Peanuts! by Charles M Schulz

I cannot believe there is no Peanuts thread! I imagine that anyone born in the USA between 1950 and 1990 would know something about Peanuts- Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Woodstock, Lucy and Schroeder redefined the dailies in newspapers all over the world, and they're still as popular as ever.

So, any thoughts on Peanuts? :D

(Come on, don't disappoint me, I know there are fans in here!):p

Yay- Me!!!:clap:

I love Peanuts-Charlie Brown is THE best though:lol:

I loved the idea that Schulz was well capable of bringing across heavy emotions in new ways. He barely had to write five words and you would know what the character thought, and why. It was awesome that he redefined comic strips by bringing in feelings of isolation, depression and hopelessness while still maintaining charm in all circumstances.

I :love: Snoopy!!! Woodstock was brilliant, I always think of him arriving and talking to Snoopy- but only Snoopy could understand bird talk, so all we would see were little pen strokes!!

Raises hand like Hermione would.
I am a fan, I really love Snoopy. Really , he is the coolest dog ever.
And woodstuck and Carlie Brown , and Linus and his blanket. I love them all.

Umm, maybe I dont love Lucy, but the rest I love.

I think it was a very nice way to display all types of personalities.I love them.

I'm a fan!! Wasn't really much of one when I was a kid though, a lot of the humor went above my head... but I was a Snoopy and Woodstock fan though :).

Raises hand like Hermione would.
I am a fan, I really love Snoopy. Really , he is the coolest dog ever.
And woodstuck and Carlie Brown , and Linus and his blanket. I love them all.

Umm, maybe I dont love Lucy, but the rest I love.

I think it was a very nice way to display all types of personalities.I love them.

I loved Lucy! She was so crabby! She was genuinely so irritated at everything, and it fitted her perfectly!!

Linus and the security blanket and the Great Pumpkin are great tools for investigating his grip on childhood and the naivete that comes with it. I always feel so sorry for him when the Great Pumpkin never comes!!

As for the humour- I agree that before it always went over my head, but I still giggled at some parts. Now I understand the references, the historical subtleties, the facts presented- and the fact that there are a group of children discussing politics, war, science, education... It's just a 50 year masterpiece!!!

I confess I'm a little surprised by the outpouring of love. When I was young I occasionally read the Peanuts comic, watched their tv specials, and we even had an old Peanuts video game.

Never got it. Never. What is the alure is has for so many people? I think it's been vastly over-rated for about half a century now.

I confess I'm a little surprised by the outpouring of love. When I was young I occasionally read the Peanuts comic, watched their tv specials, and we even had an old Peanuts video game.

Never got it. Never. What is the alure is has for so many people? I think it's been vastly over-rated for about half a century now.

I wouldn't call it an "outpouring", :lol:. Where I'm from, Peanuts is pretty obscure.

The thing is, Schulz was the first person to really tackle the human psyche in plain terms. And he used children as his subject- toddlers really, focused on life as they saw it. It wasn't all sweetness and light, it was difficult, complex and barely manageable at times. He made concise points without ever getting close to verbosity- and the drawings were acute, tidy and deceptively simple. A facial expression betrays a characteristic- and without ever writing about their mannerisms, he showed a group of people in the most natural light he could, meaning that someone, somewhere, could relate.

What was it about them that you disliked? I'm interested because you're the first person I've met who doesn't like Peanuts, if they've read it! :D

I enjoyed Peanuts growing up. My favorite cartoon is the one where they go to camp (ah, that's the film Race For Your Life, Charlie Brown.) I haven't seen it in a long time, but I used to have it on tape. I always make sure to watch the Christmas episode every year. I love Linus's monologue near the end. Linus is like the smartest kid out of the whole group. According to Wikipedia, Linus coined the term "security blanket."

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not, for behold, I bring unto you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you this day is born in the City of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel, a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace, good will toward men'". That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.

I also love how Snoopy can put on a hat and/or sunglasses and/or a jacket and people think he's the new kid. "Who's the new kid?" I have to say he's one of the smartest dogs out there.

Same here. I recall my parents buying us some book of Peanuts cartoons when we were smaller, and we adored them because Snoopy often played the different characters. It was always wonderful to read about Joe Cool! :D

It's a joke I have with my mom that as long as I put sunglasses and a hat on my dog I can take her anywhere and people will just think of her as the new kid.

Ah, I grew up with Peanuts! Unfortunately, growing up as a kid, I could often relate to Charlie Brown. Which nowadays, would indicate a need for therapy! lol.

The appeal is, I think, that everyone roots for the underdog. Almost everyone has felt like a loser at some point in their life, and Charlie Brown is the embodiment of that. Despite all this, all the suffering the poor guy's gone through, he's still a nice guy - not a whole lot unlike Harry Potter, in that one sense- only poor Chuck never gets to become a wizard and a hero!
Overall though, I think my favorite character is Linus. He's usually the one who "gets" it, he has deep and profound insights, he's generally kind and generous, and has aspects of both the loser and the winner - though I'm not crazy about the religious fanaticism Schultz gave him.
Another thing neat about Peanuts is that it provides some funny insight into kids, and kids do say the darndest things. They're "little people", which if memory serves, was what Charlies Schultz wanted to call the strip in the first place. It was United Syndicate that gave the strip the name "Peanuts", and Schultz never cared for it much. Me neither.

Reading Peanuts as I was growing up, I expanded my vocabulary significantly. There were a lot of words I'd have to ask my parents about, and it was a fun way of learning.
I even had one point where, thanks to Lucy, I was fascinated by phobias, and poured over a medical dictionary I found in the house; I wrote down and "collected" something like 110 different phobias, and what it was they indicated a fear of.

As for TV specials, my favorite TV episode is the Halloween special, followed by the Christmas special. The old ones are the best.

Oh, and Vince Guaraldi rocks! ;)

It's a joke I have with my mom that as long as I put sunglasses and a hat on my dog I can take her anywhere and people will just think of her as the new kid.

The New Kid! :lol:, that new kid was so cool! :D

Ah, I grew up with Peanuts! Unfortunately, growing up as a kid, I could often relate to Charlie Brown. Which nowadays, would indicate a need for therapy! lol.

:rotfl:, yes it would! Poor Charlie Brown!!!

The appeal is, I think, that everyone roots for the underdog. Almost everyone has felt like a loser at some point in their life, and Charlie Brown is the embodiment of that. Despite all this, all the suffering the poor guy's gone through, he's still a nice guy - not a whole lot unlike Harry Potter, in that one sense- only poor Chuck never gets to become a wizard and a hero!

I always loved poor Charlie Brown. The tricks the others played on him were simply awful- and by the ripe old age of 8, Chuck was well on the way to making a disaster of his life! Peanuts never got old. The first strip was as good as the last strip, truly, and I loved every single one. At the moment, I'm reading through the earliest strips. There are books available for purchase of two years of strips, chronologically ordered, for about €15 each online, and they are so beautifully made that I want them all!!

Overall though, I think my favorite character is Linus. He's usually the one who "gets" it, he has deep and profound insights, he's generally kind and generous, and has aspects of both the loser and the winner - though I'm not crazy about the religious fanaticism Schultz gave him.

Though I love Linus too, I don't mind the religious thing. I figure that Schultz was trying to show us every side of the true human being, even the bits that some people didn't like so much. That was the amazing thing about Peanuts- Linus, for all the fanaticism, actually made some of the shrewdest and most cynical observations at times. I liked that; it meant that he was not stereotyped into something specific. There was always room for him to breathe.

Reading Peanuts as I was growing up, I expanded my vocabulary significantly. There were a lot of words I'd have to ask my parents about, and it was a fun way of learning.

:lol:, I had a dictionary with me at all times! :D

The Official Snoopy site is down at the moment.. I want it back!!!!

PEANUTS!!!! I love it! Snoopy and Woodstock are my favorite, but i also like Lucy, and Charlie Brown, and Linus, and Sally, and all the rest! :clap: Hooray for Peanuts! :p