What was so great about Peanuts?

Cafe Society
1

I used to (and still do) enjoy a number of comic strips. Calvin and Hobbes, The Far Side, Opus and it’s predecessors, and a number of less revered (but still decent) strips like Dilbert, Foxtrot, Get Fuzzy, etc.

However, I have never understood what people find so great about Peanuts. Every time I see a Peanuts strip, it just strikes me as bland and simple. There are no great insights, no laugh-out-loud jokes, just mundane little stories and obvious punchlines. I just looked through the entire last month of “Classic Peanuts” (apparently from 1966, or thereabouts), and didn’t see anything that made me ever consider continuing to read the strip, much less worship the genius of Charles Schulz.

Not to mention the strip makes me feel gloomy every time I read it. Hell, the idea of a perpetually-depressed 6-year-old who fails at everything for 50 years is not funny, amusing, cute, lovable, or whatever, it’s fucking depressing. All the characters look sad and depressed themselves, and the patchy hair makes some of them look like they have terminal diseases.

So what was so special about this strip? Did I just pick a bad month for my investigation? Anyone have a link to some especially good Peanuts examples?

2

Either you like the concept of little kids filled with psychological hangups associated with adults (anxiety, depression, desire to control everything) or you don’t.

Growing up in the 1970s, I was often anxious or depressed and thought the strip was about me.

3

IMHO, the minimalism of Peanuts was part of its appeal. I agree that it is a relic of a simpler time though, not just in American life, but in what people expected from the media.
The way comic strips are marketed and multi-platform success are also factors. By the end of the 1960s Peanuts had inspired several animated specials, and I believe (don’t have a cite) that it was one of the first original newspaper strips to be animated as a TV show. And once a strip gets rolling, they stick around forever. Probably about 75% of the strips in the average newspaper have been running for 30 years or more. Blondie, For Better or For Worse, Hagar the Horrible, Garfield, Peanuts, Doonesbury, etc., have all been around since at least the 1970s. The Far Side and Calvin & Hobbes are unusual in that they ended when their original creators left.

4

Try putting yourself back in time 50 years or so and ask the question again. Peanuts was one of the first strips that was drawn simply, and was one of the first with psychologically complex characters. Snoopy’s fantasy life was amazing when it began in the '60s. You probably grew up with comics that used all the things he pioneered as a matter of course. It’s kind of like wondering why Pogo was so special, since everyone does politics these days.

5

Peanuts definitely struck a chord and not only in the US. You can find *Peanuts * charcters everywhere. Hugely popular still in Thailand, although the Thais care more about the “cuteness” of the characters than any deep psychological musings. But my wife has been a lifelong Snoopy fan.

Pirated *Peanuts * products are still all over the place here.

6

I don’t really get this one.

7

Most of us have a little bit of Charlie Brown within us. That alone counts for much of its iconic appeal.

8

I can’t make you think it’s funny, but the joke is pretty obvious: to Linus, a little kid, the word explosion connotes a very loud noise.

9

Explosions are usually associated with loud noises.

10

First note it was Originally Published on: 17-OCT-1960

Second the phrase used and still kind of new at the time was “Population Explosion”. Linus being a young child does not understand the phrase and associates the word explosion with a loud noise.

Jim

11

I suspect you’re too young to remember the “population explosion.” It was the global-warming crisis of its day. Although maybe “crisis” is a bit strong, but there were alarmists.

12

I think it has something to do with a loud noise.

13

explosion = loud bang. Linus is puzzled because he didn’t hear any noise. .

Okay, it’s a pretty weak joke.

14

There was a lot of that in Peanuts, though. Schulz was quite subtle, but when Linus freaked at the first snowfall, thinking it was fallout (“It’s happening, Charlie Brown! It’s happening just like they said it would!”) or when Sally wanted to dodge kindergarten, to CB’s horror (“This is evasion of responsibility! This is what is eroding our society!”) that was a level of intelligence rarely (not never, but rarely) seen in comics. And at the same time, it was appropriate for the comics page. Little kids at that time did have an incomplete understanding of the cold war, or the war-war. Incomplete understanding can lead to panic. And Schulz did panic funny. (“Get HOT water! Get some disinfectant! Get some iodine!”)

And Schulz never said, in fact, refused to say, what he meant by “We prayed in school today!”

15

Bill Watterson (Calvin and Hobbes’ creator) did a decent piece on why Peanuts was so important for him. It’s titled “Drawn Into a Dark But Gentle World”, and it’s really good, but I can’t seem to find an online link that’s working at the moment.

16

Oh, yeah, lots of great Peanuts stuff. (I don’t have a link, you’ll have to find it yourself)

It was a dark and stormy night. Suddenly a shot rang out. The girl in the tattered shawl had not sold a violet all day. While millions starved the king lived in luxury. Meanwhile on a farm in Kansas a boy was growing up. Suddenly a pirate ship appeared on the horizon. (in part two I tie all of this together)

Lucy pulls away the football.

What’s the point of doing anything if you don’t win a big prize?

Snoopy chases the Red Baron

Charlie Brown loves the littl;e red haired girl, but she doesn’t know him. Patty loves Charlie Brown, but he doesn’t know. Marcie loves Patty but …
and so on.

17

The Grief That Made 'Peanuts' Good - WSJ Actually, my link is to a review Watterson did for the Wall St. Journal in the last few weeks.

18

What was not to understand about that one?? It came out at a time of major court cases that were trying definitively to keep religion out of the schools. The furtive way that Sally said that to Charlie Brown indicated that her teacher still secretly was doing it. It was a hot topic back then. I believe Shulz was in favor of prayer in school.

19

Peanuts spoke to people in simple little truths. Especially some of Linus’s quotes. Who among us has not said (especially in the BBQ Pit), “I love mankind - it’s people I can’t stand!”

Or on his philosophy of “runism.” - “There is no problem so big it can’t be run away from.”

Or sympathized when he said, “There is no heavier burden than a great potential.”

And it was Linus who introduced us to the phrase “security blanket,” which has often taken a meaning beyond a literal piece of cloth.

Then there was the frustrated athlete, Charlie Brown. Every time he pitched a ball, it would be hit back with such velocity it tore his clothes off. His right fielder, Lucy, often daydreamed, looking at clouds because nobody hit balls to her position. His shortstop, Snoopy, often played while carrying his food dish in his mouth. Eternally trusting charlie, always hoped to kick the football, only to be betrayed time after time by Lucy. And his kites were always swallowed up by the Kite Eating Tree. Who among us hasn’t said, “Been there, done that.” And while the phrase “Good Grief!” predates Charlie, people say it a lot more often because of him.

Then there was Snoopy, who personified our playful side. Who among us hasn’t sat on a log or bench and pretended it was an airplane and that one was flying into battle against the enemy? Or pretended he was flying in a helicopter? Or in Snoopy’s case was the helicopter?

Or Snoopy the author. Thanks to Snoopy, millions can quote the opening line of *Paul Clifford *by Edward Bulwer-Lytton.

And let’s not forget the Great Pumpkin, who in just 10 days, will visit the most sincere pumpkin patch to begin delivering toys to all the good little boys and girls of the world. Come! Let us sing pumpkin carols.
**
Oh, pumpkin bells! Pumpkin bells! Ringing loud and clear,**
Oh what fun Great Pumpkin brings When Halloween is here!

Schulz mixed Hallowe’en and Christmas in a delightful manner long before The Nightmare Before Christmas.

20

I’ve been trying to come up with a way to explain the greatness of Peanuts to someone who already lists **Calvin and Hobbes ** first among their favorite comic strips. I find myself unable to frame an argument. If you don’t see any points of comparison between the two, then Peanuts may just not be your cup of tea. De gustibus non est disputandum. You have noticed that Calvin suffers from the same weird strain of macrocephalic dwarfism as the Peanuts gang, right?

I think Peanuts was at its finest from about 1965 through 1980 or so. (I’m pleased to note that the Wikipedia article independently arrived at this assessment.) Sunday pages from the late '60s/early '70s especially were remarkably beautiful. Regarding the weekly strips, the rule of thumb is: if it has fewer than four panels, run.

“I only dread one day at a time.”

“The mad punter has struck again!”

“Suddenly, you spot a rabbit! What do you do?”

“Maybe I should have gone to swoop school.”