Tragic Comic -- Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography

Touchstone ^ | March 2008 | Russell D. Moore

[rhema]

Very early in my ministry, I found myself in a bitterly divided congregation. I saw things I wished I’d never seen and heard things I wished I’d never heard. More depressingly, I thought things I wish I’d never thought.

Finally, I did the best thing I knew to do for my family and for me, and resigned my position. While the church voted to accept my resignation, I sat at home wondering if I really wanted to serve in church ministry—or even to go to church—knowing what I knew about human depravity. I turned on the television for some background noise to quiet my mind, to see the opening credits of A Charlie Brown Christmas.

As a child of the 1970s, I had seen this thing a thousand times, with all of its maudlin sentimentalism about commercialism and the “real meaning of Christmas.” But then the cartoon figure of Linus, dressed as a shepherd complete with blanket headdress, recited Luke 2, a text I had heard thousands of times before. This time was different, though, and I wept violently, shaking in the chair.

“And the glory of the Lord shown round about them, and they were sore afraid.” The gospel was true, and it was beautiful, and nothing else mattered.

A Sad Story

I thought about that television special as I opened the cover of the promised definitive biography of Charles M. Schulz, the creator of the Peanuts comic strip. It appears that the Charlie Brown Christmas special plays a revealing role in the Schulz story—a story that should speak sadly to any Christian, whether or not he has ever opened the Sunday funny pages.

[joebuck]

"Among Schulz’s last words in his waning days in the hospital were: “You know, that poor kid, he never even got to kick the football. What a dirty trick—he never had a chance to kick the football.”

Rosebud......Roooosebud.......

[Alex Murphy]

Great article - I highly recommend that everyone read the full version at the source. I found this section especially poignant:

Unlike Schulz’s view of comic strips—they should never have an ultimately unhappy ending—the end of Schulz’s life was the capstone of his despair. The man who, like Charlie Brown, always feared that no one could truly love him, died, in the words of another cartoonist, “angry at God, angry with friends, angry with fate—angry [about] all the troubles he could never let go of.” This fellow artist concludes: “He had control over the [ Peanuts] universe for fifty years, but he had no control over his death. He didn’t accept it graciously. He wasn’t ready.”

I have a relative (just turned 79 IIRC) that this describes perfectly. They are mad at a God who they simultaneously refuse to believe in, and the bitterness spills over into (literally) every single conversation that they have.

[DarkSavant]

I remember an interview where he described himself as a secular humanist. He wrote some very touching comics, especially his remembrances of World War II. He's one of those tragic figures you don't really understand until they're long gone.

[Alex Murphy]

FWIW, I invite the reader to contrast Schultz's decline with Johnny Hart's faith. I also invite the reader to check out GetReligion's "When a Warm Puppy Is Not Enough", a review of Schultz's biography (same book as this article).

[rhema]

Thanks for both links, Alex.

[foreverfree]

bump

[Non-Sequitur]

I just remember how I felt when I learned that Schultz died on the very day that his last Peanuts comic appeared in the newspapers. Almost as if with the comic strip done, he decided it was time to go himself.