Hi!
For this next theme, I’ll be looking at Christmas specials for regular cartoon shows, and what better one to start with than one of the most well- known of all time, 1963’s ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas.’ This was the first prime- time animated TV special based off the beloved Peanuts comic strip. An interesting fact about this special is that, since so many of the characters say a lot of big words (i.e. Lucy reciting a long list of phobias), many of the child actors who played them had to learn their lines phonetically.
Charlie Brown is even more depressed than usual around this Christmas, and can’t tell why. To try and get more into the holiday spirit, Lucy convinces him to be the director of the Christmas pageant at school. This, however doesn’t help, as nobody likes him or listens to him. Between Snoopy’s determination to win a Christmas display contest with his doghouse lights display, how commercialized the pageant is, and how everyone’s more concerned with presents than anything else, Charlie Brown remains depressed. He goes out to find a Christmas tree for the pageant, but all he can find that he thinks will fit is the infamously puny little sapling of a tree that this special is known for (All the other trees on the lot were too artificial for him; In fact, it’s believed that this special played a big part of the reason why aluminum Christmas trees began to lose the popularity they previously had up to that point). Everyone says he screwed up, but good old Linus helps Charlie see the true reason for the season, the kids decide to give the tree a chance, and things turn out great.
About the only minor issue I have with this special is that the music gets a bit repetitive, it’s mainly just the song ‘Christmas Time is Here’ over and over again. It’s a pretty enough song, but they don’t have to keep repeating it as an instrumental throughout most of the special the way they do, together with the Peanuts theme music.
‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ definitely still makes for a good special. Snoopy is as funny as usual, and it’s always enjoyable to see the other characters’ interactions with each other. Charlie Brown’s disgust with how commercialized Christmas has become and his desire to recapture the joy that time of year used to bring him continue to ring true today for many of us. Plus, it’s one of the few TV Christmas specials, especially in this day and age, that not only acknowledges what Christmas is actually about, but even recites the passage from Luke 2 which concerns Christ’s birth. As Linus famously puts it, “That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.â€
See you guys tomorrow!
