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Preston Benner '25
The scene is set. It’s a gloomy November afternoon, freshly fallen leaves rustle around a field of grass as two figures emerge. The first, a young girl. Dressed in a blue dress, with her “naturally curly” hair bobbing, she tosses a football to herself as she awaits her friend, a boy of similar age. He’s bald save a squiggle of hair at the center of his forehead, and he sports a yellow collared shirt with a black zig-zag that runs around the whole thing. After some skepticism and debate, the girl at last convinces him to attempt to kick the football while she holds it for him. He runs full force, but at the last moment she pulls the football away, and the boy goes flying up into the air, landing on his back with a plume of dust. After the audience gets a laugh out of this stunt, the boy, accompanied by his friends, his dog, and his dog’s bird, puts on a spectacular Thanksgiving feast consisting of the best buttered toast, popcorn, pretzels, and jelly beans an adolescent can get his hands on. These comedic characters Lucy and Charlie Brown are the products of cartoon strip writer, Charles Schultz (1922-2000). From their first airing in newspapers on October 2, 1950, to the creation of the famous films that are still watched by millions every year, Schultz’s Peanuts is a comic and holiday classic. The family-friendly humor and diverse cast of characters––eg. dusty Pig-Pen, bossy Lucy, clumsy Charlie Brown, and sheepish Lunis––easily appeal to everyone of all ages. Once the lovable Peanuts established their following, at its height in the 1990s the franchise raked in over one billion dollars per year, primarily via licensing for merchandise. These days, Schultz’s creation is more well-known for the films that emerged from the comics. While over a dozen holiday specials and films were made, three rose above them all. The first and perhaps most iconic is A Charlie Brown Christmas. First airing on December 9, 1965 on CBS, the story was an instant success. An estimated 15.5 million people watched that night as Charlie Brown dealt with the depression of the rising commercialism of Christmas––a typical feeling of children as they grow up––combined with the humiliation of buying a maimed tree which acts as a metaphor for the spirit of the kids throughout the film. It's up to his second-best friend Linus––no one trumps Snoopy––to save the holiday for him. Linus reminds Charlie about the religious side of Christmas, quoting the story of Jesus’ birth and finishing with, “That’s what Christmas is all about Charlie Brown.” The film concludes with the whole gang singing around the newly refurbished tree, happily celebrating together. A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving is another holiday classic. The public first saw it on CBS on November 20, 1973. It was so popular it won an Emmy Award the following year. This Schultz film was special because it was the first that, save the opening stunt with Charlie kicking the football, it was created from a completely original script, rather than being copied from any previously written strips. The Peanuts have always been popular, but they experienced a mass renewal in fandom when Blue Sky Studios dropped their A Peanuts Movie back in 2015. Produced in part by the son and grandson of Charles Schultz, the film dives into a side of Charlie Brown that often goes unseen––his love life. Throughout the 88 minutes, we watch as Charlie tries to get the attention of the “Little Red-Haired Girl” at his school, while Snoopy writes a novel in which he is a WWI Flying Ace trying to stave off the Red Baron from his love interest, Fifi. Whether for nostalgia or entertainment, Peanut-fanatics came in droves to the box office, which took in around 250 million. While Charles Schultz is no longer making comics, his legacy lives on through his beloved characters and the joy they bring to all who interact with them. Whether they are read or watched, his Peanuts will be a comic and holiday classic for years to come. Bibliography https://schulzmuseum.org/about-schulz/schulz-biography/#:~:text=The%20first%20Peanuts%20strip%20appeared,%2Dsimple%20four%2Dpanel%20creation https://www.investors.com/news/management/leaders-and-success/charles-schulz-drew-peanuts-comic-strip/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Charlie_Brown_Christmas https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Charlie_Brown_Thanksgiving https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Peanuts_Movie
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