Good animation requires a crap ton of dedication. One would have to be very
talented and committed to get the job done. Take a classic cartoon such as Regular Show for example,
which took about nine months to produce a single episode. Not only that, but the concept,
the story, the entertainment factor all have to be good, or else it’s just months wasted. Well,
the Peanuts franchise has been doing this exact thing for over 50 years, not only on television,
but on comic strips as well, which is where it all started. Originally created by Charles Monroe
Schulz, 17,897 comic strips were published making it the longest story ever told by one human being.
At its peak, Peanuts ran in over 2,600 newspapers, with a readership of 355 million in 75 countries,
and was translated into 21 different languages. Based on those analytics,
Peanuts was very successful. Most of us know that already, but what may sound surprising is the
name “Peanuts” was actually a title Schulz always disliked. In fact, the only reason he agreed with
the name was because the name “Li'l Folks”, which could be considered as the prototype to Peanuts,
was too close to the names of two other comics at the time: Al Capp's Li'l Abner and a strip
titled Little Folks. To avoid confusion, the name had to be changed to Peanuts, after the peanut
gallery featured in the Howdy Doody TV show. With the information given, we can see that
Schulz took his job very seriously. In 1994 he made sure to emphasize the importance of
“attention to detail” saying, "This is not a crazy business about slinging ink. This is a
deadly serious business." And speaking of “ink”, Peanuts is very conservative with its ink as it
goes for a minimalistic style. For example, There’s not much detail in the backgrounds,
but this is done on purpose. This style has been described by art critic John Carlin as
forcing "its readers to focus on subtle nuances rather than broad actions or sharp transitions."
One of the reasons Peanuts is brilliant in my opinion is the fact that Schulz was not afraid
to throw satire at any number of sensitive topics when he chose to do so. Over the years he was
writing stories for the Peanuts comic strips, he tackled everything from the Vietnam War,
to school dress codes, to even religious themes. Most of these specials highlighted
some heartwarming life lessons, such as “A Charlie Brown Christmas” which did exactly that. This was
a 1965 animated television special. Schulz's main goal for a Peanuts-based Christmas special was
to focus on the true meaning of Christmas. And when any cartoon, any live action show, movie or
whatever it is tries to introduce a life lesson for the audience to remember and look back on,
it makes the story very memorable. Disney’s Meet the Robinsons, “Keep Moving Forward”: Memorable
story. Pixar’s The Incredibles idea that “Family Makes People Stronger”: Memorable story. A good
life lesson is always great to have, and to make a family oriented cartoon it’s almost necessary.
Everyone and their grandma has seen this Christmas special. In fact, Peanuts, in my opinion, is the
greatest family oriented cartoon of all time. It does not matter what age an individual is,
there is always something to enjoy here. On February 12, in the year 2000, at around
9:45 pm, Schulz died in his sleep at home... from colon cancer. The final original Peanuts strip was
published the very next day, on Sunday, February 13th. It mentioned that the Peanuts comic strips
would be discontinued due to Schulz’s retirement, but we all know what the real reason is. However,
the Peanuts franchise obviously continued. There were new Television specials, all of which Schulz
had worked on, but had not finished before his death, and in 2015, a very good theatrical movie
was released, The Peanuts Movie. It received positive ratings and did a great job taking
inspiration from what made the original Peanuts series fantastic. The art style took a ton of
inspiration from the original series, plus it added a spin with 3D computer-animation. The
story allowed the audience to take something from it, a life lesson, and as I’ve said previously
that makes a story more memorable and relatable. Some of these life lessons from the motion picture
include believing in yourself, being yourself, being honest, being considerate, continuing to
dream, and to never give up. The Peanuts movie celebrated the 65th anniversary of the comic
strip and the 50th anniversary of the TV special, A Charlie Brown Christmas. And it deserves the
title of the Peanuts movie because it represents the soul of the Peanuts franchise in years past.
So in conclusion, Peanuts was not only successful just because of the comedy. Though comedy played
a huge role, it was the experience, the variety of the characters all written well,
all with a different and unique personality that distinguishes them from any other character.
Schulz’s hard work and dedication paid off as he stated in the final comic strip that Peanuts
was the fulfillment of his childhood ambition. He wanted to make it funny,
he wanted to make it relatable, he wanted to make it unique, he wanted to make it simple,
and he just wanted to make it great. So next time you watch a Charlie Brown Holiday
special with your family, try to look for little nuances and important details
you might have missed before, because there is much more than meets the eye.