75 Years of Peanuts

Today marks 75 years since the publication of the first 'Peanuts' comic strip back in October of 1950. And decades later, the stories of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the rest of the gang remain as relatable and as popular as ever, because beyond the surface, there is a characteristic sincerity in Charles M. Schulz's work that makes those comics way more than the cute little stories of a boy, his dog, and his friends. The Peanuts comic strips manage to combine humour and melancholy, often striking a balance between the whimsical and the philosophical, speaking about sadness and optimism, without ever getting overly heavy or preachy. 

It is very distinctive of Schulz's storytelling how Charlie Brown's wanting to buy the sad-looking tree in 'A Charlie Brown Christmas' isn't played for laughs. It reflects the tendency that a lot of people who feel like underdogs have to pick the lonely-looking toy on the shelf as kids, or to adopt the "difficult" pet who needs more patience and attention as adults. It's not a joke at the expense of the gentleness of Charlie brown, but a reminder of that innate ability to recognise our specific kind of loneliness in someone else, and the understanding that being sad and imperfect doesn't make someone less deserving of love, or less capable of offering it, either.

Not many works of pop culture can truly claim the characterisation of 'timeless', but nobody can deny that Charles M. Schulz's characters and stories definitely fit the bill. There's a distinctive innocence in those comics that never turns into sugar-coated naivety. They are funny and quirky, but never become mean-spirited. Sometimes they get dark, but never turn cynical. They show little funny snippets of the lives of their protagonists, but without ever punching down. They depict a world where themes of failure, loneliness, and depression can coexist with silliness, love, and hope. Pretty much like real life.

 

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