South Park at its crudest...animation, that is. The comedy would get much cruder over the years.note
The Spirit of Christmas is a series of two Christmas shorts created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone. The two shorts are entitled Jesus vs. Frosty and Jesus vs. Santa, which were released in 1992 and 1995 respectively. The [in]famous animated series South Park spawned from these shorts.
In Jesus vs. Frosty, four boys who vaguely resemble the South Park main characters build a snowman, which comes to life when they put a hat on its head; unfortunately, it's Ax-Crazy, grows tentacles and kills proto-Cartman and proto-Kenny. The remaining two decide to ask Jesus (depicted as a baby with an adult Jesus' head) for help; he throws his halo like a boomerang at the snowman and knocks its hat off, rendering it lifeless.
In Jesus vs. Santa, the style is much closer to South Park, with the boys all having their eventual names and looking like themselves. Here, an adult Jesus descends from the sky and asks they to take him to Santa Claus; sure enough, the local Mall Santa is the real thing, and the pair begin to fight about whether the true meaning of Christmas is religion or giving. Ultimately, the boys get advice from Brian Boitano
and help the two reconcile.
The shorts can be seen here and here; the latter can also be seen on the South Park The Hits: Volume 1 DVD, and, as a Mythology Gag, was featured in the plot of the episode "A Very Crappy Christmas." (Jesus vs. Frosty was briefly alluded to in "Simpsons Did It Already.")
Jesus vs. Frosty (1992):
- Achilles' Heel: Frosty's hat. When Jesus removes it with his halo, he crumbles back into normal snow.
- Ax-Crazy: After being brought to life, Frosty immediately starts to kill everybody he comes across.
- Bearded Baby: Baby Jesus just has adult Jesus' bearded head on a baby body.
- Big Damn Heroes: After Frosty claims two victims, Baby Jesus barges in and saves the day by killing him with his halo.
- Bittersweet Ending: Jesus kills Frosty and saves Christmas, but two out of the four kids are dead. However, the survivors don't seem too agitated by the experience.
- Captain Obvious: After "Santa" grows tentacles and a Nightmare Face and kills Proto-Kenny:Proto-Kyle: You know? I don't think that was the real Santa Claus.Proto-Stan: Oh. No Shit, sherlock!
- Combat Tentacles: Frosty uses these to kill his victims. One shot shows them to be even larger than his body when extended.
- Death of a Child: Proto-Cartman (Kenny) becomes the first child victim of the franchise thanks to Frosty.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: A lot of the short's elements are dramatically different from how the show is nowadays.
- Stan mentions "(his) sister in Minnesota", implying that Shelley didn't live with him (though it also could have happened during a trip to Minnesota).
- Cartman has Kenny's name.
- The actual Kenny is The Nameless in this short, and audibly speaks in an unmuffled voice despite still wearing his orange parka here. Both boys are portrayed as the victim of the They Killed Kenny Again Running Gag instead of just Kenny.
- Instead of The Smart Guy, Kyle is portrayed as The Ditz of the group who gets two out of three of his friends killed through his stupidity, which is the type of attitude the current Kyle would be enraged by.
- While Stan has retained the Only Sane Man trait that defines him in this short, he's also much more calm and even-tempered nowadays, while here Proto-Stan seems to have a Hair-Trigger Temper to the point where he has more in common with the current Kyle than the current Stan.
- Early Installment Character-Design Difference:
- Cartman, Kenny, and Stan's character designs look the same as today (albeit with different colors), but Kyle's is completely indistinguishable; he's shown wearing a green jacket and a yellow cap, rather than his modern day orange jacket and green ushanka.
- Jesus is also depicted with the body of a baby, instead of being a grown adult like in the latter short and the series.
- Eldritch Abomination: Frosty is portrayed as this, with tentacles and a terror face.
- Enraged by Idiocy: Proto-Stan doesn't hold back from throwing insults at Proto-Kyle after he gets two of their friends killed.
- Everyone Has Standards: Proto-Stan may be a little too foul-mouthed for his age, but he draws the line at saying the F-word in front of Baby Jesus, unlike Proto-Kyle.
- Forgotten Fallen Friend: "Kenny" (Proto-Cartman) and Proto-Kenny both get killed by Frosty halfway through the episode, but Proto-Stan and Proto-Kyle carry on with their Christmas regardless.
- Generic Doomsday Villain: The snowman doesn't seem to have a motivation other than killing people, though he shows some intelligence when he disguises himself as Santa to lure the boys into a trap.
- Insane Troll Logic: After everything he went through bringing that snowman to life and watching it kill two of his friends before it gets destroyed by Jesus, Proto-Kyle says he learned the true meaning of Christmas. Which is presents.
- I Warned You: Proto-Stan warns the others not to bring a snowman to life and is proven right when the snowman offs one of them.Proto-Stan: I told you not to put that FUCKING hat on Frosty's FUCKING head, now didn't I?!
- Jerkass: Proto-Kyle refuses to take accountability for bringing Frosty to life, shows no remorse when the monster snowman kills his friends, and even says "fuck" in front of Jesus.Proto-Stan: Dude, it's Jesus! Don't say "fuck" in front of Jesus!
- Jerkass Has a Point: Proto-Stan is quite abrasive and foul-mouthed when talking to Proto-Kyle, but he's absolutely right when he says that he was an idiot for putting the magic hat on Frosty despite his warnings that it will turn him into a bloodthirsty monster.
- Jesus Was Way Cool: Jesus kills Frosty and saves the day seconds after being born.
- Nightmare Face: After being brought to life, Frosty has one of these.
- Not So Above It All: After playing the Straight Man through most of the story, Proto-Stan eventually agrees with Proto-Kyle's Spoof Aesop, if only because he knows where his parents keep his Christmas presents.
- No Name Given: All of the boys except proto-Cartman, who's named "Kenny".
- Oh, Crap!: The boys (especially Proto-Kyle) after bringing Frosty back to life.
- Off with His Head!: Baby Jesus offs Frosty by scalping him with his halo, removing his hat and breaking the curse.
- If one looks carefully, Proto-Kenny's head briefly rolls off and then back onto his body when he's thrown by Frosty and then hits the ground (with blood pouring out around the neck area), although that could've been an animation error.
- Opening Dissonance: The episode begins with the boys happily singing Frosty the Snowman as they build the titular snowman. The rest of the episode is about the boys trying to escape from a killer snowman as it tries to kill them.
- Properly Paranoid: The one kid who warned the others saying his sister brought a snowman to life and it tried to murder her.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: It's when Frosty loses his coal black eyes for shiny red ones that the boys realize they've screwed up.
- Shout-Out:
- The film's vanity production company is Avenging Conscience, referencing the D. W. Griffith film The Avenging Conscience.
- Frosty first appeared in the Rankin & Bass Christmas special Frosty the Snowman.
- Snowlems: The snowman that the boys build comes to life as an evil killer who has tentacles.
- Spoof Aesop: After Jesus saves the world, Proto-Kyle doesn't learn not to put the hat on Frosty, or that Jesus is a savior. He learns that Christmas is about presents. Nothing else in the short even builds up to this, but Proto-Stan ''agrees'' with his take.
- Too Dumb to Live: Proto-Kyle is a textbook example, as he puts the hat on the snowman's head right after Proto-Stan warns him that it will make him come to life and kill them all.Proto-Kyle: Fuck him, let's do it anyway.Proto-Kenny: Yeah.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: The boys accidentally unleash a murderous Frosty on the world by putting a magic hat on their snowman.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Most of the screentime with Proto-Stan and Proto-Kyle has them arguing or swearing at each other, but they still celebrate Christmas together.
Jesus vs. Santa (1995)
- Ambiguously Jewish: When Stan asks Kyle if he's Jewish, Kyle responds with "I think so". When he finds out that Hannukah gives you eight days of presents, his beliefs become much stronger.
- Adaptational Dumbass: While Stan is still the most sensible of the boys, he's more childish and mean-spirited than in the previous short. Tellingly, he's the one to deliver the short's Spoof Aesop instead of Kyle this time around.
- Adaptational Jerkass: Cartman was mostly The Quiet One in the first short. Here, he takes Kyle's spot as the mouthy and insensitive kid of the team.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Kyle still has a temper, but he's presented as the victim of mean teasing instead of the source of the boys' problems.
- Befriending the Enemy: After fighting their differences away, Jesus and Santa eventually make up thanks to Brian Boitano reminding them of the true meaning of Christmas. Jesus even invites Santa to an orange smoothie at the end.
- Bittersweet Ending: Jesus and Santa make up, and the boys finally get to meet the Brian Boitano. However, Kenny (and at least six other children) have been killed in the fight, and all the boys learn from the whole ordeal is that Christmas is about presents.
- Death Glare: Jesus when Stan and Kyle start rooting for Santa, enough for the duo to nervously change their tune.
- Death of a Child: Even worse than the previous short, with a total of 7 onscreen deaths. They're not pretty either.
- Deus ex Machina: A textbook example; Brian Boitano gets unintentionally summoned by the boys to put an end to the fight between Jesus and Santa.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Wendy makes a cameo as a nameless girl sitting on Santa's lap.
- Early-Installment Weirdness:
- The kids are surprised to see that Jesus is in the town of South Park. In the actual series, Jesus lives in South Park and everybody seems not to see this as particularly interesting.
- While not to the extent of Cartman, Stan is shown to make fun of Kyle's Judaism too, a trait that never shows up in the show proper. Tellingly, in South Park S 4 E 17 A Very Crappy Christmas, which portrays this short as an In-Universe Christmas card made by the boys, the scene where Stan mocks the dreidel song is omitted when Stan and Kyle are on the recording booth.
- Early Installment Character-Design Difference: Wendy's jacket is blue instead of light purple, her gloves and trim are pink instead of navy blue, and her pants are black instead of yellow.
- Forgotten Fallen Friend: Like in the previous short, Kenny gets killed late through the second act, but Stan, Kyle, and Cartman carry on with their Christmas (or Hannukah) without paying his rat-infested corpse any mind.
- Makes Just as Much Sense in Context: The boys' devotion to Brian Boitano, who randomly appears when they mention him.
- Heel–Faith Turn: All the boys (including Cartman) become jews at the end when they find out it allows them eight days worth of presents.
- Hypocrite:
- Jesus tells the boys that he loves all his children, but he doesn't blink when he accidentally kills three kids with a blow aimed for Santa. Furthermore, his search for retribution completely contradicts the "turn the other cheek" teachings he's famous for.
- Likewise, Santa claims that his goal is to bring happiness to children all over the world, before carelessly throwing a stunned Wendy off his lap to fight Jesus. Furthermore, during his fight with Jesus, he accidentally kills Kenny and three children bystanders with a blow aimed for Jesus.
- A minor example when Stan says that The Dreidel Song is stupid, when he was the one who told Kyle to sing Hannukah songs.
- It's All About Me: Both Santa and Jesus believe that Christmas is about them, which kickstarts their fight. They get better in the end thanks to Brian Boitano.
- Jerkass: Cartman is the most foul-mouthed of the kids, and also the one who teases Kyle the most.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Stan teases Kyle for his Judaism more than once in this short, but he shows worry when he believes that Jesus has come to kill him.
- Karma Houdini: While Jesus and Santa make up at the end of the episode, they don't receive any comeuppance for the collateral damage caused by their fight, including at least 7 child deaths.
- Mood Whiplash:Stan: It doesn't matter if you're Christian, or Jewish, or atheist, or Hindu. Christmas is still about one very important thing.Cartman: Yeah, ham!Stan: NO, NOT HAM, YOU FAT FUCK!
- Motive Misidentification: When Jesus tells the boys that he has arrived to seek retribution, Kyle initially believes that he's there kill him for being Jewish. Luckily for him, Jesus has a bigger fish to fry.
- Oh, Crap!:
- The boys when Jesus first appears before them. Especially Kyle who believes he's there to kill him for being Jewish.
- Kenny just before he gets decapitated.
- Perennially Overshadowed Birthday: Alluded to when Stan talks to Jesus and expresses his pity for Jesus having his birthday on Christmas.Jesus: Tomorrow is my birthday. Yet all is not right.Stan: Your birthday is on Christmas? That sucks, dude.
- Politically Incorrect Hero:
- Cartman's Establishing Character Moment is mocking Kyle for being Jewish.
- Stan is also portrayed as this in this episode when he tells Kyle that he can't sing Christmas songs because he's Jewish.
- Psychopathic Manchild: Both Jesus and Santa fight like kids in a playground, paying no mind to the collateral damage of their fight.
- Off with His Head!: Kenny is killed when a stray blast from Santa Claus ends up accidentally decapitating him.
- Opening Dissonance: Like the previous short, Jesus vs. Santa begins rather tame, with the boys singing We Wish You a Merry Christmas and The Dreidel Song. The rest of the episode is a lot darker.
- Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Jesus and Santa, at least until the end of the episode, where they make up.
- Shout-Out:
- The introductory music is from "It Happened In Sun Valley", in the Twentieth Century-Fox Picture Sun Valley Serenade. The album "Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics" will later have Stan and Wendy perform a cover of the song.
- Jesus and Santa's battle uses music from Mortal Kombat 3.
- "There can be only one!" (said by Santa moments before the smackdown)
- The statue Kenny's head knocked over is a reference to Matt and Trey's Film/Orgazmo, only here it is a mirror image.
- A possibly unintentional one, but Jesus executes a The Three Stooges eye gouge to Santa.
- The scene when the statue falls on the children is very much like the scene at the end of the Monty Python opening credits in which the foot squishes the chicken/man. They both have very similar squishing sounds as well.
- The phrase "Come on, lumberboy!" is a reference to the fact that Jesus followed stepfather Joseph into carpentry.
- Skewed Priorities: As far as the boys are concerned, meeting Jesus Christ and Santa Claus is nothing compared to meeting the Brian Boitano.
- Spoof Aesop: According to Stan, Christmas is about one very important thing: presents.
- They Killed Kenny Again: Kenny gets decapitated by Santa's blast, intended for Jesus.
- What Would Brian Boitano Do?: The boys ask themselves this, and Boitano promptly appears to break up the fight between Jesus and Santa.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: The boys hardly react to the fight between Jesus and Santa, only showing worry when they start egging them on to join.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: The boys here have it worse than the previous short; most of their dialogue here is them insulting each other.
- Would Hurt a Child: Santa flings Wendy from his lap and unto the air, and both him and Jesus accidentally get several kids (including Kenny) crushed to death during their fight.
- You Are Fat: Cartman's weight is repeatedly mocked, but this is the crowner:Kyle: You're such a fat fuck, Cartman, that when you walk down the street, people go, "GODDAMMIT, THAT KID'S A BIG, FAT FUCK!" Trivia
