Con una batalla (algo cutre y descafeinada) entre Santa Claus y Jesús, South Park iniciaba su aventura televisiva de la mano de Matt Stone y Trey Parker, hace ya diez años.

En el último número de la revista Reason, Parker reivindica este episodio piloto como la base filosófica de la serie: la caricaturización de los dos extremos y el desconcierto de los que se quedan a medio camino.

Parker: To some degree, South Park has a simple formula that came from the very first episode [“The Spirit of Christmas,” which featured Jesus and Santa fighting over who owned the holiday]. There was Jesus on this side and there was Santa on this side, there’s Christianity here and there’s Christmas commercialism here, and they’re duking it out. And there are these four boys in the middle going, “Dude, chill out.” It’s really what Team America is as well: taking an extremist on this side and an extremist on that side. Michael Moore being an extremist is just as bad, you know, as Donald Rumsfeld. It’s like they’re the same person. It takes a fourth-grade kid to go, “You both remind me of each other.” The show is saying that there is a middle ground, that most of us actually live in this middle ground, and that all you extremists are the ones who have the microphones because you’re the most interesting to listen to, but actually this group isn’t evil, that group isn’t evil, and there’s something to be worked out here.

Except when it comes to Scientologists. They’re all fucked up.