The Parents of the Peanuts

[BrawnyCharger 513]

When you think about Charles Shultz's "Peanuts" franchise, one aspect that hasn't been covered is the lives of the parents of Charlie Brown and his friends. Now of course Charles Schulz liked to keep the focus on the kids and Snoopy in his comic strips and cartoon specials (with the exception of a few specials), but of course, that doesn't mean that fans can't have speculations and discussions about the adults in the lives of the Peanuts gang, and of course fanfiction opens many doors. So I thought that maybe I could ask everypony here what characterizations of the parents of the Peanuts would be like. Such as:

• What would their careers be? It's documented that Charlie Brown's dad is a barber, but what about his mom as well as the other parents.
• What are their hobbies, interests, their personalities?
• What's their relationship with their kids? Like how do Linus and Lucy's mom and dad feel about some of their kids' antics, like the blanket and the pulling the football away.
• What kind of parenting do they give them?
• Have the traits of the kids been inherited from their parents? Like could Charlie Brown's bad luck have stemmed from his mother or father being the same way when they were his age?
• What sort of active role could they have played in the lives of their kids during certain specials? 
• What's their relationship with Snoopy as well as their opinions of his antics? Do they find him amusing or a constant headache?

One possible reason to discuss this to establish a voice of reason, morality, and authority in the Peanuts universe. I have read some Peanuts fanfics in which the parents do make appearances and have lines in the fics. But so far I have yet to see any straight up profiling the lives of the parents of the Peanuts. What are your ideas on the profiles of the mothers and fathers of Charlie Brown and the other Peanuts?

[Dreambiscuit 9,873]

To be honest I don’t think the parents should be included. Charles Schultz had the right idea in making it all about the kids. Adding an adult perspective would take away from the uniquely youthful experience of the primary characters. It may be interesting on the level of fans who want to know everything about every peripheral character, but overall I think it would be a distraction. As an example, when the Barbie franchise added the parents in Dreamhouse Adventures: Go Team Roberts, it did nothing but detract from the main characters of Barbie and her sisters. It may seem harmless but it doesn’t add anything of value to the overall show, making it superfluous and cluttered. The point of the Peanuts characters is the same as Barbie and her sisters; to put them into a variety of situations and see how they handle them without the intervention of adults. When that’s the central selling point to a series, anything else must be excised. It would be better if there was to be a book or something delving into all the aspects of the parents, etc, that would be a fun resource for die-hard fans, and it wouldn’t bog-down the comics or televised shows.

[BrawnyCharger 513]

On 2025-01-01 at 2:59 AM, Dreambiscuit said:

To be honest I don’t think the parents should be included. Charles Schultz had the right idea in making it all about the kids. Adding an adult perspective would take away from the uniquely youthful experience of the primary characters. It may be interesting on the level of fans who want to know everything about every peripheral character, but overall I think it would be a distraction. As an example, when the Barbie franchise added the parents in Dreamhouse Adventures: Go Team Roberts, it did nothing but detract from the main characters of Barbie and her sisters. It may seem harmless but it doesn’t add anything of value to the overall show, making it superfluous and cluttered. The point of the Peanuts characters is the same as Barbie and her sisters; to put them into a variety of situations and see how they handle them without the intervention of adults. When that’s the central selling point to a series, anything else must be excised. It would be better if there was to be a book or something delving into all the aspects of the parents, etc, that would be a fun resource for die-hard fans, and it wouldn’t bog-down the comics or televised shows.

I do understand where you're coming from. However, As stated before, there were specials in which adults were seen and heard, cases in point, "Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown", "It's Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown", "This is America, Charlie Brown", "Snoopy's Reunion", "It's the Pied Piper, Charlie Brown". 

Another point as to why I would like to profile the lives of the adults of Peanuts is because Charlie Brown's misfortune would more than likely require a strong and compassionate mom and dad to help make his life more tolerable. let me list some examples.

• Charlie getting a bag full of rocks when trick or treating in "Great Pumpkin". Mr. and Mrs. Brown would be shocked and appalled by the actions of those people, and one instinct would be to take those rocks and throw them through the windows of the houses who shafted their son for no good reason at all.
• Another would be when Lucy constantly pulled the football away at the Homecoming Game in "It's Your First Kiss" deliberately costing their team the game and scapegoating Charlie. Adults wouldn't be stupid. Mr. and Mrs. Brown, and especially Mr. and Mrs. Van Pelt would have noticed this and would have called Lucy out on it and had her punished for her cruel trick.
• How about in "Happy New Year, Charlie Brown" when his teacher made Charlie read the entirety of "War and Peace" over the holiday and then deliberately flunk him by saying she doesn't believe he managed to do so. Mom and Dad Brown would have unleashed their wrath on that teacher that words couldn't describe. 

There's nothing wrong with Schulz's decision to make it all about the kids and how they handle their problems themselves. But it doesn't mean that an adult perspective couldn't be explored. 

[Dreambiscuit 9,873]

@BrawnyCharger All good points. It’s all a matter of perspective and what you want to see in this genre of entertainment versus the intention of the author. Charlie Brown is meant to be the born loser and the comedy comes from that. There may be no justice in it, and it might be fun to see the parents retaliating on behalf of Charlie Brown, but the comedy is in Charlie Brown receiving rocks for Halloween and getting the football swiped away. That’s the joke and the very simple premise of the Peanuts newspaper comic strip format. I’m not saying you’re wrong in wanting to see more; most fans do want more than meets the eye in their favorite movies and shows. I completely understand and applaud your interest.

[Maxmillian 55]

In reality. Peanuts are just adults playing with VR glasses. You just dont know it yet