A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving
Would you believe me if I told you that I had never seen this cartoon before? No? Well you would be correct not to. But I remember so little about it that it was like watching a whole new thing for me when Jane and I turned it on this week. I did manage to think about this 25-minute cartoon so much that I ended up deciding that I need to post about it for Thanksgiving. Somehow I managed to come up with eleven takeaways for this movie. Please enjoy them here:
Lucy faking out Charlie Brown on the football kick for the umpteenth has to be some kind of Guinness world record. Alternatively it could in the record book of “things kids do to tell each other they like each other without saying it” as a nomination for “the most physically punishing method” award.
When Sally talks about how they have Christmas trees up in the stores and thanksgiving hasn’t happened, you know that somehow Charles Schultz knew back then how bad commercialism would get with the end of the year holidays. We gotta have better restraint with that stuff.
“Peppermint Patty sucks” exhibit 1: manipulates Charlie Brown’s feelings for her into getting a free home-cooked meal. You cannot take silence or slowed speech as an affirmative answer, PAT!!! Yes means Yes. No means No. Get some consent, man.
“Peppermint Patty sucks” exhibit 2: now that you have manipulated a nice boy into having you over for a Thanksgiving dinner, you drag two other friends over with you?!?!? Oh wait a minute, this is essentially how British Royalty worked for the last several hundred years. Just assume you are special, and no one will stop yiu.
The no-dialogue scene with Snoopy setting up the table is the best part of the movie. The visual comedy of it all is a great predictor of where cartoons would go for the coming decades.
As a kid, I would not complain about the feast Snoopy whipped up. Butter-on-both-sides toast, jelly beans, pretzel sticks, and popcorn sounds like a nutritious meal to me. Honestly, that gets five stars on Yelp from me now.
“Peppermint Patty sucks” exhibit 3: so just because you didn’t get a classic thanksgiving dinner that would take hours to prepare, you are gonna insult Snoopy as a chef and send Charlie Brown into another depressive mood swing?
Linus’ historical knowledge of previous Thanksgivings may need some re-educating.
The fact that Charlie Brown still even wants Peopermint Patty and her friends to come to dinner at his Grandma’s house is more evidence of Stockholm syndrome than anything Belle did in Beauty and the Beast.
If those old-timey station wagons still had rear facing seats in the trunk I would definitely buy one. I would just have to make sure we had seat belts. Then again most accidents are rear-end collisions. Darn insurance brain strikes again. (Jane laughed at me for this one, but I gotta stay true to me.)
Snoopy and Woodstock enjoying a thanksgiving dinner alone is exactly what I hope for during some holidays. Quality time with your best friend is all you need sometimes.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Enjoy your day and be grateful for what you have.
Until I see another one.