I'll See You In the Funny Papers: Peanuts

Peanuts Detail July 18, 1966

We've had some fun musing on the question of our character with the question, "If you were a character in Peanuts, which one would you be?" Amazing how such an economical combination of dots, lines and filled-in solid areas can so clearly delineate personality and evoke emotion. The comics are art for the everyman, or perhaps it's more apt to say that comics appeal to the child in every (wo)man. I'd like to make the case for the comics as an art form that requires a skilled craftsperson who can distill gobs of information to the bare essence and bring a story to life with clarity. The best of the comics taps into the past and the present consciousness of the reader in an almost sneaky way. Comic strips like Charles Schulz's Peanuts are unassuming works of art that pack a punch. When the marks and the text are arranged just right within the boundaries of the frame, a good strip can nail you in an emotionally satisfying way. The reader gets a lightning jab square in the solar plexus, when a cartoonist hits upon a familiar truth.

Children, or characters that are distinctly childlike, have always been a driving force in the evolution of the comic strip. From the Yellow Kid, Little Nemo in Slumberland, Krazy Kat, Pogo, Peanuts to Calvin and Hobbes, cartoonist tap into their ancestral lineage and build upon the collective memory of strips long gone and readers past. Sometimes, as in the case of the 50 year run of Charles Schulz and Peanuts, an artist shares a viewpoint and means of expression so personal and unique that both the art form and the consciousness of people all around the world are changed forever. Don't mess with our beloved comics.

The Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa has two exhibits that make for a terrific opportunity to tickle the funny bone and stimulate the gray matter.

May 28, 1961— "Am I buttering too loud for you?" was taken from Schulz's experience with his own daughter, Amy, after asking her to quiet down.

The Browns and Van Pelts: Siblings in Peanuts

January 29 to June 19, 2011
at the Charles M. Schulz Museum

An only child has us laughing for 50 years about sibling relationships

November 29, 2010—Santa Rosa, California

From a bossy older sister to a brother’s embarrassing attachment to his blanket, Charles Schulz managed to capture both the humor and drama that are inherent in sibling relationships. An only child himself, Schulz looked to his five children for hints about how siblings behave. In the Charles M. Schulz Museum’s newest exhibition, The Browns and Van Pelts: Siblings in Peanuts, the emphasis is focused squarely on the sibling relationships of the Peanuts Gang.

The exhibition, running January 29 to June 19, 2011, will feature fifty original Peanuts comic strips highlighting the squabbles and more tenderhearted moments between Lucy, Linus and Rerun Van Pelt and Sally and Charlie Brown. Visitors will be able to step into the Van Pelt family’s living room in a life-sized recreation of a Peanuts panel and watch excerpted clips highlighting classic sibling scenes from three Peanuts animated television specials. Within the exhibition, visitors will also have the opportunity to share their favorite anecdotes of life with their own brothers and/or sisters on the discussion page of the Schulz Museum’s Facebook page.

Though Schulz avoided using ideas from other people, he could not help drawing from the world around him. In one memorable strip, Schulz quoted his daughter Amy, who after being asked to quiet down began to butter a piece of bread and simply asked, “Am I buttering too loud for you?” Schulz reworked the idea into a strip featuring Lucy and Linus, and once again found comedy in the familiar.

Peanuts May 27, 1988

Peanuts Philosophies
February 23 through July 11, 2011
at the Charles M. Schulz Museum

Charles Schulz Was Adamant That He Was No Philosopher

February 15, 2011—Santa Rosa, California

Although Peanuts comic strip creator Charles Schulz insisted that he was not a philosopher, his cartoon creations certainly proclaimed plenty of their own philosophies. From Charlie Brown’s “I only dread one day at a time,” to Lucy’s renowned “Happiness is a warm puppy,” the Peanuts Gang’s philosophies are explored in the Charles M. Schulz Museum’s newest exhibition, Peanuts Philosophies. Sixty-five original Peanuts comic strips will be on display in the Museum’s strip rotation gallery, running February 23 through July 11, 2011.

Peanuts Philosophies focuses on the insights of Charlie Brown, Sally, Snoopy, Lucy, Linus, Rerun, and Peppermint Patty. “Most longtime Peanuts readers know that many of the characters are deeply philosophical. Much of what has fascinated and entertained us for decades has been the spectacle of little children afflicted with adult concerns,” said Schulz Museum Curator Jane O’Cain.

Although his characters tend to ask life’s age-old questions, Schulz consistently stated that he was not philosophizing but simply drawing a comic strip; “For me broadly to tell you that everything I draw has a meaning just isn't true. Most of the time, I'm merely trying to be funny.”

Among the Peanuts philosophies chronicled are; Sally’s nineteen irreverent philosophies, for example, “Who cares?” and “Where will it all end?”, and Charlie Brown’s night-time musings where he searches for meaning in the middle of the night with Snoopy draped over him asleep seemingly without a care. In addition, Linus’s philosophy of “Five hundred years from now who’ll know the difference” and his cynical retort “I love mankind… it’s people I can’t stand” are revealed. Unlike much of the Gang’s ponderings, Snoopy’s search for meaning often ends at his dog dish with philosophical tokens like “You’ll never convince me that there’s more to life than chocolate chip cookies.”