Thursday, October 05, 2006

A Report on Charles Schulz

Malarie Piercy
Junior Literature and Composition
Final Draft
14 April 2002

Charles Schulz
A great American is anyone who has impacted America in a big way. People who have majorly impacted American culture, or have captured and depicted it in creative ways are truly great Americans. Charles Schulz influenced and captured the diversity of American civilization when he developed his comic strip, "Peanuts." Through his creation, Schulz has impacted American society for over 50 years. With his career, his creation, and his legacy, Schulz has come to be a truly great American.
Schulz, through the years, has had many diverse jobs. The thing is, though, they have all centered themselves around the same thing, art. Schulz started out by teaching at an art instruction school in Saint Paul, Minnesots. Another early job of his was lettering cartoons for a religious periodical. Later on in life, Schulz served in World War II. This is where he developed a comic strip of his own, "Li'l Folks." Unlike most syndicated cartoonists, Schulz worked without any artistic assistants. In 1950, United Features bought the copyright to his strip, and they distributed it under the title, "Peanuts" (http://encarta.msn.com). United Media now owns the copyright to "Peanuts," and they received $84.9 million in 1998 from the comics, TV shows, and licensing deals that put the characters on everything from lunch boxes to life insurance ads. Schulz earned more than $30 million a year from the strip, but he had never bought the copyright back (http://abcnews.go.com).
"Peanuts" is a comic strip that cuts across demographics. I'm not sure that any comic will ever be as popular," says David Astor, who writes about syndicated news for Editor and Publisher magazine. Of some 220 syndicated strips today, "Garfield," by Jim Davis, is the one that comes closest to being as popular as "Peanuts" (www.scripps.com). This comes as no surprise to most of the readers. The characters are just so diverse. Charlie Brown wins your heart with his losing ways. It always rains on his parade, his baseball game, and his life. Although he's concerned with the meaning of life, his friends sometimes call him "blockhead." Even though we all know that he will neer win anything, we still love him, zigzagged yellow sweater and all. Sally Brown, Charlie Brown's sister was accepted by Charlie Brown the day she was born. He even passed out chocolate cigars. Ever since then, he's been trying to understand her. Sally always looks for the easy way out. She has a cute schoolgirl crush on Linus, her "Sweet Babboo" and her brother's best friend. Snoopy, Charlie Brown's dog, is a beagle with a split personality complex. Joe Cool, WWI Flying Ace, Literary Ace, Flash Beagle, Vulture, and Foreign Legionnaire are among some of his favorite fantisies. He hinks of Charlie Brown as "that round headed kid who brings me my supper dish". Woodstock is the smallest of the "Peanuts" characters but has a big presence for a little bird. He's a little inept, his flying and logi are erratic, but he can type and take short hand, and he is usually game for anything that Snoopy wants to do. Linus Van Pelt inspired the term "security blanket". He is the intellectual of the gang, and flabbergasts his friends with his philosophical revelations and solutions to problems. He suffers abuse from his big sister, Lucy, and the unwanted attentions of Charlie Brown's little sister Sally. He is a paradox; despite his age, he can put life into perspective while sucking his thumb. He knows the true meaning of Christmas while continuing to believe in the Great Pumpkin. Lucy Van Pelt works hard at being bossy, crabby and selfish. She is loud and yells a lot. HEr smiles and motives are rarely pure. She's a know-it-all who dispenses advice whether you want it or not -- and for Charlie Brown, theres's a charge. She's a fussbudget, in the true sense of the word. She's a real grouch, with only one or two soft spots, and both of them may be Schroeder, who prefers Beethoven. As she sees it, hers is the only way. The absense of logic in her arguments holds a kind of shining lunacy. When it comes to compliments, Lucy only likes receiving them. If she's paying one -- or even smiling -- she's probably up to something devious. Rerun Van Pelt is often mistaken for Linus even though he's his little brother. He can always be recognized in his trademark overalls. Rerun is more skeptical than his brother, much harder to convince, and always gets around Lucy where Linus gives in. His only fear is being the passenger on one of his mother's bicycle-riding errands. Somehow, Rerun is the only witness to her riding into grates and potholes. Luckily, he always wears a helmet. Rerun also longs for a dog of his own, but since his parents won't let him have one; he tries to "borrow" Snoopy from Charlie Brown. Snoopy won' have any part of it unless Rerun brings cookies. Schroeder, who idolizes beethoven, brought classical music to the "Peanuts" strip. Reserved and usually unruffled, Schroeder reacts only when Woodstock tries to make his grand piano into a playground, or when Lucy seeks to make it her courting grounds. The latter can lead to minor violence. Peppermint Patty is a pro on the baseball diamond, bit in the classroom, she's a D-minus all the way. Bold, brash and tomboyish, what she lacks in common sense she makes up for in sincerity. She's the only one who calls Charlie Brown "Chuck." Oblivious to much that goes on around her, for a long time she seemed unaware that "the funny-looking kid who plays shortstop" was a beagle. She has trouble staying awake in class; most of her waking hours in the schoolroom are spent analyzing the probability patterns of true-false tests. Marcie is Peppermint Patty's best friend. From the moment they met at summer camp, Marcie has called Peppermint Patty "Sir" out of admiartion of her misguided manners. An unlikely pair, they seem to have nothing in common yet that is what makes their friendship so genuine Marcie is the smartest of the "Peanuts" gang, but also the most naive. SHe's always willing to help out her friend with schoolwork, and she's not above sharing test answers or caling her on the phone to remind her of homework assignments. There is an innocence to Marcie, and Peppermint Patty is her protector. Marcie is also completely inept when it comes to sports, yet they still let her play on the baseball team. If Marcie and Peppermint Patty ever have a falling out, it's likely over Charlie Brown, whom they both secretly love. Pig Pen made his debut in the "Peanuts" comic strip on July 13, 1954 and simce then, has been the butt of "dirt" gags. He walks around in a cloud of dust, sprinkling dirt on all he comes in contact with. Pig Pen is happily messy. he doesn't try to explain it, hide it, or fight it. For him, it's just a fact of life. Franklin met Charlie Brown at the beach in 1968. They'd never met before because they went to different schools, but they had fun playing ball so Charlie Brown inited Franklin to visit him at his house across town for another play session. Later, Franklin turned up as center-fielder on Perppermint Patty's baseball team and sits in front of her school. Franklin is thoughtul and can quote Old Testament as effectively as Linus. In contrast with the other characters, Franklin has the fewest anxieties and obsessions. He and Charlie Brown spend quite a bit of time talking about their respective grandfathers. When Franklin first appeared in the late 60's, his noticeably darker skin set some readers in search of a political meaning. However, the remarkable becomes unremarkable when readers learn that SChulz simply introduced Franklin as another character, not a political statement (www.comics.com).
THe 50 years of Peanuts has been a remarkable 50 years of events in the strip.
October 2, 1950 - Peanuts debuts in seven newspapers
November 16, 1952 - Lucy first holds a football for Charlie Brown
June 1, 1954 - Debut of LInus' security blanket
January 5, 1956 - Snoopy first walks on two legs
1958 - Yale University names Schulz Cartoonist of the year.
August 23, 1959 - Sally debuts (as an infant)
March 11, 1960 - Charlie Brown's father is revealed to be a barber
1960 - Hallmark introduces Peanuts greeting cards
November 19, 1961 - Charlie Brown first pines for the little red-haireed girl
1962 - Peanuts is named Best HUmor Strip of the Year by the National Cartoonists Society
April 4, 1967 - A bird strongly resembling Woodstock appears
May 18, 1969 - Charlie Brown and Snoopy sccompany astronauts into space aboard Apollo X
July 20, 1971 - Marcie first calls Peppermint Patty "Sir"
November 20, 1973 - A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving debuts, and wins an Emmy Award
January 21, 1974 - Rerun first appears on his mother's bicycle
August 13, 1975 - Spike debuts
January 27, 1977 - Sally first dubs Linus her "Sweet Babboo"
June 28, 1979 - The WWI Flying Ace visits with the "cute little French girl" (Marcie)
January 7, 1980 - Peppermint Patty gives a correct answer in her class
("Timeline".Snoopy.com).
Since Schulz's death, there has been a lot of controversy as to what will happen with the comic strip. Schulz left strict instructions that nobody else could draw "Peanuts," and before he died, he told one of his daughters that animated shows featuring Charlie Brown and the gang, must end as well. The thing is, however, since Schulz did not own the copyright, he legally had no say in what happened with the strip. His children are worrows about what is going to happen with the strip. They fear that new programs will stray too far from Schulz's original script. "They'll end up like "South Park" or something like that," says Monte Schulz, son of Schulz (http://abcnews.go.com).
Though we aren't sure of what will happen to the strip in the future, its past has been something great. It took 50 years to become what it is, but it was well worth the wait. Schulz did a fine job with his creative abilities. His life has greatly impacted American society. Charles Schulz, through his creative gemius, is honestly a great American.
Works Cited
Lang, John. Popularity of "peanuts" unlikely to be matched soon. Scripps Howard News Service.
"Meet the Gang". Snoopy.Com.
March 25, 2002
March 27, 2002
"You're in Limbo Cahrlie Brown". ABCNews.com.
2002
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