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charlie brown christmas Back in the 1980's when I read Peanuts in the daily newspaper, I often wondered why so many people liked what Charles Schulz did. Personally I didn't find the strip to be that entertaining, but I knew that there had to be something there that appealed to other people so I kept reading hoping to see what I was missing. In the end I decided that Schulz had past his prime and didn't know when to stop. Besides if I wanted to read something funny and insightful there was Bloom County, which made more sense to me than anything that Charlie Brown and his friends did. Now having condemned the man and his work, I must confess that I loved both the Thanksgiving and Christmas Charlie Brown animated specials when I was growing up and I still love them today. Seeing the characters dance at the Christmas play always makes me laugh and I think that it would be great to have a Thanksgiving meal that consisted of popcorn and toast. The humor wasn't over the top and Linus managed to deliver some serious commentary. For me the mix made for some great entertainment that wasn't dated or condescending. Then there is the music from the specials that is so distinctive. It wasn't until I was in college that my roommate told me that Vince Guaraldi had done other music besides what made the characters dance. Around that same time I would sometimes go to a club and what I always wanted to see was a group of people dancing just like the kids do in the special. Instead of trying to ape what they saw on The Grind, I think that that would have been more fun. |