Good grief
Peanuts, reprinted 7/17/04
I want to start off by emphasizing that I don’t think Peanuts should be run in daily papers anymore. Yes, it’s beloved by all, but Charles Schultz is dead, and with so many artists trying to break into the scene, it’s a shame that part of the ever-shrinking comics section is forever occupied by repeats. (The death of Hank Ketcham apparently hasn’t stopped the production of daily installments of Dennis the Menace with his name on it, but that’s another, and much creepier, story.) People who want to read the old stuff should buy the books.
That having been said, I’m sort of glad that younger people are getting to see the older strips. In the last few years of Charles Schultz’s life, the strip was loopy and sentimental; but the stuff they’re repeating now reminds us that for most of its history Peanuts was about loss, failure, and longing for things you can’t have. Almost everyone in the strip had such doomed romantic feelings: Lucy for Schroeder, Sally for Linus, Peppermint Patty for Charlie Brown, Marcie for Peppermint Patty, and so on. Charlie Brown’s unrequited love for the little red-haired girl is legendary, of course, and the rest of his life isn’t much better. His baseball team won only one game in the strip’s history, and then had to forfeit because their outfielder, 5-year-old Rerun, bet on the game. His baseball hero is always on the verge of being sent to the minors. He is bullied by his psychologist and is largely ignored by his dog, who refers to him as “that round-headed kid.” They don’t mention any of this when they use him to sell insurance.
Snoopy is probably the only character in the strip who is generally happy, largely because of his ability to retreat into fantasy. Even he sometimes grapples with life’s failures, as in this week’s strips, though he bounces back pretty quickly.
Incidentally, thanks are in order to my close personal friends Matt and Laura, and to the total stranger who runs furtive explorations, all of whom linked to me.
swansong
January 18th, 2005 at 4:40 pm
What you say about the failure, loss, and unrequited love aspects of Peanuts is spot on. It was a complex, touching drama nicely shrouded in a thin veneer of humor. But this was one of the few truly bitter majesties that was able to latch on and not just survive but flourish in the mass media.
We won’t see the likes of him for a long, long time.
Thanks for your words. It’s reassuring to run across something like this and realize that someone else out there ‘gets it.’
patrickcassidy
January 24th, 2005 at 8:27 pm
Interestingly, Peanuts was frequently at its best when quoting scripture. Schulz used it as a (usually) sad commentary on the human condition. Contrast this with the creepy moralism of Mr. Hart. The older Peanuts strips didn’t only make me laugh, they made me think.
Mark Kawakami
January 29th, 2005 at 8:05 am
Not to be picky, but I believe Charles Schulz’s last name is spelled “Schulz” not “Schultz”.
Robert Flaxman
July 1st, 2005 at 2:43 am
Actually, and maybe this has come up elsewhere since the far-flung date on which this post was made, but I’m going to note it anyway, Charlie Brown’s team did win another game besides the one tarnished by Rerun. It was in the mid 90s sometime, and was so historic that “Sports Illustrated for Kids”, which I received at the time, commented upon it, drawing it to my attention. Charlie Brown even scores the game-winning run himself. But of course he can’t ever be totally happy, as later the opposing team’s catcher (a girl) admits that she let Chuck score because she liked him.
Chris
July 10th, 2005 at 8:22 am
All right, enough of this “Marcie and Peppermint Patty” crapola that I constantly hear. It’s not funny, because it never was accurate. Get it right; during the 80’s and 90’s, Marcie had a thing for Charlie Brown, and Peppermint Patty had a thing for Charlie Brown, and Charlie Brown had a thing for the Little Red Haired Girl. You may all have your little “fantasies”, but “Peanuts” was meant to be viewed with innocence, so let’s keep it that way!
Peter C. Hayward
July 31st, 2005 at 2:47 am
Charlie Brown’s team won many times. They almost won an entire season once, because the other team had to forfeit almost every game. Also for a few weeks, Charlie Brown was sick and couldn’t pitch, and his team won many times then.
Holden
August 27th, 2005 at 11:07 pm
Rerun? Why was he in it SOOOOOOOOOOOO much at the end?
Joe Cool: No wheels, man!
Kim Scarborough
October 20th, 2005 at 3:06 pm
You’re right about Snoopy. As Schulz put it in typically grim fashion: “He has to retreat into his fanciful world in order to survive. Otherwise, he leads kind of a dull, miserable life. I don’t envy dogs the lives they have to live.”
Fred P.
December 16th, 2005 at 9:34 pm
What I like about this strip is the use of the term “girl-beagle”. While the word “bitch” is obviously more appropriate, both from the perspective of gender-specific canine terms and that of anyone whose clumsy leg-humping advances have been summarily rebuffed by some brazen strumpet – are you reading this Christy? Huh? I’m talkin to YOU! uh… sorry… where were we? Oh yes, “bitch”. Perhaps that word is just a tad too risque for the tender ears of both the under-seven set and the legion of doddering septuagenarians who make up the core readership of “Peanuts”.
I also like that, implied in the use of the term “girl-beagle”, it is revealed not only that Snoopy ain’t no fag, (despite what you might have assumed vis-a-vis his name) but that he also dates only within the confines of his own race.! Peanuts Uber Alles!
MegaAlan
December 31st, 2005 at 9:48 pm
Fred P., I suppose next you’ll be summarily dismissing the notion that Beethoven was better than Elton John.
Don Phillips
May 17th, 2006 at 9:26 am
To the person who says “Peanuts” should be dropped from the comic pages because Shulz is dead will probably agree that we should stop reading Mark Twain because He is dead…Next, let’s start burning books to make room for new authors.
Mike
October 18th, 2006 at 5:39 am
#11:
Thats ridiculous and you know it. I love Peanuts, ever since I was a kid….but for petes sake, the guy is dead. I think that Mr. Shulz himself would want to make room for new artists rather than have us hang on to the reruns in the papers.
Anonymous
July 17th, 2007 at 7:22 pm
Happy Birthday to Josh. Welcome to the future. We’re glad you made it.
He was a mere lad of 30 the day he posted this tribute to old Peanuts strips, which will apparently run until the last newspaper finally goes belly up. The glory that was Aldomania and the fabulous Gail Martin were still years ahead in the dim mists of Josh’s future. Not to mention getting his car towed in NYC.
Duff
July 27th, 2007 at 10:25 pm
Josh is a dumbass.
Calvin
February 16th, 2008 at 12:49 am
When did Charlie Brown see a psychiatrist, and for what exactly did he see him?
Also, nice one, Chris (comment #5). I hate that that has to be pointed out, but I’m glad that you did it.
Anonymous
February 25th, 2008 at 11:12 am
#15, The psychiatrist is actually Lucy, at her booth. She charged Charlie Brown a nickel, listened for a second, and then insulted him.
Some Guy
March 4th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
Living in a different country, I’ve not seen these Charlie Brown insurance advertisments, but I’m surprised they don’t mention his crappy life.
“If your life’s anything like Charlie Brown’s, it’s probably filled with disaster and despair. That’s why you need insurance.”
Oh wait, then you’d think “Of course, if my life’s anything like Charlie Brown’s, the disaster and despair won’t actually be covered by my policy, so there’s no point.” Never mind.
On another note, Chris and Calvin, why is “six year old boy has crush on six year old girl” innocent, but “six year old girl has crush on six year old girl” isn’t? Marcie certainly was certainly interested in “Charles”, but she also followed Peppermint Patty everywhere and called her “Sir”, and in my book that spells “innocent crush”.
Eric W
March 23rd, 2010 at 11:36 am
#17: The Met Life ads are pretty much all animated Snoopy as “the world’s greatest insurance salesman”, complete with a tie and briefcase. All very pleasant and loopy, sometimes with Snoopy doing that ear helicopter thing, but yeah, it has about as much relation to the strip’s view of the world as a Peanuts greeting card.