movies/tv Controversial View Towards Charlie Brown

[PonyFunk 155]

I'm about to say something about Charlie Brown that a lot of people are going to disagree with. In the past several years, he has really begun to get on my nerves for a particular reason...

 

He has far too many limiting beliefs for him to be the loveable character I used to see him as. What I mean is, in every single special I see him in, he is always beating himself up for one reason or another. Half the time I have to see that sickly, squiggly line frown on his face (sometimes with his tongue hanging out). What drives me crazy the most is how he considers himself a failure, because he can't win a baseball game, kick that football, or fly a kite. I can understand the no-winning-baseball-game part, but not flying a kite?! How low do you have to feel to consider yourself a failure because you can't fly a kite?!?!

 

Now, I know what you're all thinking. "What about all the crap he's been through?! What about how cruelly everybody has always treated him? Lucy and her friends are always driving him towards the deep end. He's gotten rocks instead Halloween candy. He got no valentines on Valentine's Day!  Isn't that enough to justify why Charlie Brown is down all the time? I'm surprised he's happy at all!" 

 

While I'm perfectly aware how tough Charlie Brown has had it, it's also arguable that he has had just as much support from his peers to balance everything out. While he's treated mean in every special, everyone comes together to support him, even apologize, by the end. Even the ones who have been most cruel to him are able to recognize the special person he really is. Despite all that, Charlie Brown always seems to forget the support he's gotten, and go right back down to the depression pit. 

 

Now, I know there's a Charlie Brown in all of us. We all get depressed, hopefully someone is there to support us, but then something happens that gets us in the pit again. That's why so many of us relate with him and are always cheering him on. As someone who struggles with depression/anxiety, I know exactly what it is like to be in Charlie Brown's shoes. However, the whole pattern of him being depressed, calling himself a failure, then overcoming obstacles to prove the great kid he is, only to do the same thing again is really getting old. What I would like to see in a Peanuts special, is someone other than Charlie Brown as the hopeless victim, so that Charlie Brown can be the "supporter/cheerleader" role. It's also arguable that Charlie Brown has been in that role too, but not enough for me.

 

Well, in a way I still root for him and connect with him, but not as much as I used to.

 

Please tell me your thoughts. I expect a nasty mob coming to my door soon.

[Venomous 18,813]

I never liked Charlie Brown.

I've always disliked it.

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 40,220]

This actually makes a bit of a good point. Charlie could be a kid suffering from depression for whatever reason. Depression is not so simply quelled, it can constantly come back and hit you hard regardless of how you just felt. Now, this all could just be to give the show new plotpoints centered around him, but it is an interesting concept to think about. You can never tell with these old shows.

[ShadOBabe 18,984]

Charlie Brown has always bored the tar out of me for as long as I can remember.

I remember we'd sometimes watch the specials in elementary school as a treat, and I'd be dying do anything else.

 

Only thing I love is Snoopy and Woodstock.

Especially Woodstock.

Edited September 2, 2015 by ShadOBabe

[Miles 2,512]

Well...

That's kind of the point.  I mean, honestly...  That's the point of Charlie Brown.  When it was created people liked his lack of enthusiasm and such.  Not in a mean way, but in an entertaining way.  It's sort of like Eeyore from Winnie The Pooh.

If Charlie Brown started being positive and exuberant all the time, it would kind of defeat the purpose of the show.

Personally I always loved it when I was a little kid.  (Though I must say it wasn't ever hard to entertain me so long as the TV was on).

~ Miles

[BlueBrony 388]

The practical root for this problem is that Peanuts is still big business and so there is a need to keep the status quo. This is also a common factor in most daily newspaper cartoons. You don't want your characters to progress too much from their status quo because each strip needs to be self-contained so nobody gets lost if they don't read it everyday. This is also the reason why none of the characters have really aged over fifty years.

Peanuts became a huge success because of its strong characters and unique adult/kid humor. When Peanuts struck gold with its xmas special, it makes sense that companies wanted to make even more specials. The specials basically play like a Peanuts newspaper story arc, with lots of self-contained jokes and a few scenes that had little to do with the main arc. Because this worked for the first few shorts, no content creators have tried anything else (which is a shame)

 

The more screentime Charlie Brown gets, the more we want to see his character fleshed out/not almost always depressed, so I totally get your disappointment with him, because while status quo charlie brown works great in self-contained comic strips, it is working less and less with the specials/short movies others have made about him.

 

On that note, I sincerely hope that the newest Peanuts movie (with its new animation style) will break the cycle and provide new development for the characters.