How ‘Peanuts’ got inside our head
Charlie Brown was the kid who got a rock when his fellow trickortreaters got candy; who couldn’t throw a pitch past home plate, and who could never get the attention of that little redhaired girl. Yet somehow he’s still one of the most popular children in the world. We can’t get enough of him, even 21 years after the death of his creator, Charles M. Schulz, in his Santa Rosa home.
Chuck’s latest project has a rather existential bent. “Who Are You, Charlie Brown?” — a documentary premiering Friday, June 25, on Apple TV+ — finds him grappling with the titular question for the purpose of a class assignment. That question, of course, causes him no end of anxiety, and subjects him to the everyday slings and arrows of his life with the Peanuts gang (especially Lucy, who uses the occasion to remind him of all his character flaws with a slide show right out of “A Clockwork Orange.”)
Part quest story, part “Peanuts” special, part celebration of all things Charlie Brown (with testimony from superfans including Al Roker, Drew Barrymore and Billie Jean King), “Who Are You, Charlie Brown?” operates on a few levels. It brings us into the mind of Schulz, a tirelessly decent man dogged by sadness. It provides historical gloss on the character’s famous comic strips and TV specials. And it tells a story, albeit a thin one, that highlights the dominant traits of each character, from Charlie Brown’s neurosis and Linus’ philosophizing to Lucy’s abject, analytical meanness.
“Peanuts,” like most cultural phenomena that resonate so deeply, has a whole lot bubbling under its surface. Unrequited love is everywhere; even Lucy is afforded a crippling crush on the Beethoven-playing Schroeder. Linus seemingly has a theory and obsession for everything (see “the Great Pumpkin”). These kids carry the burdens and complications of adult life, which is why kids who love the strip often carry that love with them to adulthood.
A new book, “Charlie Brown’s America,” argues that “Peanuts” was a sort of force for liberal consensus building. “Who Are You, Charlie Brown?,” narrated by Lupita Nyong’o, picks up this thread. After the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, Schulz introduced Franklin, the only Black kid in the Peanuts gang. As Schulz became friends with the tennis star and feminist icon King, he created Peppermint Patty, sportsmad and freespirited (it doesn’t take a leap of imagination to venture that her constant companion, Marcie, was in love with her). Schulz was constantly trying to make the strip reflect the better angels of the outside world.
And the world never really stopped paying attention. The Charles M. Schulz Museum is right up the road in Santa Rosa, offering classes in ice skating, Lego animation, cartooning and more. On Twitter, you can find accounts, like author Luke Epplin’s, that parse vintage strips for meaning and interpretation. It seems Charlie Brown is still everywhere you look.
“Who Are You, Charlie Brown?” can be a little too slick and clean, especially for those of us who harbor fond memories of the rough edges in “A Charlie Brown Christmas” (which premiered back in 1965, and still gets its moment in the sun here). But overall it’s a smart and pleasant revisiting of the Peanuts gang in all their idiosyncratic charm — a charm that remains remarkably durable and true.