chef
Chef (South Park)
Jerome "Chef" McElroy is a fictional character on the Comedy Central series South Park. He was voiced by Isaac Hayes. A cafeteria worker at the local elementary school in the town of South Park, Colorado, Chef was generally portrayed as more level-headed than the other adult residents of the town...
rallies the residents to fight back, in a parody of the film Braveheart
Braveheart
Braveheart is a 1995 epic historical drama war film directed by and starring Mel Gibson. The film was written for the screen and then novelized by Randall Wallace...
.
The episode was written and directed by series co-creator Trey Parker
Trey Parker
Trey Parker is an American animator, screenwriter, director, producer, voice artist, musician and actor, best known for being the co-creator of the television series South Park along with his creative partner and best friend Matt Stone.Parker started his film career in 1992, making a holiday short...
and was rated TV-MA in the United States and PG in the UK. "Starvin' Marvin" was the first South Park Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving (United States)
Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day, is a holiday celebrated in the United States on the fourth Thursday in November. It has officially been an annual tradition since 1863, when, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving to be celebrated on Thursday,...
special. The episode simultaneously served as a satire on American indifference toward impoverished countries and the humanitarianism industry.
The episode received generally positive reviews and several commentators have described it as a classic South Park episode. According to Nielsen Media Research
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
, it was viewed by about 2.2 million households during its original broadcast, which at the time was roughly eight times Comedy Central's average viewership. Parker and Stone said they were unhappy with the turkey subplot
Subplot
A subplot is a secondary plot strand that is a supporting side story for any story or the main plot. Subplots may connect to main plots, in either time and place or in thematic significance...
, which they wrote only because they felt obligated to include a B story. Sally Struthers was reportedly deeply offended by her portrayal in the episode. In addition to Starvin' Marvin, who became a popular minor character, the episode introduced regular characters Kyle's father Gerald Broflovski and Kenny's family members Stuart, Carol and Kevin McCormick.
Plot
After seeing a commercial about starving children in AfricaAfrica
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, Cartman
Eric Cartman
Eric Theodore Cartman is a fictional character in the American animated television series South Park. One of four main characters, along with Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, and Kenny McCormick, he is generally referred to within the series by his last name...
, Stan
Stan Marsh
Stanley Randall "Stan" Marsh is a fictional character in the animated television series South Park. He is voiced by and loosely based on series co-creator Trey Parker. Stan is one of the show's four central characters, along with his friends Kyle Broflovski, Kenny McCormick, and Eric Cartman...
, Kenny
Kenny McCormick
Kenneth "Kenny" McCormick is a fictional character in the animated television series South Park. He is one of the four central characters along with his friends Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, and Eric Cartman. His oft-muffled and indiscernible speech—the result of his parka hood covering his...
and Kyle
Kyle Broflovski
Kyle Broflovski is a fictional character in the animated television series South Park. He is voiced by co-creator Matt Stone. Kyle is one of the show's four central characters, along with his friends Stan Marsh, Kenny McCormick, and Eric Cartman...
send money to Sally Struthers
Sally Struthers
Sally Ann Struthers is an American actress and spokeswoman, best-known for her roles as Gloria Stivic on All in the Family, for which she won two Emmy awards, and as Babette on Gilmore Girls.-Personal life:...
' charity organization, the Christian Children's Fund
Christian Children's Fund
ChildFund, formerly known as Christian Children's Fund and China's Children Fund, is an international child sponsorship group based in Richmond, Virginia, United States...
. They do not care about the cause, but want the free sports watch that comes with the sponsorship. However, due to a miscommunication, an Ethiopian boy is delivered to the boys instead of the watch. Although initially shocked, the four boys befriend him, and Cartman names the boy Starvin' Marvin. Meanwhile, mobs of wild turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
s begin attacking and killing South Park residents. Mad scientist Dr. Mephisto tries to warn Mayor McDaniels that genetically engineered turkeys he had been breeding to feed to the poor have gone crazy and are now attacking humans. Mephisto is instead ignored and ridiculed by McDaniels.
The boys take Marvin to an all-you-can-eat buffet, where he is shocked by how much food the townsfolk consume compared to his home country, and by how wasteful Cartman is with his food. Back at school, Mr. Garrison announces the food drive is a failure because students have brought in only a few cans of creamed corn. The boys present Marvin to the class during show and tell
Show and tell (education)
Show and tell is the process of showing an audience something and telling them about it, predominantly in North America and also popular in Australia. It is usually done in a classroom as an early elementary school technique for teaching young children the skills of public speaking...
, after which Mr. Garrison and Principal Victoria tell the boys they will have to call Red Cross
International Committee of the Red Cross
The International Committee of the Red Cross is a private humanitarian institution based in Geneva, Switzerland. States parties to the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977 and 2005, have given the ICRC a mandate to protect the victims of international and...
and send Marvin home. Meanwhile, Dr. Mephisto shows Chef that the turkey DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
is growing so rapidly that the turkeys might take over the world if they are not stopped.
The FBI
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
arrives to take Marvin back to Ethiopia, but Marvin tricks them into taking Cartman instead. Cartman, who had previously cared little for the impoverished in Africa, is unable to bear the lack of food and poor living conditions there. While praying to God, Cartman says he is sorry he made fun of poor people. He eventually finds a Red Cross shack, where Sally Struthers is hoarding all the food meant for charity. After a brief fight, Cartman exposes all of Miss Struthers's hoarding of the food supply to the Ethiopians, who then take control of the food supply.
Back in South Park, Chef rallies the townspeople to fight the genetically engineered turkeys. A massive battle ensues in which Kenny is killed, but eventually the South Park residents kill all the turkeys and claim victory. The FBI returns Cartman to South Park and takes Marvin home, but not before he brings the bodies of the dead turkeys back to Ethiopia for everyone to eat.
Production
Trey Parker
Trey Parker is an American animator, screenwriter, director, producer, voice artist, musician and actor, best known for being the co-creator of the television series South Park along with his creative partner and best friend Matt Stone.Parker started his film career in 1992, making a holiday short...
, Matt Stone
Matt Stone
Matthew Richard "Matt" Stone is an American screenwriter, producer, voice artist, musician and actor, best known for being the co-creator of South Park along with creative partner and best friend, Trey Parker....
and Pam Brady
Pam Brady
Pam Brady is an American writer and television producer, best known for her work with Trey Parker and Matt Stone.-Career:Pam Brady first met Parker, Stone and Jason McHugh while working under Brian Graden at 20th Century Fox. Brady suggested that the two make a weekly version of their student film...
. Directed by Parker, it was the first official South Park Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving (United States)
Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day, is a holiday celebrated in the United States on the fourth Thursday in November. It has officially been an annual tradition since 1863, when, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of thanksgiving to be celebrated on Thursday,...
episode. Parker and Stone said "Starvin' Marvin", like other holiday episodes, proved difficult to make because they felt a responsibility to constantly top other previous holiday shows. Stone provided the voice of Marvin. According to the official South Park website, the character was not named after the Starvin' Marvin's brand of American gas stations, and that the similarity between the two names is just a coincidence. Jerry Seinfeld
Jerry Seinfeld
Jerome Allen "Jerry" Seinfeld is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and television and film producer, known for playing a semi-fictional version of himself in the situation comedy Seinfeld , which he co-created and co-wrote with Larry David, and, in the show's final two seasons,...
, comedian and star of the popular sitcom Seinfeld
Seinfeld
Seinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. It was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself...
, contacted Parker and Stone and asked if he could record a guest voice performance because he was a fan of the show. Parker and Stone offered Seinfeld the throwaway background part of one of the turkeys, but Seinfeld's agent was "a bit put off" by the offer and did not accept.
The episode was partially inspired by the commercials for the Christian Children's Fund
Christian Children's Fund
ChildFund, formerly known as Christian Children's Fund and China's Children Fund, is an international child sponsorship group based in Richmond, Virginia, United States...
, in which Sally Struthers encourages viewers to donate money to provide food for starving children in Africa. Parker said he did not really believe Struthers was hoarding food from the charity, but he came up with the concept because he found it funny that such an obese woman would make a public plea for food for others. Parker said he had always wondered how a starving African child would react if they were taken to a large buffet dinner at an American restaurant, with "people leaving tons of food on their plates", which served as further inspiration for the episode. Parker and Stone originally planned for Struthers to die at the end of the episode and have the African children eat her and live off her fat; Comedy Central executives told the duo they could not kill Struthers, although celebrities have been killed off in subsequent episodes without any objections from the network.
Parker and Stone were unhappy with the turkey attack subplot, which they felt "never really went anywhere" and ended abruptly without any satisfying conclusion. They nevertheless included it because they felt obligated to include a B story
Subplot
A subplot is a secondary plot strand that is a supporting side story for any story or the main plot. Subplots may connect to main plots, in either time and place or in thematic significance...
, since every episode in the season so far had included one. Later in the series, they said they realized this was not necessary and made many episodes without a B story. Although the duo liked the "payoff" of the Starvin' Marvin main plot, they did not know how to end the turkey subplot, so they simply had the characters kill all the turkeys and claim that there were none left; they decided this sudden ending was the funniest possible option. Stone said of the subplot, "The turkeys were just an excuse to have the Braveheart
Braveheart
Braveheart is a 1995 epic historical drama war film directed by and starring Mel Gibson. The film was written for the screen and then novelized by Randall Wallace...
sequence." The animators enjoyed creating the turkey battle scene, which was designed to be shown in widescreen
Widescreen
Widescreen images are a variety of aspect ratios used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than the standard 1.37:1 Academy aspect ratio provided by 35mm film....
aspect ratio while the rest of the episode was animated normally. However, the animation proved to be very difficult and took a long time to do because it involved a larger number of characters and animals in one scene than had ever been featured previously in the show before. Some of the characters in the far background were animated as gray and shadowy, which Parker said was not so much a visual effect as it was a "lighting effect meaning we didn't want to draw all these people".
In addition to Starvin' Marvin himself, the episode included the first appearances of several regular characters: Kyle's father Gerald Broflovski, as well as Stuart, Carol and Kevin McCormick, father, mother and brother (respectively) of Kenny, who were portrayed as incredibly poor and unhygienic. In a continuity error, the couple killed by the turkeys at Stark's Pond can be seen alive and unharmed during the turkey battle scene.
Themes
Psychologists Gilbert Reyes and Gerard Jacobs have cited "Starvin' Marvin" as one example of popular culture voicing criticisms of humanitarianismHumanitarianism
In its most general form, humanitarianism is an ethic of kindness, benevolence and sympathy extended universally and impartially to all human beings. Humanitarianism has been an evolving concept historically but universality is a common element in its evolution...
"as an overblown industry leeching off others' suffering and harming its purported beneficiaries". The episode also highlights America's consumerist
Consumerism
Consumerism is a social and economic order that is based on the systematic creation and fostering of a desire to purchase goods and services in ever greater amounts. The term is often associated with criticisms of consumption starting with Thorstein Veblen...
society and American indifference toward impoverished countries. The moral of the episode, explained by Stan in the final scene, encourages viewers to see suffering citizens of impoverished countries as real people, rather than images on television screens, which tend to make the viewers feel detached and alienated from them.
"Starvin' Marvin" explores and satirizes gluttony
Gluttony
Gluttony, derived from the Latin gluttire meaning to gulp down or swallow, means over-indulgence and over-consumption of food, drink, intoxicants or wealth items to the point of extravagance or waste...
in the US, particular through its unflattering portrayal of Sally Struthers, who gorges on donated food meant for starving children. The greed and wastefulness shown at the buffet scene, as well as Cartman's overall greediness and lack of understanding regarding the plight of starving African children, has been said to demonstrate an over-abundance and decadence typically associated with Americans. The destructive rampage of the turkeys provides a commentary on genetic engineering
Genetic engineering
Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification, is the direct human manipulation of an organism's genome using modern DNA technology. It involves the introduction of foreign DNA or synthetic genes into the organism of interest...
. Scott Calef, a philosophy professor who studies popular culture, said the destruction sown by the turkeys, despite the best of intentions by Dr. Mephisto, are indicative of the unpredictable nature and ethical ambiguity of the use of genetic engineering for the betterment of humankind.
Cultural references and impact
Starvin' Marvin in Space
"Starvin' Marvin in Space" is episode 42 of Comedy Central's animated series South Park. It originally aired on November 17, 1999. Like the episode "Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics", the episode is dedicated to Mary Kay Bergman, who lent her voice to nearly all of South Park's female characters...
". The character was later featured in South Park Rally
South Park Rally
South Park Rally is a kart-style racing video game, based on the American animated comedy series South Park. Developed by Tantalus and published by Acclaim in 2000 – near the end of the third season of the show – for PlayStation, Windows , Nintendo 64 and Dreamcast systems, the game includes many...
, a 2000 racing video game from developer Acclaim
Acclaim Entertainment
Acclaim Entertainment was an American video game developer and publisher. It developed, published, marketed and distributed interactive entertainment software for a variety of hardware platforms, including Sega's Mega Drive/Genesis, Saturn, Dreamcast, and Game Gear, Nintendo's NES, SNES, Nintendo...
, in which Marvin races the other characters in a motorized wheat sack. Marvin is also featured in South Park 10: The Game
South Park 10: The Game
South Park 10: The Game is a mobile game based on the animated television series South Park. The game was developed by Mr.Goodliving, published by RealNetworks and was released on 28 March 2007. The game is a standard platform game with abilities to pick up objects and use them to reach heights....
, a platform
Platform game
A platform game is a video game characterized by requiring the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles . It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps...
mobile game
Mobile game
A mobile game is a video game played on a mobile phone, smartphone, PDA, tablet computer or portable media player. This does not include games played on handheld video game systems such as Nintendo DS or PlayStation Portable....
featuring a number of South Park characters. Eric Cartman's line, "That's a bad Starvin' Marvin!", became one of the most popular lines from the first season of the show.
The title character, Starvin' Marvin, is from the African nation Ethiopia, which experienced two famines in the mid-1980s. The American authorities who address his parents identify his family's surname as "Click Click Derk," although the attribution of this surname to a native Ethiopian couple is deliberately satirical of the American authorities' ignorance that a) Amharic, the national language of Ethiopia, is a Semitic
Semitic languages
The Semitic languages are a group of related languages whose living representatives are spoken by more than 270 million people across much of the Middle East, North Africa and the Horn of Africa...
language unrelated to the Khoisan
Khoisan
Khoisan is a unifying name for two ethnic groups of Southern Africa, who share physical and putative linguistic characteristics distinct from the Bantu majority of the region. Culturally, the Khoisan are divided into the foraging San and the pastoral Khoi...
and Bantu
Bantu languages
The Bantu languages constitute a traditional sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages. There are about 250 Bantu languages by the criterion of mutual intelligibility, though the distinction between language and dialect is often unclear, and Ethnologue counts 535 languages...
"click languages" of southern Africa and b) "Derg
Derg
The Derg or Dergue was a Communist military junta that came to power in Ethiopia following the ousting of Haile Selassie I. Derg, which means "committee" or "council" in Ge'ez, is the short name of the Coordinating Committee of the Armed Forces, Police, and Territorial Army, a committee of...
," of which "Durk" is an intentionally imprecise variant transliteration, is not a surname or a dynastic name but rather a descriptive term adopted by the military junta that deposed Emperor Haile Selassie I.
The scenes in which Chef, and later the lead turkey, don blue and white war paint and speak inspirational words to their armies are a parody of Braveheart
Braveheart
Braveheart is a 1995 epic historical drama war film directed by and starring Mel Gibson. The film was written for the screen and then novelized by Randall Wallace...
, the 1995 Mel Gibson
Mel Gibson
Mel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson, AO is an American actor, film director, producer and screenwriter. Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia when he was 12 years old and later studied acting at the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art.After appearing in...
-directed film about Scottish historical hero William Wallace
William Wallace
Sir William Wallace was a Scottish knight and landowner who became one of the main leaders during the Wars of Scottish Independence....
. Parker said it was the first of many times a film was spoofed in a South Park episode, even though both said they enjoyed Braveheart. During class, Mr. Garrison incorrectly tells the children the internationally known British pop singer Engelbert Humperdinck
Engelbert Humperdinck (singer)
Engelbert Humperdinck is a British pop singer, best known for his hits including "Release Me " and "After the Lovin'" as well as "The Last Waltz" .-Early life:...
was the first man to walk on the moon. Also in the classroom, when it is suggested some poor people would rather die than go to a poorhouse, Cartman says, "Well then perhaps they should - and decrease the surplus population!" The line is lifted word-for-word from the Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
novella A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol is a novella by English author Charles Dickens first published by Chapman & Hall on 17 December 1843. The story tells of sour and stingy Ebenezer Scrooge's ideological, ethical, and emotional transformation after the supernatural visits of Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of...
, prompting Mr. Garrison to respond, "Okay, kids, that's enough Dickens for one day." Kyle incorrectly tells Stan that Sally Struthers appeared on Full House
Full House
Full House is an American sitcom television series. Set in San Francisco, the show chronicles widowed father Danny Tanner, who, after the death of his wife, enlists his best friend Joey Gladstone and his brother-in-law Jesse Katsopolis to help raise his three daughters, D.J., Stephanie, and...
, an American sitcom that ran from the late 1980s to early 1990s; she actually starred in the 1970s series All in the Family
All in the Family
All in the Family is an American sitcom that was originally broadcast on the CBS television network from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979. In September 1979, a new show, Archie Bunker's Place, picked up where All in the Family had ended...
. When Dr. Mephesto asks Chef to look into his microscope, Chef says he sees "an extreme close-up of Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave, CBE is an English actress of stage, screen and television, as well as a political activist.She rose to prominence in 1961 playing Rosalind in As You Like It with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has since made more than 35 appearances on London's West End and Broadway, winning...
's private parts", a reference to the Academy Award-winning British actress. At the end of the episode, Stan said it is important to remember the images of starving children on television are "just as real as you or I". Kyle says by that logic, MacGyver
MacGyver
MacGyver is an American action-adventure television series created by Lee David Zlotoff. Henry Winkler and John Rich were the executive producers. The show ran for seven seasons on ABC in the United States and various other networks abroad from 1985 to 1992. The series was filmed in Los Angeles...
is a real person too, a reference to the secret agent protagonist from the 1980s television series of the same name.
Tom Vogt, who served as the editor of South Park for several years, was inspired to join the show after watching a bootleg copy of "Starvin' Marvin". He had never seen the show before, but was so impressed by the episode he decided to drive to Colorado and seek a job with Parker and Stone. He was hired as the show's editor after contacting one of the South Park animators who used to work for the same company as he had.
Release and reception
"Starvin' Marvin" first aired in the United States on Comedy Central on November 19, 1997. The episode was rated TV-MA in the US and PGBritish Board of Film Classification
The British Board of Film Classification , originally British Board of Film Censors, is a non-governmental organisation, funded by the film industry and responsible for the national classification of films within the United Kingdom...
in the United Kingdom. In its original American broadcast, "Starvin' Marvin" received a Nielsen rating
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
of 4.8, meaning the episode was seen by about 2.2 million households in the US. Television journalists described the rating as "astonishing" by Comedy Central standards; at the time, the network averaged a 0.6 rating (276,000 households) during prime time, and prior to South Park, the channel's highest rating was a 2.7 (1.24 million households) for the second season premiere of Absolutely Fabulous
Absolutely Fabulous
Absolutely Fabulous, also known as Ab Fab, is a British sitcom created by Jennifer Saunders, based on an original idea by her and Dawn French, and written by Saunders, who plays the leading character. It also stars Joanna Lumley and Julia Sawalha, along with June Whitfield and Jane Horrocks...
. Several reviewers have described "Starvin' Marvin" as one of South Parks "classic episodes". Parker said the emotional moment when Starvin' Marvin returned home with all the turkeys made his mother cry, marking the first time he and Stone heard of an emotional reaction to their show.
South Park (season 3)
Season Three of South Park, an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, began airing on April 7, 1999. The third season concluded after 17 episodes on January 12, 2000.- Episodes :-External links:...
episode "Starvin' Marvin in Space
Starvin' Marvin in Space
"Starvin' Marvin in Space" is episode 42 of Comedy Central's animated series South Park. It originally aired on November 17, 1999. Like the episode "Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics", the episode is dedicated to Mary Kay Bergman, who lent her voice to nearly all of South Park's female characters...
" as a Jabba the Hutt
Jabba the Hutt
Jabba the Hutt is a fictional character in George Lucas's space opera film saga Star Wars. Designed as a large, slug-like alien, his appearance has been described by film critic Roger Ebert as "Dickensian," a cross between a toad and the Cheshire Cat....
-like creature. In a DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
commentary track, Parker said of Struthers, "Dude, you're really setting yourself up if you're going to be that fat and go on the air talking about [starving children]. ... We don't think she's a bad person, she's probably nice to try to do this, but cut down on the Twinkie
Twinkie
The Twinkie is an American snack cake made and distributed by Hostess Brands. They are marketed as a "Golden Sponge Cake with Creamy Filling".-History:...
s a little bit before going on the air."
Tom Carson, television critic for The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
, praised the episode, which he said "featured some amazing sick jokes about American affluence and obliviousness". Dianne Williamson of the Telegram & Gazette praised "Starvin' Marvin" for taking a chance with the source material, and said, "Often I'm in awe at the courage of these [South Park] creators." The Advertiser of Lafayette
Lafayette, Louisiana
Lafayette is a city in and the parish seat of Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, United States, on the Vermilion River. The population was 120,623 at the 2010 census...
, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
, called the episode "hysterical" and particularly praised its satire of American consumerism. The St. Paul Pioneer Press
St. Paul Pioneer Press
The St. Paul Pioneer Press is a newspaper based in St. Paul, Minnesota, primarily serving the Twin Cities metropolitan area. Circulation is heaviest in the eastern metro region, including Ramsey, Dakota, and Washington counties, along with western Wisconsin, eastern Minnesota and Anoka County,...
described the episode as "hilarious" and said, "We know we shouldn't laugh, but we can't help it." Vicki Englund of The Courier-Mail
The Courier-Mail
The Courier-Mail is a daily newspaper published in Brisbane, Australia. Owned by News Limited, it is published daily from Monday to Saturday in tabloid format. Its editorial offices are located at Bowen Hills, in Brisbane's inner northern suburbs, and it is printed at Murarrie, in Brisbane's...
complimented the "really bizarre storyline" and the moral of the episode, and especially praised the jokes about Struthers: "It might be a good idea not to eat during the hilarious second episode. Enough said."
Vern Perry, a reviewer with The Orange County Register
The Orange County Register
The Orange County Register is a daily newspaper published in Santa Ana, California. The Register is the flagship publication of Freedom Communications, Inc., which publishes 28 daily newspapers, 23 weekly newspapers, Coast magazine, and several related Internet sites.The Register is notable for its...
, called "Starvin' Marvin" his favorite South Park episode. The "Starvin' Marvin" episode was featured in a 1998 Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
list of the top ten reasons for the popularity of South Park. The Chicago Tribune also included "Starvin' Marvin" in a 2003 list of the top ten funniest episodes. Bill Ward, of the Star Tribune
Star Tribune
The Star Tribune is the largest newspaper in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is published seven days each week in an edition for the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area. A statewide version is also available across Minnesota and parts of Wisconsin, Iowa, South Dakota, and North Dakota. The...
, described "Starvin Marvin" as Cartman's "finest half-hour". Not all reviews were positive; Boston Globe
The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
writer Matthew Gilbert, who described South Park as immature and low-brow, called "Starvin' Marvin" a particularly "uncuddly episode". Brian Boyd of The Irish Times
The Irish Times
The Irish Times is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Kevin O'Sullivan who succeeded Geraldine Kennedy in 2011; the deputy editor is Paul O'Neill. The Irish Times is considered to be Ireland's newspaper of record, and is published every day except Sundays...
criticized the episode for making jokes at the expense of starving African children.
"Starvin' Marvin" was released, along with eleven other episodes, in a three-DVD set in November 1998. It was included in the third volume, which also included the episodes "Mecha-Streisand
Mecha-Streisand
"Mecha-Streisand" is the 12th episode of the first season of the animated television series South Park. It originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on February 18, 1998. In the episode, Barbra Streisand obtains the Diamond of Panthios from the South Park boys and transforms into a...
", "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" and "Tom's Rhinoplasty
Tom's Rhinoplasty
"Tom's Rhinoplasty" is the eleventh episode of the first season of the animated television series South Park. It originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on February 11, 1998. In the episode, the South Park Elementary boys become infatuated with the new substitute teacher Ms. Ellen,...
". "Starvin' Marvin" was also one of six episodes included on a 1998 VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
called "South Park Festival Special", which included "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo", "Merry Christmas, Charlie Manson!", "Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics
Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics
"Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics" is episode 46 of Comedy Central's animated television series South Park. An album of comedic holiday songs, some featured in the episode, and others exclusive to the album, or featured in other episodes, was released the week prior to the episode's original air...
", "Korn's Groovy Pirate Ghost Mystery
Korn's Groovy Pirate Ghost Mystery
"Korn's Groovy Pirate Ghost Mystery" is the twelfth episode of the third season of Comedy Central's animated series South Park. It originally aired on October 27, 1999...
" and "Pinkeye". The episode, along with the other twelve from the first season, was also included in the DVD release "South Park: The Complete First Season", which was released on November 12, 2002. Parker and Stone recorded commentary tracks for each episode, but they were not included with the DVDs due to "standards" issues with some of the statements; Parker and Stone refused to allow the tracks to be edited and censored, so they were released in a CD separate from the DVDs. In 2008, Parker and Stone made "Starvin' Marvin" and all South Park episodes were made available to watch for free on the show's official website, "South Park Studios".
External links
- "Starvin' Marvin" Full Episode at South Park Studios
- :Starvin' Marvin" Episode Guide at South Park Studios
- "Starvin' Marvin" at TV.comTV.comTV.com is a website owned by CBS Interactive. The site covers television and focuses on English-language shows made or broadcast in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Japan...