{"id":2161,"date":"2007-12-13T08:10:00","date_gmt":"2007-12-13T08:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2007\/12\/charlie-browns-christmas-happiness-is-a-warm-cartoon.html"},"modified":"2007-12-13T08:10:00","modified_gmt":"2007-12-13T08:10:00","slug":"charlie-browns-christmas-happiness-is-a-warm-cartoon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2007\/12\/charlie-browns-christmas-happiness-is-a-warm-cartoon.html","title":{"rendered":"Charlie Brown’s Christmas: happiness is a warm cartoon"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a> I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for one of the great Christmas classics of my generation, “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” In the recent PBS documentary about Charles Schulz, he described the difficulties he had with CBS — they wanted a laugh track, they were nervous about having children do the voices, they didn’t want all that religion stuff, and they just hoped the production wouldn’t lose money. <\/p>\n

The rest is history. It became one of the most popular and beloved Christmas specials of all time — the baby boom’s answer to “It’s A Wonderful Life.”<\/p>\n

Now, Busted Halo<\/a> has posted a reflection<\/a> on the true meaning of this memorable piece of television, by Greg Ruehlman: <\/p>\n

Charlie Brown Christmas is fantastic from its opening notes. The music, performed by the Vince Guaraldi Trio, still glistens as brightly today as it did four decades ago, thanks especially to Guaraldi\u2019s masterful jazz piano. The brightest spots are original songs\u2014like the twinkling gem \u201cSkating\u201d\u2014but even the standard arrangements sound superior to other versions. For instance, I don\u2019t know what Purgatory looks like, but I\u2019m confident Kenny G\u2019s rendition of \u201cLittle Drummer Boy\u201d is somehow involved. In Guaraldi\u2019s hands, however, the tired old song transforms into \u201cMy Little Drum,\u201d a cool, syncopated, and gorgeously understated piece, accented by the lovely harmony of humming children.<\/p>\n

Those children, so lovably wry and neurotic, are the heart and soul of A Charlie Brown Christmas. In a snowy world free of grownups, the late, great Schulz perfectly distilled the absurdities, insecurities and existential anxieties of adulthood in his young characters\u2019 precocious exchanges. Outspoken Lucy operates a stand where she dispenses psychiatric advice instead of lemonade. Filthy Pigpen solemnly swears to run a clean inn for the school Christmas play, despite his \u201coutward appearance.\u201d And Charlie Brown, the boy Everyman, frets that Christmas is becoming a mercantile monstrosity. He watches with disgust as his little sister asks Santa for money, and as his dog Snoopy garishly decorates his doghouse for a \u201cSpectacular Supercolossal Neighborhood Lights and Display Contest.\u201d<\/p>\n

While A Charlie Brown Christmas gently scolds America for its exploitation of the season, it really centers on the education of its main character. By letting commercialism spoil his Christmas, Charlie Brown becomes the prototypical \u201cScrooge in reverse.\u201d As Linus wisely tells him, \u201cYou\u2019re the only person I know who can take a wonderful season like Christmas and turn it into a problem.\u201d Charlie must learn how to prevent these annoyances from blinding him to the true meaning of Christmas. And this holiday special stands alone by actually stating what that true meaning is. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read the rest<\/a> and go out and get the DVD and sniff back tears when Linus steps onto that stage and recites the nativity story from Luke. It gets me every time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for one of the great Christmas classics of my generation, “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” In the recent PBS documentary about Charles Schulz, he described the difficulties he had with CBS — they wanted a laugh track, they were nervous about having children do the voices, they…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":365,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media"],"yoast_head":"\nCharlie Brown's Christmas: happiness is a warm cartoon - The Deacon's Bench<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2007\/12\/charlie-browns-christmas-happiness-is-a-warm-cartoon.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Charlie Brown's Christmas: happiness is a warm cartoon - 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