June 13th, 2004

CHARLES SCHULZ:  GENIUS OR SELL OUT

or

THE PROBLEM WITH FRANKLIN

 

During my visit with Ralph last week we watched a DVD that Ralph had recently purchased featuring the different Charlie Brown specials that were made over the years featuring the subject of baseball, or more specifically, featured Charlie Brown and friends losing baseball games.

Now, as many of you know, I am a huge Peanuts fan and considering that I hadn't actually ever seen any of the cartoons on the DVD I was rather charmed to sit down on a summer afternoon and spend my time with Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus, Snoopy and the rest of the Peanuts gang. However, that feeling of charm would soon turn to a feeling of revulsion.

The villainous special in particular was "It's Spring Training Charlie Brown," which was made in 1992. The plot: a little kid named Leland (not a Charles Schulz creation from the comic strip) wants to join a baseball team and joins Charlie Brown's team. Meanwhile, local hardware store owner Mr. Hennessey, in a subplot stolen from 1967's "Charlie Brown's All Stars" (also on the DVD which, incidentally, was quite good), promises Charlie Brown and Linus that he will buy the team uniforms if they can win a single game. Charlie Brown's team win a baseball game? Yeah - right. As all Peanuts readers know it just isn't possible.

Anyhow, halfway into the special Charlie Brown is giving the team a pep talk. Seated in front of him was Lucy (center field), Schroder (catcher), Snoopy (shortstop), Linus (I have no idea what position he plays), this new Leland kid, and Franklin - the strips token black character. Immediately I knew something was wrong in Peanutsland. Most Peanuts fans will tell you that Franklin doesn't play on Charlie Brown's team but, in fact, plays for the rival team managed by Peppermint Patty. That's just the way it has always been. There is a strange geography in the Peanuts strip featuring kids who live on a different side of town and go to a different school.  Franklin, Peppermint Patty, Marcie, and the lesser featured Roy are examples of those kids.  Franklin was the first of these characters introduced when he and Charlie Brown met at a beach in 1968 and were friends ever since.  Anyhow, while I realized by this point that this, up to now, mediocre cartoon had a bit of a continuity problem, I wasn't about to be appalled by this point. I just chalked it up to the 1990's mandate to be as politically correct as possible, thus writing in the token black character. However, within a few moments, I realized I gave Schulz and Bill Mendez (the writer and producer of nearly every Peanuts cartoon) too much credit.

Moments later we come to the scene of the big game. Charlie Brown, Linus and Lucy decide to warm up the team with a song and dance number. The choice? The hokey pokey. Now, I hate the hokey pokey. I hated it as a child. It gives me horrible flashbacks to an episode of "The Uncle Bobby Show" which is best not talked about. As I watched my cartoon friends do this silly song and dance I felt a bit embarrassed for myself for watching it, a bit embarrassed for Ralph for bringing it over, and a bit embarrassed for Charles Schulz for sinking so low. However, the hokey pokey was just the harbinger of the terror to come.

Finishing their song and dance, Franklin (who we must remember is not supposed to be there anyway) walks on the field carrying a giant boom box the size of his head. He places it on the diamond right next to Charlie Brown and begins to rap.

Honestly.  Franklin raps.

He raps about baseball. He raps about teamwork. He raps about good sportsmanship. I can't honestly tell you what else he raps about because I was in a state of shock about how low this cartoon was dragging the legacy of the Peanuts strip. However, it got worse. It wasn't a short rap. No - it went on and on - and as Franklin rapped Lucy, Linus, Snoopy, Charlie Brown, and Woodstock "hip hopped" a dance behind him. I am serious! Ralph and I went kind of quiet. We didn't really comment because there wasn't much we could say.

However, it was clear why Franklin was inserted to the cartoon. Somebody thought it would be a great idea to sell out and include some kind of "rap" number in the special. Rap's cool right? And of course you couldn't have Charlie Brown or Linus rap because they are about as urban as Michael Gross at a Bob Marley concert. No, we had to get the "black" character to rap. So, as a result, Franklin gets the most screen time and most dialogue ever in a Peanuts cartoon. Mark one up for political correctness. Whoever thought up this great idea to have Franklin "rap" should be given the award for creating the worst moment in Peanuts history.

However, the blandness and loss of focus of the Peanuts legacy was about to continue. At the end of the special Charlie Brown actually "wins" the ball game due to a homerun by little Leland. The team gets the uniforms, Leland is a hero and all is well. However, the idea that Charlie Brown would actually win a game is disgusting. Not as disgusting as the glossed over racism over a rapping Franklin but a tarnish on the thing that makes Peanuts what it is. Charlie Brown never wins. It is against his character and his legacy to do so. My heart breaks that Charles Schulz, who was indeed alive to oversee this monstrously lame moment, would have given the thumbs up to both the rapping Franklin and Charlie Brown winning his game.

I always thought of Charles Schulz as an artist and possibly the greatest literary humorist of the twentieth century. Now I wonder if Schulz was nothing more then a giant sell out.  Oh Mr. Schultz, why do you disappoint me so?